We have already quoted the enthusiastic encomium of Columbus upon Cuba
at his first sight of and landing upon its shore. His diary and his
narrative to the sovereigns of Leon and Castile on his return to Spain
abound with similar expressions, as well as with informing bits of
description of Cuba as they then found it. In the very first days of his
first visit he found villages of houses "made like booths, very large,
and looking like tents in a camp without regular streets but one here
and another there. Within they were clean and well swept, with furniture
well made. All were of palm branches, beautifully constructed. They
found many images in the shape of women, and many heads like masks, very
well carved. It was not known whether these were used as ornaments, or
were to be worshipped."
The waters abounded in fish, and the people of the coast regions were
apparently nearly all fishermen. The only domestic animals were the
"dogs which never barked," and birds in cages. There were seen, however,
skulls like those of cows, on which account Columbus assumed that inland
there were herds of cattle. All night the air was vocal with the songs
of birds and the chirping of crickets and other insects, which lulled
the voyagers to rest. Along the shore and in the mouths of rivers were
found large shells, unlike any that he had known in Spain, but no pearls
were in them. The air was soft and salubrious, and the nights were
neither hot nor cold. On the other islands which he had visited the heat
was oppressive, a circumstance which he attributed to the flat and
low-lying land; while Cuba was mountainous and therefore was blessed
with cooling breezes.
At some point on the northeastern coast, probably in the neighborhood
of Point Sama, a month after his first landing, he imagined that he had
discovered deposits of gold. It was in the bed of a river, near its
mouth, that he saw stones shining, as if with gold, and he had them
gathered, to take home to Spain and to present to the sovereigns. At the
same point some of the sailors called his attention to the pine trees on
a neighboring hill. They were "so wonderfully large that he could not
exaggerate their height and straightness, and he perceived that in them
was material for great stores of planks and masts for the largest ships
of Spain."
Further on, probably in the neighborhood of Baracoa, "they came to the
largest inhabited place that they had yet seen, and a vast concourse of
people came down to the beach with loud shouts, all naked, with darts in
their hands." Columbus desired to have speech with them, and accordingly
anchored his ships and sent boats ashore, bearing gifts for the natives.
The people at first seemed inclined to resist any landing, but when the
Spaniards in the boats pressed on and began to land, without manifesting
any fear, they abandoned their hostile attitude and began to withdraw.
The Spaniards who landed called to them and strove to lure them back,
but without success. They all ran away. In consequence of this and
similar incidents, Columbus wrote:
"I have not been able to see much of the natives, because they take to
flight. But now, if Our Lord pleases, I will see as much as possible,
and will proceed little by little, learning and comprehending; and I
will make some of my followers learn the language--for I have perceived
that there is only one language up to this point. After they understand
the advantages I shall labor to make all these people Christians. They
will readily become such, because they have no religion nor idolatry;
and Your Highnesses"--he was addressing the sovereigns, in his
journal--"will send orders to build a city and fortress, and to convert
these people.
"It does not appear to me," he continued, "that there can be a more
fertile country or a better climate under the sun, with more abundant
supplies of water. This is not like the rivers of Guinea, which are all
pestilential. I thank Our Lord that up to this time there has not been a
person of my company who has had so much as a head-ache, except one old
man who has suffered from stone all his life, and he was well again in
two days. I speak of all three vessels. If it should please God that
Your Highness should send learned men out here, they will see the truth
of all I have said."
While in the neighborhood of Baracoa, at the end of November and
beginning of December, 1492, he saw a canoe made of the hole of a single
tree, 95 palms long and capable of carrying 150 persons. "Leaving the
river, they came to a cove in which there were five large canoes, so
well constructed that it was a pleasure to look at them. They were under
spreading trees, and a path led to them from a very well built
boathouse, so thatched that neither sun nor rain could do any harm.
Within it there was another canoe made out of a single tree like the
others, like a galley with 17 benches. It was a pleasant sight to look
upon such goodly work.
"The Admiral ascended a mountain, and afterward found the country level
and cultivated with many things. In the middle there was a large
village, and they came upon the people suddenly, but as soon as they
were seen the men and women took to flight. The Admiral made the Indian
from on board, who was with him, give them bells, copper ornaments, and
glass beads, green and yellow, with which they were well content. He saw
that they had no gold nor any other precious thing, and that it would
suffice to leave them in peace. The whole district was well peopled....
No arms are carried by them except wands, on the point of which a short
piece of wood is fixed, hardened by fire, and these they are very ready
to exchange.
"Returning to where he had left the boats, he sent back some men up the
hill, because he fancied he had seen a large apiary. Before those he
had sent could return, they were joined by many Indians, and they went
to the boats, where the Admiral was waiting with all his people. One of
the natives advanced into the river near the stern of the boat and made
a long speech, which the Admiral did not understand. At intervals the
other Indians raised their hands to heaven and shouted. The Admiral
thought that the orator was assuring him that he was pleased at his
arrival. But he saw the Indian who came from the ship change the color
of his face and turn as yellow as wax, trembling much and indicating to
the Admiral by signs that he should leave the river, as they were going
to kill him. The Admiral then pointed to a cross-bow which one of his
followers had, and showed it to the Indians, making them understand that
they would all be slain, because that weapon killed people at a great
distance. He also drew a sword from its sheath and showed it to them,
telling them that it, too, would slay them. Thereupon they all took to
flight; while the Indian from the ship still trembled from cowardice,
though he was a tall, strong man."
Columbus then determined to seek further acquaintance with the natives,
and accordingly had his boat rowed to a point on the shore of the river
where they were assembled in great numbers. They were naked, and
painted; some wearing tufts of feathers on their heads, and all carrying
bundles of darts. "I came to them," said Columbus, "and gave them bread,
asking for the darts, in exchange for which I gave copper ornaments,
bells and glass beads. This made them peaceable, so that they came to
the boats again and gave us what they had. The sailors had killed a
turtle, and the shell was on the boat, cut into pieces, some of which
the sailors gave them in exchange for a bundle of darts. They were like
the other people we had seen, with the same belief that we had come from
heaven." They were ready, he added, to give anything that they had in
exchange for any trifle, which they would accept without saying that it
was little, and Columbus believed that they would thus give away gold
and spices, if they had had any. In one of the houses which he entered
"shells and other things were fastened to the ceiling." He thought that
it was a temple, and he inquired, by signs, if such was the case and if
prayers were there offered. The natives replied in the negative, and one
of them climbed up to take down the ceiling ornaments and give them to
Columbus, who accepted a few of them.
It was early in November, 1492, that one of the most noteworthy
discoveries in relation to Cuba was made. At that time Columbus sent
inland from the port at the mouth of the Rio de Mares two men, Rodrigo
de Jerez and Luis de Torres, to explore the inland country and to find
if possible the high road to the capital and palace of the Great Khan.
These men did not find what they had been sent for, but something else,
which proved in after years to be of incalculable value to Cuba and to
the world. To quote Las Casas:
"They met on the road many men and women, passing to their villages, the
men always with half-burned brands in their hands and certain herbs for
smoking. These herbs are dry and are placed in a dry leaf made in the
shape of the paper tubes which the boys make at Easter. Lighted at one
end, at the other the smoke is sucked or drawn in with the breath. The
effect of it is to make them sleepy and as it were intoxicated, and they
say that using it relieves the feeling of fatigue. These rolls they call
'tabacos.'" Some of Columbus's men, when it was reported to them, tried
smoking the "tabacos," and the habit soon became prevalent among the
Spanish colonists in Hispaniola.
These few items, then, compose practically the sum and substance of the
knowledge which Columbus acquired of that land which was, second to only
the continent, by far the most important of all his discoveries. They
are few and meagre. It is indeed doubtful if history records an even
approximately comparable instance of the disappearance of a numerous and
capable people from a country of vast interest and importance, leaving
behind them so few traces of themselves and so little information
concerning them. For these things are not merely all that Columbus
learned about Cuba. They are all that his successors learned and that
the world has ever learned about Cuba as it existed prior to and at the
time of the great discovery. Tobacco, hammocks, canoes, and the name of
the island and the names of various places on it which have persisted in
spite of the repeated attempts to substitute a new nomenclature; these
are the world's memorials of pre-Columbian Cuba.
The brief visits and superficial inspection which we have recorded were
not, however, destined to be the full compass of the Discoverer's
personal relationship to Cuba. While he did not again visit the island
in life, nor give to it any of the attention which ampler knowledge
would have shown him it deserved, his mortal remains were conveyed
thither, and there remained for a considerable period; though by a
strange fatality this fact, well authenticated as it is, has been
persistently and elaborately disputed, until the tomb of Columbus has in
the minds of many become almost as much a matter of speculation and
uncertainty as the place of his birth.
It was on Ascension Day, May 20, 1506, that Columbus died at Valladolid,
in Spain, and there his body was laid to rest in the parish church of
Santa Maria de la Antigua, a church of the Franciscan Fathers. The date
of the first removal is unknown, and is much disputed. Some have placed
it as late as the year 1513, while others, as the result of later and
more assured research, declare it to have been within a year or two, or
at most within three years, of his death. Of the new place of sepulture,
however, there is no question. It was in a chapel of the Carthusian
monastery of Santa Maria de las Cuevas, at Seville; where also, years
afterward, were laid the remains of his son, Diego, who died at
Montalban on February 23, 1526.
But as in life, so in death Columbus must needs be a wanderer. In 1542
the city of Santo Domingo, the capital of that island colony of
Hispaniola to which Columbus's chief attention had been given, demanded
to be made the repository of the body of its founder. Accordingly,
Charles I decreed the removal, and the bodies of Christopher Columbus
and his son Diego were both transferred from Seville to a double tomb in
the cathedral of Santo Domingo, hard by the fortress in which the
Discoverer had once been confined by Bobadilla as a prisoner. Thus far
the record was and is clear; and for two and a half centuries the tomb
remained inviolate. Indeed, it was so little meddled with that its
precise location became a matter of doubt, save that it was somewhere
"in the main sanctuary" of the cathedral.
The first attempt to determine it was made about 1783 by the French
politician and writer, Moreau de Saint-Mery, a kinsman of the Empress
Josephine and a member of the Colonial Council of Santo Domingo.
Diligent inquiry, without actual exhumation, resulted in the information
that the remains of Christopher Columbus, enclosed first in a leaden
casket and then in a massive coffin of stone, lay underneath the Gospel
side of the sanctuary, and that those of his brother, Bartholomew
Columbus, similarly enclosed, lay underneath the Epistle side. This was
contrary, in one respect, to the understanding of years before, which
was that it was the body of Columbus's grandson Luis which lay under the
Epistle side of the sanctuary. The problem was complicated by the fact
that the cathedral had been so remodelled that the tomb of Columbus was
underneath its wall, where actual examination was difficult; and in fact
no exhumation was then attempted.
In 1795, however, the island was transferred to French sovereignty, and
the Spanish governor, on relinquishing his rule, requested permission to
remove the remains of Columbus to Havana, Cuba, in order that they might
continue to rest beneath the Spanish flag. This was granted to him, and
accordingly, in January, 1796, the tomb beneath the wall on the Gospel
side of the sanctuary of the cathedral of Santo Domingo was opened, and
the coffin found within was reverently removed and borne to Havana,
where it was deposited in a new tomb in the cathedral--formerly the
Church of the Jesuits--where its presence was indicated by a medallion
and inscription on the wall of the chancel. For many years that was
indubitably regarded as the tomb of the Discoverer.
It was not until 1877 that doubt of this fact arose. In that year
repairs were made to the cathedral of Santo Domingo, in the course of
which the rector, the Rev. Francis Navier Billini, insisted upon
reopening the tomb underneath the Epistle side of the sanctuary, which
had of old been reputed to contain the coffin of Luis Columbus, but
which Saint-Mery had been informed contained the remains of Bartholomew
Columbus. There was discovered a leaden casket, which, like that which
had been taken to Havana, bore no inscription. But upon or close by it
there lay a sheet of lead bearing the words, "The Admiral Don Luis
Colon, Duke of Veragua and Marquis of...." The remainder was
undecipherable. The casket was therefore accepted as that of Columbus's
grandson; confirming the common belief before the time of Saint-Mery.
Not content with this discovery, the enterprising rector continued his
excavations, and presently the finding of another leaden casket was
announced, which was reported to bear an inscription, much abbreviated,
which, amplified, ran thus: "Discoverer of America; First Admiral." This
created a great sensation, and stimulated Dominican pride. The rector at
once sent for the President of Santo Domingo and other dignitaries of
state and church, including various foreign diplomats and consuls, and
in their presence continued the examination of the treasure trove. Upon
opening the casket, the inner side of the lid was found also to bear an
inscription, greatly abbreviated, which was interpreted as reading:
"Illustrious and Noble Man, Don Cristoval Colon." This the Dominicans
joyfully proclaimed to be proof positive that the remains of the
Discoverer were still in their possession, and that the casket which had
been taken to Havana contained the bones of some other member of the
Columbus family.
From that event arose a controversy which probably will never be settled
to universal satisfaction. The Dominicans marshalled to the support of
their claims various historical and antiquarian authorities, and the
Cubans and the Spanish government secured at least an equal array in
support of their claim that the remains of Columbus had been transferred
to Havana. A strongly convincing report to the latter effect was made to
the Spanish government by Senor Colmeiro, of the Spanish Royal Academy
of History, and his judgment was generally accepted throughout Cuba and
Spain. It was pointed out that the inscriptions contained various
anachronisms indicating that they must have been written at a much later
date than that of the death and interment of Columbus.
Havana therefore continued confidently to pride itself upon being the
repository of the dust of the Great Admiral, and his tomb in the ancient
cathedral was thus recognized and revered by countless visitors. But at
last, in 1899, after the independence of Cuba from Spain had been
accomplished, a request was made by the Spanish Government for the
transfer of the casket and its precious contents back to Spain, where
historically they belonged. It was indeed pointed out that the transfer
to Havana in 1796 had been intended to be only temporary, pending a
fitting opportunity for a further removal to Spain. This request was
granted, and the dust of the Discoverer was finally reinterred in the
cathedral of Seville.
[Illustration: THE HAVANA CATHEDRAL
Originally the church of the Jesuits, this imposing edifice was built in
1656, though not completed until 1724, and took the place of the first
cathedral in 1762. Within a tomb within its walls the remains of
Columbus rested from 1796, when they were taken thither from Santo
Domingo, to 1899, when they were conveyed to Spain.]