THE THIRD VOYAGE. LETTER TO THE KING AND QUEEN-DISCOVERY OF TRINIDAD AND PARIA--CURIOUSSPECULATION AS TO THE EARTHLY PARADISE--ARRIVAL ATSAN DOMINGO--REBELLIONS AND MUTINIES IN THATISLAND--ROLDAN AND HIS FOLLOWERS--OJEDA AND HISEXPEDITION--ARRIVAL OF BOBADILLA--COLUMBUS APRISONER.
For the narrative of the third voyage, we are fortunate in having oncemore a contemporary account by Columbus himself. The more importantpart of his expedition was partly over when he was able to write a carefulletter to the king and queen, which is still preserved. It is lighted up bybursts of the religious enthusiasm which governed him from the beginning.
All the more does it show the character of the man, and it impresses uponus, what is never to be forgotten, the mixture in his motive of theenthusiasm of a discoverer, the eager religious feeling which might havequickened a crusader, and the prospects of what we should call businessadventure, by which he tries to conciliate persons whose views are lessexalted than his own.
In addressing the king and queen, who are called "very high and verypowerful princes," he reminds them that his undertaking to discover theWest Indies began in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which appointedhim as a messenger for this enterprise. He asks them to remember that hehas always addressed them as with that intention.
He reminds them of the seven or eight years in which he was urginghis cause and that it was not enough that he should have showed thereligious side of it, that he was obliged to argue for the temporal view aswell. But their decision, for which he praises them indirectly, was made,he says, in the face of the ridicule of all, excepting the two priests,Marcheza and the Archbishop of Segovia. "And everything will pass awayexcepting the word of God, who spoke so clearly of these lands by thevoice of Isaiah in so many places, affirming that His name should bedivulged to the nations from Spain." He goes on in a review of the earlier voyages, and after this preface gives his account of the voyage of 1498.
They sailed from Santa Lucca the thirtieth of May, and went down toMadeira to avoid the hostile squadron of the French who were awaitinghim at Cape St. Vincent. In the history by Herrara, of another generation,this squadron is said to be Portuguese. From Maderia, they passed to theCanary Islands, from which, with one ship and two caravels, he makes hisvoyage, sending the other three vessels to Hispaniola. After making theCape de Verde Islands, he sailed southwest. He had very hot weather foreight days, and in the hope of finding cooler weather changed his course tothe westward.
On the thirty-first of July, they made land, which proved to be the capenow known as Galeota, the southeastern cape of the island of Trinidad.
The country was as green at this season as the orchards of Valencia inMarch. Passing five leagues farther on, he lands to refit his vessels andtake on board wood and water. The next day a large canoe from the east,with twenty-four men, well armed, appeared.
The Admiral wished to communicate with them, but they refused,although he showed them basins and other things which he thought wouldattract them. Failing in this effort, he directed some of the boys of the crewto dance and play a tambourine on the poop of the ship. But thisconciliatory measure had as little success as the other. The natives strungtheir bows, took up their shields and began to shoot the dancers. Columbusstopped the entertainment, therefore, and ordered some balls shot at them,upon which they left him. With the other vessel they opened more friendlycommunication, but when the pilot went to Columbus and asked leave toland with them, they went off, nor were any of them or theirs seen again.
On his arrival at Punta de Icacocos, at the southern point of Trinidad,he observes the very strong currents which are always noticed by voyagers,running with as much fury as the Guadalquiver in time of flood. In thenight a terrible wave came from the south, "a hill as high as a ship," so thateven in writing of it he feels fear. But no misfortune came from it.
Sailing the next day, he found the water comparatively fresh. He is, infact, in the current produced by the great river Orinoco, which affects, in aremarkable way, all the tide-flow of those seas. Sailing north, he passes different points of the Island of Trinidad, and makes out the Punta de laPena and the mainland. He still observes the freshness of the water and theseverity of the currents.
As he sails farther westward, he observes fleets, and he sends hispeople ashore. They find no inhabitants at first, but eventually meet peoplewho tell him the enemy of this country is Paria. Of these he took on boardfour. The king sent him an invitation to land, and numbers of the peoplecame in canoes, many of whom wore gold and pearls. These pearls cameto them from the north. Columbus did not venture to land here because theprovisions of his vessels were already failing him.
He describes the people, as of much the same color as those who havebeen observed before, and were ready for intercourse, and of goodappearance. Two prominent persons came to meet them, whom he thoughtto be father and son. The house to which the Spaniards were led was large,with many seats. An entertainment was brought forward, in which therewere many sorts of fruits, and wine of many kinds. It was not made fromgrapes, however, and he supposed it must be made of different sorts offruits.
A part of the entertainment was of maize, "which is a sort of cornwhich grows here, with a spike like a spindle." The Indians and theirguests parted with regret that they could not understand each other'sconversation. All this passed in the house of the elder Indian. The youngerthen took them to his house, where a similar collation was served, andthey then returned to the ship, Columbus being in haste to press on, bothon account of his want of supplies and the failure of his own health. Hesays he was still suffering from diseases which he had contracted on thelast voyage, and with blindness. "That then his eyes did not give him asmuch pain, nor were they bloodshot as much as they are now."He describes the people whom they at first visited as of fine stature,easy bearing, with long straight hair, and wearing worked handkerchiefson their heads. At a little distance it seemed as if these were made of silk,like the gauze veil with which the Spaniards were familiar, from Moorishusage.
"Others," he says, "wore larger handkerchiefs round their waists, like the panete of the Spaniards." By this phrase he means a full garmenthanging over the knees, either trousers or petticoats. These people werewhiter in color than the Indians he had seen before. They all woresomething at the neck and arms, with many pieces of gold at the neck. Thecanoes were much larger than he had seen, better in build and lighter; theyhad a cabin in the middle for the princes and their women.
He made many inquiries for gold, but was told he must go farther on,but he was advised not to go there, because his men would be in danger ofbeing eaten. At first, Columbus supposed that this meant that theinhabitants of the gold-bearing countries were cannibals, but he satisfiedhimself afterwards that the natives meant that they would be eaten bybeasts. With regard to pearls, also, he got some information that he shouldfind them when he had gone farther west and farther north.
After these agreeable courtesies, the little fleet raised its anchors andsailed west. Columbus sent one caravel to investigate the river. Findingthat he should not succeed in that direction, and that he had no availableway either north or south, he leaves by the same entrance by which he hadentered. The water is still very fresh, and he is satisfied, correctly as weknow, that these currents were caused by the entrance of the great river ofwater.
On the thirteenth of August he leaves the island by what he calls thenorthern mouth of the river [Boca Grande], and begins to strike salt wateragain.
At this part of Columbus's letter there is a very curious discussion oftemperature, which shows that this careful observer, even at that time,made out the difference between what are called isothermal curves and thecurves of latitude. He observes that he cannot make any estimate of whathis temperature will be on the American coast from what he has observedon the coast of Africa.
He begins now to doubt whether the world is spherical, and is disposedto believe that it is shaped like a pear, and he tries to make a theory of thedifference of temperature from this suggestion. We hardly need to followthis now. We know he was entirely wrong in his conjecture. "Pliny andothers," he says, "thought the world spherical, because on their part of it it was a hemisphere." They were ignorant of the section over which he wassailing, which he considers to be that of a pear cut in the wrong way. Hisdemonstration is, that in similar latitudes to the eastward it is very hot andthe people are black, while at Trinidad or on the mainland it is comfortableand the people are a fine race of men, whiter than any others whom he hasseen in the Indies. The sun in the constellation of the Virgin is over theirheads, and all this comes from their being higher up, nearer the air thanthey would have been had they been on the African coast.
With this curious speculation he unites some inferences from Scripture,and goes back to the account in the Book of Genesis and concludes thatthe earthly Paradise was in the distant east. He says, however, that if hecould go on, on the equinoctial line, the air would grow more temperate,with greater changes in the stars and in the water. He does not think itpossible that anyone can go to the extreme height of the mountain wherethe earthly Paradise is to be found, for no one is to be permitted to enterthere but by the will of God, but he believes that in this voyage he isapproaching it.
Any reader who is interested in this curious speculation of Columbusshould refer to the "Divina Comedia" of Dante, where Dante himself helda somewhat similar view, and describes his entrance into the terrestrialparadise under the guidance of Beatrice. It is a rather curious fact, whichdiscoverers of the last three centuries have established, that the point, onthis world, which is opposite the city of Jerusalem, where all theseenthusiasts supposed the terrestrial Paradise would be found, is in truth inthe Pacific Ocean not far from Pitcairn's Island, in the very region whereso many voyagers have thought that they found the climate and soil whichto the terrestrial Paradise belong.
Columbus expresses his dissent from the recent theory, which was thatof Dante, supposing that the earthly Paradise was at the top of a sharpmountain. On the other hand, he supposes that this mountain rises gently,but yet that no person can go to the top.
This is his curious "excursion," made, perhaps, because Columbus hadthe time to write it.
The journal now recurs to more earthly affairs. Passing out from the mouth of the "Dragon," he found the sea running westward and the windgentle. He notices that the waters are swept westward as the trade windsare. In this way he accounts for there being so many islands in that part ofthe earth, the mainland having been eaten away by the constant flow of thewaves. He thinks their very shape indicates this, they being narrow fromnorth to south and longer from east to west. Although some of the islandsdiffer in this, special reasons maybe given for the difference. He brings inmany of the old authorities to show, what we now know to be entirelyfalse, that there is much more land than water on the surface of the globe.
All this curious speculation as to the make-up of the world encourageshim to beg their Highnesses to go on with the noble work which they havebegun. He explains to them that he plants the cross on every cape andproclaims the sovereignty of their Majesties and of the Christian religion.
He prays that this may continue. The only objection to it is the expense,but Columbus begs their Highnesses to remember how much more moneyis spent for the mere formalities of the elegancies of the court. He begsthem to consider the credit attaching to plans of discovery and quickenstheir ambition by reference to the efforts of the princes of Portugal.
This letter closes by the expression of his determination to go on withhis three ships for further discoveries.
This letter was written from San Domingo on the eighth of October.
He had already made the great discovery of the mainland of SouthAmerica, though he did not yet know that he had touched the continent.
He had intentionally gone farther south than before, and had thereforestruck the island of Trinidad, to which, as he had promised, he gave thename which it still bears. A sailor first saw the summits of three mountains,and gave the cry of land. As the ships approached, it was seen that thesethree mountains were united at the base. Columbus was delighted by theomen, as he regarded it, which thus connected his discovery with the vowwhich he had made on Trinity Sunday.
As the reader has seen, he first passed between this great island andthe mainland. The open gulf there described is now known as the Gulf ofParia. The observation which he made as to the freshness of the watercaused by the flow of the Orinoco, has been made by all navigators since.
It may be said that he was then really in the mouth of the Orinoco.
Young readers, at least, will be specially interested to remember that itwas in this region that Robinson Crusoe's island was placed by Defoe; andif they will ............