THE SECOND EXPEDITION SAILS FROM CADIZ ATCANARY ISLANDS--DISCOVERY OF DOMINICA ANDGUADELOUPE--SKIRMISHES WITH THE CARIBS--PORTORICO DISCOVERED--HISPANIOLA--THE FATE OF THECOLONY AT LA NAVIDAD.
There is not in history a sharper contrast, or one more dramatic, thanthat between the first voyage of Columbus and the second. In the firstvoyage, three little ships left the port of Palos, most of the men of theircrews unwilling, after infinite difficulty in preparation, and in the midst ofthe fears of all who stayed behind.
In the second voyage, a magnificent fleet, equipped with all that theroyal service could command, crowded with eager adventurers who areexcited by expectations of romance and of success, goes on the very sameadventure.
In the first voyage, Columbus has but just turned the corner after thestruggles and failures of eight years. He is a penniless adventurer who hasstaked all his reputation on a scheme in which he has hardly any support.
In the second case, Columbus is the governor-general, for aught he knows,of half the world, of all the countries he is to discover; and he knowsenough, and all men around him know enough, to see that his domain maybe a principality indeed.
Success brings with it its disadvantages. The world has learned since,if it did not know it then, that one hundred and fifty sailors, used to thehard work and deprivations of a seafaring life, would be a much moreefficient force for purposes of discovery, than a thousand and morecourtiers who have left the presence of the king and queen in the hope ofpersonal advancement or of romantic adventure. Those dainty people, whowould have been soldiers if there were no gunpowder, are not men tofound states; and the men who have lived in the ante-chambers of courtsare not people who co-operate sympathetically with an experienced manof affairs like Columbus.
From this time forward this is to be but a sad history, and the sadness, nay, the cruelty of the story, results largely from the composition of thebody of men whom Columbus took with him on this occasion. It is nolonger coopers and blacksmiths and boatswains and sailmakers whosurround him. These were officers of court, whose titles even cannot betranslated into modern language, so artificial were their habits and soconventional the duties to which they had been accustomed. Such men itwas, who made poor Columbus endless trouble. Such men it was, who, atthe last, dragged him down from his noble position, so that he diedunhonored, dispirited and poor. To the same misfortune, probably, do weowe it that, for a history of this voyage, we have no longer authority socharming as the simple, gossipy journal which Columbus kept through thefirst voyage, of which the greater part has happily been preserved. It maybe that he was too much pressed by his varied duties to keep up such ajournal. For it is alas! an unfortunate condition of human life, that men aremost apt to write journals when they have nothing to tell, and that in themidst of high activity, the record of that activity is not made by the actor.
In the present case, a certain Doctor Chanca, a native of Seville, had beentaken on board Columbus's ship, perhaps with the wish that he should bethe historian of the expedition. It may be that in the fact that his journalwas sent home is the reason why the Admiral's, if he kept one, has neverbeen preserved. Doctor Chanca's narrative is our principal contemporaryaccount of the voyage. From later authorities much can be added to it, butall of them put together are not, for the purposes of history, equal to thesimple contemporaneous statement which we could have had, hadColumbus's own journal been preserved.
The great fleet sailed from Cadiz on the twenty-fifth day of September,in the year 1493, rather more than thirteen months after the sailing of thelittle fleet from Palos of the year before. They touched at the GrandCanary as before, but at this time their vessels were in good condition andthere was no dissatisfaction among the crews. From this time the voyageacross the ocean was short. On the third day of November, 11 the Sundayafter All Saints Day had dawned, a pilot on the ship cried out to thecaptain that he saw land. So great was the joy among the people, that itwas marvellous to hear the shouts of pleasure on all hands. And for this there was much reason because the people were so much fatigued by thehard life and by the water which they drank that they all hoped for landwith much desire."The reader will see that this is the ejaculation of a tired landsman; onemight say, of a tired scholar, who was glad that even the short voyage wasat an end. Some of the pilots supposed that the distance which they hadrun was eight hundred leagues from Ferro; others thought it was sevenhundred and eighty. As the light increased, there were two islands in sightthe first was mountainous, being the island of "Dominica," which stillretains that name, of the Sunday when it was discovered; the other, theisland of Maria Galante, is more level, but like the first, as it is describedby Dr. Chanca, it was well wooded. The island received its name from theship that Columbus commanded. In all, they discovered six islands on thisday.
Finding no harbor which satisfied him in Dominica, Columbus landedon the island of Maria Galante, and took possession of it in the name ofthe king and queen. Dr. Chanca expresses the amazement which everyonehad felt on the other voyage, at the immense variety of trees, of fruits andof flowers, which to this hour is the joy of the traveller in the West Indies.
"In this island was such thickness of forest that it was wonderful, andsuch a variety of trees, unknown to anyone, that it was terrible, some withfruit, some with flowers, so that everything was green. * * * There werewild fruits of different sorts, which some not very wise men tried, and, onmerely tasting them, touching them with their tongues, their faces swelledand they had such great burning and pain that they seemed to rage (or tohave hydrophobia). They were cured with cold things." This fruit issupposed to have been the manchireel, which is known to produce sucheffects.
They found no inhabitants on this island and went on to another, nowcalled Guadeloupe. It received this name from its resemblance to aprovince of the same name in Spain. They drew near a mountain upon itwhich "seemed to be trying to reach the sky," upon which was a beautifulwaterfall, so white with foam that at a distance some of the sailors thoughtit was not water, but white rocks. The Admiral sent a light caravel to coast along and find harbor. This vessel discovered some houses, and thecaptain went ashore and found the inhabitants in them. They fled at once,and he entered the houses. There he found that they had taken nothingaway. There was much cotton, "spun and to be spun," and other goods oftheirs, and he took a little of everything, among other things, two parrots,larger and different from what had been seen before. He also took four orfive bones of the legs and arms of men. This last discovery made theSpaniards suppose that these islands were those of Caribs, inhabited by thecannibals of whom they had heard in the first voyage.
They went on along the coast, passing by some little villages, fromwhich the inhabitants fled, "as soon as they saw the sails." The Admiraldecided to send ashore to make investigations, and next morning "certaincaptains" landed. At dinnertime some of them returned, bringing withthem a boy of fourteen, who said that he was one of the captives of thepeople of the island. The others divided, and one party "took a little boyand brought him on board." Another party took a number of women, someof them natives of the island, and others captives, who came of their ownaccord. One captain, Diego Marquez, with his men, went off from theothers and lost his way with his party. After four days he came out on thecoast, and by following that, he succeeded in coming to the fleet. Theirfriends supposed them to have been killed and eaten by the Caribs, as,since some of them were pilots and able to set their course by the pole-star,it seemed impossible that they should lose themselves.
During the first day Columbus spent here, many men and womencame to the water's edge, "looking at the fleet and wondering at such anew thing; and when any boat came ashore to talk with them, saying,'tayno, tayno,' which means good. But they were all ready to run whenthey seemed in danger, so that of the men only two could be taken byforce or free-will. There were taken more than twenty women of thecaptives, and of their free-will came other women, born in other islands,who were stolen away and taken by force. Certain captive boys came to us.
In this harbor we were eight days on account of the loss of the saidcaptain."They found great quantities of human bones on shore, and skulls hanging like pots or cups about the houses. They saw few men. Thewomen said that this was because ten canoes had gone on a robbing orkidnapping expedition to other islands. "This people," says Doctor Chanca,"appeared to us more polite than those who live in the other islands wehave seen, though they all have straw houses." But he goes on to say thatthese houses are better made and provided, and that more of both men'sand women's work appeared in them. They had not only plenty of spunand unspun cotton, but many cotton mantles, "so well woven that theyyield in nothing (or owe nothing) to those of our country."When the women, who had been found captives, were asked who thepeople of the island were, they replied that they were Caribs. When theyheard that we abhorred such people for their evil use of eating men's flesh,they rejoiced much." But even in the captivity which all shared, theyshowed fear of their old masters.
"The customs of this people, the Caribs," says Dr. Chanca, "arebeastly;" and it would be difficult not to agree with him, in spite of the"politeness" and comparative civilization he has spoken of.
They occupied three islands, and lived in harmony with each other, butmade war in their canoes on all the other islands in the neighborhood.
They used arrows in warfare, but had no iron. Some of them used arrowheads of tortoise shell, others sharply toothed fish-bones, which could do agood deal of damage among unarmed men. "But for people of our nation,they are not arms to be feared much."These Caribs carried off both men and women on their robbingexpeditions. They slaughtered and ate the men, and kept the women asslaves; they were, in short, incredibly cruel. Three of the captive boys ranaway and joined the Spaniards.
They had twice sent out expeditions after the lost captain, DiegoMarquez, and another party had returned without news of him, on the veryday on which he and his men came in. They brought with them tencaptives, boys and women. They were received with great joy. "He andthose that were with him, arrived so DESTROYED BY THE MOUNTAIN,that it was pitiful to see them. When they were asked how they had lostthemselves, they said that it was the thickness of the trees, so great that they could not see the sky, and that some of them, who were mariners, hadclimbed up the trees to look at the star (the Pole-star) and that they nevercould see it."One of the accounts of this voyage[*] relates that the captive women,who had taken refuge with the Spaniards, were persuaded by them toentice some of the Caribs to the beach. "But these men, when they hadseen our people, all struck by terror, or the consciousness of their evildeeds, looking at each other, suddenly drew together, and very lightly, likea flight of birds, fled away to the valleys of the woods. Our men then, nothaving succeeded in taking any cannibals, retired to the ships and brokethe Indians' canoes."[*] That of Peter Martyr.
They left Guadeloupe on Sunday, the tenth of November. Theypassed several islands, but stopped at none of them, as they were in hasteto arrive at the settlement of La Navidad in Hispaniola, made on the firstvoyage. They did, however, make some stay at an island which seemedwell populated. This was that of San Martin. The Admiral sent a boatashore to ask what people lived on the island, and to ask his way, although,as he afterwards found, his own calculations were so correct that he didnot need any help. The boat's crew took some captives, and as it was goingback to the ships, a canoe came up in which were four men, two womenand a boy. They were so astonished at seeing the fleet, that they remained,wondering what it could be, "two Lombard-shot from the ship," and didnot see the boat till it was close to them. They now tried to get off, butwere so pressed by the boat that they could not. "The Caribs, as soon asthey saw that flight did not profit them, with much boldness laid hands ontheir bows, the women as well as the men. And I say with much boldness,because they were no more than four men and two women, and ours morethan twenty-five, of whom they wounded two. To one they gave twoarrow-shots in the breast, and to the other one in the ribs. And if we hadnot had shields and tablachutas, and had not come up quickly with the boatand overturned their canoe, they would have shot the most of our menwith their arrows. And after their canoe was overturned, they remained inthe water swimming, and at times getting foothold, for there were some shallow places there. And our men had much ado to take them, for theystill kept on shooting as they could. And with all this, not one of themcould be taken, except one badly wounded with a lance-thrust, who died,whom thus wounded they carried to the ships." Another account of thisfight says that the canoe was commanded by one of the women, whoseemed to be a queen, who had a son "of cruel look, robust, with a lion'sface, who followed her." This account represents the queen's son to havebeen wounded, as well as the man who died. "The Caribs differed from theother Indians in having long hair; the others wore theirs braided and ahundred thousand differences made in their heads, with crosses and otherpaintings of different sorts, each one as he desires, which they do withsharp canes." The Indians, both the Caribs and the others, were beardless,unless by a great exception. The Caribs, who had been taken prisonershere, had their eyes and eyebrows blackened, "which, it seems to me, theydo as an ornament, and with that they appear more frightful." They heardfrom these prisoners of much gold at an island called Cayre.
They left S............