Notable Voyagers, From Columbus to Nordenskiold. Frith Henry

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      Several caciques had in the meantime visited the ships. They mentioned a region, evidently the interior, called Cibao, which Columbus thought must be a corruption of Cipango, and whose chief he understood had banners of wrought gold, and was probably the magnificent prince mentioned by Marco Polo.

      As soon as the wind was fair, Columbus visited the chief, Guacanagari, the coast having been surveyed by boats the previous day. Feeling perfectly secure, although so near the coast, he retired to his cabin. The helmsman handed over his charge to one of the ship’s boys, and failed to notice that breakers were ahead. Suddenly the ship struck; the master and crew rushed on deck. Columbus, calm as usual, ordered the pilot to carry out an anchor astern. Instead of so doing, in his fright, he rowed off to the other caravel, about half a league to windward. Her commander instantly went to the assistance of his chief. The ship had meantime been drifting more and more on the reef, the shock having opened several of her seams. The weather continued fine, or she must at once have gone to pieces.

      The Admiral, having gone on board the caravel, sent envoys to Guacanagari, informing him of his intended visit and his disastrous shipwreck. When the cacique, who lived a league and a half off, heard of the misfortune, he shed tears, and sent a fleet of canoes to render assistance. With their help the vessel was unloaded, the chief taking care that none of the effects should be pilfered. Not an article was taken; indeed, the people exhibited the greatest sympathy with their guests, who were treated with the utmost hospitality.

      Two days afterwards Guacanagari came on board the Nina to visit the Admiral, and, with tears in his eyes, offered him all he possessed. While he was on board a canoe arrived with pieces of gold, and, on observing his countenance light up, the cacique told him there was a place not far off, among the mountains, where it could be procured in the greatest abundance. He called the place Cibao, which Columbus still confounded with that of Cipango.

      Guacanagari, after dining on board, where he exhibited the utmost frankness, invited Columbus to his village. Here he had prepared an abundant banquet, consisting of coneys, fish, roots, and various fruits. He afterwards conducted the Admiral to some beautiful groves, where a thousand natives were collected to perform their national games and dances.

      In return, the Admiral sent on board for a Castilian accustomed to the use of the Moorish bow and arrows. The cacique was greatly surprised at the skill with which the Castilian used his weapon, and told him that the Caribs, who made frequent descents on his territory, were also armed with bows and arrows.

      Columbus promised his protection, and, to show his host the powerful means at his disposal, ordered a heavy cannon and an arquebus to be discharged. At the report the Indians fell to the ground, as if they had been struck by a thunderbolt. As they saw the shot shivering a tree, they were filled with dismay, until Columbus assured them that these weapons should be turned against their enemies.

      The cacique now presented Columbus with a wooden mask, the eyes, ears, and other parts, of gold; and he also placed a golden crown on his head, and hung plates of gold round his neck. The natives, though willing to receive anything in exchange for gold, were chiefly delighted with the hawks’ bells, dancing and playing a dozen antics as they listened to the sound. An Indian gave even a handful of gold for one of the toys, and then bounded away, fearing that the stranger might repent having parted so cheaply with such an inestimable a treasure. The shipwrecked Spaniards, delighted with their idle life on shore, expressed their wish to remain on the island. This, with the friendly behaviour of the natives, induced Columbus to agree to their proposal. He considered that they might explore the island, learn the language and manners of the natives, and procure by traffic a large amount of gold. He resolved also to build a fortress for their defence, to be armed with the guns saved from the wreck. With his usual promptness he had the work commenced.

      When Guacanagari heard that some of the Spaniards were to be left on the island for its defence from the Caribs, he was overjoyed, as were his subjects, who eagerly lent their assistance in building the fortress, little dreaming that they were assisting to place on their necks the galling yoke of slavery.

      While the work of the fortress was rapidly going on, Guacanagari treated the Admiral with princely generosity. As Columbus, on one occasion, was landing, the cacique met him, accompanied by five tributary chiefs, each carrying a coronet of gold. On arriving at his house, Guacanagari took off his own crown and placed it on the head of the Admiral. Columbus presented, in return, a collar of fine coloured beads, his mantle of cloth, a pair of coloured boots, and placed on his finger a large ring of silver, which the Indians valued far more than gold. The cacique also exerted himself to procure a great quantity of gold.

      Columbus, by misunderstanding names and descriptions, formed the most magnificent idea of the wealth of the interior of the island, and even in the red pepper which abounded he fancied that he traced Oriental spices. He was thus led to believe that the shipwreck was providential, as, had he sailed away, he should not have heard of its vast wealth. What in some spirits would have awakened a grasping and sordid cupidity to accumulate, immediately filled his vivid imagination with plans of magnificent expenditure.

      To the fortress, which was of some size, and sufficiently strong to repulse a naked and unwarlike people, Columbus gave the name of La Navidad, in memory of having escaped shipwreck on Christmas Day. He considered it very likely to prove most useful in keeping the garrison themselves in order, and to prevent them wandering about and committing acts of licentiousness among the natives.

      Of the numbers who volunteered he selected thirty-nine in all, among whom was a physician, a ship’s carpenter, a cooper, a tailor, and a gunner; the command being given to Diego de Arana, notary and alguazil of the armament, with Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo as his lieutenants, directing them to obtain all the information in their power. He charged the garrison to be especially circumspect in their intercourse with the natives—to treat them with gentleness and justice—to be highly discreet in their conduct towards the Indian females, and, moreover, not to scatter themselves, or on any account stray beyond the friendly territory of Guacanagari.

      On the 2nd of January, 1493, Columbus bade farewell to the generous cacique and his chieftains, commending those he left behind to their care. To impress the Indians with an idea of the warlike prowess of the white man, after a banquet he had given at his house, he ordered them to engage in mock fights with swords, bucklers, crossbows, arquebuses, and cannon.

      Guacanagari shed tears as he parted with Columbus, who, returning on board, two days afterwards set sail, the garrison on shore answering the cheers of their comrades who were about to return to their native land. The ship, being towed out of the harbour, they stood to the eastward, but were detained for two days by a contrary wind.

      On the 6th, a seaman aloft cried out that he saw the Pinta. The certainty that he was right cheered the heart of the Admiral and his crew. In a short time she approached, and, as the wind was contrary, Columbus put back to a little bay west of Monte Cristo, where he was followed by the Pinta.

      Pinzon endeavoured to excuse himself, but Columbus discovered that he had purposely separated, and had gone to Hispaniola, where he had remained trading with the natives; collecting a considerable quantity of gold, the greater part of which he retained, and the rest divided among the men to secure his secret.

      Columbus, however, knowing the number of friends the Pinzons had on board, repressed his indignation; but so much was his confidence in his confederates impaired, that, instead of continuing his explorations, as he hoped to have done when he first saw the Pinta, he resolved at once to sail for Spain.

      While obtaining wood and water for the voyage at a river flowing into the bay, so much gold was perceived in the sand at СКАЧАТЬ