The chief king of the country came on board to visit the admiral on Wednesday the 26th of December, and expressed much sorrow for his misfortune, and endeavoured to comfort him by promising to give him every thing that he might desire. He said that he had already given three houses to the Spaniards to lay up every thing which had been saved from the ship and was ready to give them as many more as they might require. In the mean time, a canoe came from a neighbouring island, bringing some plates of gold to exchange for small bells, which the Indians valued above every thing; and our seamen from the shore informed the admiral that many Indians resorted from other places to the town, who brought several articles made of gold which they bartered for points and other things of small value, and offering to bring much more gold if the Christians desired. The king or great cacique perceiving that the admiral was much gratified by this information, told him he would give orders to bring a great quantity of gold from a place called Cibao, where it was to be had in great abundance. Afterwards, when the admiral was on shore, the cacique invited him to eat axis and cazabi, which formed the principal diet of the Indians[7]. He likewise presented him with some masks or vizors, having their eyes, noses, and ears, made of gold, and many pretty ornaments of that metal which the Indians wore about their necks.

The cacique complained to the admiral of a nation called the Caribs, who used often to carry away his men to make slaves of or to eat them; and he was greatly rejoiced when the admiral shewed him the superiority of the European weapons, and promised to defend him and his people against the Caribs. He was much astonished at our cannon, which so terrified the natives that they fell down as if dead on hearing the report. Finding therefore so much kindness among these people, and such strong indications of gold, the admiral almost forgot his grief for the loss of his ship, thinking that God had so ordered on purpose to fix a colony of Christians in that place, where they might trade and acquire a thorough knowledge of the country and people, by learning the language and conversing with the natives; so that when he returned from Spain with succours and reinforcements, he might have several persons qualified to assist and direct him in subduing and peopling the country; and he was the more inclined to this measure, that many of the people voluntarily offered to remain and inhabit the place. For this reason he determined to build a fort or blockhouse from the timber of the ship which had been wrecked, all of which had been saved and was now put to that use.

While employed in this plan, he received intelligence on Thursday the 27th December, that the missing caravel, the Pinta, was in a river towards the east point of Hispaniola. To be assured of the truth of this report, the cacique, whose name was Guacanagari, sent a canoe with some Indians and one Spaniard to make inquiry. These people went twenty leagues along the coast, and returned without being able to hear any thing of the Pinta; for which reason no credit was given to another Indian, who reported that he had seen that vessel a few days before. The admiral still persisted, however, in his resolution of leaving some Christians in that place, being still more sensible of the goodness and wealth of the country, as the Indians frequently brought masks and other articles of gold, and told them of several districts in the island where that metal was to be procured.

Being now nearly ready to depart, the admiral took occasion to discourse with the cacique about the Caribs or Cannibals, of whom they complained and were in great dread; and therefore, as if to please him, he offered to leave some Christians behind for their protection. At the same time, to impress him with awe in regard to our weapons, he caused a gun to be fired against the side of the ship, when the bullet went quite through and fell into the water, at which the cacique was much amazed. The admiral shewed him all our other weapons, and explained to him both how the Spaniards were able to offend others, and to defend themselves in a very superior manner; telling him, that since such people with such weapons were to be left for his protection, he need be in no fear of the Caribs, as the Christians would destroy them all; and that he would leave him a sufficient guard, while he returned to Castile for jewels and other things to give him.

The admiral particularly recommended to the attention of the cacique James de Arana, son to Roderick de Arana of Cordova, of whom mention has been formerly made in this narrative. To him, with Peter Gutierres and Roderick de Eskovedo, he left the government of the fort, with a garrison of thirty-six men, with abundance of commodities, provisions, arms, and cannon, the boat which had belonged to the lost ship, with carpenters, caulkers, a surgeon and gunner, and all other necessaries for settling commodiously. All this being settled, he determined to return with all speed to Castile without attempting to make any farther discoveries; fearing, as he had now but one ship remaining, that some other misfortune might befal him by which their Catholic majesties would be deprived of the knowledge of those new kingdoms which he had acquired for them.

On Friday the 4th of January 1493, the admiral set sail at sun-rise, standing to the north-west, having the boats a-head to lead him safe cut of shoal water. He named the port which he now quitted Navidad, or the Nativity, because he had landed there on Christmas day, escaping the dangers of the sea, and because he began there to build the first Christian colony in the new world which he had discovered. The flats through which he now sailed reach from Cape Santo to Cape Serpe, which forms an extent of six leagues, and they run above three leagues out to sea. All the coast to the north-west and south-east, is an open beach, and continues plain and level for four leagues into the country, where high mountains begin, and the villages were more numerous than are to be seen in the other islands. Having got past the shoals, the admiral sailed towards a high mountain, which he called Monte Christo, eighteen leagues east of Cape Santo. Whosoever wishes to arrive at the Nativity from the eastwards, most first make Monte Christo, which is a rock of a round or conical form, almost like a pavilion. Keeping two leagues out to sea from this mountain, he must sail west till he comes to Cape Santo, whence the Nativity is five leagues distant, and to reach which place, certain channels among the shoals which lie before it must be passed through. The admiral chose to particularize these marks that it might be known where the first Christian habitation had been established in these parts.

While sailing eastwards from Monte Christo with a contrary wind on Sunday, the 6th of January, a sailor from the round top discovered in the morning the caravel Pinta coming down westward, right before the wind. As soon as it came up with the admiral, the captain Martin Alonzo Pinzon came on board, and began to give reasons and excuses for leaving the squadron, alleging that it had been against his will. Though the admiral was satisfied that it had proceeded from evil intentions, well remembering the bold and mutinous proceedings of Pinzon during the voyage, he yet concealed his displeasure and accepted the excuses, lest he might ruin the voyage, as most of the crew were Martins countrymen, and several of them his relations. The truth is, that when Martin Alonzo forsook the admiral at Cuba, he went purposely away with the design of sailing to Bohio, where he learned from the Indians on board his caravel that plenty of gold was to be found. But not finding the object of his search, he had returned to Hispaniola where other Indians informed him there was much gold, and had spent twenty days in sailing not above fifteen leagues east of the Nativity, where he had lain sixteen days in a river, which the admiral called the river of Grace, and had there procured a considerable quantity of gold for things of small value, as the admiral had done at the Nativity. He distributed half of this gold among his crew, that he might gain them to his purposes, and concealed the rest for his own emolument, pretending to the admiral that he had not got any. Finding the wind still contrary, the admiral came to an anchor under Monte Christo, and went in his boat up a river to the south-west of that mountain, where he discovered signs of gold in the sand, on which account he called it the river of gold. This river is seventeen leagues east of the Nativity, and is not much less than the Guadalquivir which runs past Cordova.

Proceeding afterwards on the voyage, and being off Cape Enamorado, or the Lovers Cape, on Sunday the 13th of January, the admiral sent the boat on shore to examine the nature of the country. Our people there found a considerable number of fierce looking Indians, armed with bows and arrows, who seemed disposed to enter into hostilities, yet considerably alarmed at the appearance of the Spaniards. After some conference, our people bought two of their bows and some arrows, and with much difficulty prevailed on one of them to go on board the admiral. These people appeared much fiercer than any of the natives who had been hitherto seen; and their faces were all daubed over with charcoal; their hair was very long, and hung in a bag made of parrots feathers. Their mode of speech resembled the fierceness of their aspect and demeanour, and one of them, standing completely naked before the admiral, said in a lofty tone that all in these parts went in the same manner. Thinking this Indian was one of those called Caribs, and that the bay they were now in divided that race from the other inhabitants of Hispaniola, the admiral asked him where the Caribs dwelt. Pointing with his finger, the Indian expressed by signs that they inhabited another island to the eastwards, in which there were pieces of guanin[8] as large as half the stern of the caravel. He said moreover, that the island of Matinino was entirely inhabited by women, with whom the Caribs cohabited at a certain season; and that such sons as they brought forth were afterwards carried away by the fathers, while the daughters remained with their mothers[9]. Having answered all the questions, partly by signs, and partly by means of what little of their language the Indians from St Salvador could understand, the admiral gave this person to eat, and presented him with some baubles, such as glass beads and slips of green and red cloth, and sent him on shore, desiring that his companions would bring gold to barter as had been done by the other Indians.

When our people landed with this man, they found fifty-five other Indians among the trees near the shore, all of them armed with bows and arrows, perfectly naked and having their long hair tied into a large knot on the crown of the head, as worn by the women in Spain, and decorated with plumes of various feathers. The man who had been on board prevailed upon them to lay down their bows and arrows and great clubs, which they carry instead of swords. The Christians stept on shore, and began to trade for bows and arrows, as ordered by the admiral; but after selling two, they scornfully refused to part with any more, and even made demonstrations to seize the Spaniards, running to where they had left their arms, and taking up ropes as if to bind our men. They being now on their guard, and seeing the Indians coming furiously to attack them, although only seven, fell courageously upon them, and cut one with a sword on the buttock, and shot another in the breast with an arrow. Astonished at the resolution of our men, and terrified at the effect of our weapons, the Indians fled, leaving most of their bows and arrows behind; and great numbers of them would certainly have been killed, but the pilot of the caravel, who commanded the boats crew, restrained our people from any farther vengeance. The admiral was not at all displeased at this skirmish, as he imagined these Indians were Caribs, so much dreaded by all the other natives of Hispaniola; or at least, being a bold and resolute people, that they bordered on that race; and he hoped that the islanders on hearing how seven Spaniards had so easily defeated fifty-five fierce Indians, would give the more honour and respect to our men who had been left at the Nativity.

Afterwards about the evening, these people made a smoke as if in defiance; but on sending a boat on shore to see what they wanted, they could not be brought to venture near our people, and the boat returned. Their bows were of a wood resembling yew, and almost as large and strong as those of France and England; the arrows of small twigs which grow from the ends of the canes, massive and very solid, about the length of a mans arm and a half; the head is made of a small stick hardened in the fire, about three-eighths of a yard long, tipped with a fishes tooth, or sharpened bone, and smeared with poison. On this account, the admiral named the bay in which he then was Golpho de Flechas, or Gulf of arrows; the Indians called it Samana. This place appeared to produce great quantities of fine cotton, and the plant named axi by the Indians, which is their pepper and is very hot, some of which is long and others round[10]. Near the land where the water was shallow, there grew large quantities of those weeds which had formerly been seen in such abundance on the ocean; whence it was concluded that it all grew near the land, and broke loose when ripe, floating out to sea with the currents.

On Wednesday the 16th of January 1493, the admiral set sail from the Gulf of Arrows, or Samana, with a fair wind for Spain, both caravels being now very leaky and requiring much labour at the pumps to keep them right. Cape Santelmo was the last land they saw; twenty leagues north-east of it there appeared great abundance of weeds, and twenty leagues still farther on the whole sea was covered with multitudes of small tunny fishes, and they saw great numbers of them on the two following days, the 19th and 20th of January, followed by great flocks of sea-fowl; and all the weeds ran with the currents in long ropes east and west; for they always found that the current takes these weeds a great way out to sea, and that they do not continue long in the same direction, as they sometimes go one way, and sometimes another, as carried by the changes of the currents; and these weeds continued to accompany them for many days, until they were almost half way across the Atlantic.

Holding on their course steadily with a fair wind, they made such way, that on the 9th of February, the pilots believed they had got to the south of the Azores; but in the opinion of the admiral, they were still 150 leagues to the west of these islands, and his reckoning turned out to be true. They still found abundance of weeds, which, when they formerly sailed to the West Indies, had not been seen until they were 263 leagues west from the island of Ferro. As they sailed thus onwards with fair weather and favourable winds, the wind began to rise, and increased from day to day with a high sea, till at length they could hardly live upon it. The storm had so increased on Thursday the 14th of February, that they could no longer carry sail, and had to drive whichever way the wind blew; but the Pinta, unable to lie athwart the sea, bore away due north before the wind, which now came from the south; and though the admiral always carried a light, she was entirely out of sight next morning. Considering their consort to be certainly lost, and believing themselves in imminent hazard, the whole company betook themselves to prayers, and cast lots which of them should go on pilgrimage for the whole crew to the shrine of our Lady of Guadaloupe, which fell upon the admiral. They afterwards drew for another to go to Loretto, and the lot fell upon Peter de Villa, a seaman of Port St Mary; and they cast lots for a third to watch all night at the shrine of St Olave of Moguer. The storm still increasing, they all made a vow to go barefooted, and in their shirts, to some church of our Lady at the first land they might come to. Besides these general vows, several others were made by individuals. The tempest was now very violent, and the admirals ship could hardly withstand its fury for want of ballast, which was fallen very short in consequence of the provisions and water being mostly expended. To supply this want, they filled all the empty casks in the ship with sea water, which was some help and made the ship to bear more upright, and be in less danger of oversetting. Of this violent storm the admiral wrote thus to their Catholic majesties:

"I had been less concerned at the tempest had I alone been in danger, for I know that I owe my life to my Creator, and I have often been so near death that only the slightest circumstance was wanting to its completion. But, since it had pleased God to give me faith and assurance to go upon this my undertaking in which I have been completely successful, I was exceedingly distressed lest the fruits of my discoveries might be lost to your highnesses by my death; whereas if I survived, those who opposed my proposal would be convinced, and your highnesses served by me with honour and increase of your royal state. I was therefore much grieved and troubled lest the Divine Majesty should please to obstruct all this by my death, which had yet been more tolerable to contemplate if it were not attended with the loss of all those men I had carried with me upon promise of happy success. They, seeing themselves in so great jeopardy, did not only curse their setting out upon the expedition, but the fear and awe which I had impressed upon them, to dissuade them from returning when outward bound, as they had several times resolved upon. Above all, my sorrow was redoubled by the remembrance of two sons whom I had left at school in Cordova, destitute of friends and in a strange country, before I had done, or at least before it could be known that I had performed any service which might incline your majesties to remember and protect them."

"Though I comforted myself with the hope that God would not allow a matter which tended so much to the exaltation of his church to be left imperfect, when I had through so much opposition and trouble brought it almost to perfection; yet I considered that it might be his will that I should not be permitted to obtain such honour in this world, because of my demerits. In this perplexity, I remembered your highnesses good fortune; which, though I were dead and the ship lost, might yet find some means that a conquest so nearly achieved should not be lost, and that possibly the success of my voyage might come to your knowledge by some means or other. With this view, as briefly as the time would permit, I wrote upon parchment that I had discovered the lands which I had promised; likewise how many days were employed on the voyage, the direction in which I had sailed, the goodness of the country, the nature of the inhabitants, and how some of your highnesses subjects were left in possession of my discoveries. Which writing I folded and sealed up and superscribed to your highnesses, promising a reward of 1000 ducats to whoever might deliver it sealed into your hands; that, in case it might be found by a foreigner, the promised reward might induce him not to communicate the intelligence. I then caused a great cask to be brought to me, and having wrapped the writing in oiled cloth, which I surrounded with a cake of wax, I placed the whole in the cask: I then carefully closed up the bung-hole and threw the cask into the sea, all the people fancying that it was some act of devotion. Apprehending that this might never be taken up, and the ship coming still nearer to Spain, I made another packet like the first, which I placed on the poop, that when the ship sunk the cask might float upon the water, and take its chance of being found."

Sailing on in such extreme danger, at break of day on Friday the 15th of February, one Ruy Garcia saw land from the round top bearing E.N.E. The pilot and seamen judged it might be the rock of Lisbon, but the admiral concluded that it was one of the Azores. Yet though at no great distance, they could not come to anchor there that day because of the weather, and the wind being easterly, they lost sight of that island, and got sight of another, towards which they used every effort to approach, struggling with continual labour against wind and weather, but unable to reach the land. In his journal, the admiral says that on the night of Saturday the 16th of February he arrived at one of the Azores, but could not tell which; and having had no rest from the foregoing Wednesday, and being lame in both legs by being continually wet and in the open air, he took some sleep that night. Even provisions were now scanty. Having come to anchor on Monday the 18th February, he learnt from some of the inhabitants that it was the island of St Mary, one of the Azores, and the inhabitants expressed great surprize that the ship had weathered the storm, which had continued fifteen days in these parts without intermission.

Learning the great discovery which the admiral had made, the inhabitants of St Mary seemed greatly to rejoice, giving praise to God, and three of them came on board with some fresh provisions, and with many compliments from the commander of the island, who resided at the town not far from thence. About this place nothing was seen but a hermitage, said to be dedicated to the Blessed virgin; whereupon the admiral and all the crew, bearing in remembrance the vow which they had made on the Thursday before, to go barefooted and in their shirts to some church of our Lady at the first land, were of opinion that they ought here to discharge their vow, especially as the governor and people expressed so much kindness for them, and as they belonged to a king who was in perfect amity with Castile. The admiral therefore requested these three men to repair to the town and cause a chaplain to come to the hermitage to say mass for them. To this these men consented, and went on shore in the caravels boat with half the crew, that they might perform their vow, meaning on their return that the other half of the ships company should then go on shore in their turn. They accordingly landed, and proceeded according to their vow barefooted and in their shirts towards the hermitage; but the governor and many people from the town, who lay in ambush, suddenly rushed out upon them and made them all prisoners, taking away their boat at the same time, without which they believed it impossible for the admiral to get away from thence.

It being now noon, and thinking that the people staid too long on shore as they went off before day-break, the admiral began to suspect that some misfortune had befallen them either by land or sea; but not being able to see the hermitage from the place where he then lay, he sailed round a point which intervened, and then saw a multitude of people on horseback, who dismounted and went into the boat to attack the caravel. Suspecting what had really happened, the admiral ordered all his remaining hands to quarters well armed, but made no shew of resistance that the Portuguese might come near. When they were near the admiral, the chief man among them stood up and demanded a parley, which the admiral agreed to in hope that he might come on board and might be secured without any breach of faith, considering that he had seized the Spaniards without any just cause. But the Portuguese would not venture nearer than was sufficient for being heard; whereupon the admiral told him that he was surprised at his irregular proceedings, and that none of his men had come off in the boat, since they had gone ashore upon assurance of safety and offers of assistance, and more especially as the governor of the island had sent to welcome him. He desired him to consider that their conduct was contrary to the laws of honour, such as even enemies would, not have been guilty of, and at which the king of Portugal would be highly offended; since when any of his subjects landed in the dominions of their Catholic majesties or resided there, even without any safe conduct, they were perfectly safe and were treated with all manner of civility. Besides, he declared that their Catholic majesties had given him letters of recommendation to all princes potentates and other persons in the world, which he was ready to shew if he would come on board; and as such letters were received in all places with respect, and he and the subjects of their Catholic majesties always well treated on their account, much more ought they to be so in the dominions of Portugal, their sovereigns being such near neighbours and allies; and as he was their great admiral of the ocean and viceroy of the Indies which he had discovered, he was ready to shew him all this under their highnesses hands and seals. Accordingly at that distance he exhibited his commissions, and told him he might draw near without any apprehension, as he was commanded to pay the utmost civility to such Portuguese ships as he might fall in with. He added, that even if they should persist in detaining his men, this should not prevent his return to Spain, as he still had a sufficient number, not only to return to Seville, but if need were to punish his treacherous conduct which he well deserved; besides that he would be assuredly punished by his own king, for giving a cause of war between Spain and Portugal.

The Portuguese captain and his men made answer, that they neither knew their Catholic majesties or their letters, neither did they fear them, and would make him to know what Portugal was. From this answer, the admiral suspected that some breach had occurred between the crowns since his departure, and therefore gave him such an answer as his folly deserved. At last when about to depart, the captain stood up and said that the admiral might go with his caravel to the harbour, as all he had done was by order of the king his master. The admiral desired all his ships company to bear witness to this, and then calling out to the Portuguese, declared he would not leave his caravel till he had taken an hundred Portuguese to carry prisoners to Castile, and that he would utterly destroy the whole island. This said, the Portuguese went away to the land, and the admiral came to anchor in the port where he had first arrived, being obliged by the wind to do so. But the wind increasing next day and the place being unsafe, he lost his anchors and was obliged to stand out to sea towards the island of St Michael; resolving, in case he might be unable to come to anchor there, to stand out to sea notwithstanding the danger, and that he now had only three able seamen left and some grummets, all the rest of the crew being landsmen and Indians who knew nothing of sea affairs. Supplying the want of the absent hands by his own continual personal attention, he passed the whole of that night in much danger and anxiety, and when day appeared he perceived that the had lost sight of the island of St Michael. The weather being now calmer, he resolved to return to St Mary that he might endeavour to recover his men, anchors, and boat.

On Thursday the twenty-first of February in the afternoon he got back to the island of St Mary, and a boat soon afterwards came off with five men and a notary, who all came on board upon assurance of safety, and staid all night, it being then too late to return safely to the shore. Next day the notary declared that they came from the governor to be certainly informed whence the ship came, and whether it had a commission from their Catholic majesties, and that being fully satisfied on these points the admiral might depend upon receiving every friendly assistance; but all this was merely because they could not succeed in seizing the ship and the admiral, and were therefore afraid of the consequences of what they had already done. The admiral suppressed his resentment and thanked them for their civil offers; and since they now proceeded according to the maritime rules and customs, declared his readiness to satisfy them. He accordingly shewed them the letters of their Catholic majesties directed to all their own subjects and to those of other princes, and his own commission for the voyage; upon which the Portuguese went on shore quite satisfied, and soon dismissed the Spanish boat and all the seamen. From them the admiral learnt that it was reported in the island, that the king of Portugal had sent orders to all his subjects to secure the person of the admiral wherever he might be found.

The admiral sailed from the island of St Mary for Spain on Sunday the twenty-fourth of February, being still much in want of wood and ballast, which he could not take in because of the badness of the weather; but the wind being fair he was unwilling to make any longer delay. Being about 100 leagues from the nearest land, a swallow came on board the ship, driven out to sea as was believed by a storm; and this was the more probable as a great many more swallows and other land birds came onboard next day, the twenty-eighth February, and a whale was seen. On the third of March about midnight it blew so great a storm as to split their sails; and being in great danger of perishing, they made a vow to send one of their number on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Neustra Senhora de Cintra at Guelva, and the lot fell again on the admiral, shewing that his offerings were more acceptable than those of others. While thus driving on under bare poles, amid high winds, a raging sea, and frightful thunder and lightning, it pleased God to give them a sight of land about midnight. But this threatened them with new danger; and to avoid being beaten to pieces on the rocks, or running into some unknown place whence they might not be able to get off, they were under the necessity to make some sail and to beat up against the storm till day. When day appeared they found themselves close in with the rock of Lisbon, and were forced to put in there for present safety. The people and seamen of that country were much astonished at the news, and flocked from all parts to behold the wonder; for such they considered a ship which had escaped so terrible a storm, as they had heard of many vessels having perished about the coast of Flanders and other parts at this time. The admiral came to anchor in the river Tagus on Monday the fourth of March, and immediately sent off an express to their Catholic majesties with an account of his arrival, and another to the king of Portugal asking leave to come to anchor off the city of Lisbon; for he did not consider himself in safety where he then lay, especially from any that might entertain evil designs against him, who might believe that in destroying him they did acceptable service to their own king by obstructing the success of the court of Spain.

On Tuesday the fifth of March, the master of a large guard-ship which lay in the Tagus came in his boat filled with armed men to the admirals caravel, and required him to go with him to the kings officers to give an account of himself, as was the custom of all ships that came to this port. To this he answered, that the admirals of their Catholic majesties, one of whom he was, were not bound to obey any such summons, nor to quit their ships to give an account of themselves to any one, and that he was resolved to do his duty. The master then desired him to send his boatswain to make the report. To this the admiral replied that it was the some thing whether he sent even a grummet or went himself, and it was therefore in vain to desire him to send any person. Being sensible that the admiral was right, the master now requested to see the letter of their Catholic majesties, that he might be able to satisfy his own captain; and this request being entirely reasonable, the admiral produced that letter, with which he was entirely satisfied, and went back to his ship to give an account to his captain Alvaro de Acunna, who immediately came on board in great state, with trumpets, drums, and fifes, expressing much kindness and offering every service in his power.

Next day, it being known at Lisbon that the ship came from the Indies, such throngs of people went on board to see the Indians that the caravel could not contain them all, and the water was covered over with boats. Some praised God for the happy discovery, while others expressed their severe regret that their country should have been deprived of that vast acquisition through the incredulousness of their king. On the next day the king of Portugal gave orders to present the admiral with every kind of refreshment, and all things he might need for himself or his people, without taking any payment in return. He at the same time wrote to the admiral a congratulatory letter on his safe arrival, and desiring that he would come to see him. The admiral was doubtful how he should proceed in this case; but considering that the king of Portugal was in amity with their Catholic majesties and had treated him courteously, he consented to go to Valparaiso, nine leagues from Lisbon, where the king then was. He accordingly went there on Saturday night the ninth of March, and the king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to meet him; and when the admiral came into the presence, the king received him with great honour, commanding him to put on his cap and to sit down: and having listened with a pleasant countenance to a recital of his successful voyage, made offer of supplying with every thing he might stand in need of for the service of their Catholic majesties. The king then alleged, as Columbus had been a captain in the service of the crown of Portugal, that the discovery and conquest of the new found Indies ought to belong to him. To this the admiral answered, that he knew of no agreement to that effect, and that he had strictly obeyed his orders, which were not to go to the Portuguese mines nor to the coast of Guinea. The king then observed that all was well, and he had no doubt that justice would be done between the two countries. Having spent a long time in discourse, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest person then in the presence, to entertain the admiral and to shew him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly.

The admiral remained at Valparaiso all the Sunday and Monday till after mass, when he took leave of the king, who expressed great kindness and made him great proffers; and ordered Don Martin de Noronha to accompany him. Many other gentlemen went along with him to do him honour, and from curiosity to hear an account of the voyage. While on his way to Lisbon, the admiral had to pass a monastery where the queen then resided, who earnestly entreated him not to pass without seeing her. She received him with all the favour and honour which is due to the greatest lord. That night a gentleman brought a message from the king to inform the admiral that if he chose to go by land into Spain, he had orders to attend him, and to provide lodgings and every thing he might want by the way, as far as the frontiers of Portugal. But the admiral chose to return by sea.

On Wednesday the thirteenth of March, two hours after day-break, the admiral sailed from Lisbon, and on the following Friday, the fifteenth of March 1493, he arrived at Saltes about noon, and came to an anchor in the port of Palos, whence he had set out on the preceding third of August 1492, having been absent seven months and twelve days upon his expedition. He was there received by all the people in solemn procession, giving thanks to God for his prosperous voyage and glorious discovery, which it was hoped would greatly redound to the propagation of Christianity, and the extension of their Catholic majesties dominions. All the inhabitants considered it as a great honour to their city that the admiral had sailed from thence, and that most of his men belonged to the place, although many of them, through the instigations of Pinzon, had been mutinous and disobedient.

It so happened that about the same time that the admiral arrived at Palos, Pinzon had arrived with the Pinta in Galicia, and designed to have gone by himself to Barcelona to carry the news of the expedition to their Catholic majesties. But he received orders not to come to court, unless along with the admiral with whom he had been sent upon the discovery; at which he was so mortified and disappointed that he returned indisposed to his native country, where he died shortly after of grief. But before Pinzon got to Palos the admiral had set out for Seville, designing to go from thence to Barcelona where their majesties then resided, and he was forced to make several short stops by the way, to gratify the importunate curiosity and admiration of the people, who flocked from all the towns in the neighbourhood wherever he went, to see him and the Indians and the other things he had brought with him. Thus holding on his way, the admiral reached Barcelona about the middle of April, having before sent to their highnesses on account of the happy success of his voyage. This was very pleasing to them, and they ordered him to be received in the most distinguished manner, as a person who had done them such signal service. All the court and city went out to meet and welcome him, and to escort him in honourable triumph to the royal presence. Their Catholic majesties sat in public with great state on rich chairs under a canopy of cloth of gold to receive him; and when he advanced to kiss their hands, they stood up as if to receive a great lord, even making a difficulty in giving him their hands to kiss, and then caused him to sit down in their presence. Having given a brief account of his voyage, they gave him leave to retire to his apartment, whither he was attended by the whole court; and so great was the favour and honour shewn him, that when the king rode about Barcelona, the admiral rode on one side of him and the Infante Fortuna on the other; whereas before no one rode along-side of the king except the Infante, who was his near kinsman.

[1] Rabo de junco is explained to signify Rush-tailed: Rabo being a tail and Junco a rush in the Spanish language.—E.

[2] Don Ferdinand compliments his father too largely in this place by supposing Cipango and Hispaniola the same. The original design of Columbus to sail westwards to India, which he erroneously supposed to be vastly nearer in that direction, led him accidentally almost to discover Hispaniola on the supposed route to Cipango or Japan.—E

[3] The dates of the voyage may be here recapitulated. Columbus sailed from Palos on the third of August 1492, and reached the island of Gomera, one of the Canary islands, on the ninth of August, or in six days. He remained there and at Gran Canaria, refitting and replenishing his stores, till the sixth of September, when he began his passage due west across the Atlantic; and the first land of America was discovered on Friday the twelfth of October at two in the morning: thirty-six days after leaving Gran Canaria, and seventy days after leaving Palos in Spain.—E.

[4] This would seem to be a great exaggeration, perhaps an error of the press; but now impossible to be rectified.—E

[5] Nothing can be more ambiguous than the interpretation of signs between people who are utterly ignorant of each others language: But the signs on this occasion seem rather to imply that the cacique requested the Spaniards to declare themselves his friends, by participating in hostile demonstrations against the people from Tortuga.—E.

[6] This term evidently expresses a person unused to the sea, as contradistinguished from an experienced seaman.—E.

[7] Cazabi seems to have been what is now called casada in the British West Indies, or prepared manioc root; and axi in some other parts of this voyage is mentioned as the spice of the West Indies; probably either pimento or capsicum, and used as a condiment to relish the insipidity of the casada.—E.

[8] The meaning of this term is nowhere explained in this voyage: but in the account of the discovery of America by Herrera, it is said to signify pale gold. From its application in the text, it is probably the Indian name of gold, the perpetual object of inquiry by the Spaniards.—E.

[9] Such absurd fables have in all ages been the consequence of credulous intercourse of ill-informed men, ignorant of the languages of newly discovered nations. The Amazons of antiquity are here supposed to be rediscovered; but were afterwards transferred to the interior marshy plains of South America.—E.

[10] The author probably alludes here to the various-shaped pods of different species or varieties of capsicum.—E.



SECTION VI.

Second Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies.

Orders were issued from Barcelona to prepare with all care and expedition for the return of the admiral to Hispaniola, as well to relieve those Christians who had been left there as to enlarge the colony and subdue the island, with the rest that were and should be discovered. To strengthen and confirm their title to the newly discovered regions, their Catholic majesties by the advice of the admiral, procured the approbation and consent of the pope for the conquest of the Indies, which was readily granted by Alexander VI, who then governed the church; and the bull to this effect was not only for what was already discovered, but for all that might be discovered westwards, until they should come to the East, where any Christian prince was then actually in possession, and forbidding all persons whomsoever to intrude within these bounds. And this concession and exclusive right was again confirmed in the year following in the most ample terms. Sensible that all this favourable grant from the pope was due to the admiral, by whose discovery they had become entitled to the possession of all these parts, their majesties were pleased, on the twenty-eighth of May, at Barcelona, to ratify, renew, confirm, and explain the privileges and prerogatives which they had granted him before, by granting them of new, so as explicitly to define how far the bounds of his admiralty and viceroyalty extended, being over all which had been granted to them by his holiness, of which grant the tenor follows:

Original Grant to Columbus in 1492, before the Discovery.

"FERDINAND and ISABELLA, by the grace of God, King and Queen of Castile, Leon, Arragon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Minorca, Seville, Sardinia, Jaen, Algarve, Algezira, Gibraltar, and the Canary islands, Lord and Lady of Biscay and Molina, Duke and Duchess of Athens and Neopatria, Count and Countess of Boussillon and Cerdagne, Marquis and Marchioness of Oristan and Gociano, &c."

"Forasmuch as you CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS are going by our command, and with some of our ships and men to discover and subdue certain islands and continents in the ocean, and it is hoped by Gods assistance that some of those islands and continents will be discovered by your means and conduct, it is therefore just and reasonable, since you expose yourself to such dangers in our service, that you be suitably rewarded. And willing to honour and favour you for the reasons aforesaid, our will is that you Christopher Columbus, after discovering and conquering the said islands and continent, in the said ocean, or any of them, shall be our admiral of all such islands and continent as you shall so discover and conquer, and that you be our admiral, viceroy, and governor in them: that for the future you may call and style yourself Don Christopher Columbus; and that your sons and successors in the said employment may call themselves dons, admirals, viceroys, and governors, in the same: That you may exercise the charge of admiral, viceroy, and governor of the said islands and continent which you or your lieutenants shall conquer, and shall freely decide all causes, civil and criminal, appertaining to the said employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, as you think fit according to justice, and as the admirals of our kingdom are in use to do: That you shall have power to punish all offenders: That you and your lieutenants may exercise the employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, in all things belonging to the said offices, or any of them, and that you shall enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employments and to each of them, in the same manner that the high admiral of our kingdom does at present."

"By this our letter, or by a copy thereof signed by a public notary, We command prince John, our dearly beloved son the Infante, dukes, prelates, marquisses, great masters, and military orders, priors, commanderies, or councillors, judges, and others our officers of justice whomsoever, belonging to our household, courts, and chancery, and constables of castles, commanders of forts and others, and all corporations, mayors, bailiffs, and magistrates, governors, judges, commanders, and sea officers; the aldermen, common councillors, officers, and good people, of all cities, towns, lands, and places in our kingdoms and dominions, and in those which you shall discover and subdue; and the captains, masters, mates, and all other officers and sailors, our natural subjects at present, or who shall so become hereafter, all or any of them, that when you shall have so discovered the said islands and continent in the ocean, and you or any that have your commission shall have taken the oaths usual in such cases, that they shall look upon you for the future so long as you live, and after you your son and heir, and so on from one heir to another for ever, as our admiral, viceroy, and governor of the said islands and continent by you Christopher Columbus to be discovered and conquered; and that they treat you, and your lieutenants by you appointed for executing the employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, as such in all respects; and shall give you all the perquisites and other things belonging and appertaining to the said offices; and shall allow and cause to be allowed you, all honours, graces, concessions, preeminences, prerogatives, immunities, and other things, or any of them, which are due to you by virtue of your commands of admiral, viceroy, and governor, all to be observed completely, so that nothing shall be diminished: That they shall raise no objection to this or any part of it, nor suffer any such to be made; forasmuch as we by this our letter bestow on you the employments of admiral, viceroy and governor forever, and have put you in possession of the said offices and all of them, with full power to use and exercise them, and to receive the perquisites and salaries belonging to them, or any of them, as above said."

"Concerning all which things if it be requisite and you shall desire it, We command our chancellors, notaries, and other officers, to pass, seal, and deliver to you our letter of privilege, in such firm and legal manner as you shall require and stand in need of. And that none presume to do any thing to the contrary upon pain of our displeasure, and the forfeiture of thirty ducats for each offence. And we command him who shall shew them this our letter, that he shall summon them to appear before us at our court wherever we shall then be, within fifteen days after such summons under the foresaid penalty. Under which same penalty we also command any public notary whomsoever, that he give to him that shews it to him a certificate under his seal, that we may know how our command is obeyed."

"Given at Granada on the thirtieth of April in the year of our Lord 1492." "I the King. I the Queen."

Confirmation in 1493.

After a preamble, as in the original grant, it proceeds thus:

"And now, forasmuch as it has pleased GOD that you have discovered several of the said islands, as we still hope you will proceed by his grace to discover others, and the continent in the said ocean, and those parts of the Indies, and seeing that you have desired us to confirm to you our said grant here recapitulated, and all the contents thereof, to the end that you and your children, heirs, and successors, one after another, and after your days, may have and enjoy the said employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor of the said ocean, islands, and continent, as well of those you have already found and discovered as of those you shall hereafter find and discover, with all the powers, preeminence, privileges, and prerogatives as the admirals, viceroys, and governors in our kingdoms of Castile and Leon do actually enjoy; and that all the perquisites and salaries, appertaining and belonging to the said offices, and granted and allowed to our admirals, viceroys, and governors, may be made good to you, or that we shall make such provision in this case as in our goodness we may think fit."

"And, having regard to the fatigues and dangers which you have exposed yourself to in our service, in going to discover and find out the said islands, and that which you now run in attempting to find out the other islands and continent, wherein we have been and hope to be by you well served; we, to requite and reward you, do by these presents confirm to you and your children, heirs, and successors, one after another, now and for ever, the said employments of admiral of the said ocean, and viceroy and governor of the said islands and continent, by you discovered and found out, and of the other islands and continent that shall be by you, or by your industry found or discovered in those parts of the Indies. And it is our will, that you, and after you your children, heirs, and successors, one after the other, enjoy the said employment of admiral of the said ocean which is ours, and which commences at a line which we have caused to be drawn from the Azores islands to the islands of Cape Verd, and so from pole to pole north and south, so that all beyond the said line westwards is ours and belongs to us. And we accordingly constitute you our admiral, and your sons and successors one after another, of all that part for ever. And we appoint you, and your sons, heirs, and successors, one after another, viceroy and governor of the said islands and continent discovered, and to be discovered in the said ocean, and in those parts of the Indies aforesaid; and we grant you the possession of all the said employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor for ever, with full commission and authority to use and exercise in the said ocean the office of admiral in all things, and in the same manner and form, and with the rights and privileges, perquisites and salaries as our admirals of Castile and Leon now use, have, and enjoy, or have enjoyed, as well in the said islands and continent already discovered, as in those which shall hereafter be discovered in the said ocean, and in the said parts of the Indies, that the planters or colonists of the same may be the better governed."

"And we grant you such power and authority, that you, as our viceroy and governor, and your lieutenants, commanders, and officers, by you created, may exercise the civil and criminal jurisdiction, the supreme and mean authority, and the absolute and mixed command. And in those places you may remove, turn out, and put in others in their places, as often as you please, and may find convenient. And they shall have power to hear, judge, and determine, all suits or causes, civil and criminal, that shall occur or arise in said islands and continent, and they shall have and receive the fees and salaries usually annexed and pertaining to those employments in our kingdoms of Castile and Leon. And you our said viceroy and governor, may hear and determine all the said causes or any of them, whensoever you please, upon the first motion, or by way of appeal or complaint, and may examine, determine, and decide them as our viceroy and governor: and you and your children may do all that is reasonable in such cases, and in all other things pertaining to the office of viceroy and governor; and you and your lieutenants and officers, may take such cognizance and use such methods as you shall think proper for our service and the due execution of justice. All which you and they may do, and perform lawfully and effectually, as they might and ought to do, had the said officers been appointed by us. And our will and pleasure is, that all such letters-patent as you shall grant, be drawn and granted in our names with these words, Ferdinand and Isabella, by the grace of GOD, king and queen of Castile and Leon, &c. and shall be sealed with our seal, which we shall cause to be given you for the said islands and continent. And we command all the people and inhabitants, and other persons in the said islands and continent, to obey you as our viceroy and governor of the same, and all those who sail on the said seas, to obey you as our admiral of the said ocean; and that all of them shall execute your letters and orders, and shall take part with you and your officers for the due execution of our justice, and shall give and cause to be given you all the aid and assistance you shall require and stand in need of, upon such penalties as you shall impose upon them, which by these presents we do impose upon them, and declare to be imposed; and we grant you authority to execute the same, upon their persons and goods."

"And it also is our will, that if you shall find it for our service, and the due execution of justice to cause any person who shall be in the said islands and continent to depart therefrom, and not to stay or return thereto, and that they shall come and appear before us; you may, in our name command and make them depart accordingly, all whom we by these presents command, that they presently perform, execute, and put in practice all that has been enjoined, without looking farther or asking advice in the same, not expecting any other letter or command from us, and notwithstanding any appeal or petition which they may make or present to us against your said order. For all which things, and any other due or belonging to the said offices of our admiral, viceroy, and governor, we give you sufficient authority in all incidents, dependencies, and emergencies, that may occur. Concerning all which, if you shall so desire, we command our chancellor, notaries, and others, our officers belonging to our seals, that they give, pass, dispatch, and seal for you, our letters of privilege, in as strong, firm, and effective manner as you may require of them and stand in need of, and that none of them do any thing to the contrary, upon pain of our displeasure, and of thirty ducats to be paid to our treasury by every one who may be guilty to the contrary hereof."

"And besides, we command him that shall shew them[1] this our letter to summon them to appear before us in our court wheresoever we may happen to be, within fifteen days, under the same penalty. Under which we also command any public notary, who may be called for such purpose, that he give to him who shall produce these letters to him a certificate, signed under his hand, that we may know how our commands are obeyed[2].

"Given in our city of Barcelona, this 28th of May, in the year of our Lord 1493." "I the King. I the Queen."

"By their majesties order, Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, secretary to the king and queen." "Peter Gutierres, Chancellor: Without fees for seal or entry." "Delivered by Roderick Doctor." "Entered, Alonzo Perez."

Orders having been issued to make all necessary preparations for the establishment of a permanent colony in the new discovery, the admiral went from Barcelona to Seville in June 1493, and so diligently solicited the fitting out of the fleet which their Catholic majesties had directed to be provided, that in a short time seventeen vessels of various sizes were got ready, well stored with provisions and with all things deemed necessary for the intended colonization. Handicrafts of all sorts, with peasants or farmers to till the ground, and a variety of labourers, were engaged to accompany the expedition. The fame of the gold and other rarities which the newly discovered region produced, had induced so many gentlemen and other persons of respectability to offer themselves, that it became necessary to limit the numbers who could be permitted to embark, and not to allow all who were eager to transport themselves to the new world to go there, until time should make it appear how matters might succeed, and the colony might be somewhat settled. Yet so eager were the adventurers to engage in the scheme of this new colony, that 1500 persons of all sorts went upon the expedition; of whom some carried out horses, asses, and other kinds of cattle, which were afterwards of most important benefit to the colony.

All things being prepared, the admiral weighed anchor from the road of Cadiz, where the fleet had been prepared, upon Wednesday the 25th of September 1493, an hour before sun-rising, and stood to the southwards for the Canary islands, designing to procure some necessary refreshments there[3]. On the 28th of September, being then 100 leagues from Spain, great numbers of land birds, among which were turtle-doves, and many small birds, came aboard the admirals ship, which were supposed to come from the Azores, and to be on their passage to Africa to pass the winter. Holding on their course, the fleet came to anchor at Gran Canaria on Wednesday the 2d of October, and sailed again at midnight for Gomera, where it arrived on the 5th of October. The admiral issued orders for every thing of which the fleet might stand in need to be provided with all possible dispatch.

On Monday the 7th of October, the admiral continued his voyage for the West Indies, having first delivered sealed orders to every ship in the fleet, with strict injunctions that they were not to be opened unless separated from him by stress of weather. In these he gave directions for the course which they were to steer for attaining the town of the Nativity in Hispaniola, and he did not wish that course should be known by any one without urgent necessity. Having sailed on with a fair wind until Thursday the 24th of October, when they were by estimation 400 leagues west from Gomera, all were astonished at not finding any of the weeds which had been met with on the former voyage when only 250 leagues advanced into the Atlantic. On that day and the next a swallow was seen flying about the fleet. On the night of Saturday the 26th, the body of St Elmo, with seven lighted candles, was seen on the round top, which was followed by prodigious torrents of rain and frightful thunder and lightning. I mean those lights were seen which the seamen affirm to be the body of St Elmo, to whom they sing litanies and prayers upon these occasions, and they firmly believe that there can be no danger from those storms in which that phenomenon occurs. According to Pliny, when such lights appeared to the Roman sailors they were said to be Castor and Pollux, of which Seneca likewise makes mention in the beginning of his Book of Nature.[4]

On Saturday the 2d of November, the admiral observed a great alteration in the appearance of the sky and in the winds, and concluded from these, and the prevalence of heavy rains, that he was certainly approaching the land, and therefore ordered most of the sails to be furled, and all the people to be on the watch, and to keep a strict look out. This precaution was exceedingly necessary; for next morning, just as day began to dawn, a high mountainous island was discovered about seven leagues to the west, to which the admiral gave the name of Dominica, because discovered on Sunday. Soon afterwards another island was seen to the north-east of Dominica, and then another, and another after that more to the northwards.[5] On this joyful occasion, all the crew assembled on the poop, and devoutly sung the salve regina, and other hymns, giving thanks to God that in twenty days after their departure from Gomera they had safely made the land, judging the distance between Gomera and Dominica to be between 750 and 800 leagues. Finding no convenient place for anchoring on the east side of Dominica, the admiral stood over to another island which he named Marigalante after his own ship. Landing here, he again confirmed with all due solemnity, the possession which he had taken in his first voyage of all the islands and continent of the West Indies for their Catholic majesties.

On Monday the 4th of November, the admiral sailed northwards past another large island, which he named St Mary of Guadalupe, partly by reason of his own especial devotion to the holy Virgin, and because he had made a promise to the friars of that monastery to name some island after their house. Before they came to it, and about two leagues distance from its coast, they discovered a very high rock ending in a point, whence issued a stream of water as thick as a large barrel, which made so great a noise in its fall as to be heard on board the ships; yet many affirmed that it was only a white vein in the rock, the water was so white and frothy by reason of its rapid fall. Going on shore to view a kind of town, they found no parson there except some children, all the people having fled into the woods. To the arms of these children they tied some baubles, to allure their fathers when they returned.

In the houses our people found some geese like those of Spain, and abundance of parrots as large as common cocks, having red, green, blue, and white feathers. They also found pompions, and a sort of fruit resembling our green pine apples, but much larger, which were full of a solid fruit like melons, but much sweeter both in taste and smell, and far better than those which are brought up by art. This fruit grew on long stalks, like lilies or aloes, wild about the fields. They also saw other sorts of fruits and herbs different from ours. In the houses there were beds or hammocks made of cotton nets, with bows and arrows, and other articles; but our people took none of these things away, that the Indians might be the less afraid of the Christians. What they most admired and wondered at was that they found an iron pan in one of the houses; though I am disposed to believe that the rocks and fire-stones of the country being of the colour of bright iron, a person of indifferent judgment may have taken it for iron without sufficient examination; for there never was any iron found afterwards among these people, and I find no authority from the admiral for this incident on his own knowledge, and as he used to write down daily whatever happened and was reported to him, he may have set down this among other particulars related by those who had been on shore.[6] Even if it actually were iron, it may be thus accounted for: The natives of Guadaloup, being Caribs, were accustomed to make plundering expeditions as far as Hispaniola, and might have procured that pan from the Christians or the natives of that island. It is likewise possible that they might have carried off some of the iron from the wreck of the admirals former ship; or some of that wreck containing iron might have been drifted by the winds and currents from Hispaniola. Be this as it may, the people neither took away the pan nor any thing else.

Next day the admiral sent two boats on shore, to endeavour to procure some person who might be able to give him some account of the country, and to inform him in what direction Hispaniola lay. Each of the boats brought off a youth, who agreed in saying that they were not of that island, but of another which they called Borriquen, now St John; and that the inhabitants of Guadaloupe were Caribs or Canibals, and had taken them prisoners from their own island. Soon afterwards, the boats returned on shore to bring off some Christians who had been left, and found six women who had fled to them from the Caribs, and came off willingly to the ships. To allure the Indians, the admiral would not keep them, but set them on shore against their wills, giving them some glass beads and bells. This was not done unadvisedly, for as soon as they landed, the Caribs even in sight of the Christians, took away all the trinkets which had been given them. Therefore, either through hatred or fear of the Caribs, when the boats returned some time afterwards for wood and water, the women got into them and requested to be carried back to the ships, and gave the seamen to understand by signs that those people eat men and make slaves of the women, and therefore they would not remain with them. Yielding to their entreaties, the seamen brought them back, with two children and a young man who had escaped from the Caribs; these people thinking themselves safer in the hands of strangers whom they had never seen or heard of, than among the cruel and wicked Caribs who had eaten their husbands and children, but who are said not to eat women, whom they keep as slaves. One of the women said there were many islands to the south, some inhabited and others not, which they severally named Giamachi, Cairvaco, Huino, Buriari, Arubeira, and Sixibei. They said that the continent was very large, and both they and the inhabitants of Hispaniola named it Zuanta; saying, that in former times canoes had come from that land to the islands to barter with abundance of lads, of whom there were two thirds in an island not far distant[7]. They also said that the king of the island, from which they fled, was gone with ten large canoes and 300 men to make incursions into the neighbouring islands to take prisoners to eat. The women likewise gave information where Hispaniola lay; for though the admiral had inserted it in his chart, yet he was inclined to hear what the natives of these islands knew respecting it for his better guidance.

The admiral now wished to proceed on his voyage, but was told that one Captain Mark had gone on shore before day with eight men without his leave, and had not yet returned. He was therefore obliged to send out to look for him, though in vain, by reason of the thickness of the trees. Therefore, that they might not be lost or be obliged to leave a ship for them, which might afterwards miss its way to Hispaniola, the admiral resolved to remain till next day; and because the country was full of extensive and thick woods, he ordered them to be carefully sought after, making a great noise with trumpets and muskets to lead them on the right way. But the people having searched the whole day ineffectually, returned to the ships in the evening without finding them, or hearing any thing of them. It was now Thursday morning, and no news had been heard of them since Tuesday; and considering that they had gone without leave, the admiral declared his resolution to continue the voyage, or at least made a shew of doing so to deter others from doing the like in future; but he allowed himself to be prevailed on by some of the kindred and friends of the stragglers to stay a little longer, and gave orders in the meantime for all the ships to complete their wood and water, and for the people to wash their linens; and he sent Captain Hojeda with forty men to look out for those who were amissing, and to examine into the nature of the country. Hojeda found mastick, aloes, sandal, ginger, frankincense, and some trees resembling cinnamon in taste and smell, and abundance of cotton. He saw many falcons, and two of them pursuing the other birds; also kites, herons, daws, turtles, partridges, geese, and nightingales; and he affirmed, that in travelling six leagues they had crossed twenty-six rivers, several of which were very deep; but I am apt to believe, as the country was very woody and uneven, that they had often crossed the same river. While the party under Hojeda were admiring the beauties of the country, and other parties were going about in all directions in search of the stragglers, they returned to the ship on Friday the 8th of November without having been met by any of those who looked for them. They excused themselves by saying that they had lost their way in the woods; but to punish their presumption, the admiral ordered the captain to be put in irons, and that the rest should have their allowance of provisions retrenched. The admiral then landed and went to some of the houses, where he saw all the particulars which have been already mentioned; likewise abundance of cotton, both spun and unspun, and looms for weaving, many human skulls hung up, and baskets full of human bones. The houses in this island were better, and more plentifully furnished with provisions and other things used by the Indians, than any which he had seen in his first voyage.

On Sunday the 10th of November the admiral weighed anchor, standing with the whole fleet towards the N.W. along the coast of Guadaloupe, and came to an island which he named Monseratte on account of its height; and was informed by the Indians on board that the Caribs had entirely dispeopled it by devouring all the inhabitants. He thence proceeded by St Mary Redonda, so named on account of its round and upright shape, insomuch, that there seemed no possibility of getting up to it without ladders. It was called Ocamaniro by the Indians. He next came to St Maria la Antigua, which is about twenty-eight leagues in extent. Still holding on his course to the N.W. there appeared several other islands towards the north, and in the N.W. and S.E. all very high and woody; at one of these he cast anchor and named it St Martin. They here took up some pieces of coral sticking to the flukes of the anchors, which made them hope to find other useful articles of commerce in these islands. Though the admiral was always anxious to examine into every place which he discovered, he yet resolved to hold on his course towards Hispaniola, that he might carry relief to the people who had been left there. But the weather being bad, he was obliged to come to anchor at an island on the 14th of November, where he gave orders to take some of the inhabitants, that he might learn whereabout he then was. As the boat was returning to the fleet with four women and three children whom they had taken, it met a canoe in which were four men and a woman; who perceiving that they could not escape, stood upon their defence, and hit two of the Spaniards with their arrows, which they discharged with such force and dexterity that the woman pierced a target quite through. The Spaniards attempted to board, and the canoe was overset, so that all the Indians were taken swimming in the water; and one of them shot several arrows while swimming, as dexterously as if he had been on dry land.

These people were found to be castrated; for they had been made prisoners by the Caribs in some other islands, who had so used them as we do capons, that they might become fatter and better food. Departing from thence, the admiral continued his voyage W.N.W. where he fell in with a cluster of above fifty islands, which he left to the northward of his course. The largest of these he named the island of St. Ursula, and the others he called the Eleven Thousand Virgins. He next came to the island called Borriquen by the Indians, but which he named St John the Baptist, in a bay on the west side of which the fleet came to anchor, where they caught several sorts of fish, as skate, olaves, pilchards, and shads. On the land they saw falcons, and bushes resembling wild vines. More to the eastwards some Spaniards went to certain houses well built after the Indian fashion, having a square before them and a broad road down to the sea, with bowers on each side made of canes, and curiously interwoven with evergreens, such as are seen in the gardens of Valencia. At the end of the road next the sea there was a raised stage or balcony, lofty and well built, capable of containing ten or twelve men.

On Friday the fifteenth of November the admiral reached the north side of Hispaniola, and immediately sent on shore at Samana one of the natives of the island who had been in Spain, and who being converted to our holy faith, offered to engage all his countrymen to submit to the Christians. The admiral continued his voyage to the Nativity, and off Cape Angel some Indians came on board to barter their commodities. Coming to anchor in the bay of Monte Christo a boat was sent on shore, the people of which found two dead men lying near a river. One of these seemed to be young and the other old, having a rope made of a substance like Spanish broom round his neck, and his arms extended and tied to a piece of wood in the form of a cross. Having been long dead, it could not be known whether these people were Christians or Indians, but it was considered an evil omen. The next day, twenty-sixth November, the admiral sent on shore in several places, and the Indians came boldly and freely to converse with the Spaniards, touching their shirts and doublets, and naming these articles in the Spanish language. This confidence and friendly behaviour relieved the admiral from the fears which he had conceived on account of the dead men; believing that if the natives had injured the Christians whom he had left, they would not have come so boldly on board the ships. But next day, coming to anchor about midnight near the town of Nauidad or the Nativity, a canoe came to the fleet and asked for the admiral, and being bid to come on board, they refused to do so till they should see him. The admiral therefore went to the ships side to hear what they had to say, and then two men from the canoe went up with two marks of gold, which they presented with many compliments to the admiral as from the cacique Guacanagari. Being asked concerning the Christians who were left at the Nativity, they answered that some of them had died of distempers, some had parted from the company and had gone into other parts of the country, and that all of them had four or five wives. Though it appeared from the way in which these Indians spoke, that all or most of the colonists were dead, yet the admiral did not think fit to take much notice of the circumtance at the time; he therefore dismissed the messengers with some brass trinkets and other baubles for Guacanagari, and a few to themselves.

Towards evening on Thursday the twenty-eighth November the admiral came with all the fleet into the harbour of the Nativity, and found the whole town burnt, and no person whatever could be seen about the place. Next morning the admiral landed, and was much concerned to find the fort and houses entirely destroyed, and nothing left which had belonged to the Christians, except some tattered garments and other broken articles of no value. Finding no person at whom he could make inquiries, he went up a river in the neighbourhood with several boats, leaving orders to clean out the well which he had dug in the fort, as he had directed the colonists to throw all the gold they could get into that well, to be prepared against the worst that might happen; but nothing of the kind could be found. On his way up the river he could meet with none of the Indians, who all fled from their houses into the woods on his approach. He therefore returned to Nauidad, where eight of the Christians had been discovered and three others in the fields, who were recognized by the remnants of their apparel, and seemed to have been a month dead. While prosecuting this melancholy search, a brother of the cacique Guacanagari came, accompanied by some Indians, to the admiral. These men could speak a few words of Spanish, and knew the names of all the Christians who had been left there. They said that those Spaniards had soon fallen out among themselves after the departure of the admiral, everyone taking for himself as much gold and as many women as he could procure. That Gutierres and Escovedo killed one named James, and then went away with nine others and all their women to the territories of a cacique named Caunabo who was lord of the mines, and by whom they had all been killed. That many days afterwards Caunabo came with a great number of men to Nauidad, where only James de Arana remained with ten men to guard the fort, all the rest of the Spaniards having dispersed about the island. Caunabo came by night and set fire to the houses where the Christians resided with their women, all of whom fled to the sea, where eight of them were drowned, three of them being slain on shore. That Guacanagari, in fighting against Caunabo in defence of the Christians, had been wounded and fled.

This account agreed with that which was received by some Spaniards whom the admiral had sent up into the country, and had gone to a town in the interior where the cacique lay ill of his wounds. This he said had prevented him from waiting upon the admiral and giving him an account of the catastrophe of the Christians, which he narrated exactly in conformity with the account given by his brother, and he requested that the admiral would go to see him as he was unable to be moved. The admiral went accordingly next day, and with great signs of sorrow the cacique related all that had happened, and that he and his men had all been wounded in endeavouring to defend the Christians, as appeared by their wounds, which had not been inflicted by Christian weapons, but with aragayas or wooden swords and arrows pointed with fish bones. At the end of his discourse the cacique presented to the admiral eight strings of small beads made of white, green, and red stones, a string of gold beads, a royal crown of gold, and three small calabashes full of gold dust, all of which might be about four marks weight of gold, the mark being half a pound. In return for all this the admiral gave him abundance of our baubles, which though not worth three ryals or eighteen-pence, he yet valued exceedingly. Although Guacanagari was very ill, he insisted upon going, with the admiral to see the fleet, where he was courteously entertained, and was much delighted to see the horses, of which he had received an account from the Christians. And as some of those who had been killed had given him a very erroneous account of our holy faith, the admiral used his best endeavours to instruct him, and prevailed with him to wear an image of the Virgin Mary suspended from his neck, which he had at first refused to receive.

Reflecting on the disaster of the Christians at Nauidad, and his own misfortune in that neighbourhood by losing his ship, and considering that there were other places at no great distance more commodious for the establishment of a colony, he sailed on Saturday the seventh of December with the whole fleet to the eastwards, and about evening cast anchor not far from the islands of Monte Christo. And the next day removed to Monte Christo, among those seven low islands which were mentioned in the account of the former voyage. These little islands, although destitute of trees, are yet extremely pleasant; for in that season of winter they found a profusion of fine flowers, the nests had many of them eggs, and young birds in others, and all other things resembled the appearance of summer in Spain. Removing thence, he went to anchor before an Indian town where he had resolved to plant his colony, and landed all the men, provisions, utensils, and animals which had been brought on board the fleet. The place he now chose was a fine plain near a rock on which a fort might be very conveniently built for its defence; and here he immediately began to build a town which he named Isabella, in honour of the queen of Castile. The port of this place, though exposed to the N.W. was large and convenient, and had a most delicious river only a bow-shot distant, from which canals of water might be drawn for the use of the town, to run through the streets. Immediately beyond that river there lay a vast open plain, from the extremity of which the Indians said the gold mines of Cibao were not far remote. For all these reasons the admiral was so extremely intent upon settling the colony, that what with the fatigues which he had endured at sea and the labour he now encountered, he not only was unable to write down from day to day the occurrences as had been his usual custom, but he fell sick, by which causes his journal was interrupted from the eleventh of December 1493 till the twelfth of March 1494. During all this time however, he ordered the affairs of the colony to the best advantage, as far as he was able. In this interval likewise he detached Alonzo de Hojeda with an escort of fifteen men to explore the mines of Cibao. And afterwards he sent on the second of February twelve ships of his fleet back to Spain under the command of Captain Anthony de Torres, who was brother to the nurse of Don John prince of Spain. Torres was a man of great judgment and entire honour, in whom their Catholic majesties and the admiral reposed much confidence. With him the admiral sent a detailed account in writing of the nature of the country, and of every thing which was required for the assistance of the infant colony, as well as an ample account of every occurrence from the time the fleet had departed from Spain.

Hojeda returned soon after the departure of the fleet, and gave an account of his journey. He reported that he halted on the second night of his journey at the pass of a mountain which was of very difficult access. That afterwards at many leagues distance, he found Indian villages and caciques who had been very kind to him; and that at the end of his sixth days journey he came to the mines of Cibao, were the Indians immediately took up gold in his presence from the bed of a small river, as they had done in many other places on his route, where he affirmed that there was plenty of gold. This news greatly rejoiced the admiral, who was now recovered from his sickness, and he resolved to go on shore to observe the nature of the country and the disposition of the inhabitants, that he might be the better able to judge of what ought to be done. Accordingly, on Wednesday the twelfth of March 1494, he set out from Isabella to inspect the mines of Cibao, taking all the people along with him who were in health, part on foot and part on horseback; leaving a good guard in the two ships and three caravels that remained of the fleet, and causing all the tackle and ammunition belonging to the other ships to be removed into his own.

He took the above mentioned precaution to prevent any from rebelling during his absence and seizing the ships to return home, as several had attempted to do during his sickness. Many had embarked in this voyage under the belief that they might load themselves with gold as soon as they landed, and so return rich home in a short time. But gold wherever it is to be found requires time, trouble and labour to gather it; and matters not turning out according to their sanguine expectations, they became dissatisfied and offended, and weary of the fatigue attending the building of Isabella, and of the diseases which the climate and change of diet had engendered among them. One Bernard de Pisa, who had been an inferior officer of justice at court, and who had gone the voyage as comptroller for their Catholic majesties, was the ring-leader and head of these mutineers; therefore the admiral would not punish him any otherwise than by securing him on board ship, with the design of sending him home to Spain, with his process regularly drawn up, as well on account of his mutinous conduct as for having written a false information against the admiral, which he had hidden in the ship.