PARLEY TELLS HOW COLUMBUS WAS ROBBED OF THE HONOUR OF GIVING HIS NAME TO
AMERICA.
I have told you that Columbus, as soon as he arrived at Hispaniola,
after discovering the new continent, sent a ship to Spain with a journal
of the voyage he had made, and a description of the new continent which
he had discovered, together with a chart of the coast of Paria and
Cumana, along which he had sailed.
This journal, with the charts and description, and Columbus' letters on
the subject, were placed in the custody of Fonseca, he being minister
for Indian affairs.
No sooner had the particulars of this discovery been communicated by
Columbus, than a separate commission of discovery, signed by Fonseca,
but not by the sovereigns, was granted to Alonzo de Ojeda, who had
accompanied Columbus on his second voyage, and whom Columbus had
instructed in all his plans. Ojeda was accompanied on this voyage by a
Florentine, whose name was Amerigo Vespucci.
To these adventurers Fonseca communicated Columbus' journal, his
description of the country, his charts, and all his private letters.
This expedition sailed from Spain while Columbus was still at
Hispaniola, and wholly ignorant of what was taking place; and Ojeda,
without touching at the colony, steered his course direct for Paria,
following the very track which Columbus had marked out.
Having extended their discoveries very little farther than Columbus had
gone before them, Vespucci, on returning to Spain, published an account
of his adventures and discoveries, and had the address and confidence
so to frame his narrative, as to make it appear that the glory of having
discovered the new continent belonged to him.
Thus the bold pretensions of an impostor have robbed the discoverer of
his just reward, and the caprice of fame has unjustly assigned to him an
honour far above the renown of the greatest conquerors--that of
indelibly impressing his name upon this vast portion of the earth, which
ought in justice to have been called Columbia.
Two years had now been spent in soliciting the favour of an ungrateful
court, and notwithstanding all his merits and services, he solicited in
vain; but even this ungracious return did not lessen his ardour in his
favourite pursuits, and his anxiety to pursue those discoveries in which
he felt he had yet only made a beginning.
Ferdinand at last consented to grant him four small vessels, the largest
of which did not exceed seventy tons in burden; but, accustomed to brave
danger and endure hardships, he did not hesitate to accept the command
of this pitiful squadron, and he sailed from Cadiz on his fourth voyage
on the 9th of May.
[Illustration]
Having touched, as usual, at the Canaries, he intended to have sailed
direct for this new discovered continent; but his largest vessel was so
clumsy and unfit for service, that he determined to bear away for
Hispaniola, in hopes of exchanging her for some ship of the fleet that
had carried out Ovando.
The fleet that had brought out Ovando lay in the harbour ready to put
to sea, and was to take home Bobadilla, together with Roldan and many of
his adherents, to be tried in Spain for rebellion. Bobadilla was to
embark in the principal ship, on board of which he had put an immense
amount of gold, which he hoped would atone for all his faults.
Among the presents intended for his sovereign was one mass of virgin
gold, which was famous in the Spanish chronicles; it was said to weigh
3600 castillanos. Large quantities of gold had been shipped in the fleet
by Roldan and other adventurers--the wealth gained by the sufferings of
the unhappy natives.
Columbus sent an officer on shore to request permission to shelter his
squadron in the river, as he apprehended an approaching storm. He also
cautioned them not to let the fleet sail, but his request was refused by
Ovando, and his advice disregarded.
The fleet put to sea, and Columbus kept his feeble squadron close to
shore, and sought for shelter in some wild bay or river of the island.
Within two days, one of those tremendous storms which sometimes sweep
those latitudes gathered up, and began to blow. Columbus sheltered his
little squadron as well as he could, and sustained no damage. A
different fate befel the other armament.
The ship in which were Bobadilla, Roldan, and a number of the most
inveterate enemies of Columbus, was swallowed up with all its crew,
together with the principal part of the ill-gotten treasure, gained by
the miseries of the Indians.
Some of the ships returned to St. Domingo, and only one was able to
continue her voyage to Spain; that one had on board four thousand pieces
of gold, the property of Columbus, which had been recovered by the agent
whom he sent out with Ovando.
Thus, while the enemies of the admiral were swallowed up as it were
before his eyes, the only ship enabled to pursue her voyage was the
frail bark freighted with his property.