first four caravels, ... and it started off in August. The second
squadron of four, which was to have been ready in June, was not yet
fully equipped in December, when Berardi died. Then Vespucci,
representing the house of Berardi, took up the work, and sent the four
caravels to sea February 3, 1496. They were only two days out when a
frightful storm overtook and wrecked them, though most of the crews
were saved. The third squadron of four caravels was, I believe, that
which finally sailed May 10, 1497. While it was getting ready, Vicente
Yañez Pinzon returned from the Levant, whither he had been sent on
important business by the sovereigns in December, 1495. Columbus, who
had returned to Spain in June, 1496, protested against what he
considered an invasion of his monopoly, and on June 2, 1497, the
sovereigns issued a decree which for the moment was practically
equivalent to a revocation of the general license accorded to
navigators by the decree of April 10, 1495. Observe that this
revocation was not issued until after the third squadron had sailed.
The sovereigns were not going to be balked in the little scheme which
they had set on foot two years before, and for which they had paid
out, through Vespucci, so many thousand maravedis. So the expedition
sailed, with Pinzon chief in command and Solis second; with Ledesma
for one of the pilots, and Vespucci as pilot and cosmographer."
In the foregoing the historian accounts for the sailing of Pinzon and
Vespucci in company, on that "debatable voyage" described in chapter
VI. In the year 1499 both Pinzon and Vespucci were to sail--though in
separate fleets--for the coasts of the continent which Columbus had
accidentally revealed in his voyage of 1498. Vespucci was to coast its
northern shores, while Pinzon, with a confidence born of successive
ventures on the ocean, was to strike farther southward than any had
done before him (in the western hemisphere), cross the equinoctial
line, and reveal to the knowledge of civilized man the great river,
afterwards called the Amazon, and the country of Brazil. The fleet in
which Vespucci took passage left Spain in the month of May, 1499, that
commanded by Pinzon left in December; and it is still a moot question
whether the first or the second was the first to arrive on the coast
of Brazil. But Pinzon sailed beyond Vespucci on that voyage, though he
was to be surpassed, the next year, in the generous rivalry that
existed for making the "farthest south."
Another companion of Vespucci worthy of note is the man called by Las
Casas the best pilot of his day, Juan de la Cosa. He had been with
Columbus on his first voyage, as owner and pilot of the _Santa Maria_,
and also on his second, and may have had good grounds for believing
himself as good a navigator as the Admiral, while as a cosmographer he
was probably his superior. The historian, Peter Martyr, asserts that
La Cosa and another pilot, Andres Morales, "were thought to be more
cunning in that part of cosmography which teacheth the description and
measurement of the sea" than any others in the world. In truth, the
first map of importance made within a decade of the discovery of 1492
was that produced by La Cosa, in the summer of 1500, after his return
from the voyage (his third to the New World) with Ojeda and Vespucci.
It is thought that he embodied in that map the results of Vespucci's
voyage of 1497-1498, as communicated to him during their intimate
companionship of thirteen months. La Cosa, the Biscayan pilot, was a
man cast in the same generous mould as Vespucci, and shared none of
the narrow notions of Columbus. His great regard for Columbus is shown
in the vignette to his map, which represents the giant Christopher
(the "Christ-bearer") carrying the infant Jesus on his shoulders.
Beneath this vignette is the legend, "Juan de la Cosa made this map,
in the port of Santa Maria [near Cadiz], year 1500." It is the best
map that had been put forth up to that date, and for a long time
thereafter remained as a guide to mariners.
His services were in great request at that time, and in the month of
October, 1500, he was engaged by Rodrigo Bastidas, a lawyer of
Seville, to pilot a small expedition he had fitted out to search for
gold and pearls. This was the expedition in which Vasco Nuñez de
Balboa first embarked for the New World, and which was so profitable
that the leaders returned (though their vessels had sunk at their
anchors in a harbor of Haiti) with sufficient pearls to give them each
a fortune. If they had been content to live at ease in Spain, they
might have done so during the remainder of their days; but both
Bastidas and La Cosa were lured back to the coast of Terra Firma by
the prospect of further enrichment, and there they came to untimely
ends.
La Cosa was created _alguazil mayor_ of the territory he and Vespucci
had coasted, and finding Ojeda in want--both of money and an
opportunity to display his prowess as a fighter--he generously shared
his fortune with him and fitted out a fleet containing a ship and two
small brigantines. Thenceforth, as fate willed it, the great-hearted
pilot and the fiery cavalier were inseparable until cut down by death.
In the month of November, 1509, they set sail from Santo Domingo with
their three vessels and three hundred men. La Cosa piloted the little
fleet into a safe harbor, as he knew the coast well from two previous
visits to Terra Firma, but he endeavored to induce Ojeda to attempt a
settlement farther on towards the Isthmus of Darien, as the Indians of
this region were very ferocious and used poisoned arrows.
Ojeda, however, would not be turned from his purpose, which was to
acquire a large number of slaves, either by stratagem or force. After
the monks who accompanied his command had read a requisition to the
savages, requiring them to submit gracefully and be converted, if they
did not wish to incur the vengeance of the King of Spain, the Pope of
Rome, and their emissaries there assembled, finding them obdurate,
Ojeda gave the command to attack. The Indians, by this time, had
assembled in great force, and if they understood the message (which
was not likely, as it was in Spanish, a language they had never heard
before) they manifested no inclination to heed its warnings. They
brandished their spears, shot their arrows, and yelled defiance to the
invaders. This was more than the rash Ojeda could endure, and he
dashed headlong at the naked enemy without waiting for his men to
follow.
Only the gallant La Cosa was with him at first, continually
remonstrating with his friend for his temerity, but fighting bravely
at his side. The old pilot was a man of peace, but he was destined to
die a violent and a horrible death. While pressing forward in advance
of their men, the retreat of Ojeda and La Cosa was cut off by the wily
savages, who had pretended to retire to the hills, whence they soon
returned in great force. La Cosa took refuge in a hut, where he
gallantly defended himself until a poisoned arrow pierced his breast
and he fell to the ground. One companion survived, to whom he said, as
he felt the chill of death creeping over him, "Brother, since God hath
protected thee from harm, sally out and fly; and if ever thou shouldst
see Alonzo de Ojeda, tell him of my fate."
Thus expired Juan de la Cosa, former companion of Columbus and
Vespucci, able pilot, skilled cartographer, loyal till death to the
man who had led him into the forest where he met that fatal arrow.
It is claimed by some that Vespucci and La Cosa made two voyages
together, in the years 1505 and 1507, but this is doubtful. After
their return from the voyage of 1499-1500 they separated, Amerigo to
take service with the King of Portugal, and La Cosa, upon the
completion of his chart and after his return from the Bastidas
expedition of 1500-1501, settling down to the enjoyment of his
fortune. The third famous member of the trio, Alonzo de Ojeda,
obtained authority from the king to colonize Coquibacoa, on the coast
of Terra Firma, and received in addition a grant of land six leagues
square in the island of Hispaniola.
The former venture had not been considered a success, but the
merchants of Seville and Cadiz were persuaded to once more try their
fortunes with the brave cavalier Ojeda, and fitted out for him a fleet
of four large vessels. In command of these he set sail, in the year
1502, and after touching at Cumana, where he pillaged the Indians and
took many prisoners, he proceeded to Coquibacoa. Finding the place
unsuited for a settlement, he went farther westward and attempted a
colony at Bahia Honda, building there a fortress and huts for his
people. The Indians were hostile at first, but gold was found in
abundance--so much of it, in fact, that the adventurers began to
quarrel over it, and soon came to blows. Ojeda, as usual, was foremost
in the fight that followed, and, as his company turned against him, he
was entrapped on one of the caravels and placed in irons. Then the
entire company sailed for Hispaniola, intending to submit the cause of
their dissension, which was their strong-box full of gold, to the
courts of that island for a decision. They arrived at a port on the
western coast of Hispaniola, and in the night the manacled Ojeda
slipped overboard into the water, intending to swim ashore and make
his escape. The fetters on his feet were heavy, however, though his
arms were free, and he was nearly drowned before his companions,
hearing his cries for help, pulled him out of the water and again
confined him in the hold of the vessel.
Taken to the city of Santo Domingo, he was placed on trial for
attempting to defraud the government, and the decision was against
him. He was not only deprived of his lands, but was stripped of
everything he owned. For several years thereafter he roamed about the
island, and made occasional voyages, but as a penniless, rather than
an influential, adventurer. His good friend, the "ungodly bishop,"
Fonseca, was still in power, but inaccessible through the great
distance that separated them. One happy day, however, Ojeda met La
Cosa, who was then in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, and
who, with the reckless generosity for which sailors are proverbial,
placed all his means at his disposal. He went to Spain, where he saw
the bishop, secured a fleet (as already mentioned), and in it sailed
for Santo Domingo, where he was met by his partner, and together the
soldier and the sailor set out for Terra Firma.
Before they left the island, however, Ojeda must needs plunge himself
into another difficulty by picking a quarrel with a rival discoverer,
Nicuesa, whom he challenged to fight a duel. It seems that King
Ferdinand had granted territory in Terra Firma to both these men; and,
though there was certainly room enough and to spare in that vast
region, they began to dispute over their perspective boundaries before
they had staked them out. The hot-headed Ojeda was a skilled
swordsman, but Nicuesa was artful enough to avoid an encounter, in
which there was little doubt he would be killed, by insisting that
each contestant should deposit five thousand castellanos with an
umpire before engaging in the fight. As this was a larger sum than
poor Ojeda could raise--which, of course, Nicuesa knew full well--the
irate cavalier was obliged to sail without having obtained
satisfaction.
This was the expedition that ended so disastrously, as narrated in a
previous chapter. The Spaniard who was charged with La Cosa's last
message to Ojeda was the only survivor of seventy who had followed the
rash commander in his headlong attack. What had become of Ojeda
himself none of the survivors could tell, for several days passed
without news of him. His body was not to be found among the slain, and
no one who knew him believed that the Indians could have captured him
alive. He had fought like a tiger to reach and defend his friend La
Cosa, but had been borne back by the thronging savages, and since
then nothing had been heard of him. The woods and shore were searched
by scouts, and he was finally found extended on some mangrove roots on
the borders of the forest. He was in such an exhausted state that he
could not speak, but, intrepid to the last, still clung to his
buckler, and in his right hand grasped the good sword with which he
had cut his way through the savage hordes.
Although famished, and so weak that he could not stand, it was
discovered that he had not received a single wound; but on his shield
were seen the dents made by more than three hundred arrows. His rescue
had scarcely been effected before the ships of his deadly rival,
Nicuesa, sailed into the harbor; but, instead of taking advantage of
Ojeda's defenceless condition, the high-minded hidalgo offered to join
with him in an attack upon the savages, in order to avenge his defeat.
Combining their forces, the two erstwhile enemies fell upon the
Indians while they were asleep, slaughtered an immense number, and
then, after plundering their dwellings set them on fire.
Thus the unfortunate pilot and his comrades were avenged, and the
ships sailed on, leaving behind hundreds of mangled corpses and huts
reduced to ashes. It was not strange, then, that the surviving savages
should ceaselessly attack the settlement soon after founded by Ojeda
on their coast, and with such persistency that finally it had to be
abandoned. It was in one of these attacks that Ojeda received his
first wound. He had hitherto considered himself invulnerable, but,
falling into an Indian ambush, a poisoned arrow pierced his thigh.
After wrenching it from the wound, he ordered his surgeon, on pain of
death for refusal, to burn out the venom with red-hot irons, and by
this means, though his life was saved, he received injuries that made
him permanently lame.
At last conditions in the settlement became so desperate that Ojeda
seized the occasion of a pirate ship touching there to depart for
Hispaniola in search of assistance. Leaving his company in charge of
Francisco Pizarro--who in this manner began his conquering career--he
embarked in the pirate ship, but had hardly cleared the harbor before
he began a fierce quarrel with the commander, Talavera, by whose
orders he was seized and fettered. Even when chained to the deck, the
undaunted cavalier dared Talavera and his crew to fight him, two at a
time, and when they refused denounced them all as cowards.
A violent gale arose, with the result that their ship was wrecked on
the southern coast of Cuba. Escaping to shore, they endured terrible
sufferings for weeks, wandering half famished in forests and through
swamps, until finally rescued by a tribe of Indians who had not heard
of Spanish atrocities and who gave them freely all the provisions they
needed. A canoe was despatched to Jamaica with the tidings of
disaster, and in the end Ojeda reached Hispaniola, where he had the
satisfaction of seeing his late companions hung for their crimes, and
where he passed the remainder of his life in poverty. He died in 1515,
so poor, says Bishop Las Casas, "that he did not leave money enough to
provide for his interment, and so broken in spirit that, with his last
breath, he entreated his body might be buried in the monastery of San
Francisco [the ruins of which may still be seen in Santo Domingo],
just at the portal, in humble expiation of his past pride, 'that every
one who entered might tread upon his grave.'"
XI
ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL
1501-1502
The New World, subsequently to be called America, did not reveal
itself to navigators during the lifetime of any one of those first
engaged in its discovery. Its islands and coast-lines were brought to
view one by one, and bit by bit, so that many years elapsed between
the voyage of Columbus, in 1492, and that which finally enabled the
map-makers to complete the outlines of the continents. It is
interesting and instructive to trace the movements of the explorers,
and note how, after the initial work of Columbus, they emulate one
another in pushing farther and farther into the great ocean of
darkness, their voyages overlapping at times, but ever extending,
until at last the islands of the West Indies are all revealed and the
vast southern continent is circumnavigated.
Columbus, in his first three voyages, brought to view most of those
islands now known as the Antilles, and on his fourth and last he
skirted the eastern coast of Central America; but he left gaps here
and there which it took many years to fill. On his third voyage, in
1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad and the pearl islands off
the coast of Cumana; but he did not proceed, as he should have done,
along the coast of Terra Firma, and hence Ojeda, Vespucci, and La Cosa
slipped in, guided by the very chart made by him and so treacherously
furnished them by Fonseca.
[Illustration: ROUTES OF THE DISCOVERERS]
While doubts may be entertained as to the "first" voyage of Vespucci,
none can exist as to that made by him in 1499-1500, as we have the
sworn testimony to that effect by Ojeda himself, who, when called to
give the same, in the great suit brought by Diego Columbus against the
crown, declared that he had with him on that voyage both La Cosa and
the Florentine. This testimony was given in 1513, a year after
Vespucci's death, and its object was to show that the coast of Terra
Firma, so called, had been first seen by Columbus. By establishing the
fact of his priority, it disposed of any claim Vespucci or his
friends may have made, as he and Ojeda were sailing with the
track-chart of Columbus as their guide. Thus they picked up the route
pursued by the Admiral, and extended it several degrees, Bastidas and
La Cosa, the next year, carrying it still farther.
In December, 1499, in June of which year Ojeda and Vespucci had set
out together, Vicente Pinzon sailed along the Brazilian coast to a
point eight degrees south of the equinoctial line. He returned to
Spain in September, 1500, and in April of that year Pedro Alvarez
Cabral, in command of a Portuguese fleet bound for the Spice Islands,
over the route discovered by Da Gama, accidentally came in sight of
land on the coast of the country since known as Brazil, in latitude
sixteen degrees south of the line. Unable to prosecute explorations
there, as he was bound for the East, around the Cape of Good Hope and
along the west coast of Africa, Cabral sent a vessel of his fleet back
to Portugal with the news, and proceeded on his way.
Casting about for a navigator eminently qualified as pilot and
cosmographer to pursue the exploration indicated by Cabral, along the
coast of the country he had so strangely revealed, King Emanuel of
Portugal made up his mind that Amerigo Vespucci was the man he wanted.
Just when he came to this decision, and when Vespucci shifted his
allegiance from Spain to Portugal, is not exactly known, but it was
probably late in the year 1500, after his return, of course, from the
voyage with Ojeda and La Cosa. The particulars of this transaction we
will let him relate in the following letter contained in this chapter.
He does not quite satisfactorily explain how he came to break with
King Ferdinand, especially as both the sovereign and Fonseca had
received him with marked attention, the latter having presented him at
court, where he was consulted as to new expeditions, and "his accounts
of what he had already seen listened to with the greatest interest."
The affair is all the more inexplicable from the fact that during the
interval between his return from the second voyage and his going to
Portugal he was married to a charming lady of Seville. This lady, Doña
Maria Cerezo, was his betrothed during the time he was engaged with
the house of Berardi, but the mania for exploring having seized him,
their marriage was not consummated until after the two voyages had
been made. She went with him to the court, sharing there the honors
heaped upon him by the king; but after this little is heard of her,
though it is known that she survived him several years, and on account
of his distinguished services to Spain received a liberal pension from
the government.
Leaving his newly wedded wife in Seville, Vespucci went to Portugal,
"where he was received with open arms by King Emanuel, and commenced
with ardor the preparation of the fleet." Respecting his sudden
departure from Spain, his Italian eulogist, Canovai, has this to say:
"It does not appear that King Ferdinand considered himself wronged by
the sudden flight and, to say the least, apparent discourtesy of
Amerigo in leaving the kingdom and the king, his patron, without
salutation or leave-taking. It was probably looked upon as a trait of
his reserved character, or an evidence of his aversion to idle and
slanderous rumors, which he was unwilling to take the pains to
contradict. Rumors and whisperings soon die away when they have
nothing to feed upon, and when Vespucci returned, as though from a
journey, the slight was forgotten, and he was treated with greater
honor than before."
To what cause King Emanuel owed this acquisition of King Ferdinand's
skilled navigator does not appear; but he was not to retain him very
long. He made, however, two voyages under the flag of Portugal, the
first of which is outlined in this letter to his friend, the
Gonfaloniere of Florence, Piero Soderini:
"I was reposing myself in Seville, after the many toils I
had undergone in the two voyages to the Indies, made for his
Serene Highness Ferdinand, King of Castile, yet indulging in
a willingness to return to the Land of Pearls, when Fortune,
not seeming to be satisfied with my former labors, inspired
the mind of his Majesty Emanuel, King of Portugal (I know
not through what circumstances), to attempt to avail himself
of my services. There came to me a royal letter from his
majesty, containing a solicitation that I would come to
Lisbon to speak with him, he promising to show me many
favors. I did not at once determine to go, and argued with
the messenger, telling him I was ill and indisposed for the
undertaking, but that when recovered, if his highness wished
me to serve him, I would do whatever he might command.
"Seeing that he could not obtain me thus, he sent Juliano di
Bartolomeo del Giocondo, who at that time resided in Lisbon,
with a commission to use every means to bring me back with
him. Juliano came to Seville, and on his arrival, and
induced by his urgent entreaties, I was persuaded to go,
though my going was looked upon with ill favor by all who
knew me. It was thus regarded by my friends, because I had
abandoned Castile, where I had been honored, and because
they thought the king had rightful possession of me; and it
was considered still worse that I departed without taking
leave of my host.
"Having, however, presented myself at the court of King
Emanuel, he appeared to be highly pleased with my coming,
and requested that I would accompany his three ships, which
were then ready to set out for the discovery of new lands.
Thus esteeming a request from a king as equivalent to a
command, I was obliged to consent to whatever he asked of
me.
"We set sail from the port of Lisbon with three ships in
company, on the l3th of May, 1501, and steered our course
directly for the Grand Canary Islands, which we passed
without stopping, and coasted along the western shores of
Africa. On this coast we found excellent fishing, taking
fish called porgies, and were detained three days. From
there we went to the coast of Ethiopia, arriving at a port
called Beseneghe, within the torrid zone, and situated on
the fourteenth degree of north latitude, in the first
climate. Here we remained eleven days, taking in wood and
water--as it was my intention to sail south through the
great Atlantic Ocean. Leaving this port of Ethiopia, we
sailed on our course, bearing a quarter south, and in
ninety-seven days we made land, at a distance of seven
hundred leagues from said port.
"In those ninety-seven days we had the worst weather that
ever man experienced who navigated the ocean, in a
succession of drenching rains, showers, and tempests. The
season was very unpropitious, as our navigation was
continually drawing us nearer the equinoctial line, where,
in the month of June, it is winter, and where we found the
days and nights of equal length, and our shadows falling
continually towards the south. It pleased God, however, to
show us new land, on the 17th day of August, at half a
league distance from which we anchored. We launched our
boats and went ashore, to see if the country was inhabited,
and, if so, by what kind of people, and we found at length a
population far more degraded than brutes.