_COLUMBUS AND THE NEW WORLD._
THE TIME.
1. Columbus lived in a stirring age. Everywhere light was breaking in
after centuries of darkness, and all Europe was restless with
suggestions and beginnings of new life. Great men were plenty; rulers,
like the Medici of Florence; artists, like Raphael and Angelo;
preachers, like Savonarola, whose fiery prophecies brought him to
fiery death; reformers, chief among diem Luther, just beginning to
think the thoughts that later set the world agog. Great inventions
were spreading; gun-powder, invented before, now becoming terribly
effective through the improvement in guns; printing, suddenly opening
knowledge to every class; the little compass, with which mariners were
just beginning to trust themselves boldly on the seas, in spite of the
popular impression that it was a sort of infernal machine presided
over by the devil himself.
[Illustration: SHIPS OF COLUMBUS]
2. And to this age had been bequeathed the fascinating stories of Sir
John Mandeville and Marco Polo, stories to make every boy crazy to be
off to seek his fortune. From their travels in Asia these men had
brought back the most remarkable accounts of the eastern lands. A
country was there, they said, called Cathay, bordering on the sea. It
was ruled by an emperor, the Kubla Khan, or Great Khan, who lighted
his bedroom with a bright jewel half a foot long, set upon golden
pillars, and decorated his walls with wrought gold and hundreds of
precious stones. The rivers of the land were crossed by marble
bridges, and the houses were roofed and paved with gold. The seas were
full of islands where spices grew and countless strange creatures
lived: one-eyed men; men with a lip long enough to cover their whole
face; men with only one foot, but that so large that they held it over
them like an umbrella when they lay down in the sun to rest;
two-headed men and men with no heads at all; men whose only food was
snakes, and others whose favorite beverage was human blood; dragons
and unicorns; woolly hens and sheep that grew on trees; and in one
island a valley where only devils dwelt. But there were besides great
hills of gold, cities with towers of silver and gold, precious stones
of all kinds, and rose-tinted pearls, big and round.
3. There was trade between Europe and certain parts of Asia which they
called the Indies, and reached by going east and south by land; but
this marvelous country of the Grand Khan lay beyond, and its riches
remained a golden dream, known only by the travelers' reports. That
was what was known of Asia. Of Africa, even less; for, fifty years
before Columbus was born, only a strip across the northern part of it
was known, and south of that lay "nothing," said the people. And of
America, our wide-stretching America, they never dreamed.
4. Some fifty years before the birth of Columbus, Prince Henry of
Portugal, studying the matter, came to the conclusion that the world
did not necessarily end at "Cape Nothing," on the African coast, as
people said, but perhaps extended a long way farther; and, having an
abundance of time and money, he began to send out ships to sail along
beyond the cape and see what they could find. And they found a long,
long coast. Year after year, until the prince was a gray-haired old
man, he sent out vessel after vessel; and, though often storm-driven
and wrecked, and unsuccessful, they many times came back with accounts
of new discoveries. One by one they brought the numerous islands lying
off the northwest coast of Africa to the notice of the people of
Europe. And after they once got past that mysterious "Cape Nothing,"
they sailed along the coast, going farther and farther on successive
voyages, until, in 1487, long after Prince Henry's death, and just
before Columbus's great voyage, the most southern point was rounded,
the African continent was known, and the long-sought water-way to the
Indies was established.
THE IDEA.
5. As to the date of Columbus's birth, historians can not agree within
some ten years. It was doubtless some where between 1435 and 1446.
They also give different accounts as to his birthplace; but it seems
most probable that he was born in Genoa, on the Mediterranean, the son
of a wool-carder, and that he went to school in Pavia. At fourteen he
became a sailor.
6. Up and down the seas, first in the sunny Mediterranean, later along
the stormy Atlantic coast, sailed the lad, the young man, in the small
sailing vessels of the time, and learned well the ocean which he
afterward so boldly trusted.
[Illustration: View of Genoa]
7. He was a daring, quick-witted, handsome, bronzed young man when he
went to Lisbon, where his brother Bartholomew was established as a
cosmographer, making charts for seamen; and with all his enthusiasm
for his sea-faring life, he had enough interest in ordinary pursuits
to fall in love most romantically. It happened on account of his being
so regular at church. Every day he must attend service, and every day
to church came Donna Philippa Palestrello, who lived in a convent near
by. Across the seats flitted involuntary glances between the
cloistered maiden and the handsome brown sailor--with a dimple in his
chin, some pictures have him; something besides prayers were read
between the lines of the prayer-book, and the marriage which closed
this churchly wooing proved the wisdom of both parties.
8. Philippa's father had been one of Prince Henry's famous seamen and
the governor of Porto Santo, one of the new-found islands; and after
his marriage, Columbus lived sometimes at Porto Santo, sometimes at
Lisbon, and much of the time on the sea. He sailed south along the
African coast to Guinea; north he sailed to England, and farther on to
Iceland. Wherever ships could go, there went he, intent on learning
all there was to know of the world he lived in. He read eagerly all
that was written about the earth's shape and size. The modern science
of his time he well understood. He pored over the maps of the ancient
geographer Ptolemy, over the maps of Cosmas, a later geographer, over
Palestrello's charts, given him by Philippa's mother.
9. Ptolemy said the world is round, but Cosmas, whom good Christians
were bound to believe, since he founded his science on the Bible, said
it is flat, with a wall around it to hold up the sky--very probable,
certainly. But that notion of the ancients that the world is "round
like a ball" had been caught up and believed by a handful of men
scattered sparsely down through the centuries, and of late lead
gained, among advanced scientists, more of a following than ever. And
Columbus, who, with all his enthusiasm for adventure and his reverence
for religion and he church, had a clear, unbiased, scientific head,
mentally turned his back upon Cosmas, and clasped hands with the
ancients and the wisest scientists of his own day.
10. The north was known, the south was fast becoming so, the east had
been penetrated, but the west was unexplored. Stretching along from
Thule, the distant Iceland, to the southern part of the great African
continent, thousands of miles, lay the "Sea of Darkness," as the
people called it. What lay beyond? The question had been asked before,
times enough; times enough answered for any reasonable man. "Hell was
there," said one superstition, "Haven't you seen the flames at
sunset-time?" "A sea thick like paste, in which no ships can sail,"
said another. "Darkness," said another, "thick darkness, the blackness
of nothing, and the end of all created things!"
11. There _was_ a legend that over there beyond was Paradise, and St.
Brandan, wandering about the seas, had reached it. The ancients told
of an island Atlantis over there somewhere in the West, and one of
them had said: "In the last days an age will come when ocean shall
loose the chains of things; a wonderful country will be discovered,
and Tiphis shall make known new worlds, nor shall Thule be the end of
the earth."
12. Ah, to be the discoverer of Atlantis or Paradise! "But, if the
world is round," said Columbus, "it is not hell that lies beyond that
stormy sea. Over there _must_ lie the eastern strand of Asia, the Cathay
of Marco Polo, the land of the Kubla Khan, and Cipango, the great
island beyond it." "Nonsense!" said the neighbors; "the world isn't
round--can't you _see_ it is flat? And Cosmas Indicopleustes, who lived
hundreds of years before you were born, says it is flat; and he got it
from the Bible. You're no good Christian to be taking up with such
heathenish notions!" Thought Columbus, "I will write to Paolo
Toscanelli, at Florence, and see what be will say."
13. So Columbus wrote, and Toscanelli, the wise scientist, answered
that the idea of sailing west was good and feasible; and with the
letter came a map, on which Asia and the great island Cipango were
laid down opposite Europe, with the Atlantic between, exactly as
Columbus imagined it. Toscanelli said it was easy enough: "You may be
certain of meeting with extensive kingdoms, populous cities, and rich
provinces, abounding in all sorts of precious stones; and your visit
will cause great rejoicing to the king and princes of those distant
lands, besides opening a way for communication between them and the
Christians, and the instruction of them in the Catholic religion and
the arts we possess." It was 1474 when this encouragement came, and
from this time all the sailor's thoughts and plans turned toward the
west.
14. The life at home between his voyages, whether spent with his
brother, the cosmographer, at Lisbon, or with his wife and sailor
brother-in-law, on the Porto Santo island, was hardly less nautical
than the voyages themselves. Porto Santo was in line with the
ship-routes to and from Spain and all the new-found African coast and
islands; and the family there, with the men sailors and geographers,
and the women, wives and daughters of sailors and geographers, lived
in the bracing salt sea-air, full of the tingle of adventure.
15. Wild stories tell the sailors, coming and going, whom one can
scarce contradict for lack of certain knowledge; and is it not an age
of wonders in real life? And the round earth, the round earth--_is_ it
round? And the empire of the Grand Khan just over the western water
there--not far! The sailors said that on the shores of one of the
islands two dead men of strange appearance had been washed in from the
west. The sailors said they had picked up curiously-carved sticks
drifting from the west. Pedro Correa himself, Columbus's
brother-in-law, and a man to be trusted, had found one floating from
the west. And there was a legend of the sight of land lying like a
faint cloud along that western horizon.
16. "The world _is_ round," said Columbus. "It is not very large" (he
thought it much smaller than it is), "and opposite us across that sea
lies Asia; and to Asia by way of that sea I will go. There, in the
west, lies my duty to God and man; I will carry salvation to the
heathen, and bring back gold for the Christians. From the 'Occident to
the Orient' a path I will find through the waters."
THE WAITING.
17. Such a venture as Columbus proposed could scarcely be carried out
at that time except by the help of kings, so to the kings went
Columbus.
18. Naturally, Portugal, with her proved interest in discovery, came
first in his thought; and before Portugal's king he laid his project.
The king should fit him out with vessels and men, and with them
Columbus would sail to the Indies, not by the route around Africa,
which the Portuguese had so long been seeking, but by a nearer
way--straight across the Atlantic. Think of the untold wealth from the
empire of the khan rolling in to Portugal if this connection could be
established! And think of converting those heathen to our blessed
mother church! It was worth thinking about, and the king called a
council of his wise men to consider the startling idea. Not long were
the wise men in wisely deciding that the plan was the wild scheme of
an adventurer, likely to come to no good whatever; and when the king,
hardly satisfied, laid it before another council, they, too, wisely
declared it ridiculous.
19. O ye owlish dignitaries! Still, the king was not convinced. "We
have discovered much by daring adventure, why not more?" "Stick to the
coast, and don't go sailing straight away from all known land into
waters unknown and mysterious," said the wise men. "But if the unknown
waters bring us to the riches of Cathay?" said the king. "That's the
extravagant dream of a visionary; it contains no truth and much
danger," said the wise men. "Try it yourself, and see. Unbeknown to
this Columbus, just send out a ship of your own to the west, and let
them come back and tell us what they find."
20. It was a most underhand piece of business all around; but the king
yielded and sent out a ship, which presently came back again with the
report that there was no Cathay there, and they hadn't found any
Cipango; it was all nonsense! And what they had met with was a big
storm that scared them terribly. So Columbus retired, and left the
king of Portugal to his brave sailors and wise councilors.
21. Next will come Spain, and meantime he will send his brother
Bartholomew to present the plan at the English court.
22. The Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, were down in
Andalusia, that beautiful southern province of Spain, in the midst of
a war with the Moors, who occupied certain portions of the land, and
whom the Spaniards were trying to drive out. So, his wife being now
dead, Columbus took his little boy Diego, and to Andalusia they went.
They stopped at Palos by the sea, and from there set out on foot. The
way was long, and Diego could not go far without getting very thirsty;
and his father stopping at a great, dark, stone convent, called Maria
de la Rabida, to get him a drink, the prior asked them in to rest a
bit. As they talked, Columbus soon told of his great project, to sail
to the Indies by way of the western sea.
23. The prior, in his long dark robe and shaved head, opened his eyes
at this and wanted to hear more. "Novel project this," thought he;
"very novel-most astonishing I must have my friend, Dr. Fernandez,
hear it." So a messenger was sent to Palos to fetch the doctor, and
Columbus went over again the wonderful plan--just to sail west, not so
very far, over the round earth, and reach the stately cities of
Cathay, and convert the Grand Khan to the faith, and gather of the
plentiful gold and jewels of that land. Little Diego stood by and
listened with wide-open eyes, and the doctor pondered, while the prior
gazed out from the western window upon the Atlantic, and Columbus bent
eager eyes and flushed face over his chart.
21. "Why, it may be possible! Send for Martin Alonzo Pinzon. He is a
seaman; let us see what he thinks!"
25. To Palos again goes the messenger, to the rich and influential
citizen, Alonzo Pinzon, and tells him he is wanted at La Pabida. "Ah,
Alonzo Pinzon!" greets him--the prior, "come and hear what a man
proposes to do; and a wise and courageous sailor he seems, though poor
enough!" And a third time they bend over the charts there in the dark
stone convent, and Alonzo Pinzon hears of the western route to India;
and Diego gazes from one to the other, and hopes in his heart that his
father will take him along--he wants to see the unicorns. Pinzon
catches the idea with enthusiasm, promising to help Columbus with
money and influence, and to go with him if he goes. The doctor,
cogitating upon the statements and arguments, concludes that they make
quite a reasonable showing, and advises Columbus to go on.
26. The prior says: "Go at once to the court. Talavera, the queen's
confessor, is a good friend of mine, and a letter of introduction to
him will gain you access to the king and queen. They will surely help
you." Diego clasps his hands. "Will you stay with me, Diego?" says
the long-robed prior. "I'd rather go to court," says Diego. "Nay, my
son," says Columbus, "if the good prior will keep you, I will leave
you here while I go on my uncertain errand." So the little boy stands
in the great stone doorway and watches his father out of sight toward
Cordova.
27. At Cordova is nothing but excitement and confusion. The army is
just starting upon a campaign against the Moors. Talavera is
preoccupied, has his hands full of business, and can scarcely give
Columbus time enough to state his errand. "Dear me, a new route to the
Indies! But don't you see how busy we are with this war? It is
probably all nonsense--sounds like it. The court in war-time can not
waste precious hours over the consideration of such wild visions as
this." So Columbus takes lodgings in Cordova, supports himself by
chart-making, talks to everybody about the new route to Asia, and
waits. Such a man with such a story is likely to gain some attention,
and by and by he begins to have friends. Several of the important
politicians come to know him, some are converts to his theory, and
finally the grand cardinal himself procures him an audience with the
king and queen.
28. Enthusiastically the "one-idea'd man" unfolds his theories to
royalty. The land of the Grand Khan, with its untold treasure, the
salvation of millions of souls in the Indies, are the vivid points.
The earth is a sphere, and a ship may sail straight from Spain to
Cipango, urges this man of imagination and faith. The king was not
slow to perceive the great advantages which success in such an
enterprise would bring to the government that undertook it; but he
must consult the wise men. Talavera should head a commission composed
of the great men in the church, great men of science, and professors
in the universities. Surely no man could ask for more. So to
Salamanca, seat of the greatest Spanish university, Columbus went to
convince the commission.
29. In the hall of the convent there was assembled the imposing
company--shaved monks in gowns of black and gray, fashionably dressed
men from the court in jaunty bats, cardinals in scarlet robes--all the
dignity and learning of Spain, gathered and waiting for the man and
his idea.
30. He stands before them with his charts, and explains his belief
that the world is round, and that Asia stretches from the eastern
boundary of Europe to a point something like four thousand miles from
Spain. Hence Asia could be reached by sailing due west across the
Atlantic. They had heard something of this before at Cordova, and here
at Salamanca, before the commission was formally assembled, and they
had their arguments ready.
31. You think the earth is round, and inhabited on the other side? Are
you not aware that the holy fathers of the church have condemned this
belief? Say the fathers, the Scriptures tell us all men are descended
from Adam; but certainly no men descended from Adam live in such a
region as this you speak of--the antipodes. Will you contradict the
fathers? The Holy Scriptures, too, tell us expressly that the heavens
are spread out like a tent, and how can that be true if the earth is
not flat like the ground the tent stands on? This theory of yours
looks heretical.
32. Columbus might well quake in his boots at the mention of heresy;
for there was that new Inquisition just in fine running order, with
its elaborate bone-breaking, flesh-pinching, thumb-screwing, banging,
burning, mangling system for heretics. What would become of the Idea
if he should get passed over to that energetic institution?
33. "I am a true and loyal Catholic," he cries; "I wish to convert the
Grand Khan's people to our blessed faith. I believe the Bible, and God
himself sends me on this mission. But these words of the Scriptures
are to be taken as a figure, not as literal facts of science." "Will
this sailor teach us how to read the Scriptures!" growl the monks.
34 "Well, for argument, suppose this world is round, and you could
sail west to the Indies. The voyage would take years, and you could
not carry food enough to keep you from starving."
35. "But I believe it is only a voyage of four thousand miles, and
can, with favoring winds, be accomplished in a short time," says
Columbus, stating his scientific reasons for this belief. "Will this
sailor teach us science!" growl the professors. "Well, all this _may_ be
true; but really, can you expect us to believe that there is a land
beneath us where people walk with their feet _up_, and trees grow _down_?"
Oh, foolish Columbus! What an absurd idea! "And, besides, if the
signor should succeed in sailing down around the earth to this
peculiar region, how does he propose to get back again? Will his ship
sail up-hill?"
36. Oh, the nudgings and winks among the monks at this poser! And the
professors smile triumphantly. "And, anyway, who are you, Signor
Colombo, to set yourself up to know more than all the world beside?
Haven't men been sailing in all the seas ever since the time of Noah,
and, if such a thing as this were possible, would not somebody have
found it out long ago?" With sound science, reverent religion,
enthusiastic imagination and faith, he answered them, this unknown
sailor, and left them bewildered by his views and impressed by his
personality. "Perhaps there is truth in the matter," said the monks of
St. Stephen. They said they would think about it, and they did think
about it, and it took them four years to think about it. Meantime they
adjourned and went about their own affairs, and Columbus went back to
court.
37. The campaign against the Moors began, and from that time to the
end of those weary years Columbus followed the court from place to
place, over the hills and valleys of beautiful Andalusia. Sometimes he
made charts for his support, sometimes be fought in the battles,
sometimes he talked with the courtiers, or begged audience with the
king to urge him to a decision; but always was with him that one dream
on which he was staking all his time and strength--the best years and
the fullest power of his manhood--hope of his heart, purpose of his
will, that one Idea possessing him in vivid, unwavering faith.
38. The queen was kind. His enthusiasm and sound judgment, his
persistent faith in his idea, his dignity and strong determination,
tempered by the most manly religion, made him friends even among his
examiners at Salamanca; and so he hoped and waited. Think of it--four
years of suspense on top of thirteen years of thought and study and
investigation toward one end! And when at last Talavera assembled the
wise men of the commission: to announce the result of their long
deliberation, they had come to this wise conclusion: that the whole
thing was foolish and impossible, unworthy of a great king's
attention.
39. Better give it up, Cristoforo Colombo, and make charts for a
living the rest of your days. No, says Colombo, that western ocean
must be crossed. He turns to the powerful Spanish nobles. They are
friendly, but hardly dare take up the project. He will go to France
and present his case. But first to La Rabida to see Diego, a tall lad
now. "What!" says the prior, "no success? Too bad, too bad! But Spain
must not give the glory of this great undertaking to France. I know
the queen, and I will write to her; I was her confessor once."
40. He wrote with such force that he was summoned to the queen at
once, and his earnest pleading determined Isabella to send again for
Columbus. But again disappointment came, for they took offense at
Columbus's high demands and would not grant them. The Spanish
sovereigns were to furnish the largest share of the equipment; he
should be admiral of the seas, and he and his sons after him were to
rule, under the king, the countries discovered, and share in all the
profits of the enterprise. Bold demands from an adventurer! Seventeen
years of waiting might have taught him common sense; but with his
absurd faith and uncommon sense he would accept no other terms, and
turned away again with his Idea and his determination.
41. "Too bad, too bad!" said St. Angel, the tax-collector; "_I_ will
plead with the queen. She must not let slip this chance of enriching
the king--_and_ converting the khan. I will myself lend the money
necessary, if the king can't afford it." Said Isabella to St. Angel:
"I think as you do. This is a wonderful plan. Let them say what they
will, by my own right I am queen of Castile, as well as queen of
Spain, and I pledge the crown of Castile to raise for Cristoforo
Colombo a suitable equipment to sail to the Indies by the west. Let
him make his own terms."
42. At last the fretting applications, the repeated explanations, the
harrowing suspense, the long restriction are over, and the strong
wings of the sea-bird are free to bear away over the Atlantic.
THE VOYAGE.
43. At Palos, in Southern Spain, three small ships were provided. One,
the Santa Maria, in which Columbus was to sail, was fully decked; the
other two--the Pinta and the Niña--had decks and cabins only at the
ends. As for crews, to secure them was no easy matter. Not many
sailors cared to trust themselves upon that unknown "Sea of Darkness.
" Not many believed in this story of a western route to Asia.
44. A few, with visions of the Grand Khan's palaces and the marvelous
sights of the East, would go for adventure's sake, and risk the
mystery between. A few, thinking of the "great hills of gold," would
risk the danger of tumbling into hell midway for the chance of getting
safely across to the land of treasure. Alonzo Pinzon was on hand, as
he had promised, and was given command of the Pinta, while the Niña
was put in charge of his brother Vincent. Royal pardon for crimes and
offenses was offered for any who would undertake this voyage, and so
some jail-birds were added to the company. Queer stuff for such an
undertaking! But beggars can not be choosers, and Cristoforo Colombo
might be thankful that he could get anybody for his fool's errand!
45. On August 3, 1492, in the early morning, the three ships lay in
Palos harbor, and down to Palos harbor flock all the town to see them
off for Cathay. Groups of trades-people shudder companionably over the
vague terrors of the Atlantic, and chatter over the probabilities of
the adventurers' return with untold wealth. Excited women-bareheaded
likely-gaze again upon the strong, controlled face of Columbus, and
thank God for this missionary to the Grand Khan-only the dark sea will
surely be his destruction before he gets there! Children wriggle
through the throng and stare at the men who are soon to find out what
becomes of the sun when it sets, and to know for themselves whether or
no it hisses and makes the water boil. The sailors make their way
toward the ships through a running fire of conversation and
hand-clasps, culminating at the dock in general good-byes and the
clinging embraces and sobs of daughters and sweethearts and wives. The
Pinzons are there with their friends. Dr. Fernandez is going, too, and
the prior of La Rabida, in his long robe, is exulting with him over
this success. Diego, soon to go to court as page to the prince, is
there to bid his father good-by.
46. Now all are on the docks ready to embark. A hundred and twenty men
to brave the unknown terrors of that sea stretching before them! The
prior steps gravely down among them, carrying the sacred host;
kneeling before him, Columbus murmurs his last confession and receives
the communion; and after him the Pinzons and the sailors reverently
commune. The people are silent as the prior blesses the departing
ones, and then the ships are manned, the sails spread, and Palos
watches until they flutter, like white birds, out of sight-never to
return! moan the daughters and the sweethearts and the wives; and the
children, with wide dark eyes, whisper of the unicorns and dragons of
the East.
47. Off at last! Oh, the exhilaration of it! Admiral of three rickety
ships and all the unknown seas; governor of a hundred disreputable
sailors and the realms of Cathay!
48. They had not been out three days when the Pinta's rudder got out
of order. That crew of the Pinta had been none too willing to start on
this rash expedition, and Columbus had his suspicions that they put it
out of order on purpose. Perhaps they did; anyway, the next day it was
reported broken again, and Columbus pointed for one of the Canary
Islands to get it mended. "We are going to Cathay by way of the
western ocean," they said in reply to the islanders' questions. "Oh,"
said the islanders, "every year we can see land lying west of us, away
off there. You will find it, though none of us have been there." Some
weeks of delay that unseaworthy Pinta caused; but at last, on
September 6th, they were once more started. Now, _to the west_! And,
with their homes and the known world behind them, into the west they
sailed!
49. Hardly had the land disappeared when the sailors, dismayed at
their own boldness, began to be frightened enough. The steersmen let
the vessels drift around a bit. "Steer to the _west_!" sternly cried
Columbus. There was grumbling in the crew, and the admiral showed his
wit by commencing then and there two records of the distance traveled
each day. The record for the faithless sailors' edification showed
fewer miles than the reality, and the truth of the matter no one knew
but himself, from that day until he brought them safe to the other
side. The fifth day a fragment of a ship drifted by them--"a wreck!"
cried the sailors, and grew gloomy over the bad omen. One night a
"remarkable bolt of fire" fell into the sea, and the superstitious men
were panic-stricken. How could they go on in the face of this message
from heaven? But go on they must. This remarkable admiral said calmly:
"Steer to the west."
50. As the days went on "they began to meet large patches of weeds,
very green." "We must be near to land," said the sailors. "Perhaps
some island," said the admiral; "but the continent we shall find
further ahead." Another strange thing happened. That little compass,
their only sure guide to Cathay, began to behave as if it too had lost
its head over this foolhardy undertaking. The neighbors at home had
warned them that the devil managed the compass; and this needle, never
known to point anywhere but north, now pointed west of north! Was the
devil steering them for hell? Heaven's fiery bolt had warned them;
they had not heeded, and now the devil was tampering with the compass.
Poor sailors! They looked fiercely on Columbus, and wished themselves
well out of this business. But the admiral faced the strange
occurrence quietly, though his heart may well have beat fearfully, and
proceeded to investigate its cause. He soon announced it. "It is the
north star that moves," he coolly informed the terrified men, "the
needle is always true." The admiral was certainly a marvelously wise
man, and the sailors said no more.
51. Eleven days out. No thickening of the sea yet, except with this
mass of floating weed. No darkness, except the darkness of night. No
nearer the sunset, and always at sunset-time that golden western path
across the water. Weeds, weeds--vast stretches of weeds; they must
betoken land; and a live crab discovered among them would surely seem
to indicate it. The sea is smooth, the air clear. It is like
"Andalusia in April, all but the nightingales," exclaims the admiral.
What would you give to hear a nightingale just now, brave-hearted
admiral, gazing into the moonlit infinity of silence that enspheres
you! You can not bear the crystal tension; go below to the relief of
the narrow room and the journal faithfully kept!
52. More signs of land. They kill tunnies--sure sign, say the sailors.
And all the signs are from the west, "where I hope the high God in
whose hand is all victory will speedily direct us to land," writes the
admiral. Even the faithless sailors begin to forget their sullen
disapproval, and the three ships race merrily to see which shall first
discover land. Great flocks of birds Alonzo Pinzon saw from the Pinta.
"This very night we shall reach land, I believe!" he exulted; and the
Pinta swiftly shot ahead, expecting to sight the shore at any moment.
"There must be islands all about us," thought the admiral; "but we
will not stay for them now. Straight to the west!"
53. Still no land, for all the signs and eager watching. Leagues of
undulating weeds, but no land! And the faint-hearted sailors grumble
again. They fear that they never shall "meet in these seas with a fair
wind to return to Spain." A head-wind heartens them, but it quickly
flits off laden with kisses for Andalusian sweethearts; and again the
east wind fills the sails and carries them away, and away, and away!
54. Alonzo Pinzon and Columbus hold a conference, and Columbus,
spreading out that dear map of the Atlantic lying between Europe and
Asia, traces for the pilots the course they have pursued--a bold,
straight westerly line--and shows them that they are now near the
islands of the Asiatic coast. Inspired delusion! How did it happen
that the distance you reckoned to Asia was just the distance that
landed you on American shores!
55. Then, again, all eyes strain to the west, and the three little
ships in that great circle of water steer swiftly on their unknown
course to unknown lands. The excited sailors can scarce do their work.
"We are nearing land, the admiral says." "He says it will be perhaps
Cipango itself!" "Think of the gold!" "And the dragons!" "Thou'rt a
coward. In Cipango the king has his palace roofed and floored with
gold." "And the pearls there are of a beautiful rose-color." "If it
is not Cipango, it will be still some other famous island, if not
Cathay."
56. "But, bethink you of the monsters of those islands: we are like to
meet two-headed men, they say, and lions, and beasts with men's
heads!" "Ay, but the gold, the gold!" "What will gold be to thee, man,
with a cannibal drinking thy blood?" "And there is somewhere there a
valley of devils!" "Hist about that, there's no need to speak." "Any
land were better than this dreary, endless ocean!" "Ay, ay, any land
were better than this endless ocean!--I go to look for land. The
admiral offers a reward to the man first discovering it." "Ho! for the
west, and the golden cities of Cathay!"
57. Monsters? devils? The admiral was a man of science and not of
superstition, but those wild stories may well have made the night
uncanny for him. Suddenly Alonzo Pinzon cried "Land!" and with
praiseworthy prudence hastened to claim the reward. The admiral fell
on his knees and thanked God. Alonzo Pinzon's crew sang the "Gloria";
the men of the Niña ran up the rigging, and shouted that the land was
truly there. All night the excited men talked of nothing but that
land, and the admiral changed their course to southwest, where it
appeared to lie. Fast they sailed till morning, till noon, till
afternoon, and then "discovered that what they had taken for land was
nothing but clouds!" Oh, the fearful reaction after that tense
twenty-four hours! "There is no further shore!" cried the sailors. "It
is as they said: the sea goes on forever, and we are going to death!"
The admiral quietly ordered, "Sail on into the west." They could not
gainsay him. He willed it, and they sailed on.
58. Weeds and birds still float and fly about the ships. "Fine weather
and the sea smooth, many thanks to God," says the admiral. Alonzo
Pinzon wished to seek the islands that might be near them. "No," said
the admiral, "we shall not change our course." Put the signs of land
again brought reviving spirits and new hope to the men, and again the
three ships try to outsail one another in the race for the first
discovery. The Nina suddenly fired a salute--signal of land--but the
land did not appear. Seeing flocks of birds flying southwest, Columbus
altered his course to that direction, thinking that the birds knew
better than he where land lay.
59. And three days more they sailed, watching eagerly the various
signs--weeds, pelicans, passing birds--gazing, gazing, gazing upon
that unbroken boundary line sweeping around the lonesome watery world!
Only sky and sea, sea and sky, with lines of passing birds black
across the one and the undulating weeds streaking the other--three
little ships with spreading sails under the blue dome, that distant,
limiting circle, delicately distinct, always curving in unbroken
perfection. Ah! the calm cruelty of the smiling sea and sky!
60. "The admiral encouraged them in the best manner he could,
representing the profits they were about to acquire, and adding that
it was to no purpose to complain; having come so far, they had nothing
to do but continue on to the Indies till, with the help of our Lord,
they should arrive there." It is said, though Columbus does not
record it, that now the sailors whispered about among themselves "that
it would be their best plan to throw him quietly into the sea, and say
he unfortunately fell in while he stood absorbed in looking at the
stars!" If they did plot such folly, they had sense enough not to
carry it out.
61. So there was, indeed, nothing for it but to sail on. The next day
brought more floating articles and newly excited expectancy. A cane, a
log, a carved stick the Pinta found. Think of the way that carved
stick passed from, hand to hand! "Carved with an iron tool," said one.
"Nay, I doubt it." See, they are waving a branch from the Niña's
deck! Ho, the Pinta! "A stalk loaded with roseberries!" There must be
land--or else the devil himself puts these signs in our way. Alonzo
Pirzon, in the swift Pinta, kept ahead. Night came down. At ten the
admiral, peer into the darkness, saw a light--was it one of those
phantom lights reported to dance over these waters? A faint,
glimmering light! "Pero Gutierrez, come here. I see a light! Look that
way!"--"I see it too," said Pero. "Rodrigo Sanchez, come here--a
light!" But Rodrigo Sanchez does not stand in the right place, and
sees nothing at all. It was gone a moment. Then the admiral saw it
moving up and down. "It _may_ be an indication of land," admitted
Rodrigo Sanchez; but Columbus was certain, and his orders were prompt
and imperative: a strict watch to be kept upon the forecastle, and for
him who should first see land a silken jacket and the reward promised
by the king and queen.
62. At midnight the Pinta was still ahead. Ninety miles they had made
since sunset. Look out for land, Alonzo Pinzon. Midnight--look sharp.
No land. One o'clock--look sharp. No land. Two o'clock--what is it?
Rodrigo de Triana has seen land, land!_ Make the signals, Alonzo
Pinzon. Ho, the Santa Maria--_Land!_ Ho, the Niña--_Land!_ Take in the
sails, wait now for the dawn--first dawn for Europe in the new world.
63. In the morning--it was Friday, October 12th, five weeks since they
saw the last of the Canaries--they found that the land was a small
island with naked people on its shore. Here we are at last! We have
accomplished it! Think of the exultation! Land with fitting ceremony,
and take possession for the king and queen of Spain. Drop the small
boat from the Santa Maria (put in your guns, lest the natives prove
cannibals). Get in you, and you, and you, of the sailors; get in,
Rodrigo de Escovedo, our secretary; you, of course, Rodrigo Sanchez,
since the king sent you on purpose to bear witness to this occasion.
Alonzo Pinzon and Vincent, carry your standards of the green cross;
and the admiral bears the royal standard of our sovereigns. All
aboard--put off the boat--row for the shore.
64. The curious natives flock about these strange beings, who come in
winged ships, and have bodies covered with something besides skin
handsome natives, evidently no cannibals, and very obliging. No lions,
or hippogriffs, or unicorns. But gold--yes, little pieces of it
hanging about the savages' necks. They make signs that it comes from a
land to the south. Cipango, thought Columbus, and set sail to find it.
They were in the group of islands between North and South America,
which we call the Bahamas and the West Indies. The first island
discovered the natives called Guanahani, but Columbus named it San
Salvador--"Holy Saviour."
65. They sailed about among them, hunting for gold and Cipango;
bartering with the astonished natives; observing the land. Not quite
equal to Mandeville's tales were the sights they saw, yet the
luxuriant, tropical vegetation of the islands, the trees with luscious
fruit and sweet perfume, the brilliant birds flitting through the
green foliage, the marvelous fish flashing in the waters, the lizards
darting across the paths, were wonderful enough in their new beauty to
the sea-weary eyes of the Europeans. "I saw no cannibals," says
Columbus; but he heard of an island full of them. He heard, too, of
the island of the Amazons, fierce, wild women, who use bows and
spears, and are less like women than men. And there was an island
where the inhabitants had no hair, and one where the people had tails.
Mermaids he saw, but, adds the honest admiral, they were "not so like
ladies as they are painted."
66. "Where do you get your gold?" says the admiral by signs to the
islanders. "Cubanacan," say the natives. _Kubla Khan_, flashes across
the admiral's mind, and he sails off in renewed certainty. The island
which the natives called Colba, or Cuba, he took for Cipango, and
after much searching he came to it at last. When he did reach it, its
size deceived him into thinking he had reached the continent, and
messengers were straightway dispatched to seek the Grand Khan, with
his marble bridges and golden towers. Columbus bad brought along a
letter to him from Ferdinand and Isabella, in which they tell him
that, having heard of his love for them, and his wish to hear news
from Spain, they now send their admiral to tell him of their health
and prosperity! But the messengers could not find the khan. How could
you know, Cristoforo Colombo, that you were only half way around the
great world, and thousands of miles yet from Cathay!
THE REWARD.
67. America was discovered. The daring admiral never knew it. To the
day of his death he thought the world was only half as large as it is,
and that he had sailed west to Cathay.
68. America was discovered. Shout, Palos! Seven months only have
passed, and here come the heroes back again--back from Cipango and
Cathay. Weep for joy, daughters and sweethearts and wives! Little
children, gaze with fear upon those dark-skinned painted savages, and
be consoled that they brought no dragons. Barcelona, ring your bells!
The hero, Columbus, is coming in state! Crowd the streets, the doors,
the windows, the roofs; king and queen receive him in magnificence.
Hail to the man who has _succeeded_!
69. Three times afterward Columbus crossed the ocean to the new-found
Indies, touching once the mainland of South America. No need to go
into the details of his after life. How can one have the heart to tell
of the quick subsiding of his triumph, the malicious envy of
courtiers, the unreasonable discontent of subordinates, the selfish
ambition of rivals, the wanton wickedness of the West Indian settlers;
of his removal from the governorship, and his voyage home in chains,
over _his_ Atlantic, of his weakening health, his accumulating
anxieties, his troubled old age? The peaceful death that closed it all
in 1506 was relief to the bold spirit which injustice and pain could
not subdue, but only hamper and fret. From the island of Jamaica,
three years before his death, America's discoverer writes to his king
and queen:
70. "For seven years was I at your royal court, where every one to
whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as ridiculous; but now
there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does not beg to be
allowed to become a discoverer. . . . The lands in this part of the
world which are now under your highnesses' sway are richer and more
extensive than those of any other Christian power; and yet, after that
I had, by the Divine will, placed them under your high and royal
sovereignty, and was on the point of bringing your majesties into the
receipt of a very great and unexpected revenue,... I was arrested
and thrown, with my two brothers, loaded with irons, into a ship,
stripped and very ill treated, without being allowed any appeal to
justice. . . . I was twenty-eight years old when I came into your
highnesses' service, and now I have not a hair upon me that is not
gray; my body is infirm, and all that was left to me, as well as to my
brothers, has been taken away and sold, even to the frock that I wore,
to my great dishonor. . . . I implore your highnesses to forgive my
complaints. I am, indeed, in as ruined a condition as I have related;
hitherto I have wept over others-may Heaven now have mercy upon me,
and may the earth weep for me. With regard to temporal things, I have
not even a blanca for an offering, and in spiritual things, I have
ceased here in the Indies from observing the prescribed forms of
religion. Solitary in my trouble, sick, and in daily expectation of
death, surrounded by millions of hostile savages full of cruelty, and
thus separated from the blessed sacraments of our holy church, how
will my soul be forgotten if it be separated from the body in this
foreign land! Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, and justice!"
_Ellen Coit Brown._