lying in the bottom of the boat; who made the Spaniards understand, that six of his companions had been devoured, and that it was his turn next. When told to do what he pleased with the Carib, he beat his brains out with the cannibal's own club. In Paria, the natives trafficked with squares of salt, and preserved the dead bodies of their caziques, by drying them over a slow fire.

August 23d, Bovadilla, with two caravels, arrived at St. Domingo. Immediately upon landing, he went to hear mass. Upon leaving the church, accompanied by Don Diego Columbus, who commanded in the absence of the admiral, who was at Concepcion, and of the adelantado, who was at Xaragua, and in the presence of all the officers and people, he gave his royal authority of Commissioner of Justice to a notary to be read. The next day, all the inhabitants being collected, his letters-patent were read, which constituted him governor-general of the islands and terra firma of the New World during their Highnesses' pleasure, with a power absolute and unlimited. This being read, he took the oath, and demanded from Don Diego and Rodrigo Perez the keys of the prison; Don Diego replied, that the prisoners had been confided to his charge by his brother the admiral, and that he could not dispose of them without his orders. Bovadilla then ordered two other edicts to be read; one enjoining all persons to obey him; the other, that the soldiers and artizans were to be paid: these immediately joined him. Thus reinforced, he marched to the citadel, to liberate Hernando de Guevara and the other condemned rebels. Diaz and Diego de Alvarado defended the battlements for some time; but Bovadilla entered without much resistance.

When Columbus heard of these proceedings, he thought it his duty to oppose what he supposed must be unlawful proceedings: he therefore appointed Bonao as the rendezvous for his friends, and summoned the Indians to join him. At Bonao, a courier gave him authenticated copies of Bovadilla's commissions: still he was incredulous; that their Highnesses should have deprived him of a charge, to which they had given him irrevocable and perpetual patents, without trial or hearing his defence, was impossible, he said; but he would write to the court and in the interim he summoned all their Majesties' subjects to obey him as viceroy, and to oppose by force of arms, all attempts against his authority. Every thing indicated a civil warwhen Juan Velasquez and F. Juan de Tressierra, a Franciscan, arrived with a letter for the admiral, which had been trusted to their care by their majesties: it was as follows:

Don Christopher Columbus, our Admiral of the Ocean! we have ordered the Commander Francisco de Bovadilla to communicate several things to you from us, and we enjoin you to believe and to obey what he shall declare to you in our name.

(Signed)

At Madrid, this 26th May 1499.

I, the KING. I, the QUEEN.

The admiral remarked that his title of viceroy was omitted; and set off immediately for the capital, to acknowledge Bovadilla as Governor-General. He found Bovadilla living in his house, his papers seized, his goods and treasure confiscated, and his brother in irons on board a caravel, without any forms having been observed, or any reasons assigned. Without allowing Columbus an audience, Bovadilla confined him in irons in the citadel: his own cook put the irons upon the admiral's legs.

Columbus suffered these indignities with calmness, and, by the orders of Bovadilla, wrote to his brother Bartholomew, to desire that he would not put any of the prisoners to death: and conjured him, in the name of God, and of their Majesties, and by the tender love there had always been between them, to come and surrender himself. "Our only resource is in our innocence (he said), and nothing can be more desirable for us than to be sent to Spain, where it will be to justify ourselves." Don Bartholomew obeyed; and was sent in chains, on board the vessel with Don Diego.

easy

The charges against the admiral were, that he had delayed sending an account of the pearl fishery, for the purpose of gaining new rights and prerogatives for the discovery; that he intended making himself sovereign of the Indies, was cruel in the administration of criminal justice, and did not pay the soldiers and artificers; that he prevented them from working in the mines, opposed baptising the Indians, and made war upon them solely to make slaves; that he illtreated the King's subjects, and refused to obey the orders of the court. The admiral replied, that he did not pretend to be without sin; but that they could not prove him guilty of any faults, except what arose from want of experience, and the state of the colony. He declared he never had been guilty of the least infidelity towards their Majesties, his sovereign lords; and for the rest, that he replied to the charges only to prevent their drawing any advantage from his silence. He would not condescend to justify himself any where but at the tribunal of their Highnesses, to which he appealed for justice, and whither he demanded to be sent.

His brothers were implicated in most of the charges. Bovadilla dared not follow his inclinations and execute his prisoners, but sent their sentence, to suffer death, with them to Spain.

When Alphonso de Vallego came to carry the admiral on board his caravel, Columbus thought they were going to kill him, and said, "Vallego, where are you going to carry me?"-"To Spain, my lord."—"Is that really true?" replied the admiral: "are you not concealing something from me?"-" My lord, I swear my orders are to conduct your excellency to Spain." By these assurances the noble prisoner was calmed.

Before the admiral sailed, Bovadilla published an amnesty in favour of all the rebels, and Roldan and Guevara were pardoned

Herrera, 1. 4. 11.

[1500.

mm Talego was ordered to land at Cadiz, and place the proomers and the proceedings against them, in the hands of their ecured enemies, the Bishop of Cordova, and Gonzalo Gomez de Cervantes. He sailed the beginning of October; and when at sea, offered to take off the irons from his prisoners: but the admiral declared that should never be done but by an order from their Majesties.

After the departure of the admiral, Bovadilla tried to satisfy the
Spaniards, of whom there were but 300, because the admiral had
told their Majesties that number was sufficient to keep the island in
subjection; for one Spaniard travelled as securely with a dog as if
he took 100 men with him. Bovadilla released all the mutineers,

and bestowed honours and places upon them, to the great dissa-
tisfaction of the well-disposed inhabitants; these he won to his
interests by reducing the royal share of gold to one part out of
eleven, and granting them Indians to collect it.
these liberties would not last long, the Indians were worked to
As they expected
death by their task-masters.

Upon arriving at Cadiz, Columbus sent Master Andres Martin secretly on shore, with letters for the court; where he arrived before the news of Columbus's imprisonment, or his process, were known by any other channel. Their Majesties were much grievedordered him to be released immediately, and 1000 ducats to be given him, to pay his expences in travelling to them at Grenada. He arrived at court upon the 17th December, and was most graCousy received, with many expressions of sorrow for his adversities, sssurances that his imprisonment was not by their orders, and promises that his grievances should be redressed, and that all his preges should be observed. The Queen, particularly, consoled

Columbus was a greater favourite with her than with the King, and it was on her that he principally relied. Kneeling before her, it was some time before his sobs and tears allowed him to speak: he was ordered to rise, and sorrowfully, declared, that it was always his desire to serve their Highnesses faithfully; that he never did, nor intended to do, any thing which was not for their service: and that if any of his actions were considered as errors, he had only committed them to avoid greater evils.

Letter to the Prince Don John's Nurse, on his Arrival from
the Indies, as a Prisoner.'

RABLE MADAM,

plaint against the world is new, its custom of ill-treating A thousand combats I have had with it, and in all have

This letter appears to have been very badly translated, but I do not feel justified in altering it more than to make it intelligible.

pri

tru

hav

BUC

mad

the

Lad

Crea

resisted successfully, until the present, in which neither arms nor prudence have availed me: it keeps me cruelly overwhelmed. My trust in Him who created all, alone supports me: His assistance I have ever found near at hand. It is not long since, feeling myself very much depressed, He raised me with his divine hand, saying, “Arise, thou man of little faith! it is I: fear not."

I entered with the most sincere affection into the service of their Highnesses, and I have rendered them such service as was never seen or heard of before. Of the new firmament and land which the Lord made, as St. John writes in the Apocalypse (after what had been said by the mouth of Isaiah), He made me His messenger, and pointed out the way to me. All were incredulous: He inspired the Queen, my Lady, His dearly beloved daughter, with the spirit of intelligence, and great strength of mind, to give credit to me: I was to take possession of the whole in her royal name. The ignorance of all of them led them to display their lack of knowledge, in magnifying the dangers and expences of the undertaking: her Highness, on the contrary, approved of it, and supported it with all her might.

Seven years were passed in treaty, and nine in execution. Most extraordinary and memorable events took place during that time, of which you can have no conception. I declare, upon my honour, that there is not one being, however low, who has not tried to insult and degrade me. Thank Heaven, there are some persons who disapprove of it. Had I robbed the Indies, or the land contiguous to it, and which is now talked of at the altar of St. Peter, and given them to the Moors, they could not have shewn greater enmity in Spain against me! Who would have believed this of a country which has always been so renowned for its generosity?

I could have wished much to have freed myself from this affair, if I could have done it with honour towards the Queen. My confidence in God and her Highness enabled me to persevere: and to alleviate, in some measure, the grief into which she was plunged by the death of her son, I undertook another voyage to the new heaven and earth, which had till then remained concealed; and if here the same importance is not attached to it as to my former voyages to the Indies, it is not to be wondered at, as it served to make my exertions more conspicuous.

The Holy Ghost inflamed St. Peter and twelve others with him: all fought there; our sufferings and fatigues were great; at last, however, we were victorious over every thing. This voyage to Paria, I think, might somewhat appease them, on account of the discovery of pearls and gold in Hispaniola, The pearls which were collected by the people whom I ordered to go and fish for them, and with whom I agreed to return, may, I think, amount to half a bushel: the reason of my not writing to their Highnesses about it was, that I wished to have done the same previously with respect to the gold. As I was equally successful in this as in many other things, I ought not to lose them, nor my honours, if my privileges and agreements were preserved: even if I had consulted my own advantage, (or were to suffer Hispaniola to be abandoned,) and the same remark applies to the gold I have collected there all which, at the expence of many lives and great

Memorials of Columbus, Doc. 44.

remainder, so as, in the admiral's opinion, to be oppressive to the purchasers, he was to tax and moderate the price.

The 330 persons were to have each a fanega of wheat per month, and twelve maravedis a day. Such persons as had no engagement were to be paid for their services, as the admiral thought right. The fees, salaries, and pay of the alcaldes and principal officers were to be increased and paid to them, as the admiral judged proper. Besides which their Majesties say, "When it pleases God that there shall be a means of conferring a favour upon them in the said Indies, we shall not be unmindful of doing so."

The settlement of the effects of those who die in the Indies was to be under the direction of Escoba and Juan de Leon, who were to pay the debts, if the executors had not, and remit their property, which was to be put into a box with three keys, one of which they were to keep, a priest another, and the admiral the third: in this box the money was to remain three years, that the heirs might have time to come or send for it; and if it were not demanded within that time, then to be distributed for the relief of souls.

The gold which might be found the admiral was empowered to coin into pieces like the "excelentes" of Grenada; and all the money coined in the Indies was to be conformable to the regulations observed in the Mint.

The Indians were to have a piece or mark of brass or lead coin, which they were ordered to wear on the neck; and this was to be changed every payment they made, in order that it might be known who had paid: and all persons changing the mark were to be subjected to some slight punishment. The collector of the tribute was to have five weights, measures, or pounds per cent. for himself; that is, the twentieth part of whatever he might collect.

June 15th, another order was signed at Medina del Campo, by the Spanish Sovereigns, containing a list of the things which, in their opinion, ought to be sent to the Indies.

Three hundred and thirty persons were to be sent out, reckoning those already there in that number, and they were to be divided as follows:- forty arquebusiers, 100 foot soldiers, thirty seamen, thirty midshipmen, twenty gold-workers, fifty husbandmen and gardeners, twenty officers of every description, and thirty women -who were to reside in the Indies as long as they chose: the admiral might change the persons, but not increase the number. For the maintenance of the colonists, 550 bushels of wheat and fifty bushels of corn were ordered to be sent, and such iron tools as the admiral thought necessary: and the number of cows and mares were to be completed to twenty couple of cows, mares, and asses.

Their Majesties also recommend that the stores should be sent out in an old vessel; because her timbers, wood, and iron-work would be of great service in the colony, which was ordered to be established near the mines: "However (their Majesties say) if it