Notable Voyagers, From Columbus to Nordenskiold. Frith Henry

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СКАЧАТЬ sunrise, several of the Admiral’s crew fancied that they saw land; the Nina pressing forward, a flag was run up at her masthead, and a gun was fired—the preconcerted signal for land.

      The captain and his crew were mistaken notwithstanding. The clouds which had deceived them melted away. The crews again became dejected. But once more flocks of field birds were seen flying through the air to the south-west, and Columbus, having already run the distance at the termination of which he had expected to find the island of Cipango, fancied he might have missed it. He therefore altered his course to the south-west.

      As the ships advanced the signs of land increased: a heron, a pelican, and a duck were seen bound in the same direction. Branches of trees, and grass, fresh and green, were observed. The crews, however, believing these to be mere delusions for leading them on to destruction, insisted on abandoning the voyage.

      Columbus sternly resisted their importunities, and the following day a branch of thorn, with berries on it, and a staff artificially carved, with other articles, were picked up, showing that land must be close at hand.

      All gloom and mutiny now gave way to sanguine expectations, and Columbus promised a doublet of velvet, in addition to the pension to be given by the sovereign, to whosoever should first see the longed-for shore.

      As he walked the high poop of his ship at night, his eye continually ranging along the horizon, he thought he saw a light glimmering at a great distance. Fearing that his hopes might deceive him, he successively called up two of his officers. They both saw it, apparently proceeding from a torch in the bark of a fisherman, or held in the hand of some person on shore, borne up as he walked.

      So uncertain were these gleams that few attached any importance to them. The ships continued their course until two in the morning, when Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman on board the Pinta, descried land at two leagues ahead. A gun was fired from the Santa Maria, to give the joyful news. When all doubt on the subject was banished the ships lay to.

      Who can picture the thoughts and feelings of Columbus, as he walked the deck, impatiently waiting for dawn, which was to show him clearly the long-sought-for land, with, as he hoped, its spicy groves, its glittering temples, its gilded cities, and all the splendour of Oriental civilisation!

      As the dawn of the 12th of October, 1492, increased, Columbus first observed one of the outlying islands of the New World. It was several leagues in extent, level, and covered with trees, and populated, for the naked inhabitants were seen running from all parts to the shore, and gazing with astonishment at the ships. The anchors being dropped, the boats manned, he, richly attired in scarlet and holding the royal standard, accompanied by the Pinzons in their own boats, approached the shore.

      On landing he threw himself on his knees, and kissing the earth, returned thanks to God, the rest following his example. He then, drawing his sword, took possession of the island, which he named San Salvador, in the names of the sovereigns of Castile. The crews now thronged round the Admiral, some embracing him, others kissing his hands, expressing their joy; the most mutinous becoming the most enthusiastic and devoted.

      The natives, who had at first fled, supposing the ships monsters which had risen from the deep, recovering their fears, now timidly advanced, lost in admiration at the shining armour and splendid dresses of the Spaniards, and their complexions and beards, at once recognising the Admiral as the commander of the strangers.

      Columbus, pleased with their gentleness, suffered them to scrutinise him, and won them by his benignity. The natives were equally objects of curiosity to the Spaniards. They were naked, painted all over with a variety of colours and designs. Their complexion was tawny, and they were destitute of beards; their hair not crisp, like that of negroes, but straight and coarse; their features were agreeable; their stature moderate and well shaped; their foreheads lofty, and their eyes remarkably fine.

      As Columbus supposed that he had landed on an island at the extremity of India, he called the natives Indians, as the inhabitants of the New World have ever since been denominated. Their only arms were lances pointed with the teeth or bones of fishes. There was no iron seen, and so ignorant were the natives of its properties, that one of them took a drawn sword by the edge, not aware that it would cut.

      Columbus, to win their confidence, distributed among them coloured caps, hawks’ bells, and glass beads, with which they were highly pleased, allowing the Spaniards unmolested to walk about the groves examining the beautiful trees, the shrubs, fruits, and flowers, all so strange to them.

      The next morning canoes of all sizes, formed out of single trees, came off, some holding one man, some forty or fifty, who managed them with great dexterity.

      They readily accepted toys and trinkets, which, supposing them to be brought from heaven, possessed a supernatural virtue in their eyes. The only things they had to give in return were parrots and balls of cotton-yarn, besides cassava cakes, formed from the flour of a root called yuca, which they cultivated in their fields. The Spaniards, who were eagerly looking out for gold, were delighted to obtain some small ornaments of that metal in exchange for beads and hawks’ bells. As it was a royal monopoly, Columbus forbade any traffic in it, as he did also in cotton, reserving to the crown all trade in it.

      Misled by the accounts he had read in Marco Polo’s works, he was from the first persuaded that he had arrived at the islands lying opposite Cathay in the Chinese seas, and that the country to the south, which he understood from the natives abounded in gold, must be the famous island of Cipango.

      San Salvador, where he first landed, still retains its name, though called by the English from its shape Cat Island. It is one of the great cluster of the Lucayos or Bahama Islands. Coasting round it in the boats, the Admiral visited various spots, and had friendly intercourse with the natives, to whom he gave glass beads and other trifles.

      He landed at another place, where there were six Indian huts surrounded by groves and gardens as beautiful as those of Castile.

      At last the sailors, wearied with their exertions, returned to the ships, carrying seven Indians, that they might, by acquiring the Spanish language, serve as interpreters. Taking in a supply of wood and water, the squadron sailed the same evening to the south, where the Admiral expected to discover Cipango. As the Indians told him there were upwards of a hundred islands in the neighbourhood, he was confirmed in his belief that they must be those described by Marco Polo, abounding with gold, silver, drugs, and spices.

      Several other islands were visited, but the explorers looked in vain for bracelets and anklets of gold. One day, just as the ships were about to make sail, one of the San Salvador Indians on board the Nina, plunging overboard, swam to a large canoe which had come near. A boat was sent in chase, but the Indians in their light canoe escaped, and reaching the island fled to the woods. Shortly afterwards a canoe, having on board a single native, coming near, he was captured and brought to Columbus, who, treating him with kindness won his heart; his canoe was also restored to him, and that taken by the Nina was set at liberty.

      Soon afterwards, while traversing the channel between two islands, when about midway another Indian in his canoe was overtaken, a string of glass beads round his neck, showing that he had come from San Salvador.

      Columbus, admiring his hardihood, had him and his canoe taken on board, when he was treated with great kindness, bread and honey being given him to eat. It was too late to select a spot through the transparent sea for anchoring, and the ship lay to until the morning, while the Indian voyager, with all his effects and loaded with presents, was allowed to depart.

      Next day the natives came off, bringing fruits, and roots, and pure water. СКАЧАТЬ