Voyage along the Coast of Honduras.
[1502.]
For several days Columbus remained in Port Hermosa to repair his vessels,
and permit his crews to repose and refresh themselves after the late
tempest. He had scarcely left this harbor, when he was obliged to take
shelter from another storm in Jacquemel, or, as it was called by the
Spaniards, Port Brazil. Hence he sailed on the 14th of July, steering for
Terra Firma. The weather falling perfectly calm, he was borne away by the
currents until he found himself in the vicinity of some little islands
near Jamaica, [125] destitute of springs, but where the seamen obtained a
supply of water by digging holes in the sand on the beach.
The calm continuing, he was swept away to the group of small islands, or
keys, on the southern coast of Cuba, to which, in 1494, he had given the
name of The Gardens. He had scarcely touched there, however, when the wind
sprang up from a favorable quarter, and he was enabled to make sail on his
destined course. He now stood to the southwest, and after a few days
discovered, on the 30th of July, a small but elevated island, agreeable to
the eye from the variety of trees with which it was covered. Among these
was a great number of lofty pines, from which circumstance Columbus named
it Isla de Pinos. It has always, however, retained its Indian name of
Guanaja, [126] which has been extended to a number of smaller islands
surrounding it. This group is within a few leagues of the coast of
Honduras, to the east of the great bay or gulf of that name.
The Adelantado, with two launches full of people, landed on the principal
island, which was extremely verdant and fertile. The inhabitants resembled
those of other islands, excepting that their foreheads were narrower.
While the Adelantado was on shore, he beheld a great canoe arriving, as
from a distant and important voyage. He was struck with its magnitude and
contents. It was eight feet wide, and as long as a galley, though formed
of the trunk of a single tree. In the centre was a kind of awning or cabin
of palm-leaves, after the manner of those in the gondolas of Venice, and
sufficiently close to exclude both sun and rain. Under this sat a cacique
with his wives and children. Twenty-five Indians rowed the canoe, and it
was filled with all kinds of articles of the manufacture and natural
production of the adjacent countries. It is supposed that this bark had
come from the province of Yucatan, which is about forty leagues distant
from this island.
The Indians in the canoe appeared to have no fear of the Spaniards, and
readily went alongside of the admiral's caravel. Columbus was overjoyed at
thus having brought to him at once, without trouble or danger, a
collection of specimens of all the important articles of this part of the
New World. He examined, with great curiosity and interest, the contents of
the canoe. Among various utensils and weapons similar to those already
found among the natives, he perceived others of a much superior kind.
There were hatchets for cutting wood, formed not of stone but copper;
wooden swords, with channels on each side of the blade, in which sharp
flints were firmly fixed by cords made of the intestines of fishes; being
the same kind of weapon afterwards found among the Mexicans. There were
copper bells and other articles of the same metal, together with a rude
kind of crucible in which to melt it; various vessels and utensils neatly
formed of clay, of marble, and of hard wood; sheets and mantles of cotton,
worked and dyed with various colors; great quantities of cacao, a fruit as
yet unknown to the Spaniards, but which, as they soon found, the natives
held in great estimation, using it both as food and money. There was a
beverage also extracted from maize or Indian corn, resembling beer. Their
provisions consisted of bread made of maize, and roots of various kinds,
similar to those of Hispaniola. From among these articles, Columbus
collected such as were important to send as specimens to Spain, giving the
natives European trinkets in exchange, with which they were highly
satisfied. They appeared to manifest neither astonishment nor alarm when
on board of the vessels, and surrounded by people who must have been so
strange and wonderful to them. The women wore mantles, with which they
wrapped themselves, like the female Moors of Granada, and the men had
cloths of cotton round their loins. Both sexes appeared more particular
about these coverings, and to have a quicker sense of personal modesty
than any Indians Columbus had yet discovered.
These circumstances, together with the superiority of their implements and
manufactures, were held by the admiral as indications that he was
approaching more civilized nations. He endeavored to gain particular
information from these Indians about the surrounding countries; but as
they spoke a different language from that of his interpreters, he could
understand them but imperfectly. They informed him that they had just
arrived from a country, rich, cultivated, and industrious, situated to the
west. They endeavored to impress him with an idea of the wealth and
magnificence of the regions, and the people in that quarter, and urged him
to steer in that direction. Well would it have been for Columbus had he
followed their advice. Within a day or two he would have arrived at
Yucatan; the discovery of Mexico and the other opulent countries of New
Spain would have necessarily followed; the Southern Ocean would have been
disclosed to him, and a succession of splendid discoveries would have shed
fresh glory on his declining age, instead of its sinking amidst gloom,
neglect, and disappointment.
The admiral's whole mind, however, was at present intent upon discovering
the strait. As the countries described by the Indians lay to the west, he
supposed that he could easily visit them at some future time, by running
with the trade-winds along the coast of Cuba, which he imagined must
continue on, so as to join them. At present he was determined to seek the
main-land, the mountains of which were visible to the south, and
apparently not many leagues distant:[127] by keeping along it steadfastly
to the east, he must at length arrive to where he supposed it to be
severed from the coast of Paria by an intervening strait; and passing
through this, he should soon make his way to the Spice Islands and the
richest parts of India. [128]
He was encouraged the more to persist in his eastern course by information
from the Indians, that there were many places in that direction which
abounded with gold. Much of the information which he gathered among these
people was derived from an old man more intelligent than the rest, who
appeared to be an ancient navigator of these seas. Columbus retained him
to serve as a guide along the coast, and dismissed his companions with
many presents.
Leaving the island of Guanaja, he stood southwardly for the main-land, and
after sailing a few leagues, discovered a cape, to which he gave the name
of Caxinas, from its being covered with fruit trees, so called by the
natives. It is at present known as Cape Honduras. Here, on Sunday the 14th
of August, the Adelantado landed with the captains of the caravels and
many of the seamen, to attend mass, which was performed under the trees on
the sea-shore, according to the pious custom of the admiral, whenever
circumstances would permit. On the 17th, the Adelantado again landed at a
river about fifteen miles from the point, on the bank of which he
displayed the banners of Castile, taking possession of the country in the
name of their Catholic Majesties; from which circumstances he named this
the River of Possession. [129]
At this place they found upwards of a hundred Indians assembled, laden
with bread and maize, fish and fowl, vegetables, and fruits of various
kinds. These they laid down as presents before the Adelantado and his
party, and drew back to a distance without speaking a word. The Adelantado
distributed among them various trinkets, with which they were well
pleased, and appeared the next day in the same place, in greater numbers,
with still more abundant supplies of provisions.
The natives of this neighborhood, and for a considerable distance
eastward, had higher foreheads than those of the islands. They were of
different languages, and varied from each other in their decorations. Some
were entirely naked; and their bodies were marked by means of fire with
the figures of various animals. Some wore coverings about the loins;
others short cotton jerkins without sleeves: some wore tresses of hair in
front. The chieftains had caps of white or colored cotton. When arrayed
for any festival, they painted their faces black, or with stripes of
various colors, or with circles round the eyes. The old Indian guide
assured the admiral that many of them were cannibals. In one part of the
coast the natives had their ears bored, and hideously distended; which
caused the Spaniards to call that region _la Costa de la Oreja_, or
"the Coast of the Ear." [130]
From the River of Possession, Columbus proceeded along what is at present
called the coast of Honduras, beating against contrary winds, and
struggling with currents which swept from the east like the constant
stream of a river. He often lost in one tack what he had laboriously
gained in two, frequently making but two leagues in a day, and never more
than five. At night he anchored under the land, through fear of proceeding
along an unknown coast in the dark, but was often forced out to sea by the
violence of the currents.[131] In all this time he experienced the same
kind of weather that had prevailed on the coast of Hispaniola, and had
attended him more or less for upwards of sixty days. There was, he says,
almost an incessant tempest of the heavens, with heavy rains, and such
thunder and lightning, that it seemed as if the end of the world was at
hand. Those who know any thing of the drenching rains and rending thunder
of the tropics, will not think his description of the storms exaggerated.
His vessels were strained so that their seams opened; the sails and
rigging were rent, and the provisions were damaged by the rain and by the
leakage. The sailors were exhausted with labor, and harassed with terror.
They many times confessed their sins to each other, and prepared for
death. "I have seen many tempests," says Columbus, "but none so violent
or of such long duration." He alludes to the whole series of storms for
upwards of two months, since he had been refused shelter at San Domingo.
During a great part of this time, he had suffered extremely from the
gout, aggravated by his watchfulness and anxiety. His illness did not
prevent his attending to his duties; he had a small cabin or chamber
constructed on the stern, whence, even when confined to his bed, he
could keep a look-out and regulate the sailing of the ships. Many times
he was so ill that he thought his end approaching. His anxious mind was
distressed about his brother the Adelantado, whom he had persuaded
against his will to come on this expedition, and who was in the worst
vessel of the squadron. He lamented also having brought with him his
son Fernando, exposing him at so tender an age to such perils and
hardships, although the youth bore them with the courage and fortitude
of a veteran. Often, too, his thoughts reverted to his son Diego, and
the cares and perplexities into which his death might plunge him.[132]
At length, after struggling for upwards of forty days since leaving
the Cape of Honduras, to make a distance of about seventy leagues, they
arrived on the 14th of September at a cape where the coast making an
angle, turned directly south, so as to give them an easy wind and free
navigation. Doubling the point, they swept off with flowing sails and
hearts filled with joy; and the admiral, to commemorate this sudden
relief from toil and peril, gave to the Cape the name of _Gracias a
Dios_, or Thanks to God.[133]