ON A SEA OF TROUBLES
In the new colony of Isabella things went badly from the very start. Its
governor comforted himself by thinking that he could still put himself
right with everybody by pushing farther west and discovering whether the
Asiatic mainland--which Martin Alonzo Pinzon had always insisted lay
back of the islands--was really there. Accordingly, Columbus took a crew
of men and departed April 24, 1494, leaving his brother Diego in command
of the colony. Never had Columbus done a more unwise thing than to leave
Isabella at that moment. Not one single lesson of self-help and
cooperation had his men yet learned; and of course they reproached him
with their troubles. The root of it all was disappointment. They had
come for wealth and ease, and had found poverty and hardship. They even
threatened to seize the ships in the harbor and sail off, leaving the
two brothers alone on the island; yet, knowing all this, Columbus
decided to go off and continue his discoveries!
Again he just escaped finding the mainland. On sailing west from
Isabella and reaching Cuba at the nearest point to Haiti, he decided to
coast along its southern shore. He had gone along its northern shore on
his first voyage, and had turned back instead of continuing toward the
continent. This time he took the southern coast, pushing west for about
a month and a half, and again turning back when he was not more than two
hundred miles from Central America. The natives whom he questioned told
him, as on his first visit to Cuba, that their land was surrounded by
water; but Alonzo de Ojeda, who was with Columbus, said, "These are a
stupid race who think that all the world is an island, and do not know
what a continent is!" Columbus too did not wish to believe the savages;
he preferred to believe that Cuba was the continent. Yet as a navigator
Columbus was honest, and no doubt would have gone farther and proved the
natives right had he not been pestered by a grumbling crew. His men were
dissatisfied at the long tropic voyage which never appeared to bring
them one inch nearer wealth, and they clamored to return to Isabella. So
mutinous did they become that he decided to turn back, but it was with a
heavy heart. Again he must write to the sovereigns and report that he
had not yet found a land of wealth. The very thought of this next letter
made him miserable.
In fact, our enterprising Admiral was in a very bad way by this time. We
recall how he was ill when the new settlement of Isabella was started,
and how he nevertheless personally superintended the work. Always a
tremendous worker on sea or land, always at his post, meeting his heavy
responsibilities as best he knew how, it was nothing but work and worry
for the harassed Christopher Columbus; and now when he, a sick man, had
undertaken this voyage to the mainland, the natives had declared that
Cuba was only a big island!
Columbus lay down in his bunk, broken-hearted. A fever seized him and he
raved for several days; and in his ravings he hit upon a plan which was
so childish that one would laugh were it not also so pitiful. He decided
to write that he had discovered the mainland of Asia, but not yet
Cathay, as Cathay lay far inland. To prove that Cuba was really Asia, he
called together his crew of eighty men and made them swear before a
notary that not only had they cruised along the mainland, but they had
learned that it was possible to return from Cuba to Spain by land. This
statement being duly sworn to and sealed, the crew were informed that if
any one of them should ever deny this, his tongue would be torn out to
prevent his repeating the lie.
This time they did not keep so close to the shore. By going farther out
they discovered the Isle of Pines, also the pretty little group known as
"The Queen's Gardens," and Jamaica, later to be the scene of much woe.
Always islands, islands, islands! Among some of them navigation was very
dangerous, and the Admiral, still ill, never left the deck for several
days and nights. At last he broke down and could not move from his bed.
The minute this happened the crew, who had not the slightest interest in
discovering beautiful islands, hurried direct to their countrymen in
Isabella.
Poor Admiral! Poor men! If only they could have forgotten all about the
riches of Cathay, and could have realized the wonder and the honor of
being the first white men to gaze on all these lovely spots, these bits
of earth straight from the hand of God, how their hearts might have
welled with joy and thanksgiving! But no, it was a dissatisfied, heavy-
hearted body of men who came back empty-handed to Isabella on September
29, and reported that in all their five months' absence they had seen
nothing but savage islands.
Now let us see what mischief had been brewing in the colony during their
absence. Columbus, before leaving, had commanded the military governor
to place himself at the head of four hundred men and scour the island
for provisions. Instead of following these orders, the military
governor, without Diego Columbus's leave, went aboard the first ship
sailing for Spain. In other words, he deserted. The remainder, on
learning this, made a raid on the nearest natives and stole their food
and their wives; and the natives naturally took revenge.
It was while the outraged Indians were gathering in large numbers to
destroy Isabella that Columbus returned. A sad state of affairs to greet
a sick man, and especially when the trouble was all of Spanish making.
But there was no time to spend in asking whose fault it was. Their lives
were at stake. Isabella might soon share the horrible fate of La
Navidad. Columbus hurriedly mustered his men--less than two hundred--and
divided them into two companies. One of these he himself commanded, and
the other was under his older brother, Bartholomew, who had arrived from
Spain during the expedition to Cuba. The Spaniards were clad in armor.
The natives were naked and had no guns, and though they were far more
numerous than the Europeans, they were soon overcome.
One of the powerful chiefs, however, still remained unsubdued at the
head of his forces in the interior of the island. This was the chief
Caonabo, already mentioned as the one who had avenged his wrongs on the
offenders at La Navidad. Soon he too was captured by Alonzo de Ojeda
through the clever ruse of sending him a present. Then came a little
more fighting, and the men who had come to convert the savages to
Christianity obtained absolute control of the island of Haiti. The
enslaved natives, we are told, wove their sorrows into mournful ballads
which they droned out desolately as they tilled the fields of their
harsh masters.
But even with the natives subjugated there was still much discontent
among Columbus's men. There being no gold to pick up and sell, by
tilling the land only could they live; and even to farm profitably takes
years of experience. For everything that went wrong, they blamed the man
who had brought them to the New World, and similarly his brothers who
had come to help him govern.
Whenever a ship returned to Spain the miserable colonists sent back
letters full of bitter upbraidings against the man who had led them into
poverty and hardship. Also one of the priests had gone home, and
straight to court, to make a thousand complaints. The military governor
who had deserted the colony did the same thing, adding, "There is no
gold in the Indies of Antilla, and all the Admiral said about his
discoveries was mere sham and banter."
We have already mentioned that, from the moment Columbus started on this
second voyage, enemies at home began to do him harm. When, therefore,
all these tales reached Spain, they fell on ready ears. Even Queen
Isabella, who had always championed Columbus, had grown to see that his
discretion and general common sense fell very far short of his courage
and his navigating ability. The royal pair, therefore, decided that the
whole matter must be investigated.
A man who had accompanied Columbus on his first voyage was appointed by
the monarchs to go as Royal Commissioner to Haiti and question Columbus
about the condition of the colony. This man was selected because of his
supposed kindly feelings to the Admiral, the latter having recommended
him to the queen for excellent conduct on that trying first voyage. The
queen, we see, thus endeavored to make the inquiry as easy and friendly
as possible for the great navigator. But the Royal Commissioner, Don
Juan Agnado, acted like many another man suddenly vested with authority;
he carried it with a higher hand than kings themselves! Arriving at
Isabella at the moment when the Admiral was trying to capture the chief
Caonabo in the interior of the island, Agnado snubbed Bartholomew
Columbus, threw several officials into prison, put himself at the head
of the garrison, and announced that he was going inland after the
Admiral!
On his making this show of insolent power, every one believed that he
was to be the new governor, and that he had been authorized even to put
Columbus to death. At once they gave way to all the meanness of their
natures and, in order to gain favor with the new viceroy, they began
bitterly denouncing the old.
Columbus, who had received word of Agnado's advent into Isabella,
hurried to meet him there. Seeing himself in a sorry plight, he told
Agnado that he would immediately go back to Spain and answer his
sovereigns' inquiries in person. This was in October, 1495. But all
sorts of ill luck prevented his going. A frightful hurricane tore over
the island and sank the four vessels which Agnado had brought; then a
wanderer came in with tales of a real gold mine in the south of the
island and the report had to be investigated. Next, the several forts
which had been built had to be strengthened and stocked with provisions;
so that it was not till March, 1496, that the Admiral was ready to sail.
Only two caravels now remained in Isabella harbor. One of these was the
faithful little _Nina_; and on her the weary Admiral returned to
Spain.