COLUMBUS PREPARES FOR ANOTHER VOYAGE.
Columbus was now anxious to set out on another voyage to proceed with
his discoveries, and the king and queen gave orders that every thing
should be done to further his wishes.
By his exertions a fleet of seventeen sail, large and small, was soon in
a state of forwardness; labourers and artificers of all kinds were
engaged for the projected colonies, and an ample supply was provided of
whatever was necessary for the cultivation of the soil, the working of
the mines, and for traffic with the natives.
He now found no difficulty in getting sailors to accompany him, and the
account he gave of the countries he had discovered, and particularly
the intelligence that they abounded with gold, excited the avarice and
rapacity of the Spaniards, and numbers of needy adventurers of ruined
fortunes and desperate circumstances, were eager to share in the spoil.
Many persons of distinction, thinking to become rich by the same means,
also volunteered to enlist, and many got on board of the ships by
stealth, so that about 1500 set sail in the fleet, though only a
thousand were originally permitted to embark.
The departure of Columbus on his second voyage presented a brilliant
contrast to his gloomy embarkation at Palos.
There were three large ships of heavy burden and fourteen smaller
vessels, and the persons on board, instead of being regarded by the
populace as devoted men, were looked upon with envy as favoured mortals,
destined to golden regions and delightful climes, where nothing but
wealth, and wonder, and enjoyment awaited them.
At sunrise the whole fleet was under sail, on the 13th of October he
lost sight of the Island of Ferro, and, favoured by the trade winds, was
borne pleasantly along, till, on the 2nd of November, a lofty island was
descried to the west, to which he gave the name of Dominica, from having
discovered it on the Lord's day.
As the ships moved gently onward, other islands arose to sight, one
after another, covered with forests and enlivened by the flight of
parrots and other tropical birds, while the whole air was sweetened by
the fragrance of the breezes which passed over them.
In one of these islands, to which the Spaniards gave the name of
Guadaloupe, they first met with the delicious fruit, the Anana or
pine-apple.
Columbus now sailed in the direction of Hayti, to which he had given the
name of Hispaniola, where he shortly arrived.
In passing along the coast he set on shore one of the young Indians who
had been taken from that neighbourhood and had accompanied him to Spain.
He dismissed him finely apparelled, and loaded with trinkets, thinking
he would impress his countrymen with favourable feelings towards the
Spaniards, but he never heard anything of him afterwards.
When he arrived on that part of the island where he had built the fort
and taken leave of his companions, the evening growing dark, the land
was hidden from their sight. Columbus watched for the dawn of day with
the greatest anxiety; when at last the approach of the morning sun
rendering the objects on shore visible, in the place where the fort had
stood, nothing was to be seen. No human being was near, neither Indian
nor European; he ordered a boat to be manned, and himself went, at the
head of a party, to explore how things really were.
The crew hastened to the place where the fortress had been erected; they
found it burnt and demolished, the palisades beaten down, and the ground
strewed with broken chests and fragments of European garments.
The natives, at their approach, did not welcome them as they expected,
like friends, but fled and concealed themselves as if afraid to be seen.
Columbus, at length, with some difficulty, by signs of peace and
friendship, persuaded a few of them to come forth to him. From them he
learned, that scarcely had he set sail for Spain, when all his counsels
and commands faded from the minds of those who remained behind. Instead
of cultivating the good-will of the natives, they endeavoured, by all
kinds of wrongful means, to get possession of their golden ornaments and
other articles of value, and seduce from them their wives and daughters,
and had also quarrelled among themselves.
The consequences of this bad conduct were what might have been expected:
some died by sickness caused by intemperance, some fell in brawls
between themselves about their ill-gotten spoil, and others were cut off
by the Indians, whom they had so shamefully treated, and who afterwards
pulled dawn and burnt their fort.
The misfortunes which had befallen the Spaniards in the vicinity of
this harbour threw a gloom over the place, and it was considered by the
superstitious mariners as under some baneful influence. The situation
was low and unhealthy, and not capable of improvement; Columbus
therefore determined to remove the settlement.
With this view he made choice of a situation more healthy and commodious
than that of Navidad, and having ordered the troops and the various
persons to be employed in the colony to be immediately disembarked,
together with the stores, ammunition, and all the cattle and live-stock,
he traced out the plan of a town in a large plain near a spacious bay;
and obliging every person to put his hand to the work, the houses were
soon so far advanced as to afford them shelter, and forts were
constructed for their defence.
This rising city, the first that Europeans founded in the new world, he
named Isabella, in honour of his patroness the Queen of Castile.
As long as the Indians had any prospect that their sufferings might
terminate by the voluntary departure of the invaders, they submitted in
silence, and dissembled their sorrow; but now that the Spaniards had
built a town--now that they had dug up the ground and planted it with
corn--it became apparent that they came not to visit the country, but to
settle in it.
They were themselves naturally so abstemious and their wants so few,
that they were easily satisfied with the fruits of the island, which,
with a handful of maize or a little of the insipid bread made of the
cassava root, were sufficient for their support.
But it was with difficulty they could afford subsistence for the new
guests. The Spaniards, though considered an abstemious people, appeared
to them excessively voracious. One Spaniard consumed as much as several
Indians; this keenness of appetite appeared so insatiable, that they
supposed the Spaniards had left their own country because it did not
produce enough to gratify their immoderate appetites, and had come among
them in quest of nourishment.
Columbus having taken all the steps which he thought necessary to
ensure the prosperity of his new colony, entrusted the command of the
military force to Margaritta, and set sail with three vessels to extend
his discoveries; but, after a long and tedious voyage, in which he
endured every hardship, the most important discovery he made was the
island of Jamaica.
Having been absent much longer than he had expected, he returned to his
new settlement, but the colonists had become refractory and
unmanageable.
No sooner had he left the island on his voyage of discovery, than the
soldiers under Margaritta dispersed in straggling parties over the
island, lived at discretion upon the natives, wasted their property, and
treated that inoffensive race with the insolence of military oppression.
During the absence of Columbus, several unfavourable accounts of his
conduct had been transmitted to Spain, and these accusations gained such
credit in that jealous court, that Aguado, a person in every way
unsuited for the purpose, was appointed to proceed to Hispaniola to
observe the conduct of Columbus.
This man listened with eagerness to every accusation of the discontented
Spaniards, and fomented still further the spirit of dissension in the
island.
Columbus felt how humiliating it must be if he remained in the island
with such a partial inspector to observe his motions and control his
authority; he therefore took the resolution of returning to Spain, in
order to lay a full account of his transactions before Ferdinand and
Isabella.
Having committed the government of the colony during his absence to Don
Bartholomew, his brother, he appointed Roldan Chief Justice, a choice
which afterwards caused great calamities to the colony.
On his arrival in Spain, Columbus appeared at court with the confidence
of a man, not only conscious of having done no wrong, but of having
performed great services.
Ferdinand and Isabella, ashamed of having listened to ill-founded
accusations, received him with such marks of respect as silenced the
calumnies of his enemies, and covered them with shame and confusion.
The gold, the pearls, and other commodities of value which he had
brought home, and the mines which he had found, fully proved the value
and importance of his discoveries, though Columbus considered them only
as preludes to future and more important acquisitions.
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