THE EARTHLY PARADISE REVISITED
On the 25th November 1493, Columbus once more dropped his anchor in the
harbour of Monte Christi, and a party was sent ashore to prospect for a
site suitable for the new town which he intended to build, for he was not
satisfied with the situation of La Navidad. There was a large river
close by; and while the party was surveying the land they came suddenly
upon two dead bodies lying by the river-side, one with a rope round its
neck and the other with a rope round its feet. The bodies were too much
decomposed to be recognisable; nevertheless to the party rambling about
in the sunshine and stillness of that green place the discovery was a
very gruesome one. They may have thought much, but they said little.
They returned to the ship, and resumed their search on the next day, when
they found two more corpses, one of which was seen to have a large
quantity of beard. As all the natives were beardless this was a very
significant and unpleasant discovery, and the explorers returned at once
and reported what they had seen to Columbus. He thereupon set sail for
La Navidad, but the navigation off that part of the coast was necessarily
slow because of the number of the shoals and banks, on one of which the
Admiral's ship had been lost the year before; and the short voyage
occupied three days.
They arrived at La Navidad late on the evening of the 27th--too late to
make it advisable to land. Some natives came out in a canoe, rowed round
the Admiral's ship, stopped and looked at it, and then rowed away again.
When the fleet had anchored Columbus ordered two guns to be fired; but
there was no response except from the echoes that went rattling among the
islands, and from the frightened birds that rose screaming and circling
from the shore. No guns and no signal fires; no sign of human habitation
whatever; and no sound out of the weird darkness except the lap of the
water and the call of the birds . . . . The night passed in anxiety
and depression, and in a certain degree of nervous tension, which was
relieved at two or three o'clock in the morning by the sound of paddles
and the looming of a canoe through the dusky starlight. Native voices
were heard from the canoe asking in a loud voice for the Admiral; and
when the visitors had been directed to the Marigalante they refused to go
on board until Columbus himself had spoken to them, and they had seen by
the light of a lantern that it was the Admiral himself. The chief of
them was a cousin of Guacanagari, who said that the King was ill of a
wound in his leg, or that he would certainly have come himself to welcome
the Admiral. The Spaniards? Yes, they were well, said the young chief;
or rather, he added ominously, those that remained were well, but some
had died of illness, and some had been killed in quarrels that had arisen
among them. He added that the province had been invaded by two
neighbouring kings who had burned many of the native houses. This news,
although grave, was a relief from the dreadful uncertainty that had
prevailed in the early part of the night, and the Admiral's company,
somewhat consoled, took a little sleep.
In the morning a party was sent ashore to La Navidad. Not a boat was in
sight, nor any native canoes; the harbour was silent and deserted. When
the party had landed and gone up to the place where the fort had been
built they found no fort there; only the blackened and charred remains of
a fort. The whole thing had been burned level with the ground, and amid
the blackened ruins they found pieces of rag and clothing. The natives,
instead of coming to greet them, lurked guiltily behind trees, and when
they were seen fled away into the woods. All this was very disquieting
indeed, and in significant contrast to their behaviour of the year
before. The party from the ship threw buttons and beads and bells to the
retiring natives in order to try and induce them to come forward, but
only four approached, one of whom was a relation of Guacanagari. These
four consented to go into the boat and to be rowed out to the ship.
Columbus then spoke to them through his interpreter; and they admitted
what had been only too obvious to the party that went ashore--that the
Spaniards were all dead, and that not one of the garrison remained. It
seemed that two neighbouring kings, Caonabo and Mayreni, had made an
attack upon the fort, burned the buildings, and killed and wounded most
of the defenders; and that Guacanagari, who had been fighting on their
behalf, had also been wounded and been obliged to retire. The natives
offered to go and fetch Guacanagari himself, and departed with that
object.
In the greatest anxiety the Admiral and his company passed that day and
night waiting for the King to come. Early the next morning Columbus
himself went ashore and visited the spot where the settlement had been.
There he found destruction whole and complete, with nothing but a few
rags of clothing as an evidence that the place had ever been inhabited by
human beings. As Guacanagari did not appear some of the Spaniards began
to suspect that he had had a hand in the matter, and proposed immediate
reprisal; but Columbus, believing still in the man who had "loved him so
much that it was wonderful" did not take this view, and his belief in
Guacanagari's loyalty was confirmed by the discovery that his own
dwelling had also been burned down.
Columbus set some of his party searching in the ditch of the fort in case
any treasure should have been buried there, as he had ordered it should
be in event of danger, and while this was going on he walked along the
coast for a few miles to visit a spot which he thought might be suitable
for the new settlement. At a distance of a mile or two he found a
village of seven or eight huts from which the inhabitants fled at his
approach, carrying such of their goods as were portable, and leaving the
rest hidden in the grass. Here were found several things that had
belonged to the Spaniards and which were not likely to have been
bartered; new Moorish mantles, stockings, bolts of cloth, and one of the
Admiral's lost anchors; other articles also, among them a dead man's head
wrapped up with great care in a small basket. Shaking their own living
heads, Columbus and his party returned. Suddenly they came on some
suspicious-looking mounds of earth over which new grass was growing. An
examination of these showed them to be the graves of eleven of the
Spaniards, the remains of the clothing being quite sufficient to identify
them. Doctor Chanca, who examined them, thought that they had not been
dead two months. Speculation came to an end in the face of this eloquent
certainty; there were the dead bodies of some of the colonists; and the
voyagers knelt round with bare heads while the bodies were replaced in
the grave and the ceremony of Christian burial performed over them.
Little by little the dismal story was elicited from the natives, who
became less timid when they saw that the Spaniards meant them no harm.
It seemed that Columbus had no sooner gone away than the colonists began
to abandon themselves to every kind of excess. While the echo of the
Admiral's wise counsels was yet in their ears they began to disobey his
orders. Honest work they had no intention of doing, and although Diego
Arana, their commander, did his best to keep order, and although one or
two of the others were faithful to him and to Columbus, their authority
was utterly insufficient to check the lawless folly of the rest. Instead
of searching for gold mines, they possessed themselves by force of every
ounce of gold they could steal or seize from the natives, treating them
with both cruelty and contempt. More brutal excesses followed as a
matter of course. Guacanagari, in his kindly indulgence and generosity,
had allowed them to take three native wives apiece, although he himself
and his people were content with one. But of course the Spaniards had
thrown off all restraint, however mild, and ran amok among the native
inhabitants, seizing their wives and seducing their daughters. Upon this
naturally followed dissensions among themselves, jealousy coming hot upon
the heels of unlawful possession; and, in the words of Irving, "the
natives beheld with astonishment the beings whom they had worshipped as
descended from the skies abandoned to the grossest of earthly passions
and raging against each other with worse than brutal ferocity."
Upon their strifes and dissensions followed another breach of the
Admiral's wise regulations; they no longer cared to remain together in
the fort, but split up into groups and went off with their women into the
woods, reverting to a savagery beside which the gentle existence of the
natives was high civilisation. There were squabbles and fights in which
one or two of the Spaniards were killed; and Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo
de Escovedo, whom Columbus had appointed as lieutenants to Arana, headed
a faction of revolt against his authority, and took themselves off with
nine other Spaniards and a great number of women. They had heard a great
deal about the mines of Cibao, and they decided to go in search of them
and secure their treasures for themselves. They went inland into a
territory which was under the rule of King Caonabo, a very fierce Carib
who was not a native of Espanola, but had come there as an adventurer and
remained as a conqueror. Although he resented the intrusion of the
Spaniards into the island he would not have dared to come and attack them
there if they had obeyed the Admiral's orders and remained in the
territory of Guacanagari; but when they came into his own country he had
them in a trap, and it was easy for him to fall upon those foolish
swaggering Spaniards and put them to death. He then decided to go and
take the fort.
He formed an alliance with the neighbouring king, Mayreni, whose province
was in the west of the island. Getting together a force of warriors
these two kings marched rapidly and stealthily through the, forest for
several days until they arrived at its northern border. They came in the
dead of night to the neighbourhood of La Navidad, where the inhabitants
of the fortress, some ten in number, were fast asleep. Fast asleep were
the remaining dozen or so of the Spaniards who were living in houses or
huts in the neighbourhood; fast asleep also the gentle natives, not
dreaming of troubles from any quarter but that close at hand. The sweet
silence of the tropical night was suddenly broken by frightful yells as
Caonabo and his warriors rushed the fortress and butchered the
inhabitants, setting fire to it and to the houses round about. As their
flimsy huts burst into flames the surprised Spaniards rushed out, only to
be fallen upon by the infuriated blacks. Eight of the Spaniards rushed
naked into the sea and were drowned; the rest were butchered.
Guacanagari manfully came to their assistance and with his own followers
fought throughout the night; but his were a gentle and unwarlike people,
and they were easily routed. The King himself was badly wounded in the
thigh, but Caonabo's principal object seems to have been the destruction
of the Spaniards, and when that was completed he and his warriors, laden
with the spoils, retired.
Thus Columbus, walking on the shore with his native interpreter, or
sitting in his cabin listening with knitted brow to the accounts of the
islanders, learns of the complete and utter failure of his first hopes.
It has come to this. These are the real first-fruits of his glorious
conquest and discovery. The New World has served but as a virgin field
for the Old Adam. He who had sought to bring light and life to these
happy islanders had brought darkness and death; they had innocently
clasped the sword he had extended to them and cut themselves. The
Christian occupation of the New World had opened with vice, cruelty, and
destruction; the veil of innocence had been rent in twain, and could
never be mended or joined again. And the Earthly Paradise in which life
had gone so happily, of which sun and shower had been the true rulers,
and the green sprouting harvests the only riches, had been turned into a
shambles by the introduction of human rule and civilised standards of
wealth. Gold first and then women, things beautiful and innocent in the
happy native condition of the islands, had been the means of the
disintegration and death of this first colony. These are serious
considerations for any coloniser; solemn considerations for a discoverer
who is only on the verge and beginning of his empire-making; mournful
considerations for Christopher as he surveys the blackened ruins of the
fort, or stands bare-headed by the grass-covered graves.
There seemed to be a certain hesitancy on the part of Guacanagari to
present himself; for though he kept announcing his intention of coming to
visit the Admiral he did not come. A couple of days after the discovery
of the remains, however, he sent a message to Columbus begging him to
come and see him, which the Admiral accordingly did, accompanied by a
formal retinue and carrying with him the usual presents. Guacanagari was
in bed sure enough complaining of a wounded leg, and he told the story of
the settlement very much as Columbus had already heard it from the other
natives. He pointed to his own wounded leg as a sign that he had been
loyal and faithful to his friendly promises; but when the leg was
examined by the surgeon in order that it might be dressed no wound could
be discovered, and it was obvious to Doctor Chanca that the skin had not
been broken. This seemed odd; Friar Buil was so convinced that the whole
story was a deception that he wished the Admiral to execute Guacanagari
on the spot. Columbus, although he was puzzled, was by no means
convinced that Guacanagari had been unfaithful to him, and decided to do
nothing for the present. He invited the cacique to come on board the
flagship; which he did, being greatly interested by some of the Carib
prisoners, notably a handsome woman, named by the Spaniards Dofia
Catalina, with whom he held a long conversation.
Relations between the Admiral and the cacique, although outwardly
cordial, were altogether different from what they had been in, the happy
days after their first meeting; the man seemed to shrink from all the
evidence of Spanish power, and when they proposed to hang a cross round
his neck the native king, much as he loved trinkets and toys, expressed a
horror and fear of this jewel when he learned that it was an emblem of
the Christian faith. He had seen a little too much of the Christian
religion; and Heaven only knows with what terror and depression the
emblem of the cross inspired him. He went ashore; and when a messenger
was sent to search for him a few days afterwards, it was found that he
had moved his whole establishment into the interior of the island. The
beautiful native woman Catalina escaped to shore and disappeared at the
same time; and the two events were connected in the minds of some of the
Spaniards, and held, wrongly as it turned out, to be significant of a
deep plot of native treachery.
The most urgent need was to build the new settlement and lay out a town.
Several small parties were sent out to reconnoitre the coast in both
directions, but none of them found a suitable place; and on December 7th
the whole fleet sailed to the east in the hope of finding a better
position. They were driven by adverse winds into a harbour some thirty
miles to the east of Monte Christi, and when they went ashore they
decided that this was as good a site as any for the new town. There was
about a quarter of a mile of level sandy beach enclosed by headlands on
either side; there was any amount of rock and stones for building, and
there was a natural barrier of hills and mountains a mile or so inland
that would protect a camp from that side.--The soil was very fertile,
the vegetation luxuriant; and the mango swamps a little way inland
drained into a basin or lake which provided an unlimited water supply.
Columbus therefore set about establishing a little town, to which he gave
the name of Isabella. Streets and squares were laid out, and rows of
temporary buildings made of wood and thatched with grass were hastily run
up for the accommodation of the members of the expedition, while the
foundations of three stone buildings were also marked out and the
excavations put in hand. These buildings were the church, the
storehouse, and a residence for Columbus as Governor-General. The stores
were landed, the horses and cattle accommodated ashore, the provisions,
ammunition, and agricultural implements also. Labourers were set to
digging out the foundations of the stone buildings, carpenters to cutting
down trees and running up the light wooden houses that were to serve as
barracks for the present; masons were employed in hewing stones and
building landing-piers; and all the crowd of well-born adventurers were
set to work with their hands, much to their disgust. This was by no
means the life they had imagined, and at the first sign of hard work they
turned sulky and discontented. There was, to be sure, some reason for
their discontent. Things had not quite turned out as Columbus had
promised they should; there was no store of gold, nor any sign of great
desire on the part of the natives to bring any; and to add to their other
troubles, illness began to break out in the camp. The freshly-turned
rank soil had a bad effect on the health of the garrison; the lake, which
had promised to be so pleasant a feature in the new town, gave off
dangerous malarial vapours at night; and among the sufferers from this
trouble was Columbus himself, who endured for some weeks all the pains
and lassitude of the disagreeable fever.
The ships were now empty and ready for the return voyage, and as soon as
Columbus was better he set to work to face the situation. After all his
promises it would never do to send them home empty or in ballast; a cargo
of stones from the new-found Indies would not be well received in Spain.
The natives had told him that somewhere in the island existed the gold
mines of Cibao, and he determined to make an attempt to find these, so
that he could send his ships home laden with a cargo that would be some
indemnity for the heavy cost of the expedition and some compensation for
the bad news he must write with regard to his first settlement. Young
Ojeda was chosen to lead an expedition of fifteen picked men into the
interior; and as the gold mines were said to be in a part of the island
not under the command of Guacanagari, but in the territory of the dreaded
Caonabo, there was no little anxiety felt about the expedition.
Ojeda started in the beginning of January 1494, and marched southwards
through dense forests until, having crossed a mountain range, he came
down into a beautiful and fertile valley, where they were hospitably
received by the natives. They saw plenty of gold in the sand of the
river that watered the valley, which sand the natives had a way of
washing so that the gold was separated from it; and there seemed to be so
much wealth there that Ojeda hurried back to the new city of Isabella to
make his report to Columbus. The effect upon the discontented colonists
was remarkable. Once more everything was right; wealth beyond the dreams
of avarice was at their hand; and all they had to do was to stretch out
their arms and take it. Columbus felt that he need no longer delay the
despatch of twelve of his ships on the homeward voyage. If he had not
got golden cargoes for them, at any rate he had got the next best thing,
which was the certainty of gold; and it did not matter whether it was in
the ships or in his storehouse. He had news to send home at any rate,
and a great variety of things to ask for in return, and he therefore set
about writing his report to the Sovereigns. Other people, as we know,
were writing letters too; the reiterated promise of gold, and the
marvellous anecdotes which these credulous settlers readily believed from
the natives, such as that there was a rock close by out of which gold
would burst if you struck it with a club, raised greed and expectation in
Spain to a fever pitch, and prepared the reaction which followed.
We may now read the account of the New World as Columbus sent it home to
the King and Queen of Spain in the end of January 1494, and as they read
it some weeks later. Their comments, written in the margin of the
original, are printed in italics at the end of each paragraph. It was
drawn up in the form of a memorandum, and entrusted to Antonio de Torres,
who was commanding the return expedition.
"What you, Antonio de Torres, captain of the ship Marigalante and Alcalde
of the City of Isabella, are to say and supplicate on my part to the King
and Queen, our Lords, is as follows:--
"First. Having delivered the letters of credence which you carry
from me for their Highnesses, you will kiss for me their Royal feet
and hands and will recommend me to their Highnesses as to a King and
Queen, my natural Lords, in whose service I desire to end my days:
as you will be able to say this more fully to their Highnesses,
according to what you have seen and known of me.
["Their Highnesses hold him in their favour.]
"Item. Although by the letters I write to their Highnesses, and
also the father Friar Buil and the Treasurer, they will be able to
understand all that has been done here since our arrival, and this
very minutely and extensively: nevertheless, you will say to their
Highnesses on my part, that it has pleased God to give me such
favour in their service, that up to the present time. I do not find
less, nor has less been found in anything than what I wrote and said
and affirmed to their Highnesses in the past: but rather, by the
Grace of God, I hope that it will appear, by works much more clearly
and very soon, because such signs and indications of spices have
been found on the shores of the sea alone, without having gone
inland, that there is reason that very much better results may be
hoped for: and this also may be hoped for in the mines of gold,
because by two persons only who went to investigate, each one on his
own part, without remaining there because there was not many people,
so many rivers have been discovered so filled with gold, that all
who saw it and gathered specimens of it with the hands alone, came
away so pleased and say such things in regard to its abundance, that
I am timid about telling it and writing it to their Highnesses: but
because Gorbalan, who was one of the discoverers, is going yonder,
he will tell what he saw, although another named Hojeda remains
here, a servant of the Duke of Medinaceli, a very discreet youth and
very prudent, who without doubt and without comparison even,
discovered much more according to the memorandum which he brought of
the rivers, saying that there is an incredible quantity in each one
of them for this their Highnesses may give thanks to God, since He
has been so favourable to them in all their affairs.
["Their Highnesses give many thanks to God for this, and
consider as a very signal service all that the Admiral has done
in this matter and is doing: because they know that after God
they are indebted to him for all they have had, and will have
in this affair: and as they are writing him more fully about
this, they refer him to their letter.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses, although I already have
written it to them, that I desired greatly to be able to send them a
larger quantity of gold in this fleet, from that which it is hoped
may be gathered here, but the greater part of our people who are
here, have fallen suddenly ill: besides, this fleet cannot remain
here longer, both on account of the great expense it occasions and
because this time is suitable for those persons who are to bring the
things which are greatly needed here, to go and be able to return:
as, if they delay going away from here, those who are to return will
not be able to do so by May: and besides this, if I wished to
undertake to go to the mines or rivers now, with the well people who
are here, both on the sea and in the settlement on land, I would
have many difficulties and even dangers, because in order to go
twenty-three or twenty-four leagues from here where there are
harbours and rivers to cross, and in order to cover such a long
route and reach there at the time which would be necessary to gather
the gold, a large quantity of provisions would have to be carried,
which cannot be carried on the shoulders, nor are there beasts of
burden here which could be used for this purpose: nor are the roads
and passes sufficiently prepared, although I have commenced to get
them in readiness so as to be passable: and also it was very
inconvenient to leave the sick here in an open place, in huts, with
the provisions and supplies which are on land: for although these
Indians may have shown themselves to the discoverers and show
themselves every day, to be very simple and not malicious
nevertheless, as they come here among us each day, it did not appear
that it would be a good idea to risk losing these people and the
supplies. This loss an Indian with a piece of burning wood would be
able to cause by setting fire to the huts, because they are always
going and coming by night and by day: on their account, we have
guards in the camp, while the settlement is open and defenceless.
["That he did well.]
"Moreover, as we have seen among those who went by land to make
discoveries that the greater part fell sick after returning, and
some of them even were obliged to turn back on the road, it was also
reasonable to fear that the same thing would happen to those who are
well, who would now go, and as a consequence they would run the risk
of two dangers: the one, that of falling sick yonder, in the same
work, where there is no house nor any defence against that cacique
who is called Caonabb, who is a very bad man according to all
accounts, and much more audacious and who, seeing us there, sick and
in such disorder, would be able to undertake what he would not dare
if we were well: and with this difficulty there is another--that of
bringing here what gold we might obtain, because we must either
bring a small quantity and go and come each day and undergo the risk
of sickness, or it must be sent with some part of the people,
incurring the same danger of losing it.
["He did well.]
"So that, you will say to their Highnesses, that these are the
causes why the fleet has not been at present detained, and why more
gold than the specimens has not been sent them: but confiding in the
mercy of God, who in everything and for everything has guided us as
far as here, these people will quickly become convalescent, as they
are already doing, because only certain places in the country suit
them and they then recover; and it is certain that if they had some
fresh meat in order to convalesce, all with the aid of God would
very quickly be on foot, and even the greater part would already be
convalescent at this time: nevertheless they will be re-established.
With the few healthy ones who remain here, each day work is done
toward enclosing the settlement and placing it in a state of some
defence and the supplies in safety, which will be accomplished in a
short time, because it is to be only a small dry wall. For the
Indians are not a people to undertake anything unless they should
find us sleeping, even though they might have thought of it in the
manner in which they served the others who remained here. Only on
account of their (the Spaniards') lack of caution--they being so
few--and the great opportunities they gave the Indians to have and
do what they did, they would never have dared to undertake to injure
them if they had seen that they were cautious. And this work being
finished, I will then undertake to go to the said rivers, either
starting upon the road from here and seeking the best possible
expedients, or going around the island by sea as far as that place
from which it is said it cannot be more than six or seven leagues to
the said rivers. In such a manner that the gold can be gathered and
placed in security in some fortress or tower which can then be
constructed there, in order to keep it securely until the time when
the two caravels return here, and in order that then, with the first
suitable weather for sailing this course, it may be sent to a place
of safety.
["That this is well and must be done in this manner.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses, as has been said, that the
cause of the general sicknesses common to all is the change of water
and air, because we see that it extends to all conditions and few
are in danger: consequently, for the preservation of health, after
God, it is necessary that these people be provided with the
provisions to which they are accustomed in Spain, because neither
they, nor others who may come anew, will be able to serve their
Highnesses if they are not well: and this provision must continue
until a supply is accumulated here from what shall be sowed and
planted here. I say wheat and barley, and vines, of which little
has been done this year because a site for the town could not be
selected before, and then when it was selected the few labourers who
were here became sick, and they, even though they had been well, had
so few and such lean and meagre beasts of burden, that they were
able to do but little: nevertheless, they have sown something, more
in order to try the soil which appears very wonderful, so that from
it some relief may be hoped in our necessities. We are very sure,
as the result makes it apparent to us, that in this country wheat as
well as the vine will grow very well: but the fruit must be waited
for, which, if it corresponds to the quickness with which the wheat
grows and of some few vine-shoots which were planted, certainly will
not cause regret here for the productions of Andalusia or Sicily:
neither is it different with the sugar-canes according to the manner
in which some few that were planted have grown. For it is certain
that the sight of the land of these islands, as well of the
mountains and sierras and waters as of the plains where there are
rich rivers, is so beautiful, that no other land on which the sun
shines can appear better or as beautiful.
["Since the land is such, it must be managed that the greatest
possible quantity of all things shall be sown, and Don Juan de
Fonseca is to be written to send continually all that is
necessary for this purpose.]
"Item. You will say that, inasmuch as much of the wine which the
fleet brought was wasted on this journey, and this, according to
what the greater number say, was because of the bad workmanship
which the coopers did in Seville, the greatest necessity we feel
here at the present time is for wines, and it is what we desire most
to have and although we may have biscuit as well as wheat sufficient
for a longer time, nevertheless it is necessary that a reasonable
quantity should also be sent, because the journey is long and
provision cannot be made each day and in the same manner some salted
meat, I say bacon, and other salt meat better than that we brought
on this journey. It is necessary that each time a caravel comes
here, fresh meat shall be sent, and even more than that, lambs and
little ewe lambs, more females than males, and some little yearling
calves, male and female, and some he-asses and she-asses and some
mares for labour and breeding, as there are none of these animals
here of any value or which can be made use of by man. And because I
apprehend that their Highnesses may not be, in Seville, and that the
officials or ministers will not provide these things without their
express order, and as it is necessary they should come at the first
opportunity, and as in consultation and reply the time for the
departure of the vessels-which must be here during all of Maywill be
past: you will say to their Highnesses that I charged and commanded
you to pledge the gold you are carrying yonder and place it in
possession of some merchant in Seville, who will furnish therefor
the necessary maravedis to load two caravels with wine and wheat and
the other things of which you are taking a memorandum; which
merchant will carry or send the said gold to their Highnesses that
they may see it and receive it, and cause what shall have been
expended for fitting out and loading of the said two caravels to be
paid: and in order to comfort and strengthen these people remaining
here, the utmost efforts must be made for the return of these
caravels for all the month of May, that the people before commencing
the summer may see and have some refreshment from these things,
especially the invalids: the things of which we are already in great
need here are such as raisins, sugar, almonds, honey and rice, which
should have been sent in large quantities and very little was sent,
and that which came is already used and consumed, and even the
greater part of the medicines which were brought from there, on
account of the multitude of sick people. You are carrying memoranda
signed by my hand, as has been said, of things for the people in
good health as well as for the sick. You will provide these things
fully if the money is sufficient, or at least the things which it is
most necessary to send at once, in order that the said two vessels
can bring them, and you can arrange with their Highnesses, to have
the remaining things sent by other vessels as quickly as possible.
["Their Highnesses sent an order to Don Juan de Fonseca to
obtain at once information about the persons who committed the
fraud of the casks, and to cause all the damage to the wine to
be recovered from them, with the costs: and he must see that
the canes which are sent are of good quality, and that the
other things mentioned here are provided at once.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that as there is no
language here by means of which these people can be made to
understand our Holy Faith, as your Highnesses and also we who are
here desire, although we will do all we can towards it--I am sending
some of the cannibals in the vessels, men and women and male and
female children, whom their Highnesses can order placed with persons
from whom they can better learn the language, making use of them in
service, and ordering that little by little more pains be taken with
them than with other slaves, that they may learn one from the other:
if they do not see or speak with each other until some time has
passed, they will learn more quickly there than here, and will be
better interpreters--although we will not cease to do as much as
possible here. It is true that as there is little intercourse
between these people from one island to another, there is some
difference in their language, according to how far distant they are
from each other. And as, of the other islands, those of the
cannibals are very large and very well populated, it would appear
best to take some of their men and women and send them yonder to
Castile, because by taking them away, it may cause them to abandon
at once that inhuman custom which they have of eating men: and by
learning the language there in Castile, they will receive baptism
much more quickly, and provide for the safety of their souls. Even
among the peoples who are not cannibals we shall gain great credit,
by their seeing that we can seize and take captive those from whom
they are accustomed to receive injuries, and of whom they are in
such terror that they are frightened by one man alone. You will
certify to their Highnesses that the arrival here and sight of such
a fine fleet all together has inspired very great authority here and
assured very great security for future things: because all the
people on this great island and in the other islands, seeing the
good treatment which those who well behave receive, and the bad
treatment given to those who behave ill, will very quickly render
obedience, so that they can be considered as vassals of their
Highnesses. And as now they not only do willingly whatever is
required of them by our people, but further, they voluntarily
undertake everything which they understand may please us, their
Highnesses may also be certain that in many respects, as much for
the present as for the future, the coming of this fleet has given
them a great reputation, and not less yonder among the Christian
princes: which their Highnesses will be better able to consider and
understand than I can tell them.
["That he is to be told what has befallen the cannibals who
came here. That it is very well and must be done in this
manner, but that he must try there as much as possible to bring
them to our Holy Catholic faith and do the same with the
inhabitants of the islands where he is.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that the safety of the
souls of the said cannibals, and further of those here, has inspired
the thought that the more there are taken yonder, the better it will
be, and their Highnesses can be served by it in this manner: having
seen how necessary the flocks and beasts of burden are here, for the
sustenance of the people who must be here, and even of all these
islands, their Highnesses can give licence and permission to a
sufficient number of caravels to come here each year, and bring the
said flocks and other supplies and things to settle the country and
make use of the land: and this at reasonable prices at the expense
of those who bring them: and these things can be paid for in slaves
from among these cannibals, a very proud and comely people, well
proportioned and of good intelligence, who having been freed from
that inhumanity, we believe will be better than any other slaves.
They will be freed from this cruelty as soon as they are outside
their country, and many of them can be taken with the row-boats
which it is known how to build here: it being understood, however,
that a trustworthy person shall be placed on each one of the
caravels coming here, who shall forbid the said caravels to stop at
any other place or island than this place, where the loading and
unloading of all the merchandise must be done. And further, their
Highnesses will be able to establish their rights over these slaves
which are taken from here yonder to Spain. And you will bring or
send a reply to this, in order that the necessary preparations may
be made here with more confidence if it appears well to their
Highnesses.
["This project must be held in abeyance for the present until
another method is suggested from there, and the Admiral may
write what he thinks in regard to it.]
"Item. Also you will say to their Highnesses that it is more
profitable and costs less to hire the vessels as the merchants hire
them for Flanders, by tons, rather than in any other manner:
therefore I charged you to hire the two caravels which you are to
send here, in this manner: and all the others which their Highnesses
send here can be hired thus, if they consider it for their service
but I do not intend to say this of those vessels which are to come
here with their licence, for the slave trade.
["Their Highnesses order Don Juan de Fonseca to hire the
caravels in this manner if it can be done.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses, that to avoid any further
cost, I bought these caravels of which you are taking a memorandum
in order to retain them here with these two ships: that is to say
the Gallega and that other, the Capitana, of which I likewise
purchased the three-eighths from the master of it, for the price
given in the said memorandum which you are taking, signed by my
hand. These ships not only will give authority and great security
to the people who are obliged to remain inland and make arrangements
with the Indians to gather the gold, but they will also be of
service in any other dangerous matter which may arise with a strange
people; besides the caravels are necessary for the discovery of the
mainland and the other islands which lie between here and there: and
you will entreat their Highnesses to order the maravedis which these
ships cost, paid at the times which they have been promised, because
without doubt they will soon receive what they cost, according to
what I believe and hope in the mercy of God.
["The Admiral has done well, and to tell him that the sum has
been paid here to the one who sold the ship, and Don Juan de
Fonseca has been ordered to pay for the two caravels which the
Admiral bought.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses, and will supplicate on my
part as humbly as possible, that it may please them to reflect on
what they will learn most fully from the letters and other writings
in regard to the peace and tranquillity and concord of those who are
here: and that for the service of their Highnesses such persons may
be selected as shall not be suspected, and who will give more
attention to the matters for which they are sent than to their own
interests: and since you saw and knew everything in regard to this
matter, you will speak and will tell their Highnesses the truth
about all the things as you understood them, and you will endeavour
that the provision which their Highnesses make in regard to it shall
come with the first ships if possible, in order that there may be no
scandals here in a matter of so much importance in the service of
their Highnesses.
["Their Highnesses are well informed in regard to this matter,
and suitable provision will be made for everything.]
"Item. You will tell their Highnesses of the situation of this
city, and the beauty of the surrounding province as you saw and
understood it, and how I made you its Alcade, by the powers which I
have for same from their Highnesses: whom I humbly entreat to hold
the said provision in part satisfaction of your services, as I hope
from their Highnesses.
["It pleases their Highnesses that you shall be Alcade.]
"Item. Because Mosen Pedro Margarite, servant of their Highnesses,
has done good service, and I hope he will do the same henceforward
in matters which are entrusted to him, I have been pleased to have
him remain here, and also Gaspar and Beltran, because they are
recognised servants of their Highnesses, in order to intrust them
with matters of confidence. You will specialty entreat their
Highnesses in regard to the said Mosen Pedro, who is married and has
children, to provide him with some charge in the order of Santiago,
whose habit he wears, that his wife and children may have the
wherewith to live. In the same manner you will relate how well and
diligently Juan Aguado, servant of their Highnesses, has rendered
service in everything which he has been ordered to do, and that I
supplicate their Highnesses to have him and the aforesaid persons in
their charge and to reward them.
["Their Highnesses order 30,000 maravedis to be assigned to
Mosen Pedro each year, and to Gaspar and Beltran, to each one,
15,000 maravedis each year, from the present, August 15, 1494,
henceforward: and thus the Admiral shall cause to be paid to
them whatever must be paid yonder in the Indies, and Don Juan
de Fonseca whatever must be paid here: and in regard to Juan
Iguado, their Highnesses will hold him in remembrance.]
"Item. You will tell their Highnesses of the labour performed by
Dr. Chanca, confronted with so many invalids, and still more because
of the lack of provisions and nevertheless, he acts with great
diligence and charity in everything pertaining to his office. And
as their Highnesses referred to me the salary which he was to
receive here, because, being here, it is certain that he cannot take
or receive anything from any one, nor earn money by his office as he
earned it in Castile, or would be able to earn it being at his ease
and living in a different manner from the way he lives here;
therefore, notwithstanding he swears that he earned more there,
besides the salary which their Highnesses gave him, I did not wish
to allow more than 50,000 maravedis each year for the work he
performs here while he remains here. This I entreat their
Highnesses to order allowed to him with the salary from here, and
that, because he says and affirms that all the physicians of their
Highnesses who are employed in Royal affairs or things similar to
this, are accustomed to have by right one day's wages in all the
year from all the people. Nevertheless, I have been informed and
they tell me, that however this may be, the custom is to give them a
certain sum, fixed according to the will and command of their
Highnesses in compensation for that day's wages. You will entreat
their Highnesses to order provision made as well in the matter of
the salary as of this custom, in such manner that the said Dr.
Chanca may have reason to be satisfied.
["Their Highnesses are pleased in regard to this matter of Dr.
Chanca, and that he shall be paid what the Admiral has assigned
him, together with his salary.
"In regard to the day's wages of the physicians, they are not
accustomed to receive it, save where the King, our Lord, may be
in persona.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that Coronel is a man for
the service of their Highnesses in many things, and how much service
he has rendered up to the present in all the most necessary matters,
and the need we feel of him now that he is sick; and that rendering
service in such a manner, it is reasonable that he should receive
the fruit of his service, not only in future favours, but in his
present salary, so that he and those who are here may feel that
their service profits them; because, so great is the labour which
must be performed here in gathering the gold that the persons who
are so diligent are not to be held in small consideration; and as,
for his skill, he was provided here by me with the office of
Alguacil Mayor of these Indies; and since in the provision the
salary is left blank, you will say that I supplicate their
Highnesses to order it filled in with as large an amount as they may
think right, considering his services, confirming to him the
provision I have given him here, and assuring it to him annually.
["Their Highnesses order that 15,000 maravedis more than his
salary shall be assigned him each year, and that it shall be
paid to him with his salary.]
"In the same manner you will tell their Highnesses how the lawyer
Gil Garcia came here for Alcalde Mayor and no salary has been named
or assigned to him; and he is a capable person, well educated and
diligent, and is very necessary here; that I entreat their
Highnesses to order his salary named and assigned, so that he can
sustain himself, and that it may be paid from the money allowed for
salaries here.
"[Their Highnesses order 20,000 maravedis besides his salary
assigned to him each year, as long as he remains yonder, and
that it shall be paid him when his salary is paid.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses, although it is already
written in the letters, that I do not think it will be possible to
go to make discoveries this year, until these rivers in which gold
is found are placed in the most suitable condition for the service
of their Highnesses, as afterwards it can be done much better.
Because it is a thing which no one can do without my presence,
according to my will or for the service of their Highnesses, however
well it may be done, as it is doubtful what will be satisfactory to
a man unless he is present.
["Let him endeavour that the amount of this gold may be known
as precisely as possible.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that the Squires who came
from Granada showed good horses in the review which took place at
Seville, and afterward at the embarkation I did not see them because
I was slightly unwell, and they replaced them with such horses that
the best of them do not appear to be worth 2000 maravedis, as they
sold the others and bought these; and this was done in the same way
to many people as I very well saw yonder, in the reviews at Seville.
It appears that Juan de Soria, after he had been given the money for
the wages, for some interest of his own substituted others in place
of those I expected to find here, and I found people whom I had
never seen. In this matter he was guilty of great wickedness, so
that I do not know if I should complain of him alone. On this
account, having seen that the expenses of these Squires have been
defrayed until now, besides their wages and also wages for their
horses, and it is now being done: and they are persons who, when
they are sick or when they do not desire to do so, will not allow
any use to be made of their horses save by themselves: and their,
Highnesses do not desire that these horses should be purchased of
them, but that they should be used in the service of their
Highnesses: and it does not appear to them that they should do
anything or render any service except on horseback, which at the
present time is not much to the purpose: on this account, it seems
that it would be better to buy the horses from them, since they are
of so little value, and not have these disagreements with them every
day. Therefore their Highnesses may determine this as will best
serve them.
["Their Highnesses order Don Juan de Fonseca to inform himself
in regard to this matter of the horses, and if it shall be
found true that this fraud was committed, those persons shall
be sent to their Highnesses to be punished: and also he is to
inform himself in regard to what is said of the other people,
and send the result in the examination to their Highnesses; and
in regard to these Squires, their Highnesses command that they
remain there and render service, since they belong to the
guards and servants of their Highnesses: and their Highnesses
order the Squires to give up the horses each time it is
necessary and the Admiral orders it, and if the horses receive
any injury through others using them, their Highnesses order
that the damage shall be paid to them by means of the Admiral.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that more than 200 persons
have come here without wages, and there are some of them who render
good service. And as it is ordered that the others rendering
similar service should be paid: and as for these first three years
it would be of great benefit to have 1000 men here to settle, and
place this island and the rivers of gold in very great security, and
even though there were 100 horsemen nothing would be lost, but
rather it seems necessary, although their Highnesses will be able to
do without these horsemen until gold is sent: nevertheless, their
Highnesses must send to say whether wages shall be paid to these 200
persons, the same as to the others rendering good service, because
they are certainly necessary, as I have said in the beginning of
this memorandum.
["In regard to these 200 persons, who are here said to have
gone without wages, their Highnesses order that they shall take
the places of those who went for wages, who have failed or
shall fail to fulfil their engagements, if they are skilful and
satisfactory to the Admiral. And their Highnesses order the
Purser (Contador) to enrol them in place of those who fail to
fulfil their engagements, as the Admiral shall instruct him.]
"Item. As the cost of these people can be in some degree lightened
and the better part of the expense could be avoided by the same
means employed by other Princes in other places: it appears, that it
would be well to order brought in the ships, besides the other
things which are for the common maintenance and the medicines, shoes
and the skins from which to order the shoes made, common shirts and
others, jackets, linen, sack-coats, trowsers and cloths suitable for
wearing apparel, at reasonable prices: and other things like
conserves which are not included in rations and are for the
preservation of health, which things all the people here would
willingly receive to apply on their wages and if these were
purchased yonder in Spain by faithful Ministers who would act for
the advantage of their Highnesses, something would be saved.
Therefore you will learn the will of their Highnesses about this
matter, and if it appears to them to be of benefit to them, then it
must be placed in operation.
["This arrangement is to be in abeyance until the Admiral
writes more fully, and at another time they will send to order
Don Juan de Fonseca with Jimeno de Bribiesca to make provision
for the same.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that inasmuch as yesterday
in the review people were found who were without arms, which I think
happened in part by that exchange which took place yonder in
Seville, or in the harbour when those who presented themselves armed
were left, and others were taken who gave something to those who
made the exchange, it seems that it would be well to order 200
cuirasses sent, and 100 muskets and 100 crossbows, and a large
quantity of arsenal supplies, which is what we need most, and all
these arms can be given to those who are unarmed.
["Already Don Juan de Fonseca has been written to make
provision for this.]
"Item. Inasmuch as some artisans who came here, such as masons and
other workmen, are married and have wives yonder in Spain, and would
like to have what is owing them from their wages given to their
wives or to the persons to whom they will send their requirements in
order that they may buy for them the things which they need here I
supplicate their Highnesses to order it paid to them, because it is
for their benefit to have these persons provided for here.
["Their Highnesses have already sent orders to Don Juan de
Fonseca to make provision for this matter.]
"Item. Because, besides the other things which are asked for there
according to the memoranda which you are carrying signed by my hand,
for the maintenance of the persons in good health as well as for the
sick ones, it would be very well to have fifty casks of molasses
(miel de azucar) from the island of Madeira, as it is the best
sustenance in the world and the most healthful, and it does not
usually cost more than two ducats per cask, without the cask: and if
their Highnesses order some caravel to stop there in returning, it
can be purchased and also ten cases of sugar, which is very
necessary; as this is the best season of the year to obtain it, I
say between the present time and the month of April, and to obtain
it at a reasonable price. If their Highnesses command it, the order
could be given, and it would not be known there for what place it is
wanted.
["Let Don Juan de Fonseca make provision for this matter.]
"Item. You will say to their Highnesses that although the rivers
contain gold in the quantity related by those who have seen it, yet
it is certain that the gold is not engendered in the rivers but
rather on the land, the waters of the rivers which flow by the mines
bringing it enveloped in the sands: and as among these rivers which
have been discovered there are some very large ones, there are
others so small that they are fountains rather than rivers, which
are not more than two fingers of water in depth, and then the source
from which they spring may be found: for this reason not only
labourers to gather it in the sand will be profitable, but others to
dig for it in the earth, which will be the most particular operation
and produce a great quantity. And for this, it will be well for
their Highnesses to send labourers, and from among those who work
yonder in Spain in the mines of Almaden, that the work may be done
in both ways. Although we will not await them here, as with the
labourers we have here we hope, with the aid of God, once the people
are in good health, to amass a good quantity of gold to be sent on
the first caravels which return.
["This will be fully provided for in another manner. In the
meantime their Highnesses order Don Yuan de Fonseca to send the
best miners he can obtain; and to write to Almaden to have the
greatest possible number taken from there and sent.]
"Item. You will entreat their Highnesses very humbly on my part, to
consider Villacorta as speedily recommended to them, who, as their
Highnesses know, has rendered great service in this business, and
with a very good will, and as I know him, he is a diligent person
and very devoted to their service: it will be a favour to me if he
is given some confidential charge for which he is fitted, and where
he can show his desire to serve them and his diligence: and this you
will obtain in such a way that Villacorta may know by the result,
that what he has done for me when I needed him profits him in this
manner.
["It will be done thus.]
"Item. That the said Mosen Pedro and Gaspar and Beltran and others
who have remained here gave up the captainship of caravels, which
have now returned, and are not receiving wages: but because they are
persons who must be employed in important matters and of confidence,
their compensation, which must be different from the others, has not
been determined. You will entreat their Highnesses on my part to
determine what is to be given them each year, or by the month,
according to their service.
"Done in the city of Isabella, January 30, 1494.
["This has already been replied to above, but as it is stated
in the said item that they enjoy their salary, from the present
time their Highnesses order that their wages shall be paid to
all of them from the time they left their captainships."]
This document is worth studying, written as it was in circumstances that
at one moment looked desperate and at another were all hope. Columbus
was struggling manfully with difficulties that were already beginning to
be too much for him. The Man from Genoa, with his guiding star of faith
in some shore beyond the mist and radiance of the West--see into what
strange places and to what strange occupations this star has led him!
The blue visionary eyes, given to seeing things immediately beyond the
present horizon, must fix themselves on accounts and requisitions, on the
needs of idle, aristocratic, grumbling Spaniards; must fix themselves
also on that blank void in the bellies of his returning ships, where the
gold ought to have been. The letter has its practical side; the
requisitions are made with good sense and a grasp of the economic
situation; but they have a deeper significance than that. All this talk
about little ewe lambs, wine and bacon (better than the last lot, if it
please your Highnesses), little yearling calves, and fifty casks of
molasses that can be bought a ducat or two cheaper in Madeira in the
months of April and May than at any other time or place, is only half
real. Columbus fills his Sovereigns' ears with this clamour so that he
shall not hear those embarrassing questions that will inevitably be asked
about the gold and the spices. He boldly begins his letter with the old
story about "indications of spices" and gold "in incredible quantities,"
with a great deal of "moreover" and "besides," and a bold, pompous,
pathetic "I will undertake"; and then he gets away from that subject by
wordy deviations, so that to one reading his letter it really might seem
as though the true business of the expedition was to provide Coronel,
Mosen Pedro, Gaspar, Beltran, Gil Garcia, and the rest of them with work
and wages. Everything that occurs to him, great or little, that makes it
seem as though things were humming in the new settlement, he stuffs into
this document, shovelling words into the empty hulls of the ships, and
trying to fill those bottomless pits with a stream of talk. A system of
slavery is boldly and bluntly sketched; the writer, in the hurry and
stress of the moment, giving to its economic advantages rather greater
prominence than to its religious glories. The memorandum, for all its
courageous attempt to be very cool and orderly and practical, gives us,
if ever a human document did, a picture of a man struggling with an
impossible situation which he will not squarely face, like one who should
try to dig up the sea-shore and keep his eyes shut the while.
In the royal comments written against the document one seems to trace the
hand of Isabella rather than of Ferdinand. Their tone is matter-of-fact,
cool, and comforting, like the coolness of a woman's hand placed on a
feverish brow. Isabella believed in him; perhaps she read between the
lines of this document, and saw, as we can see, how much anxiety and
distress were written there; and her comments are steadying and
encouraging. He has done well; what he asks is being attended to; their
Highnesses are well informed in regard to this and that matter; suitable
provision will be made for everything; but let him endeavour that the
amount of this gold may be known as precisely as possible. There is no
escaping from that. The Admiral (no one knows it better than himself)
must make good his dazzling promises, and coin every boastful word into a
golden excelente of Spain. Alas! he must no longer write about the lush
grasses, the shining rivers, the brightly coloured parrots, the gaudy
flies and insects, the little singing birds, and the nights that are like
May in Cordova. He must find out about the gold; for it has come to grim
business in the Earthly Paradise.
End of Project Gutenberg's Christopher Columbus, Volume 4, by Filson Young