for the reembarkation of the people who had wintered at Cap-Rouge,
Roberval, in France, was completing his arrangements for departure from
Rochelle with three considerable ships. In these were embarked two
hundred persons, consisting of gentlemen, soldiers, sailors, and
colonists, male and female, among whom was a considerable number of
criminals taken out of the public prisons. The two squadrons met in the
harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, when Cartier, after making his
report to Roberval, was desired to return with the outward-bound
expedition to Canada. Foreseeing the failure of the undertaking, or, as
some have alleged, unwilling to allow another to participate in the
credit of his discoveries, Cartier disobeyed the orders of his superior
officer. Various accounts have been given of this transaction, according
to some of which, Cartier, to avoid detention or importunity, weighed
anchor in the night-time and set sail for France.
Roberval resumed his voyage westward, and by the close of July had
ascended the St. Lawrence to Cap-Rouge, where he at once established his
colonists in the quarters recently vacated by Cartier.
It is unnecessary to narrate in detail the incidents which transpired in
connection with Roberval's expedition, as this proved a signal failure,
and produced no results of consequence to the future fortunes of the
country. It is sufficient to state that, although Roberval himself was a
man endowed with courage and perseverance, he found himself powerless to
cope with the difficulties of his position, which included
insubordination that could be repressed only by means of the gallows and
other extreme modes of punishment; disease, which carried off a quarter
of his followers in the course of the ensuing winter; unsuccessful
attempts at exploration, attended with considerable loss of life; and
finally famine, which reduced the surviving French to a state of abject
dependence upon the natives for the salvation of their lives. Roberval
had sent one of his vessels back to France, with urgent demands for
succor; but the King, instead of acceding to his petition, despatched
orders for him to return home. It is stated, on somewhat doubtful
authority, that Cartier himself was deputed to bring home the relics of
the expedition; and, if so, this distinguished navigator must have made
a fourth voyage out to the regions which he had been the first to make
known to the world. Thus ended Roberval's abortive attempt to establish
a French colony on the banks of the St. Lawrence.
Of the principal actors in the scenes which have been described, but
little remains to be recorded. Roberval, after having distinguished
himself in the European wars carried on by Francis I, is stated to have
fitted out another expedition, in conjunction with his brother, in the
year 1549, for the purpose of making a second attempt to found a colony
in Canada; but he and all with him perished at sea. The intrepid
Cartier, by whose services in the western hemisphere so extensive an
addition had been made to the dominions of the King of France, was
suffered to retire into obscurity, and is supposed to have passed the
remainder of his days on a small estate possessed by him in the
neighborhood of his native place, St. Malo. The date of his decease is
unknown.[50]
FOOTNOTES:
[44] The courts of Spain and Portugal had protested against any fresh
expedition from France to the west, alleging that, by right of prior
discovery, as well as the Pope's grant of all the western regions to
themselves, the French could not go there without invading their
privileges. Francis, on the other hand, treated these pretensions with
derision, observing sarcastically that he would "like to see the clause
in old Father Adam's will by which an inheritance so vast was bequeathed
to his brothers of Spain and Portugal."
[45] The dates in this and subsequent pages are in accordance with the
"old style" of reckoning.
[46] It has not been satisfactorily settled to what tribe the Indians
belonged who were found by Cartier at Hochelaga. Some have even doubted
the accuracy of his description in relation to their numbers, the
character of their habitations, and other circumstances, under the
belief that allowance must be made for exaggeration in the accounts of
the first European visitors, who were desirous that their adventures
should rival those of Cortes and Pizarro. It has also been suggested
that the people were not Hurons, but remnants of the Iroquois tribes,
who might have lingered there on their way southward. At any rate, when
the place was revisited by Frenchmen more than half a century afterward,
very few savages were seen in the neighborhood, and these different from
those met by Cartier, while the town itself was no longer in existence.
Champlain, upward of seventy years after Jacques Cartier, visited
Hochelaga, but made no mention in his narrative either of the town or of
inhabitants.
[47] Commission dated October 20, 1540. In this document the French
King's appreciation of Cartier's merits is strongly shown in the terms
employed to express his royal confidence "in the character, judgment,
ability, loyalty, dignity, hardihood, great diligence, and experience of
the said Jacques Cartier." Cartier was also authorized to select fifty
prisoners "whom he might judge useful," etc.
[48] His description is substantially as follows: "On both sides of the
river were very good lands filled with as beautiful and vigorous trees
as are to be seen in the world, and of various sorts. A great many oaks,
the finest I have ever seen in my life, and so full of acorns that they
seemed like to break down with their weight. Besides these there were
the most beautiful maples, cedars, birches, and other kinds of trees not
to be seen in France. The forest land toward the south is covered with
vines, which are found loaded with grapes as black as brambleberries.
There were also many hawthorn-trees, with leaves as large as those of
the oak, and fruit like that of the medlar-tree. In short, the country
is as fit for cultivation as one could find or desire. We sowed seeds of
cabbage, lettuce, turnips, and others of our country, which came up in
eight days."
[49] Early in the spring of 1542 Cartier seems to have made several
small excursions in search of gold and silver. That these existed in the
country, especially in the region of the Saguenay, was intimated to him
by the Indians; and this information probably led Roberval afterward to
undertake his unfortunate excursion to Tadousac. Cartier did find a
yellowish material, which he styled "_poudre d'or_," and which he took
to France, after exhibiting it to Roberval when he met him at
Newfoundland. It is likely that this was merely fine sand intermixed
with particles of mica. He also took with him small transparent stones,
which he supposed to be diamonds, but which could have been no other
than transparent crystals of quartz.
[50] Cartier was born December 31, 1494. He was therefore in the prime
of life when he discovered Canada, and not more than forty-nine years of
age at the time when he returned home from his last trip to the west.
MENDOZA SETTLES BUENOS AIRES
A.D. 1535
ROBERT SOUTHEY
By the discovery in 1515 of the Rio de la Plata ("River of
Silver"), the Spaniards opened for themselves a way to
colonization in South America. The first explorer, Juan Diaz
de Solis, was killed by the Indians on landing from the
river. But in 1519 Magellan, while on his great voyage of
circumnavigation, visited the Plata, and in 1526 Sebastian
Cabot, in the service of Charles I of Spain (the emperor
Charles V), ascended the river to the junction of the
Paraguay and the Parana, both of which he then explored for
a long distance.
Among the natives, whose silver ornaments, it is said, gave
origin to the name La Plata, as well as to that of
Argentina, Cabot passed two years in friendly intercourse.
He then sent to Spain an account of Paraguay, and a request
for authority and reenforcements to take possession of the
country with its rich resources. Although his request was
favorably received, no efficient action was taken upon it,
and, after waiting for five years, Cabot, despairing of the
necessary assistance, left the region.
It was not long, however, before a somewhat extensive
settlement in those parts was projected. Don Pedro Mendoza,
a knight of Guadix, Granada, one of the royal household,
undertook the colonization of the country, and September 1,
1534, he sailed from San Lucar.
Mendoza had enriched himself at the sackage of Rome by the Constable de
Bourbon in 1527. Ill-gotten wealth has been so often ill-expended as to
have occasioned proverbs in all languages; the plunder of Rome did not
satisfy him, and, dreaming of other Mexicos and Cuzcos, he obtained a
grant of all the country from the river Plata to the straits, to be his
government, with permission to proceed across the continent to the South
Sea.
He undertook to carry out in two voyages, and within two years, a
thousand men, a hundred horses, and stores for one year at his own
expense, the King[51] granting him the title of _adelantado_, and a
salary of two thousand ducats for life, with two thousand more from the
fruits of the conquest in aid of his expenses. He was to build three
fortresses, and be perpetual alcaid of the first; his heirs after him
were to be first alguazils of the place where he fixed his residence,
and after he had remained three years he might transfer the task of
completing the colonization and conquest either to his heir or any other
person whom it might please him to appoint--and with it the privileges
annexed--if within two years the King approved the choice.
A king's ransom was now understood to belong to the crown; but as a
further inducement this prerogative was waived in favor of Mendoza and
his soldiers, who were to share it, first having deduced the royal
fifth, and then a sixth. If, however, the King in question were slain in
battle, half the spoils should go to the crown. These terms were made in
wishful remembrance of the ransom of Atabalipa.
He was to take with him a physician, an apothecary, and a surgeon, and
especially eight "religioners." Life is lightly hazarded by those who
have nothing more to stake, but that a man should, like Mendoza, stake
such riches as would content the most desperate life-gambler for his
winnings is one of the many indications how generally and how strongly
the contagious spirit of adventure was at that time prevailing.
Mendoza had covenanted to carry five hundred men in his first voyage.
Such was his reputation, and such the ardor for going to the Silver
River, that more adventurers offered than it was possible for him to
take, and he accelerated his departure on account of the enormous
expense which such a host occasioned. The force with which he set forth
consisted of eleven ships and eight hundred men. So fine an armament had
never yet sailed from Europe for America: but they who beheld its
departure are said to have remarked that the service of the dead ought
to be performed for the adventurers. They reached Rio de Janeiro after a
prosperous voyage, and remained there a fortnight, during which time the
Adelantado, being crippled by a contraction of the sinews, appointed
Juan Osorio to command in his stead. Having made this arrangement they
proceeded to their place of destination, anchored at Isle St. Gabriel
within the Plata, and then on its southern shore and beside a little
river. There Don Pedro de Mendoza laid the foundation of a town which
because of its healthy climate he named "Nuestra Senora de Buenos Aires"
("Our Lady of Good Air"). It was not long before he was made jealous of
Osorio by certain envious officers, and, weakly lending ear to wicked
accusations, he ordered them to fall upon him and kill him, then drag
his body into the plaza, or public market-place, and proclaim him a
traitor. The murder was perpetrated, and thus was the expedition
deprived of one who is described as an honest and generous good soldier.
Experience had not yet taught the Spaniards that any large body of
settlers in a land of savages must starve unless well supplied with food
from other sources until they can raise it for themselves. The
Quirandies, who possessed the country round about this new settlement,
were a wandering tribe who, in places where there was no water, quenched
their thirst by eating a root which they called _cardes_, or by sucking
the blood of the animals which they slew.
About three thousand of these savages had pitched their movable
dwellings some four leagues from the spot which Mendoza had chosen for
the site of his city. They were well pleased with their visitors, and
during fourteen days brought fish and meat to the camp; on the fifteenth
day they failed, and Mendoza sent a few Spaniards to them to look for
provisions, who came back empty-handed and wounded. Upon this, he
ordered his brother Don Diego, with three hundred soldiers and thirty
horsemen, to storm their town, and kill or take prisoner the whole
horde. The Quirandies had sent away their women and children, collected
a body of allies, and were ready for the attack. Their weapons were bows
and arrows and _tardes_--stone-headed tridents about half the length of
a lance. Against the horsemen they used a long thong, having a ball of
stone at either end. With this they were wont to catch their game;
throwing it with practised aim at the legs of the animal it coiled round
and brought it to the ground. In all former wars with the Indians the
horsemen had been the main strength and often the salvation of the
Spaniards. This excellent mode of attack made them altogether useless;
they could not defend themselves. The commander and six hidalgos were
thrown and killed, and the whole body of horse must have been cut off if
the rest had not fled in time and been protected by the infantry. About
twenty foot-soldiers were slain with tardes. But it was not possible
that these people, brave as they were, could stand against European
weapons and such soldiers as the Spaniards: they gave way at last,
leaving many of their brethren dead, but not a single prisoner. The
conquerors found in their town plenty of flour, fish, what is called
"fish-butter"--which probably means inspissated oil--otter-skins, and
fishing-nets. They left a hundred men to fish with these nets, and the
others returned to the camp.
Mendoza was a wretched leader for such an expedition. He seems,
improvidently, to have trusted to the natives for provision and to have
quarrelled with them unnecessarily. Very soon after his arrival six
ounces of bread had been the daily allowance; it was now reduced to
three ounces of flour, and, every third day, a fish. They marked out the
city and began a mud wall for its defence, the height of a lance and
three feet thick. It was badly constructed: what was built up one day,
fell down the next; the soldiers had not as yet learned this part of
their duties.
A strong house was built within the circuit for the Adelantado; meantime
their strength began to fail for want of food. Rats, snakes, and vermin
of every eatable size were soon exterminated from the environs. Three
men stole a horse and ate it; they were tortured to make them confess
the fact and then hanged for it; their bodies were left upon the
gallows, and in the night all the flesh below the waist was cut away.
One man ate the corpse of his brother; some murdered their messmates for
the sake of receiving their rations as long as they could conceal their
death by saying they were ill. The mortality was very great. Mendoza,
seeing that all must perish if they remained here, sent George Luchsan,
one of his German or Flemish adventurers, up the river, with four
brigantines, to seek for food. Wherever they came the natives fled
before them and burned what they could not carry away. Half the men were
famished to death, and all must have perished if they had not fallen in
with a tribe who gave them barely enough maize to support them during
their return.
The Quirandies had not been dismayed by one defeat: they prevailed upon
the Bartenes, the Zechuruas, and the Timbues to join them, and with a
force which the besieged in their fear estimated at three-and-twenty
thousand--though it did not probably amount to a third of that
number--suddenly attacked the new city. The weapons which they used were
not less ingeniously adapted to their present purpose than those which
had proved so effectual against the horse. They are said to have had
arrows which took fire at the point as soon as they were discharged,
which were not extinguished until they had burned out, and which kindled
whatever they touched. With these devilish instruments they set fire to
the thatched huts of the settlers and consumed them all. The stone house
of the Adelantado was the only dwelling which escaped destruction. At
the same time, and with the same weapons, they attacked the ships and
burned four; the other three got to a safe distance in time and at
length drove them off with their artillery. About thirty Spaniards were
slain.
The Adelantado now left a part of his diminished force in the ships to
repair the settlement, giving them stores enough to keep them from
starving for a year, which they were to eke out as best they could; he
himself advancing up the river with the rest in the brigantines and
smaller vessels. But he deputed his authority to Juan de Ayolas, being
utterly unequal to the fatigue of command--in fact he was, at this time,
dying of the most loathsome and dreadful malady that human vices have
ever yet brought upon human nature.
About eighty-four leagues up the river they came to an island inhabited
by the Timbues, who received them well. Mendoza presented their chief,
Zchera Wasu, with a shirt, a red cap, an axe, and a few other trifles,
in return for which he received fish and game enough to save the lives
of his people. This tribe trusted wholly to fishing and to the chase for
food. They used long canoes. The men were naked, and ornamented both
nostrils with stones. The women wore a cotton cloth from the waist to
the knee, and cut beauty-slashes in their faces. Here the Spaniards took
up their abode, and named the place "Buena Esperanza," signifying "Good
Hope." One Gonzalo Romero, who had been one of Cabot's people and had
been living among the savages, joined them here. He told them there were
large and rich settlements up the country, and it was thought advisable
that Ayolas should proceed with the brigantines in search of them.
Meantime Mendoza, who was now become completely crippled, returned to
Buenos Aires, where he found a great part of his people dead, and the
survivors struggling with famine and every species of wretchedness. They
were relieved by the arrival of Gonzalo Mendoza, who, at the beginning
of their distresses, had been despatched to the coast of Brazil in quest
of supplies. Part of Cabot's people, after the destruction of his
settlement, had sailed for Brazil and established themselves in a bay
called Ygua, four-and-twenty leagues from St. Vicente. There they began
to form plantations, and continued two years on friendly terms with the
adjoining natives and with the Portuguese. Disputes then arose, and,
according to the Castilian account (for no other remains), the
Portuguese resolved to fall upon them and drive them out of the country;
of this they obtained intelligence, surprised the intended invaders,
plundered the town of St. Vicente, and, being joined by some
discontented Portuguese from that infant colony, sailed in two ships for
the island of St. Catalina. There these adventurers began a new
settlement, but such was their restless spirit that, when Gonzalo
Mendoza arrived there, they were easily persuaded to abandon the houses
which they had just constructed, and the fields which were now beginning
to afford them comfortable subsistence; and the whole colony, with their
two ships, joined him and made for the Plata, to partake in the conquest
and spoils of the Silver River.
They brought a considerable supply of stores, and were themselves well
armed and well supplied with ammunition. Some Brazilian Indians with
their families accompanied them, and they themselves, being accustomed
to the language and manners of the natives, were of the most essential
service to the adventurers with whom they joined company. At sight of
this seasonable relief Mendoza returned thanks to God, shedding tears of
joy. He waited awhile in hopes of hearing good tidings from Ayolas, and
at length sent Juan de Salazar with a second detachment in quest of him.
His health grew daily worse and his hopes fainter; he had lost his
brother in this expedition, and expended above forty thousand ducats of
his substance; nor did there appear much probability of any eventual
success to reimburse him, so he determined to sail for Spain, leaving
Francisco Ruyz to command at Buenos Aires, and appointing Ayolas
governor if he should return; and Salazar, in case of his death. His
instructions were that, as soon as either of them should return, he was
to examine what provisions were left, and allow no rations to any
persons who could support themselves, nor to any women who were not
employed in either washing or in some other such necessary service; that
he should sink the ships, or dispose of them in some other manner, and,
if he thought fit, proceed across the continent to Peru, where, if he
met with Pizarro and Almagro, he was to procure their friendship in the
Adelantado's name; and if Almagro should be disposed to give him one
hundred fifty thousand ducats for a resignation of his government--as he
had given to Pedro de Alvarado--he was to accept it--or even one hundred
thousand--unless it should appear more profitable not to close with such
an offer. How strong must his hope of plunder have been after four years
of continued disappointment and misery!
Moreover, he charged his successor, if it should please God to give him
any jewel or precious stone, not to omit sending it him, as some help in
his trouble, and he instructed him to form a settlement on the way to
Peru, either upon the Paraguay or elsewhere, from whence tidings of his
proceedings might be transmitted. Having left these directions Mendoza
embarked, still dreaming of gold and jewels. On the voyage they were so
distressed for provisions that he was obliged to kill a favorite bitch
which had accompanied him through all his troubles. While he was eating
this wretched meal his senses failed him--he began to rave, and died in
the course of two days.
FOOTNOTES:
[51] Charles I of Spain, who was also the emperor Charles V.
FOUNDING OF THE JESUITS
A.D. 1540
ISAAC TAYLOR
Toward the middle of the sixteenth century definite
utterance began to be given to a widespread feeling in the
Church that the old monastic orders were no longer
fulfilling their purpose. Suggestions of new orders were
entertained by the church authorities, and plans for their
formation--not to supersede but to supplement the old--began
to assume shape.
Meanwhile an enthusiastic Spanish soldier, who had renounced
the profession of arms, independently gathered about himself
the nucleus of what was to be one of the most famous orders
in the history of the Church. This organization, called the
Company (or Society) of Jesus, but better known to many as
the Order of Jesuits, owes its foundation primarily to
Ignatius de Loyola (Inigo Lopez de Recalde), who was born at
the castle of Loyola, Guipuzcoa, Spain, in 1491. After being
educated as a page at the court of Ferdinand, he joined the
army, and during his recovery from a wound received at
Pamplona in 1521, he became imbued with spiritual ardor and
dedicated himself to the service of the Virgin. Henceforth
the "fiery Ignatius" devoted himself to the pursuit and, as
he believed, the purification of religion.