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TALES ABOUT AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA.
by
PETER PARLEY.
A New Edition,
Brought Down to the Present Time.
Revised by The Rev. T. Wilson.
With Illustrations by S. Williams.
London:
Darton and Hodge, Holborn Hill.
1862.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PARLEY TELLS HOW AMERICA WAS FIRST DISCOVERED,
AND ABOUT COLUMBUS 1
PARLEY DESCRIBES THE INHABITANTS 12
COLUMBUS SETS SAIL TO RETURN TO SPAIN; ENCOUNTERS
A DREADFUL STORM 21
COLUMBUS PREPARES FOR ANOTHER VOYAGE 35
PARLEY TELLS HOW COLUMBUS DISCOVERED THE
CONTINENT OF AMERICA 45
PARLEY TELLS HOW COLUMBUS WAS ROBBED OF THE
HONOUR OF GIVING HIS NAME TO AMERICA 59
PARLEY TELLS HOW COLUMBUS WAS SHIPWRECKED,
AND OF HIS DEATH 65
PARLEY TELLS OF OVANDO'S CRUEL TREATMENT OF
ANACAONA, THE PRINCESS OF HAYTI 73
PARLEY DESCRIBES THE TREES, THE PLANTS, AND
FLOWERS OF THE NEW WORLD 79
PARLEY TELLS OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO 96
PARLEY RELATES HOW PIZARRO DISCOVERED AND
CONQUERED PERU 121
PARLEY DESCRIBES THE BEAUTIES OF AMERICA 133
PARLEY TELLS OF THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY IN
AMERICA 141
PARLEY TELLS OF THE ORIGINAL NATIVE AMERICANS 150
PARLEY SHOWS HOW THE UNITED STATES AROSE, AND
WHAT FOLLOWED THEIR ESTABLISHMENT 165
PARLEY TELLS ABOUT NEW SOUTH WALES 176
PARLEY DESCRIBES THE INHABITANTS OF AUSTRALIA--THE
BRITISH SETTLEMENTS--THE GOLD REGIONS--RECENT
EXPLORATIONS 183
CONCLUSION 205
CHAPTER I.
PARLEY TELLS HOW AMERICA WAS FIRST DISCOVERED, AND ABOUT COLUMBUS THE
DISCOVERER.
Now that I have given you an account of European cities in my "Tales
about Europe," I shall now furnish you with some description of America,
with its flourishing cities, and its multitude of ships, its fertile
fields, its mighty rivers, its vast forests, and its millions of happy
and industrious inhabitants, of which I am quite certain you must be
very curious to know something, when you are told that though the world
has been created nearly six thousand years, and many powerful nations
have flourished and decayed, and are now scarcely remembered, yet it is
only three hundred and seventy years ago since it was known that such a
country as America existed.
It was in the year 1492, which you know is only 370 years since, on the
third of August, a little before sunrise, that Christopher Columbus,
undertaking the boldest enterprise that human genius ever conceived, or
human talent and fortitude ever accomplished, set sail from Spain, for
the discovery of the Western World.
I will now give you a short account of Columbus, who was one of the
greatest men the world ever produced. He was born in the city of Genoa,
in Italy; his family were almost all sailors, and he was brought up for
a sailor also, and after being taught geography and various other things
necessary for a sea captain to know, he was sent on board ship at the
age of fourteen. Columbus was tall, muscular, and of a commanding
aspect; his hair, light in youth, turned prematurely grey, and ere he
reached the age of thirty was white as snow.
His first voyages were short ones, but after several years, desiring to
see and learn more of distant countries, and thinking there were still
new ones to be discovered, he went into the service of the King of
Portugal and made many voyages to the western coast of Africa, and to
the Canaries, and the Madeiras, and the Azores, islands lying off that
coast, which were then the most westerly lands known to Europeans.
In his visits to these parts, one person informed him that his ship,
sailing out farther to the west than usual, had picked up out of the sea
a piece of wood curiously carved, and that very thick canes, like those
which travellers had found in India, had been seen floating on the
waves; also that great trees, torn up by the roots, had often been cast
on shore, and once two dead bodies of men, with strange features,
neither like Europeans nor Africans, were driven on the coast of the
Azores.
All these stories set Columbus thinking and considering that these
strange things had come drifting over the sea from the west, he looked
upon them as tokens sent from some unknown countries lying far distant
in that quarter: he was therefore eager to sail away and explore, but as
he had not money enough himself to fit out ships and hire sailors, he
determined to go and try to persuade some king or some state to be at
the expense of the trial.
First he went to his own countrymen the Genoese, but they would have
nothing to say to him: he then submitted his plan to the Portuguese, but
the King of Portugal, pretending to listen to him, got from him his
plan, and perfidiously attempted to rob him of the honour of
accomplishing it, by sending another person to pursue the same track
which he had proposed.
The person they so basely employed did not succeed, but returned to
Lisbon, execrating a plan he had not abilities to execute.
On discovering this treachery, Columbus quitted the kingdom in disgust
and set out for Spain, to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. He was now
so poor that he was frequently obliged to beg as he went along.
About half a league from Palos, a sea-port of Andalusia in Spain, on a
solitary height, overlooking the sea-coast, and surrounded by a forest
of pines, there stood, and now stands at the present day, an ancient
convent of Franciscan friars.
[Illustration]
A stranger, travelling on foot, accompanied by a young boy, stopped one
day at the gate of the convent, and asked of the porter a little bread
and water for his child.--That stranger was Columbus, accompanied by his
son Diego.
While receiving this humble refreshment, the guardian of the convent,
Friar Juan Perez, happening to pass, was taken with the appearance of
the stranger, and being an intelligent man and acquainted with
geographical science, he became interested with the conversation of
Columbus, and was so struck with the grandeur of his project that he
detained him as his guest and invited a friend of his, Martin Alonzo
Pinzon, a resident of the town of Palos, to come and hear Columbus
explain his plan.
Pinzon was one of the most intelligent sea captains of the day, and a
distinguished navigator. He not only approved of his project, but
offered to engage in it, and to assist him.
Juan Perez now advised Columbus to repair to court. Pinzon generously
furnished him with the money for the journey, and the friar kindly took
charge of his youthful son Diego, to maintain and educate him in the
convent, which I am sure you will think was the greatest kindness he
could have done him at that time.
Ferdinand and Isabella gave him hopes and promises, then they made
difficulties and objections, and would do nothing. At last, after
waiting five years, he was just setting off for England, where he had
previously sent his brother Bartholomew, when he was induced to wait a
little longer in Spain.
This little longer was two years, but then at last he had his reward,
for queen Isabella stood his friend, and even offered to part with her
own jewels in order to raise money to enable him to make preparations
for the voyage, so that he contrived to fit out three very small vessels
which altogether carried but one hundred and twenty men.
Two of the vessels were light _barques_, or barges built high at the
prow and stern, with forecastles and cabins for the crew, but were
without deck in the centre; only one of the three, the Santa Maria, was
completely decked; on board of this, Columbus hoisted his flag. Martin
Alonzo Pinzon commanded the Pinta, and his brother, Vincente Yanez
Pinzon, the Nina. He set sail in the sight of a vast crowd, all praying
for the success, but never expecting and scarcely hoping to see either
him or any of his crews again.
Columbus first made sail for the Canaries, where he repaired his
vessels: then taking leave of these islands, he steered his course due
west, across the great Atlantic ocean, where never ship had ploughed the
waves before.
No sooner had they lost sight of land than the sailors' hearts began to
fail them, and they bewailed themselves like men condemned to die: but
Columbus cheered them with the hopes of the rich countries they were to
discover.
After awhile they came within those regions where the trade-wind, as it
is called, blows constantly from east to west without changing, which
carried them on at a vast rate; but he judiciously concealed from his
ignorant and timid crews the progress he made, lest they might be
alarmed at the speed with which they were receding from home. After
some time, they found the sea covered with weeds, as thick as a meadow
with grass, and the sailors fancied that they should soon be stuck
fast,--that they had reached the end of the navigable ocean, and that
some strange thing would befal them.
Still, however, Columbus cheered them on, and the sight of a flock of
birds encouraged them: but when they had been three weeks at sea and no
land appeared, they grew desperate with fear, and plotted among
themselves to force their commander to turn back again, lest all their
provisions should be spent, or, if he refused, to throw him overboard.
Columbus, however, made them a speech which had such an effect upon them
that they became tolerably quiet for a week longer; they then grew so
violent again that at last he was obliged to promise them that if they
did not see land in three days, he would consent to give it up and sail
home again.
But he was now almost sure that land was not far off: the sea grew
shallower, and early every morning flocks of land birds began to flutter
around them, and these all left the ship in the evening, as if to roost
on shore. One of the vessels had picked up a cane newly cut, and another
a branch covered with fresh red berries; and the air blew softer and
warmer, and the wind began to vary.
That very night, Columbus ordered the sails to be taken in, and strict
watch to be kept, in all the ships, for fear of running aground; he and
all his men remained standing on the deck, looking out eagerly: at
length he spied a distant light; he showed it to two of his officers,
and they all plainly perceived it moving, as if carried backwards and
forwards, from house to house.
Soon after the cry of "_Land! land!_" was heard from the foremost ship,
and, at dawn of day, they plainly saw a beautiful island, green and
woody, and watered with many pleasant streams, lying stretched before
them.
As soon as the sun rose, the boats of the vessel were lowered and
manned, and Columbus, in a rich and splendid dress of scarlet, entered
the principal one. They then rowed towards the island, with their
colours displayed, and warlike music, and other martial pomp.
[Illustration]
Columbus was the first to leap on shore, to kiss the earth, and to thank
God on his knees: his men followed, and throwing themselves at his feet
they all thanked him for leading them thither, and begged his
forgiveness for their disrespectful and unruly behaviour.