Columbus Vainly Attempts to Find the Passage between the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans
In pursuance of his plan Columbus sailed from the coast of Honduras to
the eastward, hoping to find the straits which the natives assured him
were in that direction. On their eastern journey along the coast they
saw men who were very different from those they had met before and at
the same time more uncivilized. They went entirely naked, ate raw meat
and fish, and their ears were distended even to their shoulders by the
many things they wore in them. They were tattooed with pictures of deer,
lions, and other animals all over their bodies. The most important of
the natives were distinguished from the others by white and red head
coverings of woollen stuff. Some were black, others red, and still
others painted their lips, nostrils, and eyes with stripes of various
colors.
From there he sailed farther on, making, however, but a short distance
each day as the wind was almost continually contrary and he was greatly
troubled by the currents. At last he reached a cape, stretching toward
the south, and there the wind was so favorable that he coasted along
without difficulty. Columbus, who never was lacking in gratitude toward
the only Source of all good, named this cape Gracias á Dios, or “Thanks
to God.” In one place where they lay at anchor for several days they
encountered boats filled with armed savages who looked as if they
intended to prevent them from making a landing. As soon as they were
convinced, however, of the friendly intentions of the Spaniards, they
approached with the utmost confidence and offered to sell their weapons
of various kinds, crossbows, canes of a black hardwood—tipped with fish
bone,—clubs, waistcoats of wool, and little pieces of pale gold which
they wore on their necks. The Admiral presented them with various
European playthings without taking anything for them. This seemed to
dissatisfy them and when the Spaniards also declined their repeated
invitation to go ashore they regarded it as a sign of mistrust. For this
reason they shortly sent an old man of distinguished appearance,
accompanied by two young maidens wearing gold necklaces, as ambassadors
to the Spaniards. The old man appeared with a banner in his hand, which
doubtless was a flag of truce, and desired to be conducted to the
Admiral. Columbus received them courteously, provided them with food and
clothing, and sent them back to shore delighted with their friendly
treatment.
On the next day Columbus’ brother went ashore and saw all the presents
which had been given to the natives lying in a heap, probably because it
was not their custom to accept gifts without making gifts in return. As
he landed, two of the foremost natives took him by the arms and
requested him to sit between them on the grass. He did as they wished,
asked them various questions with the help of an interpreter, and
ordered his secretary to take down their answers in writing. Hardly had
the savages noticed pen, paper, and ink before they sprang up excitedly
and ran up to their fellows who were looking on near by. The poor
superstitious people fancied that the secretary was a magician, that the
writing materials were the instruments of his magic, and that he would
do them harm. Every effort was made to convince them of their folly but
they would not venture to come near the Spaniards until they had averted
the danger in their peculiar way, which was as follows: They threw a
kind of powder at them which gave out a smoke, and this smoke, which
they probably believed had the power of averting magic, they managed so
that it should touch the one whom they regarded as the master magician.
Immediately after this Bartolomeo went with them to their village. The
most remarkable thing he saw was a large wooden structure which served
as a burial-place. He found several corpses in it wrapped in woollen
cloths, one of which was embalmed. Upon each one of the graves there was
a board upon which were figures of animals. Upon some there were
likenesses of the deceased, ornamented in various ways. On the next day
the Admiral detained several natives on board in order to obtain further
information from them, which led the others to believe that he intended
to keep them until they were ransomed. Accordingly they sent messengers
to him with two young wild hogs as a ransom for the prisoners. The
Admiral sought to make them understand their comrades were not prisoners
and that a ransom was not necessary. He bought the hogs from them,
whereupon they returned contented.
After another cruise of several days the Admiral reached the mouth of a
stream, came to anchor, and sent a boat’s crew ashore, but a multitude
of armed natives resisted their landing. Over a hundred sprang waist
deep into the water, threateningly brandished their lances, blew horns,
beat a kind of drum, dashed water at the Spaniards, and spit at them as
a sign of their contempt and aversion. The Spaniards had orders to
maintain a friendly attitude toward them. They made no reply to the
hostile actions of the natives but contented themselves with watching
the spectacle at a safe distance until the leaders were weary of their
useless operations, when, in place of a battle, communication was opened
up with them, and an exchange of several little trifles was made for
sixteen plates of gold, valued at one hundred and fifty ducats.
On the next day the natives changed their views of the peaceful attitude
of the Spaniards toward them. They attributed it to cowardice and even
went so far with their audacity as to hurl their spears at the
approaching boats. Finding it necessary to give them a lesson they could
understand, a cannon was fired and at the same time one of the savages
was wounded by an arrow, which created a panic among them. The Spaniards
availed themselves of the opportunity to land without inflicting further
injury upon the fugitives. They made signals to them in the hope of
inducing them to return. As the natives were now convinced that the
white strangers would not harm them, they came back, laid down their
arms, and exchanged their gold quietly and peacefully.
After learning the nature of the region and its products the Admiral
continued his course along the coast, still hoping to find the straits.
On this voyage he at last came to a gulf with a spacious and secure
harbor. The natives there had built an apparently large town, which was
densely populated and surrounded by well-cultivated land. Columbus named
this place Porto Bello on account of its beautiful harbor. The natives
were universally friendly and brought fine-spun cloths, besides all
kinds of food, which they gladly exchanged for nails, needles, and
bells, and other similar trifles. From there Columbus sailed eight miles
farther to that region where now is the city of Nombre de Dios. As the
stormy weather compelled him to remain there several days he spent the
time in repairing his vessels, which had now become badly damaged. After
this he resumed his voyage but bad weather forced him to run into a
little harbor which he named the “Refuge.” The natives there were also
very friendly at first but the insulting behavior of a sailor provoked
them to hostility. Confiding in their numbers, they made a concerted
attack and attempted to board the vessels. The Admiral tried to induce
them to abandon their purpose but, as his good offices were of no avail,
he had a cannon fired in hopes that its mere noise would intimidate
them. He was mistaken, however. When the natives saw that no damage was
done, they became even bolder and replied to the cannon with shouts of
derision. Seeing that it was necessary to make some impression upon them
and show them what the cannon could do, he had a large one heavily
loaded and aimed at a hill where a multitude of the natives were
collected. The ball flew through the crowd. They saw to their dismay
that the thunder could also hit and they fled in consternation into the
woods. These natives were the handsomest he had yet seen. They were
slim, had well-shaped limbs, and none of them the protruding paunches
which were common among the savages. The harbor was filled with large
alligators which used to come down to the shore to sleep. These animals
gave out an aroma which filled the air. Although they seemed to be
timid, they would strive, when attacked, to seize and devour their
assailant.
At last Columbus began to despair of finding the passage between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. As he was also threatened by furious storm
winds he decided to turn back, and sailed to a spot which he called
Veragua and in which, according to the natives, there were rich gold
mines. A terrible storm, which lasted several days, and the rapid
diminishing of his supplies made this short voyage one of his most
troublesome and dangerous. The entire supply of food which remained,
after being at sea eight months, consisted of some poor remnants of ship
biscuit which had become so tainted by the hot, damp weather of the
region that it was unfit to eat. Notwithstanding this, the disgusting
stuff was eagerly devoured, but those eating it would go off into dark
corners so as not to see what they were putting into their mouths. In
this wretched plight they looked askance at the great number of sharks
swimming around the vessels. The superstitious followers of Columbus
regarded these monsters as signs of misfortune. But in spite of their
superstitious fears and in spite of the disgust which Europeans have for
such oily flesh, these famished people devoured shark meat with still
greater zest because it tasted better than maggoty biscuit.