THE WORKS

OF

HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT.

VOLUME VI.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

Vol. I. 1501-1530.

SAN FRANCISCO:
A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
1883.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by
HUBERT H. BANCROFT,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

During the year 1875 I published under title of The Native Races of the Pacific States what purports to be an exhaustive research into the character and customs of the aboriginal inhabitants of the western portion of North America at the time they were first seen by their subduers. The present work is a history of the same territory from the coming of the Europeans.

The plan is extensive and can be here but briefly explained. The territory covered embraces the whole of Central America and Mexico, and all Anglo-American domains west of the Rocky Mountains. First given is a glance at European society, particularly Spanish civilization at about the close of the fifteenth century. This is followed by a summary of maritime exploration from the fourth century to the year 1540, with some notices of the earliest American books. Then, beginning with the discoveries of Columbus, the men from Europe are closely followed as one after another they find and take possession of the country in its several parts, and the doings of their successors are chronicled. The result is a History of the Pacific States of North America, under the following general divisions:—History of Central America; History of Mexico; History of the North Mexican States; History of New Mexico and Arizona; History of California; History of Nevada; History of Utah; History of the Northwest Coast; History of Oregon; History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana; History of British Columbia, and History of Alaska.

Broadly stated, my plan as to order of publication proceeds geographically from south to north, as indicated in the list above given, which for the most part is likewise the chronological order of conquest and occupation. In respect of detail, to some extent I reverse this order, proceeding from the more general to the more minute as I advance northward. The difference, though considerable, is however less in reality than in appearance. And the reason I hold sufficient. To give to each of the Spanish-American provinces, and later to each of the federal and independent states, covering as they do with dead monotony centuries of unchanging action and ideas, time and space equal to that which may be well employed in narrating north-western occupation and empire-building would be no less impracticable than profitless. It is my aim to present complete and accurate histories of all the countries whose events I attempt to chronicle, but the annals of the several Central American and Mexican provinces and states, both before and after the Revolution, run in grooves too nearly parallel long to command the attention of the general reader.

In all the territorial subdivisions, southern as well as northern, I treat the beginnings and earliest development more exhaustively than later events. After the Conquest, the histories of Central America and Mexico are presented on a scale sufficiently comprehensive, but national rather than local. The northern vii Mexican states, having had a more varied experience, arising from nearer contact with progressional events, receive somewhat more attention in regard to detail than other parts of the republic. To the Pacific United States is devoted more space comparatively than to southern regions, California being regarded as the centre and culminating point of this historical field.

For the History of Central America, to which this must serve as special as well as general introduction, I would say that, besides the standard chroniclers and the many documents of late printed in Spain and elsewhere, I have been able to secure a number of valuable manuscripts nowhere else existing; some from the Maximilian, Ramirez, and other collections, and all of Mr E. G. Squier's manuscripts relating to the subject fell into my hands. Much of the material used by me in writing of this very interesting part of the world has been drawn from obscure sources, from local and unknown Spanish works, and from the somewhat confused archives of Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador, and Guatemala.

Material for the history of western North America has greatly increased of late. Ancient manuscripts of whose existence historians have never known, or which were supposed to be forever lost, have been brought to light and printed by patriotic men and intelligent governments. These fragments supply many missing links in the chain of early events, and illuminate a multitude of otherwise obscure parts.

My efforts in gathering material have been continued, and since the publication of The Native Races fifteen thousand volumes have been added to my collection. viii Among these additions are bound volumes of original documents, copies from public and private archives, and about eight hundred manuscript dictations by men who played their part in creating the history. Most of those who thus gave me their testimony in person are now dead; and the narratives of their observations and experiences, as they stand recorded in these manuscript volumes, constitute no unimportant element in the foundation upon which the structure of this western history in its several parts must forever rest.

To the experienced writer, who might otherwise regard the completion of so vast an undertaking within so apparently limited a period as indicative of work superficially done, I would say that this History was begun in 1869, six years before the publication of The Native Races; and although the earlier volumes of the several divisions I was obliged for the most part not only to plan and write, but to extract and arrange my own material, later I was able to utilize the labors of others. Among these as the most faithful and efficient I take pleasure in mentioning Mr Henry L. Oak, Mr William Nemos, Mr Thomas Savage, Mrs Frances Fuller Victor, and Mr Ivan Petroff, of whom, and of others, I speak at length elsewhere.

Of my methods of working I need say but little here, since I describe them more fully in another place. Their peculiarity, if they have any, consists in the employment of assistants, as before mentioned, to bring together by indices, references, and other devices, all existing testimony on each topic to be treated. I thus obtain important information, which otherwise, with but one lifetime at my disposal, would have been ix beyond control. Completeness of evidence by no means insures a wise decision from an incompetent judge; yet the wise judge gladly avails himself of all attainable testimony. It has been my purpose to give in every instance due credit to sources of information, and cite freely such conclusions of other writers as differ from my own. I am more and more convinced of the wisdom and necessity of such a course, by which, moreover, I aim to impart a certain bibliographic value to my work. The detail to be encompassed appeared absolutely unlimited, and more than once I despaired of ever completing my task. Preparatory investigation occupied tenfold more time than the writing.

I deem it proper to express briefly my idea of what history should be, and to indicate the general line of thought that has guided me in this task. From the mere chronicle of happenings, petty and momentous, to the historico-philosophical essay, illustrated with here and there a fact supporting the writer's theories, the range is wide. Neither extreme meets the requirements of history, however accurate the one or brilliant the other. Not to a million minute photographs do we look for practical information respecting a mountain range, nor yet to an artistic painting of some one striking feature for a correct description. From the two extremes, equally to be avoided, the true historian will, whatever his inclination, be impelled by prudence, judgment, and duty from theory toward fact, from vivid coloring toward photographic exactness. Not that there is too much brilliancy in current history, but too little fact. An accurate record of events must form the foundation, and largely the x superstructure. Yet events pure and simple are by no means more important than the institutionary development which they cause or accompany. Men, institutions, industries, must be studied equally. A man's character and influence no less than his actions demand attention. Cause and effect are more essential than mere occurrence; achievements of peace should take precedence of warlike conquest; the condition of the people is a more profitable and interesting subject of investigation than the acts of governors, the valor of generals, or the doctrines of priests. The historian must classify, and digest, and teach as well as record; he should not, however, confound his conclusions with the facts on which they rest. Symmetry of plan and execution as well as rigid condensation, always desirable, become an absolute necessity in a work like that which I have undertaken. In respect to time and territory my field is immense. The matter to be presented is an intricate complication of annals, national and sectional, local and personal. That my plan is in every respect the best possible, I do not say; but it is the best that my judgment suggests after long deliberation. The extent of this work is chargeable to the magnitude of the subject and the immense mass of information gathered rather than to any tendency to verbosity. There is scarcely a page but has been twice or thrice rewritten with a view to condensation; and instead of faithfully discharging this irksome duty, it would have been far easier and cheaper to have sent a hundred volumes through the press. The plan once formed, I sought to make the treatment exhaustive and symmetrical. Not all regions nor all periods are portrayed on the same scale: but though the camera xi of investigation is set up before each successive topic at varying distances, the picture, large or small, is finished with equal care. I may add that I have attached more than ordinary importance to the matter of mechanical arrangement, by which through title-pages, chapter-headings, and indices the reader may expeditiously refer to any desired topic, and find all that the work contains about any event, period, place, institution, man, or book; and above all I have aimed at exactness.

We hear much of the philosophy of history, of the science and signification of history; but there is only one way to write anything, which is to tell the truth, plainly and concisely. As for the writer, I will only say that while he should lay aside for the time his own religion and patriotism, he should be always ready to recognize the influence and weigh the value of the religion and patriotism of others. The exact historian will lend himself neither to idolatry nor to detraction, and will positively decline to act either as the champion or assailant of any party or power. Friendships and enmities, loves and hates, he will throw into the crucible of evidence to be refined and cast into forms of unalloyed truth. He must be just and humble. To clear judgment he must add strict integrity and catholicity of opinion. Ever in mind should be the occult forces that move mankind, and the laws by which are formulated belief, conscience, and character. The actions of men are governed by proximate states of mind, and these are generated both from antecedent states of mind and antecedent states of body, influenced by social and natural environment. The right of every generation should be xii determined, not by the ethics of any society, sect, or age, but by the broad, inexorable teachings of nature; nor should he forget that standards of morality are a freak of fashion, and that from wrongs begotten of necessity in the womb of progress has been brought forth right, and likewise right has engendered wrongs. He should remember that in the worst men there is much that is good, and in the best much that is bad; that constructed upon the present skeleton of human nature a perfect man would be a monster; nor should he forget how much the world owes its bad men. But alas! who of us are wholly free from the effects of early training and later social atmospheres! Who of us has not in some degree faith, hope, and charity! Who of us does not hug some ancestral tradition, or rock some pet theory!

As to the relative importance of early history, here and elsewhere, it is premature for any now living to judge. Beside the bloody battles of antiquity, the sieges, crusades, and wild convulsions of unfolding civilization, this transplanting of ours may seem tame. Yet the great gathering of the enlightened from all nations upon these shores, the subjugation of the wilderness with its wild humanity, and the new empire-modelling that followed, may disclose as deep a significance in the world's future as any display of army movements, or dainty morsels of court scandal, or the idiosyncrasies of monarchs and ministers. It need not be recited to possessors of our latter-day liberties that the people are the state, and rulers the servants. It is historical barbarism, of which the Homeric poems and Carlovingian tales not alone are guilty, to throw the masses into the background, or wholly to ignore xiii them. "Heureux le peuple dont l'histoire ennuie," is an oft repeated aphorism; as if deeds diabolical were the only actions worthy of record. But we of this new western development are not disposed to exalt brute battling overmuch; as for rulers and generals, we discover in them the creatures, not the creators, of civilization. We would rather see how nations originate, organize, and unfold; we would rather examine the structure and operations of religions, society refinements and tyrannies, class affinities and antagonisms, wealth economies, the evolutions of arts and industries, intellectual and moral as well as æsthetic culture, and all domestic phenomena with their homely joys and cares. For these last named, even down to dress, or the lack of it, are in part the man, and the man is the nation. With past history we may become tolerably familiar; but present developments are so strange, their anomalies are so startling to him who attempts to reduce them to form, that he is well content to leave for the moment the grosser extravagances of antiquity, howsoever much superior in interest they may be to the average mind. Yet in the old and the new we may alike from the abstract to the concrete note the genesis of history, and from the concrete to the abstract regard the analysis of history. The historian should be able to analyze and to generalize; yet his path leads not alone through the enticing fields of speculation, nor is it his only province to pluck the fruits and flowers of philosophy, or to blow brain bubbles and weave theorems. He must plod along the rough highways of time and development, and out of many entanglements bring the vital facts of history. And therein lies the richest reward. "Shakspere's capital discovery was this," says Edward xiv Dowden, "that the facts of the world are worthy to command our highest ardour, our most resolute action, our most solemn awe; and that the more we penetrate into fact, the more will our nature be quickened, enriched, and exalted."

That the success of this work should be proportionate to the labor bestowed upon it is scarcely to be expected; but I do believe that in due time it will be generally recognized as a work worth doing, and let me dare to hope fairly well done. If I read life's lesson aright, truth alone is omnipotent and immortal. Therefore, of all I wrongfully offend I crave beforehand pardon; from those I rightfully offend I ask no mercy; their censure is dearer to me than would be their praise. xv

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. SPAIN AND CIVILIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
PAGE.
General View—Transition from the Old to the New Civilization—Historical Sketch of Spain—Spanish Character—Spanish Society—Prominent Features of the Age—Domestic Matters—The New World—Comparative Civilizations and Savagisms—Earliest Voyages of Discovery	1
CHAPTER II. COLUMBUS AND HIS DISCOVERIES. 1492-1500.
Early Experiences—The Compact—Embarkation at Palos—The Voyage—Discovery of Land—Unfavorable Comparison with the Paradise of Marco Polo—Cruise among the Islands—One Nature Everywhere—Desertion of Pinzon—Wreck of the Santa María—The Fortress of La Navidad Erected—Return to Spain—Rights of Civilization—The Papal Bull of Partition—Fonseca Appointed Superintendent of the Indies—Second Voyage—Navidad in Ruins—Isabela Established—Discontent of the Colonists—Explorations of the Interior—Coasting Cuba, and Discovery of Jamaica—Failure of Columbus as Governor—Intercourse with Spain—Destruction of the Indians—Government of the Indies—Diego and Bartolomé Colon—Charges against the Admiral—Commission of Inquiry Appointed—Second Return to Spain—Third Voyage—Trinidad Discovered—Santo Domingo Founded—The Roldan Rebellion—Francisco de Bobadilla Appointed to Supersede Columbus—Arbitrary and Iniquitous Conduct of Bobadilla—Columbus Sent in Chains to Spain	155
CHAPTER III. DISCOVERY OF DARIEN. 1500-1502.
Rodrigo de Bastidas—Extension of New World Privileges—The Royal Share—Juan de la Cosa—Ships of the Early Discoverers—Coasting xvi Darien—The Terrible Teredo—Wrecked on Española—Spanish Money—Treatment of Bastidas by Ovando—Accused, and Sent to Spain for Trial—He is Immediately Acquitted—Future Career and Character of Bastidas—The Archives of the Indies—The Several Collections of Public Documents in Spain—The Labors of Muñoz and Navarrete—Bibliographical Notices of the Printed Collections of Navarrete, Ternaux-Compans, Salvá and Baranda, and Pacheco and Cárdenas	183
CHAPTER IV. COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA. 1502-1506.
The Sovereigns Decline either to Restore to the Admiral his Government, or to Capture for him the Holy Sepulchre—So he Sails on a Fourth Voyage of Discovery—Fernando Colon and his History—Ovando Denies the Expedition Entrance to Santo Domingo Harbor—Columbus Sails Westward—Strikes the Shore of Honduras near Guanaja Island—Early American Cartography—Columbus Coasts Southward to the Darien Isthmus—Then Returns and Attempts Settlement at Veragua—Driven thence, his Vessels are Wrecked at Jamaica—There midst Starvation and Mutiny he Remains a Year—Then he Reaches Española, and finally Spain, where he shortly afterward Dies—Character of Columbus—His Biographers	202
CHAPTER V. ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES. 1492-1526.
Columbus the Rightful Ruler—Juan Aguado—Francisco de Bobadilla—Nicolás de Ovando—Santo Domingo the Capital of the Indies—Extension of Organized Government to Adjacent Islands and Mainland—Residencias—Gold Mining at Española—Race and Caste in Government—Indian and Negro Slavery—Cruelty to the Natives—Spanish Sentimentalism—Pacification, not Conquest—The Spanish Monarchs always the Indian's Friends—Bad Treatment due to Distance and Evil-minded Agents—Infamous Doings of Ovando—Repartimientos and Encomiendas—The Sovereigns Intend them as Protection to the Natives—Settlers Make them the Means of Indian Enslavement—Las Casas Appears and Protests against Inhumanities—The Defaulting Treasurer—Diego Colon Supersedes Ovando as Governor—And Makes Matters Worse—The Jeronimite Fathers Sent Out—Audiencias—A Sovereign Tribunal is Established at Santo Domingo which Gradually Assumes all the Functions of an Audiencia, and as such Finally Governs the Indies—Las Casas in Spain—The Consejo de Indias, and Casa de Contratacion—Legislation for the Indies	247 xvii
CHAPTER VI. THE GOVERNMENTS OF NUEVA ANDALUCÍA AND CASTILLA DEL ORO. 1506-1510.
Tierra Firme Thrown Open to Colonization—Rival Applications—Alonso de Ojeda Appointed Governor of Nueva Andalucía, and Diego de Nicuesa of Castilla del Oro—Hostile Attitudes of the Rivals at Santo Domingo—Ojeda Embarks for Cartagena—Builds the Fortress of San Sebastian—Failure and Death—Nicuesa Sails from Veragua—Parts Company with his Fleet—His Vessel is Wrecked—Passes Veragua—Confined with his Starving Crew on an Island—Succor—Failure at Veragua—Attempts Settlement at Nombre de Dios—Loss of Ship Sent to Española for Relief—Horrible Sufferings—Bibliographical Notices of Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera—Character of the Early Chroniclers for Veracity	289
CHAPTER VII. SETTLEMENT OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIEN. 1510-1511.
Francisco Pizarro Abandons San Sebastian—Meets Enciso at Cartagena—He and his Crew Look like Pirates—They are Taken back to San Sebastian—Vasco Nuñez de Balboa—Boards Enciso's Ship in a Cask—Arrives at San Sebastian—The Spaniards Cross to Darien—The River and the Name—Cemaco, Cacique of Darien, Defeated—Founding of the Metropolitan City—Presto, Change! The Hombre del Casco Up, the Bachiller Down—Vasco Nuñez, Alcalde—Nature of the Office—Regidor—Colmenares, in Search of Nicuesa, Arrives at Antigua—He Finds Him in a Pitiable Plight—Antigua Makes Overtures to Nicuesa—Then Rejects Him—And Finally Drives Him Forth to Die—Sad End of Nicuesa	321
CHAPTER VIII. FACTIONS AND FORAGINGS IN DARIEN. 1511-1513.
The Garrison at Nombre de Dios—Subtle Diplomacies—Vasco Nuñez Assumes Command—Enciso, his Life and Writings—The Town and the Jail—Rights of Sanctuary—Valdivia's Voyage—Zamudio's Mission—Expedition to Coiba—Careta Gives Vasco Nuñez his Daughter—Ponca Punished—Jura, the Savage Statesman—Visit of the Spaniards to Comagre—Panciaco Tells Them of a Southern Sea—The Story of Valdivia, Who is Shipwrecked and Eaten by Cannibals—Vasco Nuñez Undertakes an Impious Pilgrimage to the Golden Temple of Dabaiba—Conspiracy Formed by the Natives to Destroy Antigua—Fulvia Divulges the Plot—Darien Quieted—Vasco Nuñez Receives a Royal Commission—Serious Charges—Vasco Nuñez Resolves to Discover the Southern Sea before He is Prevented by Arrest	337 xviii
CHAPTER IX. DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 1513.
Departure of Vasco Nuñez from Antigua—Careta's Welcome—Difficulties to be Encountered—Treacherous Character of the Country—Historical Bloodhounds—Ponca Reconciled—Capture of Quarequá—First View of the Pacific from the Heights of Quarequá—The Spaniards Descend to Chiapes—Take Formal Possession of the South Sea—Form of Taking Possession—The Names South Sea and Pacific Ocean—Further Discoveries—Perilous Canoe Voyage—Gold and Pearls in Profusion—Tumaco Pacified—The Pearl Islands—The Return—Teoca's Kindness—Ponca Murdered—Pocorosa Pacified—Tubanamá Vanquished—Gold, Gold, Gold—Panciaco's Congratulations—Arrival at Antigua	358
CHAPTER X. PEDRARIAS DÁVILA ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT OF DARIEN. 1514-1515.
How the Discovery of a South Sea was Regarded in Spain—The Enemies of Vasco Nuñez at Court—Pedrarias Dávila Appointed Governor—Departure from Spain and Arrival at Antigua—Arbolancha in Spain—Pedrarias Persecutes Balboa—The King's Requirement of the Indians—Juan de Ayora Sent to Plant a Line of Fortresses between the Two Seas—Which Work He Leaves for Wholesale Robbery—Bartolomé Hurtado Sent to Bring in the Plunder—Disastrous Attempts to Violate the Sepulchres of Cenú—Expedition of Tello de Guzman to the South Sea—The Site of Panamá Discovered—The Golden Temple of Dabaiba Once More—Gaspar de Morales and Francisco Pizarro Visit the South Sea	386
CHAPTER XI. DARIEN EXPEDITIONS UNDER PEDRARIAS. 1515-1517.
Gonzalo de Badajoz Visits the South Sea—What He Sees at Nombre de Dios—His Dealings with Totonagua—And with Tataracherubi—Arrives at Natá—The Spaniards Gather much Gold—They Encounter the Redoubtable Paris—A Desperate Fight—Badajoz Loses his Gold and Returns to Darien—Pedrarias on the War-path—He Strikes Cenú a Blow of Revenge—Acla Founded—The Governor Returns Ill to Antigua—Expedition of Gaspar de Espinosa to the South Sea—The Licentiate's Ass—Robbery by Law—Espinosa's Relation—A Bloody-handed Priest—Espinosa at Natá—He Courts the Acquaintance of Paris—Who Kills the Ambassadors—Hurtado Surveys the Southern Seaboard to Nicoya—Panamá Founded—An Aboriginal Tartarus—Return of Espinosa's Expedition	412 xix
CHAPTER XII. THE FATE OF VASCO NUÑEZ DE BALBOA. 1516-1517.
Affairs at Antigua—Different Qualities of Pacification—Complaints of Vasco Nuñez to the King—A New Expedition Planned—Vasco Nuñez Made Adelantado and Captain-general of the South Sea—Pedrarias Keeps Secret the Appointment—Reconciliation of Balboa and Pedrarias—Betrothal of Doña María—Vasco Nuñez Goes to Acla—Massacre of Olano—The Municipality of Acla Established—Materials for Ships Carried across the Mountains—Difficulties, Perils, and Mortality—Balboa at the Pearl Islands—Prediction of Micer Codro, the Astrologer—Rumored Arrival of a New Governor at Antigua—Meditated Evasion of New Authority—The Infamy of Garabito—Vasco Nuñez Summoned by Pedrarias to Acla—His Journey thither—Trial and Execution	432
CHAPTER XIII. DECLINE OF SPANISH SETTLEMENT ON THE NORTH COAST. 1517-1523.
Dishonesty the Best Policy—Pedrarias Stigmatized—His Authority Curtailed—Quevedo in Spain—He Encounters Las Casas—The Battle of the Priests—Oviedo Enters the Arena—Business in Darien—The Interoceanic Road Again—Its Termini—Pedrarias and Espinosa at Panamá—The Licentiate Makes another Raid—The Friars of St Jerome have their Eye on Pedrarias—The Cabildo of Antigua Shakes its Finger at Him—Continued Attempts to Depopulate the North Coast—Albites Builds Nombre de Dios—Lucky Licentiate—Arrival and Death of Lope de Sosa—Oviedo Returns and Does Battle with the Dragon—And is Beaten from the Field	460
CHAPTER XIV. GIL GONZALEZ IN COSTA RICA AND NICARAGUA. 1519-1523.
Andrés Niño and his Spice Islands—Fails to Obtain Authority to Discover—Applies to Gil Gonzalez Dávila—Agreement with the King—Royal Order for the Ships of Vasco Nuñez—Pedrarias Refuses to Deliver Them—Gil Gonzalez Transports Ships across the Mountains—Embarks from the Pearl Islands—Gil Gonzalez Proceeds by Land and Niño by Sea—Visit to Nicoya—And to Nicaragua—The Captain-general Converts many Souls—And Gathers much Gold—Fight with Diriangen—Nicaragua Apostatizes—The Spaniards Terminate the Discovery and Hasten to their Ships—Niño's Voyage to Fonseca Bay—Return to Panamá	478 xx
CHAPTER XV. SPANISH DEPREDATIONS ROUND PANAMÁ BAY. 1521-1526.
European Settlement on the West Coast of America—Progress of Panamá—Laws Respecting Spanish Settlements in America—Final Abandonment of Antigua—Administration of the South Sea Government—Piracy upon Principle—Pascual de Andagoya Explores Southward—Conquers Birú—Return to Panamá—Colonies of Veragua and Chiriquí—The Chieftain Urracá Takes up his Abode in the Mountains and Defies the Spaniards—Pizarro, Espinosa, Pedrarias, and Compañon in vain Attempt his Overthrow—Building of Natá—Compañon as Governor—Hurtado Colonizes Chiriquí—Conspiracy—Capture and Escape of Urracá—Several Years more of War	495
CHAPTER XVI. THE WARS OF THE SPANIARDS. 1523-1524.
Oviedo in Spain—He Secures the Appointment of Pedro de los Rios as Governor of Castilla del Oro—Pedrarias Determines to Possess Nicaragua—He Sends thither Córdoba, who Founds Brusélas, Granada, and Leon—And Carries a Ship across the Land from the Pacific to Lake Nicaragua—He Makes a Survey of the Lake—Informed of Spaniards Lurking thereabout—Development of the Spanish Colonial System—Gil Gonzalez Escapes with his Treasure to Española—Despatches Cereceda to Spain with Intelligence of his Discovery—Sails from Santo Domingo to the Coast of Honduras—Arrives at Puerto Caballos—Founds San Gil de Buenavista—Encounters Hernando de Soto—Battle—Cristóbal de Olid Appears—Founds Triunfo de la Cruz	511
CHAPTER XVII. COLONIZATION IN HONDURAS. 1524-1525.
Cortés in Mexico—Extension of his Conquests—Fears of Encroachments on the Part of Spaniards in Central America—Cristóbal de Olid Sent to Honduras—Touching at Habana, He is Won from Allegiance to Cortés—Triunfo de la Cruz Founded—Olid as Traitor—Meeting with Gil Gonzalez—The Wrath of Cortés—Casas Sent after Olid—Naval Engagement in Triunfo Harbor—Casas Falls into the Hands of Olid, Who is soon Captured by the Captive—Death of Olid—Return of Casas to Mexico—Trujillo Founded—Interference of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo	522 xxi
CHAPTER XVIII. MARCH OF CORTÉS TO HONDURAS. 1524-1525.
Doubts concerning Casas—Cortés Tired of Inaction—Determines to Go in Person to Honduras—Sets out with a Large Party—Arrives at Goazacoalco—The Gay Army soon Comes to Grief—The Way Barred by Large Rivers and Deep Morasses—Scarcity of Provisions—Sufferings of the Soldiers—The Trick of the Merchant-cacique—Killing of the Captive Kings—Apotheosis of a Charger—Fears of Rebellious Spaniards Dissipated on Nearing Nito	537
CHAPTER XIX. CORTÉS IN HONDURAS. 1525-1526.
He is Master of all the Miseries there—Miasma and Deep Distress—Exertions of Cortés in Behalf of the Colonists—A Vessel Appears with Provisions—Cortés Sends out Foragers—He Seeks a Better Locality—Sandoval at Naco—Others Settle at Caballos—Cortés at Trujillo—Vessels Sent to Mexico, Cuba, and Jamaica—Troubles in Mexico—Cortés Irresolute—Starts for Mexico—Is Driven back by a Storm—Pacification of Adjacent Pueblos—Cortés Sends Presents to Córdoba—Shall Cortés Make himself Master of Nicaragua?—Arrival of Altamirano—Return of Cortés to Mexico	566
CHAPTER XX. PEDRARIAS REMOVES TO NICARAGUA. 1525-1527.
Córdoba Meditates Revolt—Soto and Compañon Object—Their Flight—Pedrarias Nurses his Wrath—Secret Motives for his Departure for Nicaragua—Córdoba Loses his Head—The Governor Covets Honduras, and Comes to Blows—The Indians Follow the Example—Bloody Scenes—Pedrarias Interrupted in his Reverie—Pedro de los Rios Succeeds as Governor at Panamá—His Instructions and Policy—Residencia of Pedrarias—Triumphant Result	584
CHAPTER XXI. RIVAL GOVERNORS IN HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA. 1526-1530.
Colonial Policy—Salcedo Displaces Saavedra in the Government of Honduras—Saavedra's Escape—Pedrarias' Envoys Trapped—Salcedo Invades Nicaragua—His Cruelty and Extortion—Distress among the Colonists—Rios also Presents Claims, but is Discomfited—Pedrarias Follows Triumphant—Salcedo's Ignominious Fate—Estete's Expedition—Slave-hunting Profits and Horrors—Gladiatorial Punishment of Revolted Natives—Pedrarias' Schemes for Aggrandizement—He Grasps at Salvador and Longs for Peru—Both Elude Him—Further Mortification, and Death—Character of the Conquerors	597 xxii
CHAPTER XXII. MARCH OF ALVARADO TO GUATEMALA. 1522-1524.
Rumors in Mexico concerning the Country to the South-eastward—Pacification in that Quarter—The Chiefs of Tehuantepec and Tututepec—At the Gate of Guatemala—Summary of Aboriginal History—Allegiance and Revolt—Preparing of an Expedition—Delayed by the Troubles at Pánuco—A Second Army Organized—The March—Subjugation of Soconusco—The Taking of Zapotitlan	617
CHAPTER XXIII. CONQUEST OF GUATEMALA BEGUN. February-March, 1524.
Overtures of Kicab Tanub to the Lords of the Zutugils and Cakchiquels—Death of the Quiché King—Tecum Umam his Successor—Gathers a Great Army—Intrenches Himself at Zacaha—Passage of Palahunoh by the Spaniards—A Skirmish—A Bloody Engagement—Quezaltenango Established—The Army Advances on Xelahuh—The City Deserted—Battle of Xelahuh—Tecum Umam Slain—Forcible Proselyting	632
CHAPTER XXIV. DOWNFALL OF THE QUICHÉ NATION. April, 1524.
Utatlan, Capital of the Quichés—Its Magnificence—The Royal Palace and Pyramidal Fortifications—Private Apartments and Gardens—Plan to Entrap the Spaniards—A Feast Prepared—The Enemy Invited—The Treachery Discovered—Masterly Retreat of Alvarado—The Quiché King and Nobles Entrapped—They are Made to Gather Gold—And are then Destroyed—Utatlan Burned and the Country Devastated—Subjugation of the Quichés Complete	643
CHAPTER XXV. THE CAKCHIQUELS AND ZUTUGILS MADE SUBJECTS OF SPAIN. April-May, 1524.
March to the Cakchiquel Capital—With a Brilliant Retinue King Sinacam Comes forth to Meet the Spaniards—Description of Patinamit—Occupation of the Cakchiquel Capital—Expedition against Tepepul, King of the Zutugils—The Cliff City of Atitlan—A Warm Battle—Entry into the Stronghold—Reconciliation and Return to Patinamit—Love Episode of Alvarado	652 xxiii
CHAPTER XXVI. EXPEDITION TO SALVADOR. 1524.
Campaign against Itzcuintlan—A Rough March—The Town Surprised—Desperate Defence—Alvarado Determines to Explore still farther South—Crossing the River Michatoyat—The Spaniards Come to Atiquipac, Tacuylula, Taxisco, Nancintlan, and Pazaco—The Towns Deserted—Poisoned Stakes and Canine Sacrifice—Enter Salvador—Moquizalco and Acatepec—Battles of Acajutla and Tacuxcalco—Blood-thirstiness of this Conqueror—Entry into Cuzcatlan—Flight of the Inhabitants—Return to Patinamit	663
CHAPTER XXVII. REVOLT OF THE CAKCHIQUELS. 1524-1525.
Return of the Allies to Mexico—Founding of the City of Santiago—The Cakchiquels Oppressed beyond Endurance—They Flee from the City—Difficulty in again Reducing Them to Subjection—Reinforcements from Mexico—Campaign against Mixco—Capture of that Stronghold—Fight with the Chignautecs—Superhuman Valor of a Cavalryman—Conquest of the Zacatepec Valley—Expedition against the Mames—Defeat of Can Ilocab—Entry into Huehuetenango—Siege of Zakuléu—Surrender of Caibil Balam	678

xxiv

AUTHORITIES QUOTED
IN THE
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

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MAP OF DARIEN AND TIERRA FIRME

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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
SPAIN AND CIVILIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

General View—Transition from the Old to the New Civilization—Historical Sketch of Spain—Spanish Character—Spanish Society—Prominent Features of the Age—Domestic Matters—The New World—Comparative Civilizations and Savagisms—Earliest Voyages of Discovery.

How stood this ever changing world four hundred years ago? Already Asia was prematurely old. Ships skirted Africa; but, save the northern seaboard, to all but heaven the continent was as dark as its stolid inhabitants. America was in swaddlings, knowing not its own existence, and known of none. Europe was an aged youth, bearing the world-disturbing torch which still shed a dim, fitful light and malignant odor.

Societies were held together by loyalty to civil and ecclesiastical rulers; not by that coöperation which springs from the common interests of the people. Unhallowed were all things real; divine the unsubstantial and potential. Beyond the stars were laid out spiritual cities, and under foot the hollow ground was dismal with the groans of the departed. Regions 2 of the world outlying the known, were tenanted by sea-monsters, dragons, and hobgoblins. European commerce crept forth from walled towns and battlemented buildings, and peradventure, escaping the dangers of the land, hugged the shore in open boats, resting by night, and trembling amid-ships by day. Learning was chiefly confined to the clergy. Feudalism as a system was dead, but its evils remained. Innumerable burdens were heaped upon the people by the dominant classes who gave them little protection in return. Upon the most frivolous pretexts the fruits of their industry were seized and appropriated by their masters. It was a praiseworthy performance for a hundred thousand men to meet and slay each other to gratify the whim of a state minister or a king's concubine. Then came a change, and by reason of their revised Ptolemies, their antipodal soundings, and new geographies, their magnetic needles, printing machines, and men-killing implements, learning began to revive, and the people began in some faint degree to think for themselves.

Under the shifting sands of progress truth incubates, and the hatched ideas fashion for themselves a great mind in which they may find lodgment; fashion for themselves a tongue by which to speak; fashion for themselves a lever by which to move the world.

TRANSITIONAL EPOCH.

The epoch of which I speak rested upon the confines of two civilizations, the old and the new. It was a transition period from the dim twilight of the dark age to the brightness of modern thought; from an age of unquestioning faith to one of curiosity and scepticism. It was a period of concretions and crystallizations, following one of many rarefactions; religion was embracing science; astrology was merging into astronomy; magic into physics; alchemy into chemistry. Saltpetre was superseding steel in warfare; feudalism having fulfilled its purpose was being displaced by monarchical power; intercourse was springing 3 up between nations, and international laws were being made. Even the material universe and the realms of space were enlarging with the enlargement of mind. Two worlds were about that time unveiled to Spain, an oriental and an occidental; by the capture of Constantinople ancient Greek and Latin learning was emancipated, and the Christian religion became settled as the faith of Europe; while toward the west, the mists of the ages lifted from the ocean, and, as if emerging from primeval waters, a fair new continent ripe for a thousand industries stood revealed.

This was progress indeed, and the mind, bursting its mediæval fetters, stood forth and took a new survey. With the dawn of the sixteenth century there appeared a universal awakening throughout Christendom. Slumbering civilization, roused by the heavy tread of marching events, turned from royal prison-houses of learning, and beheld with wonder and delight the unfolding of these new mysteries. The dust and cobwebs of the past, which had so long dimmed the imagination, were disturbed by an aggressive spirit of inquiry. The report of exploding fallacies reverberated throughout Europe; and as the smoke cleared away, and light broke in through the obscurity, there fell as it were scales from the eyes of the learned, and man gazed upon his fellow-man with new and strange emotions. For centuries men's minds had been chained to the traditions of the past; thought had traveled as in a treadmill; philosophy had advanced with the face turned backward; knight-errantry had been the highest type of manhood, and Christianity, like its founder, had been made to bear the sins of the many. While its friends claimed for it all the virtues of mankind, its enemies charged it with all the vices. The first efforts of scholastics in their exposition of these new appearances was to square the accumulative information of the day with the subtleties of the schools and the doctrines and dogmas of the past. The source of all knowledge and the foundation 4 of all science were claimed to be in the holy scriptures and in the tenets of the church. Any conception, or invention, or discovery that might pass unscathed these two touchstones was denominated truth, though human reason could not grasp it. Likewise, any stray fact which by these tests failed satisfactorily to account for itself, was pronounced false, though human reason declared it true.

I do not mean to say that all darkness and nescience were swept away in a breath, or that knowledge fell suddenly on mankind like an inspiration; it was enough for some few to learn for the first time of such a thing as ignorance. Although the change was real and decisive, and the mind in its attempt to fathom new phenomena was effectually lured from the mystic pages of antiquity, there yet remained enough and to spare of ignorance and credulity. Searchers after the truth yet saw as through a glass darkly; the clearer vision of face to face could be attained only by slow degrees, and often the very attempt to scale the prison-house walls plunged the aspirant after higher culture yet deeper into the ditch; but that there were any searchings at all was no small advance. Shackles were stricken off, but the untutored intellect as yet knew not the use of liberty; a new light was flashed in upon the mental vision, but the sudden glare was for the moment bewildering, and not until centuries after was the significance of this transitional epoch fully manifest. It may be possible to exaggerate the importance of this awakening; yet how exaggerate the value to western Europe of Greek literature and the revival of classic learning, of the invention of printing, or the influence for good or evil on Spain of her New World discoveries?

Rightly to understand the condition of education in Spain in the fifteenth century, we must remember that mental training and not the acquisition of knowledge was the object of education, and as the object to be attained differed greatly from that which we are 5 now seeking, so the result was proportionately different. The tendency of education in the fifteenth century was toward a more determined reliance and belief in authority and in revelation; the tendency of education in the nineteenth century is toward inquiry and scepticism. As to the comparative value of these results there are of course many differences of opinion, and I shall not discuss them here. We may be sure, however, that in whatsoever direction human mind is trained by other human mind, there is ever present and underlying all activities inexorable progress, an eternal unfolding into ever fairer proportions of all that is best and noblest in mankind.

SPANISH HISTORY.

Our history dates from Spain, at the time when Castile and Aragon were the dominant power of Europe. Before entering upon the doings, or passing judgment upon the character, of those whose fortunes it is the purpose of this work to follow into the forests of the New World, let us glance at the origin of the Spaniards, examine the cradle of their civilization, and see out of what conditions a people so unlike any on the globe to-day were evolved.

Far back as tradition and theory can reach, the Iberians, possibly of Turanian stock, followed their rude vocations, hunting, fishing, fighting; guarded on one side by the Pyrenees, and on the others by the sea. Next, in an epoch to whose date no approximation is now possible, the Celts came down on Spain, the first wave of that Aryan sea destined to submerge all Europe. Under the Celtiberians, the fierce and powerful compound race now formed by the union of Iberian and Celt, broken indeed into various tribes but with analogous customs and tongues, Spain first became known to the civilized world. Then came the commercial and colonizing Phœnician and planted a settlement at Cádiz. After them the Carthaginians landed on the eastern shore of the Peninsula and founded Carthago Nova, now Cartagena. The power 6 of the Carthaginians in Spain was broken by the Scipios, in the second Punic war, toward the close of the third century b. c.; and yet, says Ticknor, "they have left in the population and language of Spain, traces which have never been wholly obliterated."

The Romans, after driving out the Carthaginians, attacked the interior Celtiberians, who fought them hard and long; but the latter being finally subjugated, all Hispania, save perhaps the rugged north-west, was divided into Roman provinces, and in them the language and institutions of Rome were established. Forced from their hereditary feuds by the iron hand of their conquerors, the Celtiberians rapidly increased in wealth and numbers, and of their prosperity the Empire was not slow to make avail. From the fertile fields of Spain flowed vast quantities of cerealia into the granary of Rome. The gold and silver of their metal-veined sierras the enslaved Spaniards were forced to produce, as they in succeeding ages wrung from the natives of the New World the same unjust service. The introduction of Christianity, about the middle of the third century, brought upon the adherents of this religion the most cruel persecutions; which, however, instead of destroying it but rooted it the more firmly. Some say, indeed, that Saint Paul preached at Saragossa, and planted a church there; however this may be, it was not until the conversion of Constantine that Christianity became the dominant religion of the Peninsula.

The fifth century opens with the dissolution of the empire of the Romans, for the barbarians are upon them. Over the Pyrenees, in awful deluge, sweep Suevi, Alani, Vandals, and Silingi. The Suevi, in a. d. 409, take possession of the north-west, now Galicia; the Alani seize Lusitania, to-day Portugal; and the Vandals and Silingi settle Vandalusia, or Andalusia, the latter tribe occupying Seville. Blighted by this barbaric whirlwind, civilization droops; the 7 arts and sciences introduced by the Romans fall into disgrace; the churlish conquerors will have none of them; and the culture of ancient Greece and Rome, turning toward its original seat, flees the inhospitable west and takes refuge in the capital of the eastern empire, which thereafter becomes the depository of the wrecks of classic learning. In their dilemma the Romanized indigenes call to their help the less uncouth Visigoths. In 427 the Vandals pass into Africa. Between 455 and 584 the Visigoths conquer the Romans and subjugate the Suevi; so that now their kingdom stretches from the bank of the Loire to Gibraltar. Thus to the Latin is added the Gothic element; the Latin language, corrupted as it had become, gains upon, or rather for the most part holds its original advantage over the Gothic tongue, and becomes the basis of the modern Castilian, with such grammatical simplifications as the northern taste renders necessary.

ADVENT OF THE MOORS.

Still the great Peninsula seethes and bubbles like a caldron over the furnace-fires of its progressional unrest. Two centuries of contentions between states, and between kings and nobles, aggravated by the usual convulsions incident to elective monarchies, suffice to bring upon them a new foe. The crescent of Islam, resting on Mecca and threatening at once the Bosporus and the Pillars of Hercules, flames suddenly out at its western horn over fated Spain. At Algeciras, near Gibraltar, in 711, in great force, the Mauritanian Arabs, or Moors, effect a landing, invited thither by Count Julian, commander of Andalusia, in revenge for the violation of his daughter by Rodrigo, last of the Gothic kings. Routing the Visigoths in the battle of Jerez de la Frontera, in five swift years the Saracens are masters of all save the mountainous north-west; and penetrating Aquitania, the kingdom of the Franks is prevented from falling into their hands only by the decisive victory won by Charles Martel at Tours in 732. An emirate 8 under the caliphate of Bagdad is established at Córdova, and multitudes of Syrian and Egyptian Mahometans flock to Spain. Thus pressed, to the rugged mountains of Asturias, under Pelayo, one of their national heroes, flee such Christians as will not submit. There the wreck of the Visigothic kingdom takes refuge; there stubborn patriots rally and nurse their nationality betimes in the caves of the Pyrenees, waiting opportunity to deliver their country from the yoke of the hated Infidel. In 755 Abdurrahman, the last caliph of the dynasty of Ommiades, having escaped the massacre of Damascus, wrests Spain from the hands of the Abbassides and founds the caliphate of Córdova, which then formed one of the four great divisions of the Prophet's dominions. Moorish kings now take the place of Moorish emirs, and thus is governed Córdova till 1238, and Granada till 1492.

Meanwhile the Mahometans ruled mildly and well. The native Christians living among them kept their religion, churches, and clergy, as well as their laws and tribunals except in cases involving capital punishment, or where a Mahometan was a party in the suit. The usual consequences of race-contact followed; over wide tracts Arabic became the common language, and so remained even after Moslem power had fallen. As late as the fourteenth century public acts in many parts of Spain were written in Arabic. As the result of this intermixture, there was the linguistic medley called lingua franca, a composite of Arabic, Gothic, Latin, Hebrew, and Gallic, with the Romance, or corrupted Latin of Spain, united with the Limousin, the language of the gay science spoken in Languedoc and Provence, as a base. Out of this came the Castilian, which after undergoing various modifications settled into the Spanish language, leaving it substantially in its present form, though refined and polished by subsequent centuries of civilization. It was not, however, until near the reign of Alfonso X., 1252-1282, long after the 9 Christians had emerged from the mountains and had mingled with the reconquered indigenes, that the Castilian became perfectly established as a written, settled, and polite language. Nor were the consequences of Arabic occupation confined to language; they tinged the whole life of the nation.

The Spaniards who under Pelayo had taken refuge in the mountains of Asturias, in 716 founded a small government called the kingdom of Oviedo. There the seeds of liberty, trampled by adversity, took root, and from the patriot soil arose a nation that spread its branches wide over the land. Gradually the Christian kingdoms enlarged. First Galicia, then, two hundred years later, Leon and Castile were added to the little empire. The latter part of the tenth century the kingdoms of Leon, Castile, and Navarre, held the northern extremity of the Peninsula, while all the rest was under the dominion of the caliphate of Córdova.

THE EIGHT-CENTURY WAR.

And now, emerged from the mountain fastnesses whither they had fled before this southern swarm of turbaned Infidels, the sturdy Christians press heavily on their foe. Inch by inch, each step counting a century, they fight their way from the Pyrenees back to Granada. Assuming the title of caliph, Abdurrahman III. defeats the Christians at Zamora on the Douro, but is in turn repulsed, in 938, at Simancas. In vain the Mahometans call to their aid the Almoravides of Morocco; their race upon the Peninsula is run. As portions of the country are wrested from them, lands are awarded to notable Christian leaders, who at intervals pause in their holy crusade, and fall to warring on each other; and by these intestine brawls more Christian blood is spilt than by all the cimiters of the Saracens. At such times the Infidels might turn and make the Christians an easy prey; but centuries of opulence, and, except along their northern border, of inaction, have sapped their strength and left them 10 nerveless. It is the old story alike of peoples, sects, and individuals; discipline, begotten by necessity, engenders strength, which fattened by luxury swells to weakness.

The beginning of the eleventh century finds the Christians occupying about half the Peninsula, that is to say the kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Leon was but another name for the kingdom of Oviedo, or Asturias, the birthplace of Spanish nationality. Castile—Roman, castella; Arabic, ardo-l-koláa, land of castles, so called from the castillos, or forts, built there—though destined eventually to absorb all the kingdoms of the Peninsula, was at first a republic, consisting of a few small towns or fortified castles, which had united for mutual protection from both Mahometans and contentious Christian brethren. In 1037 Leon was united by Ferdinand I., called the Great, to Castile; and from its central position, and the strength arising from perpetual vigilance, the new kingdom gradually widened and added to its dominions, until eventually all the kingdoms of the Peninsula were united under the banner of Castile. Navarre belonged to a French count, whose successor drove the Saracens from the territory adjacent on the south-west, and founded the kingdom of Aragon.

In 1085 the Cid, a Castilian chieftain, born at Búrgos, and famous in poetry, romance, and war, seized Toledo, and overran Valencia; in 1118 Alfonso of Aragon wrested Saragossa from the Moors. Portugal, hitherto a province of Castile, assumed the title of kingdom in 1139. Finally the four kingdoms of the north, together with Portugal, formed a league against the Infidels, and in a great battle fought in the Sierra Morena, near Tolosa, in 1212, Mahometan power in Spain was effectually broken. In this decisive engagement the Christian confederates were commanded by Alfonso III. of Castile, who never rested till the followers of the Prophet 11 were driven from the central plateau. To the kingdom of Castile, Ferdinand III., 1217-1252, annexed Jaen, Córdova, and Seville, which with difficulty were held by his son Alfonso X., surnamed the Wise—a better scholar than soldier, as we see. Alfonso XI. was succeeded by Pedro el Cruel, who died in 1369.

SPAIN'S GRANDEUR.

A succession of singularly brilliant events, culminating in the empire of Charles V., brought Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, to the front rank among European powers. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, which in 1479 united the crowns of Aragon and Castile; the conquest of Granada in 1492, terminating eight centuries of almost continuous warfare; the discovery of America the same year; the annexation of Naples in 1503, and of Navarre in 1512, after the union of Spain and the Netherlands in the marriage of Juana, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, with Philip the Fair, son of the Emperor Maximilian I., and father of Charles V., all coming in quick succession, form a train of important incidents unparalleled in the history of nations. Before the death of Philip II. in 1598, the empire of Spain extended to every part of the globe—Portugal, conquered by the duke of Alva in 1580; Sicily and Sardinia, Artois and Franche Comté, the Balearic and Canary islands; in Africa—Melilla, Ceuta, Oran, and Tunis; in Asia—the Moluccas and the Philippine Islands, together with several settlements elsewhere; beside a large part of the two Americas, which alone comprised about one fifth of the world.

But nations like men must die. The full measure of prosperity had been meted out to Spain, and now she must lay it down—such is the inexorable law of progress. It was the very irony of autocracy, that one man should rule half the world! Spain's pyramid of greatness, which assumed such lofty proportions during the reign of their Catholic Majesties, culminated during the reigns of their immediate successors. A long line 12 of ambitious and able princes had raised the empire to a giddy height; but with an illiterate and non-progressive populace, no sooner did the rulers become incompetent than the nation fell in pieces. In the height of his grandeur Spain's grandest monarch surfeited of success and abdicated; and with the death of his son Philip the glory of the empire departed. Then might her epitaph be written—Nine centuries of steady growth—a long and lusty youth, more than falls to the lot of most nations—and in three brief centuries more she rose, and ripened, and rotted.

It is not with death, however, but life, we have to do. Intellectual sparks were lighting up the dark corners of the earth, and a series of brilliant epochs began with the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella—modern Golden Ages they might be called. The golden age of Spain, dating from 1474 to 1516, was followed by Germany's golden age, which was during the reign of Charles V., 1519-1558. Then came England with the reign of Elizabeth, 1558-1603; then France under Louis XIV. and Louis XV., 1640-1740; Russia under Peter the Great, 1672-1725; and Prussia under Frederick the Great, 1740-1786. During this time European civilization was bursting its narrow confines and encircling the hitherto unknown world in every direction.

MEASUREMENTS OF CHARACTER.

The Spaniards we would know and judge. We shall judge them, even though we know them not. We love to judge our fellows, and to think how much better are we than they. Little attention we give it, though it is a self-evident proposition, that to judge a people by any other standard than that to which they have been taught to conform is to do them great injustice. If we may believe psychology, thought, in its higher phases, develops only with the development of language; the conceptions of the mind can not rise much higher than forms of speech will enable it to express. Apply this postulate to the measure of 13 character, and the corollary is, that to interpret fairly, we must restrict our imagination to such ideas, our mind to such beliefs, and our tongue to such formulas as belong to those we judge. This, however, is no easy matter. In the present age of intellectual progress and changing activity, when old delusions are being rapidly dispelled by science, and new discoveries are constantly opening new channels to distinction, it is almost impossible to place ourselves within the narrow limits of mediæval restrictions, in which thought and opinion were not allowed to germinate, but were passed unchanged from one generation to another. "It often happens," as John Stuart Mill remarks, "that the universal belief of one age of mankind—a belief from which no one was, nor, without an extra effort of genius or courage, could at that time be, free—becomes so palpable an absurdity, that the only difficulty then is to imagine how such a thing can ever have appeared credible." Not only were the Church dogmas of the Middle Age accepted as truth, but at that time to hold opinions antagonistic to established creeds was seldom so much as deemed possible.

From the foregoing premises it clearly follows, that rightly to measure the character of those who carried European civilization into the wilds of America, we must, in so far as we may, divest ourselves of the present, and enter into the spirit of their times. We must fix in our minds the precise epoch in the history of human progress to which the discovery of this New World belongs. We must roll up four brilliant centuries of the scroll of science, cloud nine tenths of the world in obscurity, throw a spell upon the ocean; then wall the imagination within the confines of this narrow horizon and conceive the effect. We must know something, not alone of national polities and the attitude of kings, but we must enter the society of individuals, and study the impulses of the people. We must call up the inscrutable past, surround ourselves with those influences that give the stamp to character and the 14 color to creed. We must familiarize ourselves with scenes familiar to the people we discuss; we must walk their streets, look through their eyes, think their thoughts; we must personate them and practically construe them. We should fill our breast with the aspirations that impelled them, our imagination with the fears that restrained them, and feel those subtle forces which for generations had been developing intellect and moulding opinion. We should dare even to gain access to their domestic and religious penetralia, to invade the sanctity of the hearth and altar, to sound the hidden chords of domestic life, to walk softly through vaulted aisles and convent corridors, bending the ear to catch the whisperings of the confessional; we should enter with the monk his cloister-cell, with the gallant the presence of his lady-love, and learn whence the significance and whither the tendency of their strange conceits. If, at the outset, with the political position, we also thus firmly grasp their inner social life, much that were otherwise enigmatical or suspicious appears in a clearer light; and we can then behold their chivalrous but cruel deeds with the same charity in which we hope posterity may shroud our own enormities. Thus only may we be led to understand the various processes by which this phase of civilization was evolved.

The configuration and climate of the Peninsula assist in giving variety to the character of its inhabitants. The interior is one vast table-land, higher than any other plateau in Europe, being from two to three thousand feet above the level of the sea. On either side precipitous mountain ranges interpose between the table-land and the shores, and through these numerous streams thread their way. The table-land is for the most part dry and treeless, hot in summer and cold in winter; Asturias is wet and wooded; the valleys of the Guadalquivir, Douro, Ebro, Tagus, and other rivers, are in places quite fertile. In the 15 southern provinces of Andalusia and Murcia, autumn and winter are mild and pleasant, and spring is surpassingly lovely; but the solano which during summer blows from the heated plains of Africa is intolerable to any but the acclimated. From the snow-clad Pyrenees the piercing blasts of winter sweep over Leon, Castile, and Estremadura, at the north protracting the long winter and making cold and humid the spring, and arrive at the middle provinces stripped of their moisture, but not of their raw unwelcome chilliness.

During the eleven convulsive centuries preceding our epoch we have seen mix and agglutinate the several ingredients of Spanish character—Iberian, Celt, Phœnician; Roman, Goth, and Moor, all contributing their quota. Christian, Infidel, and Jew, with their loves and hates, season the mass; and thus society becomes an olla podrida, and Spain presents the anomalous race of the world.

In different provinces different race-elements preponderate, that of Rome tincturing the whole more strongly than any other. Under analysis these several social ingredients may be easily detected. By comparison with Strabo, Arnold traces many of the social characteristics of the Spaniards back to the Iberians. "The grave dress, the temperance and sobriety, the unyielding spirit, the extreme indolence, the perverseness in guerilla warfare, and the remarkable absence of the highest military qualities ascribed by the Greek and Roman writers," he affirms, "are all more or less characteristic of the Spaniards of modern times. The courtesy and gallantry of the Spaniard to women has also come down to him from his Iberian ancestors."

So in the volatile, dark-haired Celt, where reckless courage and indifference to human life reached their height, where quick perception and ready wit supplied the place of sober thought and logical deductions, where man was courageous and changeable, and 16 woman was at once fickle, chaste, and passionate—in these fierce barbarians we see a multitude of traits handed by them to their descendants. Of Phœnician and Iberian influence, traces are seen in their skill in scientific mining; of Gothic, in their comparatively liberal forms of government, their attachment to military display, and in their good faith, integrity, and morality—would these latter had been a trifle more Gothic; of Roman, in their love of ecclesiastical forms, church and state loyalty, in their stately dignity and sobriety of deportment; of Arab, in their hatred of work, their love of freedom, their religious enthusiasm, their tactics in war, and in their language, poetry, art, and architecture. Some of these terms appear paradoxical, but human nature, in its ingredients, is ever paradoxical. In the Spanish language Brace discovers that the principal "terms for agriculture and science are Latin; for the Church, Latin or Greek; for arms, riding, and war, Teutonic; and for arts and plants in southern Spain, Arabic." From the north and east and south the boldest of the nations had congregated on this frontier peninsula, waiting the outburst which, after a thousand years of fermentation, broke over its western slope.

Buckle, in support of a theory referring the origin of character to physical causes, ascribes the superstition of Spain to famine and disease, to earthquakes and the awe-producing phenomena of wild scenery; their fickleness he attributes to climate, the heat and dryness in Spain interrupting labor and leading to desultory habits; their love of romance and adventure he traces to pastoral life, which prevailed to the neglect of agriculture during the Moorish invasion.

EVOLUTION OF THE SPANISH NATION.

The fall of Granada left the Peninsula occupied essentially as follows: In the north and west were the descendants of Goths and Celts who, unmolested by Roman or Moor, retained in a measure their ancestral characteristics. Low of stature, thick-set and awkward, as strong and as hairy almost as bears, the 17 men of Asturias and Galicia, of Leon and Biscay, century after century come and go, living as their fathers lived, neither better nor worse, caring nothing for Arab or Dutchman, and little even for the Spanish kings; proud as ever of Pelayo, of the mountains that cradled Spanish liberty, of their great antiquity, which they boast as greater than that of any living nation; superstitious, irritable, and impetuous, but honest, frank, and sincere; implacable as enemies, but faithful as friends. Their boast is that never have they been subdued by Moor. Their chiefs were of the ancient Gothic blood, blue blood they called it, not being tainted with Arabic like that of their darker southern neighbors; of such material were early founded the kingdoms of Leon and Castile.

On their eastern side was the kingdom of Navarre, founded by the counts of the French marches. Though at one time these two sections had been united, the usual partition of heritage had soon dismembered them. Portugal, an offshoot of Castile, was permanently separated; Aragon, founded by Navarre, became also independent. Upon the eastern seaboard the people of Catalonia and Valencia, though diluted with the Limousin element, yet retain traces of their foreign relationships. "Of the modern evidences of race in the different provinces," says Brace, "travellers tell us that in Valencia the people resemble both their Keltiberian and Carthaginian ancestors, being cunning, perfidious, vindictive, and sullen. The burning sun has tanned their skin dark and aided to form in them an excitable and nervous temperament; they have, too, the superstitious tendencies that characterize the people of a hot climate. The Valencian women are fairer than the men, and are conspicuous for their beauty of form. They wear the hair and the ornaments of the head after the old Romish style. The Catalan is rude, active and industrious, a good soldier, and fond of his independence, resembling both Kelts and Iberians in his 18 covetous, bold, cruel, and warlike character. The Aragonese are two children of the Goths in their force of will, their attachment to constitutional liberties, and their opposition to arbitrary power."

The tall, tough, agile eastern mountaineer presents as marked a contrast to the stubby Asturian as does the sparkling Andalusian to the grave Castilian. For a long time the people of Andalusia were semi-Moorish in their character. There, where the soft air of Africa comes fresh from the Mediterranean, had dwelt the dusky, graceful Arab; worshipping Mahomet as the Castilian worshipped Christ, and regarding his Christian and Jewish neighbors with as little affection as either Jew or Christian regarded him. Scattered along the banks of the Guadalquivir, and in separate quarters of many towns of southern Spain, were bands of that anomalous race, the gypsies. Short, dark, ugly, with long, coarse, wavy hair, mixing with other men as light and darkness mix, they plied their trade of buying, stealing, and selling. During the latter part of the war they occupied themselves in bringing horses from Africa and selling them to Moors or Christians.

In the mountain fastnesses of Toledo there yet lived a remnant of Silingi stock, known as almogávares, who had never bent knee to Infidel; who, throughout the long contest which waged on every side of them, had kept green their liberty and their faith—a Christian oasis in the broad pagan desert. There, too, a broken band of the chosen Israel, now fairly launched upon their eternal wanderings, found a momentary resting-place. Before the arrival of the Visigoths, it is said, a colony of Hebrews planted themselves near Toledo, and by their industry and superior financial ability, became at length the royal bankers, and notwithstanding bitter prejudices, they rose high in influence, even to the honor of having their daughters enrolled among the king's mistresses.

Thus for a time the several parts of the Peninsula 19 differ widely in language, manners, and institutions; but at length, by wars and political combinations, race-barriers are broken down, and opposing clanships welded by an intenser hatred for some common enemy. The south through its Mediterranean trade soonest attains eminence, but warlike Castile subsequently acquires predominance. Meanwhile the masses retain their old ways better than their leaders. The nobility, and frequenters of courts, mingling more with the world, adopt the fashions of courts, and change with their changes. The inhabitants of the border provinces feel the influences of the war comparatively little; upon the great central plateau, however, there meet and mix almost all the stocks and creeds of the then known world. Aryan and Semite; Roman, Goth, and Mauritanian; Mahometan, Christian, and Jew; planting and plucking, building up and tearing down, fattening and starving, fighting and worshipping and burning—the whole table-land of Spain turned into a battle-arena of the nations, into a world's gladiatorial show; its occupants alternately marrying and battling, Moslem with Christian, Moslem with Moslem, Christian with Christian, Christian and Moslem uniting now against Christian and now against Moslem, while the slaughter of Jew, heretic, and gypsy fills the interlude. So pass centuries; and from this alembic of nations is distilled the tall, symmetrical, black-haired, bright-eyed, sharp-featured Castilian and Estremaduran.

RESULTS OF INTERMIXTURES.

Out of this heterogeneous medley of opposing qualities we have now to draw general characteristics.

In demeanor the Spaniard is grave, punctilious, reserved with strangers, jealous of familiarity or encroachment on his dignity; but among his acquaintances, or with those who are ready to recognize what he conceives to be his due, he throws off restraint, and becomes an agreeable companion and a firm friend. While impatient and resentful of fancied 20 slights, he is easily won by kindness, and is always dazzled by skill in arms and personal valor.

In disposition he is serious almost to melancholy, firm to stubbornness, imperturbable, lethargic, inert, moody; yet when roused there breaks forth the deepest enthusiasm and the most ungovernable passion. So punctilious is his sense of honor, so zealous and truthful is he in his friendships, so affectionate and humane in all his private relations, that at one time the term Spanish gentleman was synonymous with everything just, generous, and high-minded throughout Europe. In intellect he is contemplative rather than profound, apt in emergencies, but lacking breadth and depth. In habits he is temperate and frugal, easily satisfied, indolent. To live without work is his ideal of enjoyment. Dissoluteness and intemperance can not be ranked among his vices, nor do travellers place hospitality in his list of virtues. There is no such word as rowdy in his vocabulary. Turbulent from imposition he may be, and after injury vengeful; but brawler, disturber of peace and social order, he is not. Though taciturn, he is deep in feeling; in his love of country he is provincial rather than national. Though hard to be driven he is easily led; acting collectively, officially, he is given to venality, when personally thrown upon his honor he is scrupulous and trusty.

In manners the Spaniard is proverbial for high breeding, courtesy, and decorum. Whether beggar or courtier, his politeness seldom deserts him. "Dios guarde á usted," May God protect you; "Vaya usted con Dios, caballero," God be with you, sir; are the usual valedictions. In reply to the importunities of a beggar the cavalier exclaims, "Perdone usted, por Dios, hermano," For the love of God excuse me, my brother. To the highest noble and to the meanest peasant the greeting is the same. Sedate, sober-minded, reserved, the Spaniard is but the modified result of his several exemplars. "All Spaniards," 21 remarks Ford, "are prodigal to each other in cheap names and titles of honor; thus even beggars address each other as señor y caballero, lord and knight. The most coveted style is excelencia, your excellency." Nicknames are common. No one rises to distinction without carrying with him one or more appellations significant of the skill or occupation of his early days.

CASTILIAN PRIDE AND POLITENESS.

The Castilian has less ingenuity in mechanics, less skill in trade, less taste, less delicacy of perception, than the Italian, but far more pride, firmness, and courage; a more solemn demeanor, and a stronger sense of honor.

Every Spaniard of whatever class considers himself a caballero, a well-born and Christian gentleman, the superior of most, the equal of any, the inferior of none. Profuse in proffers of kindness, he is no less slow to fulfil them than to accept favors from others. He is very vain; vain of personal appearance, vain of his ancestry, his breeding; vain of his ignorance and superstition; proud of many things he should be ashamed of, and ashamed of nothing. Thieving was never prominent as a national vice. As a rule Spaniards are too proud to steal; the impulse of wounded affection or injured pride nerves the arm that strikes, oftener than the desire for plunder.

The old German cosmographer Sebastian Munster quaintly writes, Basel, 1553: "The Spaniards have good heads, but with all their studying they learn but little, for after having half learned a thing they think themselves very wise, and in their talk try to show much learning which they do not possess." Comparing them with the French, the same chronicler says: "The Frenchmen are taller, but the Spaniards more hardy. In war, the Spaniards are deliberate, and the French, impetuous. The French are great babblers, but the Spaniards can well keep a secret. The French are joyous and light of thought; they like to live well; but the Spaniards are melancholy, 22 serious, and not given to carousing. The French receive their guests friendlily and treat them well, but the Spaniards are cross to strangers, so that one must go from house to house in search of entertainment. The cause of this is that Spaniards have travelled little, and do not like to spend their money for food."

In Castile, more than elsewhere, was seen the perfect central type, which in its earlier stages was so remarkable for practical sagacity, for an insight into causes and motives, and skill in the adaptation of means to ends. In the wars of the New World, affirms Macaulay, "where something different from ordinary strategy was required in the general, and something different from ordinary discipline of the soldier, where it was every day necessary to meet by some new expedient the varying tactics of a barbarous enemy, the Spanish adventurers, sprung from the common people, displayed a fertility of resource, and a talent for negotiation and command, to which history scarcely affords a parallel." It must be borne in mind, however, that the New World adventurer was not always a national type.

Graham declares that "the history of the expeditions which terminated in the conquest of Mexico and Peru displays, perhaps, more strikingly than any other portion of the records of the human race, what amazing exertions the spirit of man can prompt him to attempt, and sustain him to endure." And again—"The masses," says Ford, who has studied them well, "the least spoilt and the most national, stand like pillars amid ruins, and on them the edifice of Spain's greatness must be reconstructed." "All the force of Europe," exclaims Peterborough, "would not be sufficient to subdue the Castiles with the people against it."

REVERENCE FOR ANTIQUITY.

So great is their reverence for antiquity, that they appear to live almost as much in the past as in the present. Age is synonymous with wisdom; the older the habit or opinion, the more worthy of belief it is. 23 Innovation they abhor as dangerous; the universe of knowledge stands already revealed; there is nothing more to learn. Their premises they know to be sound, their conclusions correct, their beliefs true; what necessity then for further troubling themselves? Children in everything but teachableness, with themselves and their traditions they are content. Their education is finished. This is the most hopeless form of ignorance. Their legends they carefully preserve, old-time customs they love to practise, and they dwell with devoted enthusiasm on the exploits of their ancestors. To this day, twelve centuries after the occurrence, the peasantry of Asturias are divided between the descendants of those who aided the patriot Pelayo against the Moors, and those who did not—the latter being stigmatized as vaqueros; while the Andalusian Morisco keeps alive the story of Granada's grandeur, and dreams of Moslem warriors, of Abencerrage knights, and the restoration of former greatness. So strong is the influence of tradition and dead ancestry.

Speaking of the quality of firmness, and tenacity of purpose, says Bell, "So obstinate is the Spaniard, and in some provinces so remarkably self-willed, that the inhabitants of one part of Spain make a jest of the others on that account. Thus the obstinate Biscayan is represented as driving a nail into the wall with his head, whilst the still more obstinate Aragonian is figured in the same act and attitude, but with the point of the nail turned outward!" With the poniard at his throat, many a prostrate foe will die rather than yield, and as surely will the victor plunge in the fatal weapon if the cry for quarter be not quickly uttered. In Andalusia there was a fashion prevalent among duellists, when determined to fight their quarrel to the end, of firmly binding together, below the elbows, the left arms of the combatants; then, with knives in their right hands, they fought until one or both were dead. 24

Notwithstanding their excessive loyalty to their rulers, their love of antiquity and hatred of change; and notwithstanding the oppression of their princes, the condition of the lower classes in Spain at the close of the fifteenth century was far above that of the same class in any other European country. This was owing, not to any special consideration on the part of their political or ecclesiastical rulers, but to that greatest of scourges, war.

While the rulers were absorbed in conquering, and in keeping themselves from being conquered, except within the immediate battle-arena the people were left much alone. Besides, armies must have supplies, and producers were held in esteem by the military consumers.

Inequalities of power and wealth, unless arrested by extrinsic causes, ever tend to wider extremes. In Spain, the increase of wealth in the hands of priests and princes was checked by long-continued war. The products of the country must be used to feed the soldiery, and the power of the nobility must be employed against the common enemy. There was neither the time nor the opportunity to grind the people to the uttermost. Though the war bore heavily upon the working classes, it proved to them the greatest blessing; while the masses elsewhere throughout Europe were kept in a state of feudalistic serfdom, the necessity of Spain being for men rather than for beasts, elevation followed. Further than this, race-contact, and the friction attending the interminglings of courts and camps, tended in some degree towards polishing and refining society. "Since nothing makes us forget the arbitrary distinctions of rank," says Hallam, "so much as participation in any common calamity, every man who had escaped the great shipwreck of liberty and religion in the mountains of Asturias was invested with a personal dignity, which gave him value in his own eyes and those of his country. It is probably this sentiment transmitted 25 to posterity, and gradually fixing the national character, that had produced the elevation of manner remarked by travellers in the Castilian peasant."

CASTE AND SOCIAL STRATA.

And yet there were caste and social stratification enough. The stubborn manliness of the lower orders did not make them noble. Royalty alone was divine. The nobles loved money, yet for them to traffic was disgraceful. The ecclesiastic, whose calling placed him on a plane distinct from these, aside from his religious teachings, stood out as the earnest advocate of honest labor. Work was well enough for Moor, and Jew, and Indian; but he whose line of fighting ancestors had not beginning within the memory of man, must starve rather than stain his lineage by doing something useful.

The several social strata, moreover, were jealously kept distinct. The first distinction was that which separated them from foreigners. In the days of Cæsar and Cicero, Rome was master of the world; Rome was the world; were any not of Rome they were barbarians. So it was with Spaniards. To be of Castile was to be the most highly favored of mortals; to be a Spaniard, though not a Castilian, was something to be proud of; to be anything else was most unfortunate.

The next distinction was between the Spaniard of pure blood and the Christianized native of foreign origin. In the eyes of the Castilian baptism could not wholly cleanse a Moor or Jew. Moriscos the Church might make; heretics the Inquisition might reconstruct; but all Spain could not make from foreign material a Christian Spaniard of the pure ancient blood. About foreign fashions, foreign inventions, foreign progress, foreign criticism, they cared nothing. And probably nowhere in modern times was this irrational idea of caste carried to such an absurd extent as in the New World. Children of Spanish parentage, born in America, were regarded socially as inferior to children of the same 26 parents who happened to be born in Spain. To be born a Spanish peasant was better than hidalgo, or cavalier, with American nativity; for at one time the former, on migrating to America, was entitled by virtue of that fact to the prefix 'Don.' Under the viceroys native Mexicans, though of pure Castilian ancestry, were too often excluded from the higher offices of Church and State; and this notwithstanding that both canonical and civil law, if we may believe Betancur y Figueroa, provided that natives should be preferred in all ecclesiastical appointments from the lightest benefice to the highest prelacy. "But notwithstanding such repeated recommendations," says Robertson, "preferment in almost every different line is conferred on native Spaniards." Mr Ward, English consul at Mexico in 1825-7, affirms that "the son, who had the misfortune to be born of a creole mother, was considered as an inferior, in the house of his own father, to the European book-keeper or clerk, for whom the daughter, if there were one, and a large share of the fortune were reserved. 'Eres criollo y basta;' You are a creole and that is enough, was a common phrase amongst the Spaniards when angry with their children." Truly it was a good thing in those days to be at once 'of Christ' and 'of Spain.' It was positively believed by some that blood flowed in accordance with the majesty of law, and that the quality of one was inferior to the quality of another. The blood of the Indian was held as scarcely more human than the blood of beasts, and was often shed as freely.

Then, too, there was a distinction between the profession of arms and all other professions. Following republican Rome again, the education of no man aspiring to a public career was complete until he had served as a soldier. No one can truthfully charge the Spaniards of the sixteenth century with lack of courage. Military skill was the highest type of manhood. Of danger they made a plaything, not only 27 in their wars but in their sports. Life was dull unless brightened by blood.

In Aragon the barons were limited to a few great families who traced their descent from twelve peers, called ricos homes de natura. Although obliged to attend the king in his wars, in every other respect they were independent. They were themselves exempt from taxation and punishment, and held absolute authority over the lives and property of their vassals. The next lower order of nobility in Aragon was called infanzones, corresponding to the hidalgos of Castile. The caballeros, or knights, were the immediate followers of the ricos homes, and were possessed of important privileges.

In La Mancha the peasantry were of a quality different from those sent by Castile and Estremadura to the New World. Quintana writes of them, "He who travels through La Mancha will see the scaffold before he sees the town. They are lazy, dirty, quarrelsome, and never suffer from hunger, for when they wish to become the owners of anything they take it;" and remarks another, "They live on parched garbanzos, and pass the winter lying on their bellies like reptiles in the sun." See Murillo's matchless pictures.

JEWS AND MOORS.

Another class and race, broken fragments of which we have before encountered, secured more rest in Spain than elsewhere, yet from a different cause. Homeless Israel in the Arab found a friend. Not that the Mahometans loved the Jews, but because the Christians hated them, was their condition made so tolerable in Spain under Saracen rule. Then, and until their expulsion, they occupied an important position, being the chief money-handlers, merchants, and bankers. Overcome in their dislike for each other by a more bitter hatred against their common enemy, the Jews and Moors lived upon terms somewhat approaching equality. The Jews surpassed their Moorish masters in wealth, and were but little inferior to them in arts and letters. They were not 28 only usurers, but husbandmen, artisans, and doctors. As Christian domination extended southward, this comparatively happy state of the Spanish Jews disappeared. Under pretext of justice, their moneys were wrested from them by the nobles; indeed, if too stubborn they were not unfrequently put to death; and with the capitulation of Granada and the loss of their Moorish allies, the condition of the Jews became pitiable in the extreme. Two incidents of the crowning of Pope John XXIII., in 1410, as related by Monstrelet, give us a tolerably fair idea of the feelings entertained toward the Jews. In his progress through Rome, these people presented him with a manuscript copy of the old Testament. He, "having examined it a little, threw it behind him, saying, 'Your religion is good, but this of ours is better.'" And again, "There were before and behind him two hundred men-at-arms, each having in his hand a leathern mallet, with which they struck the Jews in such wise as it was a pleasure to see."

With such an example the condition of the Jews grew more serious. As for the Spaniards, they bettered the instruction, as was sufficiently proved by their expulsion-edict of March, 1492—an edict forbidding unbaptized Jews to be found within the limits of Spain at the end of four months; an edict allowing them in that time to sell their property, but forbidding them at the end of that time "to carry away with them any gold, silver, or money whatsoever;" "an edict," says the Catholic historian, Lafuente, "that condemned to expatriation, to misery, to despair, and to death, many thousands of families born and bred in Spain."

In almost every mediæval town there was a Jewish district, in which, says M. Depping, their historian, "Jews like troops of lepers were thrust away and huddled together into the most uncomfortable and most unhealthy quarters of the city, as miserable as it was disgusting;" or, as Paul Lacroix describes it, 29 "a large enclosure of wretched houses, irregularly built, divided by small streets with no attempt at uniformity. The principal thoroughfare is lined with stalls, in which are sold not only old clothes, furniture, and utensils, but also new and glittering articles." Within their prescribed limits, all their necessities were supplied, and a dirt-begrimed prison-like synagogue usually occupied the center. But even in these wretched places they were often subjected to cruelties the most severe and sickening. Terrible as were the indignities heaped upon this unfortunate people it must not be supposed that they were wholly unprovoked, or that all the forbearance was on the part of the sufferers. Opinions on these questions are widely divergent, and I refer to them here only to show more clearly the condition of Europe at the time of which I write.

THE CHARGE OF CRUELTY.

The Spaniards of the sixteenth century have been called a cruel people; and so they were. Yet they were no more cruel than other nations of their day, and no more cruel relatively, according to the progress of humanity, than are we to-day. Time evolves in many respects a more refined civilization, but the nature of man changes not. Individuals may be less beastly; society may be regulated more by law and less by passion; between nations in their wars and diplomacy there may be less systematic torture, less unblushing chicanery; but the world has yet to find a weightier right than might. I fail to discover in America, by Catholic Spaniards or heathen savages, deeds more atrocious than some committed in India and China within the century by Protestant England, the world's model of piety and propriety; and yet the treatment of Indians in North America by the people of Great Britain has been far more just and humane than their treatment by the people of the United States.

Before such a charge as that of excessive cruelty can be made good against a people, there are several things to be considered. And first the motive. The 30 surgeon who amputates a limb to save a life is not called cruel. Now the Spaniards were the spiritual surgeons of their day. Nine tenths of all their cruelties were committed under the conviction that what they did was in the line of duty, and that to refrain from so doing would have been no kindness. Though with the experience of the past and by the clearer light of the nineteenth century we conclude that these convictions were false, and though we contemplate them with horror and condemn the acts which resulted from them as barbarous, yet it is almost superfluous to say that with their teachings and surroundings we should have been the same. The inherent qualities of human nature seem to be changed but little if at all by the cultivation and development of mind. Secondly, the quality of cruelty is not pronounced, but relative. There are cruelties of the heart, of the sensibilities, no less cruel than bodily tortures. The age of savagism is always cruel. Cruelty springs from ignorance rather than from instinct. Childlike and thoughtless things, things tender by instinct, are cruel from disingenuous perversity. A clouded, unreasoning, unreasonable mind, even when hiding beneath it a tender heart, begets cruelty; while a sterner disposition, if accompanied by a clear, truth-loving intellect, delights in no injustice—and cruelty is always unjust. This is why, if it be true as has been charged, that notwithstanding boys are more cruel than girls, women are more cruel than men. Children, women, and savages are cruel from thoughtlessness; though the cruel boy may be very tender of his puppy, the cruel woman of her child, the cruel savage of his horse. Even the moralities and intellectual refinements of that day were not free from what would seem to us studied and unnecessary cruelty. I will cite a few instances of European cruelty, not confined to Spaniards, which will show not only that Spain was not more cruel than other nations, but that the savages of America were not 31 more cruel than the Europeans of their day. Both tortured to the uttermost where they hated, even as men do now; the chief difference was, the Europeans, being the stronger, could torture the harder. Civilization changes, not the quantity of cruelty, but the quality only.

THE BARBARISMS OF EUROPE.

"Cæsar Borgia," writes Sebastiano de Branca in his diary, about the year 1500, "Cæsar Borgia was the cruelest man of any age." To serve his purposes he did not hesitate to use poison and perjury. He was treacherous, incestuous, murderous, even keeping a private executioner, Michilotto, to do his bidding. Louis XI. of France, and other princes, kept a court assassin. The fifteenth century was lurid with atrocities. Rodrigo Lenzuoli, the father, Lucretia, the daughter, and Cæsar, the son, comprised the Borgia trio, distinguished no less for their intellect, beauty, wealth, and bravery, than for their craft, lust, treachery, and cruelty. Says Lecky: "Philip II. and Isabella the Catholic inflicted more suffering in obedience to their consciences than Nero or Domitian in obedience to their lusts."

In 1415 John Huss was burned for his religion, and in 1431 Joan of Arc for her patriotism. In like manner perished thousands of others. Mahomet II., disputing with the Venetian artist Gentile Bellini as to the length of John the Baptist's neck after decollation, called a slave, and striking off his head with one blow of his cimeter, exclaimed: "There! did not I say yours is too long?"

Princes made bloodshed a pastime. Edward IV. put to death a tradesman for perpetrating a pun; caused a gentleman to be executed for speaking against a favorite; and condemned his own brother to death in a fit of petulance. In an interview between this same Edward of England and the king of France, the monarchs were brought together in huge iron cages, each distrustful of the other. Louis XII. confined Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan, in an iron 32 cage for ten years, and until his death. This was a punishment common at that time in Italy and Spain. Pedro el Cruel is charged by Hallam with having murdered his wife and mother, most of his brothers and sisters, many of the Castilian nobility, and multitudes of the commonalty.

The church tolerated the persecution of its enemies, believing it was for the glory of God. Nor was this idea confined to Spain or to the fifteenth century, for we find in England and even in America that persecutions for conscience' sake, with all the cruelties that refined civilization could devise existed at the opening of the present century; nor indeed is the world yet completely emancipated from this thraldom.

Yet the Spaniards, I say, were bad enough. The cruelties following the capitulation of Málaga, in 1487, were more befitting fiends than a man and woman who prided themselves in the title of Catholic king and queen.

Since the establishment of the Inquisition, religious persecutions had become but too gratifying to the national taste. On this occasion at Málaga, the apostate Moors were first caught and burned. Twelve apostate Christians were then fastened to stakes in an open place and made the barbarous sport of Spanish cavaliers, who, mounted on fleet horses, hurled at their naked bodies pointed reeds while rushing past at full speed. This was continued until the torn and bleeding flesh of their victims was filled with darts, and the wretched sufferers expired under the most excruciating torments. Then, of the rest of the Moorish prisoners, three divisions were made; one for the redemption of Christian captives, one to be distributed among the victors as slaves, and one to be publicly sold into slavery.

Spanish knights returned from their incursions against the Moors with strings of turbaned heads hanging from their saddle-bows, which, as they passed along, they threw to the boys in the streets, in order 33 to inspire their youthful minds with hatred to the foes of their religion.

From making slaves of prisoners of war, a traffic in human flesh springs up. A slave-trade association was formed in Portugal in 1443. Gonzalez brought slaves to Seville; Columbus sent to Spain a cargo of Indian slaves in 1495; in 1503 the enslavement of American Indians was authorized by Ferdinand and Isabella; and in 1508 the African slave-trade unfolded in all its hideous barbarity. The slave-trade, however, was tolerated by these sovereigns from mistaken kindness, rather than from cruelty. It was to shield the Indian, who died under the infliction of labor, that Isabella permitted the importation of Africans into the colonies.

CIVILIZED TORTURES.

Cruelty was a prominent wheel in the machinery of government, as well as in religious discipline. Torture was deemed inseparable from justice, either as preparatory to trial to elicit a confession of guilt, or as part of an execution to increase the punishment. Hippolite de Marsilli, a learned jurisconsult of Bologna, mentioned fourteen ways of inflicting torture, which are given by Lacroix. Among them were compressing the limbs with instruments or cords; the injection of water, vinegar, or oil; application of hot pitch; starvation; placing hot eggs under the armpits; introducing dice under the skin; tying lighted candles to the fingers which were consumed with the wax, and dropping water from a great height upon the stomach. Josse Damhoudere mentioned thirteen modes of execution or punishment—fire, the sword, mechanical force, quartering, the wheel, the fork, the gibbet, dragging, spiking, cutting off the ears, dismembering, hogging, and the pillory. Every country had its peculiar system of torture.

In 1547 English vagrants were branded with a V and enslaved for two years. Should the unfortunate attempt escape, a hot S was burned into the flesh and he was a slave for life. A second attempted 34 escape was death. In those days wife-whipping was a common and respectable domestic discipline; culprits in the pillory and stocks were stationed in the marketplace where all the people might strike them; prisoners were stripped of their clothes, confined in filthy dungeons half filled with stagnant water, and there not unfrequently left to starve, while slimy reptiles crawled over the naked body, or drove their poisonous fangs into the quivering flesh.

The sports of the Spaniards we now regard as cruel, as ours will be regarded four hundred years hence. Although delighting in games, in pantomimic dance, in fencing, wrestling, running, leaping, hunting, hawking, with the gentler pastime of song and guitar, the more popular amusements were cock-fights, dog and bull fights, bull and bear fights, bear and dog fights, enjoyed alike by high and low, by women, boys, and men, by laity and clergy. Sometimes fighters would enter the arena blindfolded and engage in deadly encounter. Yet how much more cruel were these sports than modern horse-racing, cock-fighting, dog-fighting, prize-fighting, rope-walking, lion-taming, steeple-chases, to say nothing of the more gentlemanly cruelty of raising foxes to be hunted, and worried, and finally torn in pieces by dogs, let posterity judge. I do not say that the sixteenth-century sports of Spain were not more cruel than the English sports of to-day. I think they were. But that Spaniards were inherently more cruel, that is to say, that their hearts were more wickedly wanton, their sympathies more inhumane, or that they enjoyed a more ardent pleasure in inflicting pain upon others than men do now, I do not believe. The Spaniards were a nation of soldiers, and soldiers are necessarily cruel. Men go to war to hurt the enemy, not to be kind to him. Unquestionably the effect of bull-fights, like the gladiatorial shows of imperial Rome, was debasing, tending to excite a love of the bloody and terrible, and to render insipid 35 tamer and more refined amusements. This to them was a misfortune, although the repulsive sport did foster a spirit of courage and endurance.

The corrida de toros, bull-run, or bull-fight, the national sport of Spain, is a relic of Moorish chivalry, yet no less Spanish than Arabic; for the institution as it exists in Spain is found neither in Africa nor in Arabia. Originally, as in the ancient tournament, in the sport engaged only cavaliers, or gentlemen, in whom were combined such skill and strength that the head of a bull was sometimes stricken off by a single blow of the montante. Since which time the tournament has degenerated into a prize-ring, and the chivalrous bull-fight which in principle was a display of courage combined with skill in horsemanship, and in the use of the lance, has become a sort of dramatic shambles, where the actors are low-born and mercenary professionals.

SPANISH DOMESTIC LIFE.

The home life of the Spaniard, which pictures his softer shades of character, and shows the more delicate tracings of his mental and moral sensibilities, must not be disregarded. There alone we shall see him as he is, stripped of the paraphernalia attending his appearance before men, with the intents and purposes of heart and mind laid open before us.

We have noticed how the genius of the Mahometan clung to the soil long after he was driven away; to this day southern Spain is more Arabic than Gothic. The towns of Andalusia—of which Cádiz, with its whitewashed antiquity and its streets and walls clean as a taza de plata, is the key; and Seville, radiant with sunny gardens and glittering towers, is the pride—consist of narrow, tortuous streets walled by Moorish mansions enclosing cool courts. Shutterless windows, through which half-muffled lovers whisper soft nothings to bar-imprisoned señoritas, open without; fresh young love and musty antiquity thus mingling in harmonious contrast. Then, favored by the 36 voluptuous air of spring, or broiling beneath the enervating heat of summer, are Granada, Córdova, and Málaga, where glory and shame, heroic virtue and unblushing vice, erudition and ignorance, Christianity and paganism were so blended that the past and present seem almost one. As if proud of their Moorish origin, these cities of southern Spain battle with time, and hold in fast embrace the shadows of departed grandeur. The better class of Moorish houses are yet preserved; and the otherwise unendurable heat of this so-called oven of Spain is rendered supportable by the narrow, crooked streets—so narrow, indeed, that in some of them vehicles can not pass each other—and by the irregular, projecting stories of the terrace-roofed houses.

Though widely separate in their religious systems much there is alike in the national characteristics of these grave and haughty sheiks and the Spaniards. To both were given conquest, wealth, and opportunity. Both struggled blindly and bravely, sinking into national decay and corruption, which closed in around them like a pestilence. But in their religion there was no doubt a difference. One was sensual, the other spiritual. In one were the seeds of progress, of intellectual culture, and of all those enlightenments and refinements which make men more fit to dominate this earth. And though the Allah akbar echoes from the receding hosts who worship God and his prophet, yet its mission is fulfilled. Where now is the might of Mauritania? Where the power and pride that caused Egypt to dream again of the days of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies? Syria and Palestine are desolate, Bedouinized. To Bagdad remains but the memory of ancient splendor; her palaces are heaps. No more the good Haroun al Raschid walks her streets; no more the universities of Kufa and Bassora, Samarcand and Balkh enlighten the world. The sons of Hagar have had their day; their work is done. What Spain and her colonies now are need not here be told. 37

DWELLINGS AND FURNITURE.

Every Spanish town has its plaza, great square, or public market-place, which every day presents a busy scene. Thither in early morning resort the improvident—though not specially lazy—common people for their daily supply of food. Then there is the paseo, or public promenade, or, as it is more frequently called, the alameda, from álamo, poplar, a beautiful walk, shaded on either side by trees. There may be seen every pleasant day after the siesta, or midday sleep, groups of either sex, and all classes, high and low, rich and poor, walking to and fro, chatting, smoking, flirting, drinking in health and content and merriment with the cool, delicious evening air; while ladies in carriages and cavaliers on curveting steeds occupy and enliven the roadway.

Numberless kinds of dwellings obtain in various parts, conspicuous among which are the Asturian caverns, the subterranean abodes of La Mancha, the forts of Castile, and the Moorish palaces of Andalusia. Stone, hewn and unhewn, is the material employed in mountainous districts; adobe, or sun-dried brick, with thatched roof, upon the plains. A common class of architecture is a windowless parallelogram divided into two rooms, one for the family, and the other for the cattle, the attic being used as a barn. Houses of this kind are built in one and two stories. An out-house for stores, which is also used as a sleeping-place for the women, perched on pillars eight feet high, sometimes stands adjacent. Across one end of the family room, which, of necessity, is used for all domestic purposes, extends a fire-place, ten or fifteen feet in length and six feet in depth, over which is a large bell-shaped chimney extending out into the middle of the room. This style of building might be elaborated, wings added, or the form changed. Tiled roofs are common, and overhanging eaves. Some houses are of three or four stories; others run out long and low upon the ground. More pretentious dwellings are often in the form of a hollow square, 38 with a patio and garden within. Of such are convents with cloisters, and over them ranges of corridors and rooms.

Among the upper classes the apartments of the lady consist of an antechamber, or drawing-room, a boudoir, a bed-room, a dressing-room, and an oratory. The drawing-room is furnished with tapestry hangings on which are represented battles and biblical scenes—war and religion even here; polished oak or mahogany high-backed chairs, clumsy, and elaborately carved; in the corners of the room triangular tables on which stand heavy silver or gold candlesticks with sperm candles, the light from which is reflected by small oval Venetian mirrors, in fantastically wrought gold or silver frames; cupboards with glass doors for plate, etc. In the boudoir is a toilet-table before Venetian mirrors profusely draped in handsome lace; a book-case, work-table, arm-chairs, sacred paintings and family portraits; in the sleeping-room, a tall heavy bedstead with damask or velvet curtains, a crucifix—the image of silver or gold, and the cross of ivory—with a little basin of holy water near it, a priedieu and prayer-book; in the dressing-room a wardrobe, and all necessary toilet appliances; in the oratory an altar, a crucifix, two or more priedieux, and, if mass is said, as is often the case in the houses of the great or wealthy, images of saints by the masters, with all the accompanying ornaments of devotion.

The dwellings of southern Spain, large and small, lean toward the Arabic in architecture—Arabic decorations, with second-story balconies; the rooms rich in carved ceilings, wainscoting, and arabesque; the entrance from the street in city houses being through a vestibule and an ornamented iron-grated gate. During the summer, when the sun's rays strike like poisoned darts, the family live for the most part in the patio. There upon the marble pavement, beside the cooling fountain, and amidst fragrant orange, 39 palm, and citron trees, visitors are received, chocolate drank, and cigarettes smoked. There too they dance to the music of the guitar, play cards, and take their siesta.

To oriental customs may be attributed the jealous privacy by which the women of Spain were guarded by husbands and fathers. Besides her natural weakness, woman was yet inferior, inept, characterless, not to be trusted. The fortress-like houses of the better sort, which are scattered all over the table-land of the Peninsula, with their spacious inner court and iron-barred windows, were so arranged that the part occupied by the female members of the household was separate from the more public rooms of the men. This precinct was unapproachable by any but the most intimate friend or invited guest. Their domestic policy, like every other, was suspicious and guarded.

This is further illustrated by the mode of entering a house, which also shows the effect of centuries of warfare upon manners. In outer doors, and in those of distinct floors, and apartments, was inserted a small grate and slide. On knocking, the slide moved back, and at the grating appeared the lustrous, searching eyes of the inmate. "Quien es?" Who is it? was the salutation from within. "Gente de paz." Peaceful people, was the reply.

WOMEN AND DRESS.

Extreme sensitiveness with regard to dress characterizes Spaniards of the better sort, and rather than appear in public unbecomingly attired, they remain hidden at home, only stealing out for necessities at nightfall, or perhaps in the early morn, and then back to their home for the day. In this we see a strong mixture of pride and bienséance, in which there is more sensitiveness than sense. But man can not live by reason alone. He who in this factitious world is guided only by the instincts of a sound mind, regardless of the frivolities of fashion, of convenance, indifferent to his neighbor's ideas of propriety, and to any taste 40 except his own, commits a mistake. Though he alone is wise, and all the world fools, yet of necessity he must become foolish, else he is not wise.

Males, in their costume, were the birds of gay plumage at the beginning of the sixteenth century. So fantastically clad was the English nobleman in his laced doublet and open gown, that he was scarcely to be distinguished from a woman. In the time of Charles V. courtiers dressed in bright colors, but with his sombre son Philip, all was black—black velvet trimmed with jet; and stiff—stiff collars, and stiff black truncated cone hats, with brim scarcely an inch wide, in place of the soft slouchy sombrero.

THE MANTILLA AND CAPA.

The national and characteristic garment of both sexes in Spain for about three centuries was, for the outer covering, the capa, or cloak, of the cavalier, and the mantilla of the lady. In the reign of Charles V. the former was a short cape, and the latter simply a head-dress; but with time both enlarged until one reached below the knee, and the other below the waist. Some writers give to these garments a remote antiquity. They point to ancient coins where Iberia is represented as a veiled woman, and ignoring sex claim that to the Iberians the Romans gave the toga, and that for fifteen centuries the fashion continued. Others deny such connection. It is undoubtedly true that the capa of the sixteenth century was much shorter than the cloak of to-day, being a cape rather than a cloak, and not at all resembling the Roman toga. Sebastian Franc in his Weltbuch, Tübingen, 1534, writes: "Their women wear a curious dress around the neck; they have an iron band to which are fastened bent prongs reaching over the head, over which, when they desire it, they draw a cloth for the protection of the head, and this they hold to be a great ornament." To the men and women of Spain this garment is as the shell to the turtle; within it, though on a crowded thoroughfare, they may at any moment retire from the world, and 41 ensconce themselves within themselves. The cavalier with a peculiar fling, utterly unattainable by a foreigner, throws the skirt over the breast and shoulder so as to partially or completely hide the face according to his pleasure. On the way to and from church the lady's face is covered; and the gallant sighing for a glimpse of features divinely fair, is obliged to enter the sanctuary, hide behind a column near the altar; then as one female after another approaches, kneels, and unveils, he may feast his eyes on the faces before him. The mantilla serves as a bonnet, veil, and shawl; formerly it was but an oblong piece of cloth, with velvet or lace border; later a lace veil was added as part of it; and now the Spanish female face is becoming more and more visible in public.

The capa is indispensable to the Spaniard; it fits his nature like a glove, and is almost a part of him. It may be worn over a rich dress, or it may conceal rags or nakedness; it may cover a noble, generous heart, or a multitude of sins. Hidden beneath it, in secret the wearer may work out his purpose, though in the market-place. It keeps out the cold; it may hide the assassin's dagger; it serves as a disguise in love intrigues, and is a grateful protection from importunate creditors. Twisted round the left arm, it is a shield; at night, it is a bed; and with a sword, capa y espada, it not unfrequently constitutes the entire earthly possessions of the haughty, poverty-stricken cavalier. Whatever be the character or condition of the wearer, dignity is lent him by its ample folds, and comeliness by its graceful drapery. It is an unpardonable breach of decorum for a muffled cavalier to address a person, or for any one to speak to him while so muffled. Politeness teaches him to throw open to his friend both his garment and his heart, that it may be plain that no concealed weapon is in the one, or malice in the other. A son dare not speak to his own father when his face is covered by his cloak. 42

The peasantry flaunted the gayest and most picturesque attire on holiday occasions; the majo, a rustic beau, wore a figured velvet waistcoat with square velvet buttons, and brilliant with colored ribbons; embroidered stockings, silver-buckled shoes, and a colored capa thrown gracefully over the left shoulder. The dress of Fígaro in the play, is that of an Andalusian dandy. The costume of Valencia is more Asiatic, or Asiatic-antique it might be called, partaking somewhat, as it does, of the ancient Greek costume—wide linen drawers, linen shirt, hempen sandals, footless stockings, wide red woollen belt, gay velvet jacket with silken sash, with a colored capa over all. The long hair is bound by a silken band in the form of a turban. The female peasant dress is no less showy; a red velvet bodice, with scarlet or purple petticoat, all profusely embroidered, a gay-colored square-cut mantilla fastened by a silver brooch, with chains and jewels and colored stones according to the purse of the wearer.

VARIOUS COSTUMES.

The ordinary peasant dress of Estremadura consists of wide cloth knee-breeches, closely resembling those of the Moors, a gabardine of cloth or leather, and cloth leggings. The men wear the hair long. The women have a fashion of putting on a great number of petticoats; the rustic belles of Zamarramala, a village of Estremadura, manage to carry from fourteen to seventeen. In Andalusia the men have short jackets ornamented with jet or steel beads, knee-breeches, and highly ornamented leathern leggings; the women wear short embroidered and flounced petticoats, and a Moorish sleeveless jacket embroidered with gold or silver and laced in front. Asturian peasants have wooden shoes with three large nails in the soles, which keep them from the ground; leathern shoes they frequently carry in their travels, and to and from church, under their arms, or on their heads, putting them on just before entering the village or church. The women wear ear-rings 43 and necklaces of glass imitation of coral; a handkerchief, folded triangularly, covers the head; at funerals, a large black mantle is worn. The Castilians wear sandals, called abarcas, tied to the ankle by narrow strips of rawhide. The Estremadurans wear a hat, very broad-brimmed; the Catalonians, a red Phrygian cap; the Valencians, a kind of Greek cap; the Asturians, a three-cornered black or dark blue cap with velvet facings; the Biscayans, a flat red woollen cap; the Andalusians, a turban-like hat, or a silk handkerchief. In Aragon, as well as in some of the southern provinces, the broad-brimmed slouching sombrero obtains. Hats were invented by a Swiss, Pansian, in 1404, and a Spaniard first manufactured them in London in 1510. Jews in Spain were obliged to wear yellow hats; in Germany bankrupts, in like manner, were required to wear hats of green and yellow.

The general costume of a Spanish nobleman consisted of a silk gabardine, with sleeves close-fitting at the wrist but puffed and slashed between the elbow and shoulder so as to show the fine linen shirt beneath; chamois-skin doublet, thick but flexible; silk hose, and silk trowsers slashed; long bell-shaped boots with golden spur-supporters; broad, polished leathern belt, from which hung a long sword on the left side, and a long dagger in a leathern or velvet scabbard on the right; a round, soft, broad-brimmed beaver hat, with an ostrich-feather fastened by a diamond brooch on the side or in front; a cape or cloak embroidered or laced with gold or silver thread, fastened with cord and tassel, and worn hanging from the left shoulder, or thrown around the body so as to cover part of the face. Within doors, the cloak was laid aside; a velvet doublet was substituted for the leathern one; and instead of boots, shoes of leather or velvet, slashed over the toes, were worn. The dress of the lady was a heavy, flowing brocade or velvet skirt, open in front, displaying an underdress 44 of light silk or satin; a chemisette with slashed sleeves; a stomacher with long ends hanging in front, and a velvet sleeveless jacket laced with gold or silver cord. The breast was covered with lace, and the neck and shoulders were bare, except when covered by the toca, a kind of head-dress, out of which by elongation grew the characteristic mantilla. Her shoes were of velvet, her stockings of silk or wool; from the waist on the right side hung a reticule, a silver or gold whistle for calling servants, and a poniard. Her dueña wore a black skirt, and a large black mantle completely covering the head, face, and shoulders down to the waist. Swords formed no part of domestic dress prior to the fifteenth century.

Black was the color of the church, certain clerical orders excepted. Those of the learned professions wore black. The ladies usually attended church in black, and indeed were sometimes seen in sombre hues upon the alameda. Black robes and a canoe-shaped hat covered the Basque priest; and the friar, sackcloth and gray, bound round the waist with a twisted cord. Alguaciles, or constables, followed the ancient cavalier costume—broad-brimmed hat, black cloak, short knee-breeches, black stockings, silver-buckled shoes, Vandyke ruffles, and white lace collar. This in the Basque provinces only. Friars appeared in a hooded robe, extending to the ankles, over woollen breeches and jacket. A cord was tied round the waist from which hung a rosary. Hempen or leathern shoes were worn, and by some orders broad hats. The robe of the friar was of coarse wool; that of the clergyman serge, with a cloak, low leathern shoes with buckle, black stockings, knee-breeches, a white collar, and a black hat with broad brim turned up at the sides. The robes of vicars, parish curates, and other church dignitaries were of silk. The Franciscan's robe was of a yellowish gray color, the Dominican's white, the Carmelite's reddish gray, the 45 Capuchin's silver gray, the Jesuit's black. The bishop's color was violet, the cardinal's red or purple.

Domestic routine in Spain, with allowances for class, season, and locality, was substantially as follows. The noble or wealthy master of a household was served before rising with chocolate, which service was called the desayuno. He then rose and dressed; after which, kneeling before the crucifix, he said a prayer; then he proceeded to the avocations of the day, taking las once, or the eleven o'clock luncheon of cake and wine, either at home or at the house of a friend, or wherever he happened to be. After a twelve or one o'clock dinner came the siesta. At five o'clock there was to be eaten the merienda, consisting of chocolate, preserved fruit, and ices; and between nine and eleven, supper. In the private chapel of the grandees mass was said. The middle class usually attended church about sunrise; after which breakfast, and at noon dinner.

EXCESSIVE RELIGIOUS TRAINING.

The religious training of children was excessive. At daybreak the angelus was recited, then to chapel or church to mass, after which the child might breakfast; at noon angelus and dinner; after the siesta vespers at church, and rosary at home; at six o'clock angelus and chocolate; prayers at eight; supper at nine; after which more prayers and to bed. The child was expected to attend all these devotions, the night prayer perhaps excepted, the youngest children being sent to bed after the rosary. And this not alone Sunday, but every day.

A national dish, centuries old, common to Spain and all Spanish countries, called the olla podrida, constitutes a staple food with almost all classes. It is made of meat and vegetables boiled together, but usually served in two dishes, and its constituents depend upon the resources of the cook, for everything eatable is put into it that can be obtained. Beef, mutton, pork, and fowl; beans, peas, potatoes, 46 onions, cabbage, and garlic; the water in which the mess is boiled is served as soup with rice or bread, and the two courses constitute the whole of every meal of the lower classes. On the tables of the wealthy, after the olla podrida, fish, roast meats, and a profuse dessert of sweetmeats, jellies, preserves, and bonbons are served. The Andalusians make a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, green-peppers, chiccory, with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and stale bread, which with them is a staple dish, called gazpacho.

It was a gluttonous, sensual age, that of the century preceding our epoch; but from these vices Spain was probably more free than any other civilized nation of Europe. There the discipline of war absorbed the attention which elsewhere was given to luxurious living. We find nothing in Spain such as we are told about in England, where the households of the great were composed of brawling retainers, ill-mannered clowns, and riotous serving men and women who terminated many a feast with bloodshed; where guests snatched and scrambled for food, gorging themselves with whatever they could lay hands on; where drunken broils were of daily occurrence, and the master of the household was not unfrequently obliged to sheath his sword in the body of some contumacious servant grown dangerous by the unbridled license in which he had been indulged.

What shall we say of the monks and cardinals now grown fat from the well filled coffers of the Church? With their wealth in some instances they had grown sensuous and extravagant. Their cupboards were loaded with rich viands, in which they freely indulged; and their tables were surrounded by musicians and all the luxuries and delicacies the world could contribute. Not to the faults of the few, however, would we call too much attention, but to the virtues of the many; for during these dark years of ignorance and voluptuousness the Church was planting 47 and watering the seeds of the sanctity of marriage and domestic life in Spain, and surrounding the family altar with so many safeguards among her people, that the long ages since have not sufficed to dispel nor destroy them. The wealthy families of Spain had their court jesters, but coarse buffoonery or indecent jests were seldom tolerated.

FOOD AND FILTHINESS.

Two persons often ate from one plate, using their fingers for forks. A sheath-knife, or dagger, which they carried upon the person, served to cut the food. Among the first books printed in Venice was a folio volume on cookery, issued in 1475. In the English metrical Stans Puer ad Mensam, following Wright, the guest is told to "bring no knyves unskoured to the table;" in other words, his sheath knife should be clean, and he is also informed that polite persons will not pick their teeth with it while at table. It was considered a breach of good manners to blow the nose with the same fingers used in conveying food to the mouth. Hats were worn by the men, and head-dresses by the women, on all domestic occasions. In France, the metrical Contenances de Table, or manual of table manners, shows but little more refinement there than elsewhere. Among other directions the reader is told first to examine his seat whether it be clean:

"Enfant, prens de regarder peine

Sur le siege où tu te fierras,

Se aucune chose y verras

Qui soit deshonneste où vilaine."

He is forbidden to spit upon the table while at dinner:

"Ne craiche par dessus la table

Car c'est chose desconvenable."

Or to spurt water from his mouth into the basin used in common by the company:

"Quant tu bouche tu laveras

Ou bacin point ne cracheras."

Or leave sops in his wine glass:

"Se tu fais souppes en ton verre

Boy le vin ou le gette à terre."

But by implication he may spurt and throw remnants on the floor, as much as he pleases.

Even in their use of tobacco, of which they are excessively fond, the Spaniards are temperate. Though they smoke it almost constantly, it is in such small quantities, and in so mild a form, that tobacco does them less injury than it inflicts on many other nations. It was the custom to carry a daily supply wrapped in a lettuce or cabbage leaf to preserve it moist. The cigarette was prepared for smoking by taking a small quantity of tobacco, finely cut, rolling it in a piece of corn-husk or paper, and lighting with flint, steel, and punk. Though the tobacco may be strong, prepared in this way the effect is less injurious than when rolled in larger quantities into a cigar, or cut from a plug and smoked from a pipe or chewed.

Noble youths of both sexes were accustomed, to serve a sort of apprenticeship for a number of years in the king's household. In like manner the sons and daughters of gentlemen served in the houses of the nobility, and common people in the houses of gentlemen, that each might be benefited by the knowledge and refinement of his superior.

Spaniards, as I have said, are called inhospitable; but this charge must be taken with allowance. Every phase of human nature has its generous quality; locked in every heart is a wealth of kindliness which opens to him who holds the key. By nature these people are reserved, suspicious. They carry no window in their breast. In their domestic affairs they are specially reticent before strangers. Their wives and daughters they hide away; their troubles they cover within the ashes that preserve them; their sensibilities shrink from cold contact with the world. If some find certain Spaniards at given 49 periods inhospitable, others at other times and places find them very generous. In early times inns were not common in Spain, and we are told that in certain places every private house had its guest's quarters consisting of one or more rooms according to the opulence of the owner. To this apartment every stranger of whatsoever degree was welcome. There he lived as long as he pleased, fed and cared for by the host; and—you may call it pride—if through poverty provisions grew scarce, the family would undergo the greatest privation rather than the guest should suffer want, or be forced to hasten his departure. Furthermore all was free; to offer pay for entertainment was deemed an insult, though a present might be given and accepted.

AMUSEMENTS.

While called a melancholy people, amusement appeared at times to be the life of the nation. Royalty and religion at rest, peace here and hereafter secured, there was nothing more of life than to enjoy it. To labor when one might repose; to sigh when one might sing; to undergo the pains of culture when sweet pleasure temptingly proposed a holiday—ah no! Fools attempt to better their condition and make it worse. Let those who need improving scour themselves; we know enough.

So lazily lapped in stupidity, beside their feast-days and bull-fights, their passions and passion-plays, they lolled upon the greensward and danced to tambourine and castanets, and wrestled, and ran races; they fenced, fought, played cards, shook dice, and enlivened home monotony by all sorts of games and gymnastic exercises. Dancing was carried to such excess as to lead to dissoluteness and occasional death, even as it does to-day. The dances of the peasantry in many instances bear a striking resemblance to those of the native races of America. In Asturias, men, and sometimes men and women, form a circle joining hands by the little finger. A leader sings in plaintive 50 monotone a description of some Spanish feat of arms prior to the eleventh century, or of a tournament of later days, or of some unhappy love adventure, or of a thrilling incident in the conquest of America. At the end of every strophe, all sing in chorus the refrain which sometimes terminates in an invocation, as for example, May Saint Peter be with me! May the Magdalen protect us! The dance is a long step forward, and two short steps backward and laterally to the right, so that the circle keeps constantly moving in that direction, meanwhile keeping time to the music with arms as well as feet. These dances take place on Sunday afternoons, and on feast-days, and when the priest is present men and women are separated in the dance. The fandango, danced by two persons with castanets to the music of the guitar, is peculiar to the south of Spain.

Between the eras proper of tournaments and bull-fights, a species of tilting called correr la sortija was greatly in vogue. A gold finger-ring was suspended by a thread from the top of a pole, and at it charged the cavalier with lance in rest and horse at full speed. The smallness of the object, its constant motion, and its proximity to the pole rendered it an exceedingly difficult feat to accomplish.

Cards and dice were at this time in the height of their fascination. Every class, age, profession, and sex were filled with a passion for gambling—a most levelling vice, at this juncture, bringing in contact noble and commoner, knight and squire, women, servants, and trades-people. An English poet about the year 1500 thus laments the degeneracy of the nobles:

"Before thys tyme they lovyd for to juste,

And in shotynge chefely they sett ther mynde;

And ther landys and possessyons now sett they moste,

And at cardes and dyce ye may them ffynde."

From her low estate of mediæval drudge or plaything, woman was lifted by the exaltation of the 51 Virgin,—lifted too high by chivalry; then fell too low with the sensual reaction. Finally, after many waverings, she rises again, and in the more favored spheres takes her rightful place beside her lord, his confidant and equal. At the time of which I write, however, she was less respected than now, and hence less respectable; less trusted, and consequently less trustworthy. Her virtue, fortified by bolts and bars at home, was watched by servants abroad. Falling into the customs of the invaders during Moslem domination, Castilian ladies became more and more retired, until the dwelling was little better than a nunnery. The days of tournaments, and jousts, and troubadours were over, and indifference succeeded chivalric sentimentality.

FEMALE CHASTITY.

Seldom has Spanish society been conspicuous for its high moral tone. Female chastity was an abstract quality, the property of the father or husband, rather than an inherent virtue for the safe-keeping of which the female possessor was responsible. The master of a household exercised sovereign authority therein, claiming even the power of life and death over the members of his family. He was addressed in the third person as 'your worship;' sons dare not cover their head, cross their legs, or even sit in his presence unless so directed; daughters were betrothed without their knowledge, and to men whom they had never seen; the selection of a husband rested entirely with the father, and the daughter had only to acquiesce. Female decorum and purity were placed under espionage. A dueña kept guard over the wife and daughter at home, and closely followed at their heels whenever they stepped into the street. Ladies, closely veiled, marched solemnly to church, preceded by a rodrigon, or squire, with cushion and prayer-book, and followed by a dueña. At service, her place was in front, and men took up their station behind her. Teach woman first that she is inferior, next that she is impotent; add to this intellectual inanity 52 and implied moral unaccountability, and you have a creature ripe for wickedness.

This excess of caution defeated its own purpose. Women, left much alone within their cloister-like homes, waited not in vain for opportunity. The gay mistress could often too easily win over her attendant, and make of her dueña a go-between; yet if we may believe the record, infidelity was rare, and for two reasons. First, woman in her seclusion escaped many temptations; and secondly, a wholesome fear, the certainty that vengeance, swift and sure, would follow the offence, resulting in the death of one or both offenders, placed a curb on passion. Females of the lower classes, left alone to take care of their virtue as best they might, with faces open and actions free, were less given to transgression than their wealthier sisters.

Lewd women could not testify in criminal cases. Respectable women were permitted to testify, but the judge was obliged to wait on them at their homes, as they were not allowed to attend court. Learning to write was discouraged in females, as they could then have it in their power to scribble love-letters to their gallants. Queen Isabella did much to elevate and purify both religion and morals. The court of Enrique IV., her predecessor, has been described as but little better than a brothel, where "the queen, a daughter of Portugal, lived openly with her parasites and gallants, as the king did with his minions and mistresses." Maids of honor were trained courtesans, and the noblemen of the court occupied their time in illicit amours and love intrigues. From the king on his throne to his lowest subject, all who could afford it kept a mistress.

Ware states that within a century the widows of Madrid were "compelled to pass the whole first year of their mourning in a chamber entirely hung with black, where not a single ray of the sun could penetrate, seated on a little mattress with their legs 53 always crossed. When this year was over, they retired to pass the second year in a chamber hung with grey." This savagism is paralleled by the Thlinkeets of Alaska, who at certain times confine women in a little kennel for six months, giving them one a size larger for the second six months; likewise by the Tacullies of New Caledonia, who make the widow carry the deceased husband's ashes upon her back in a bag for one or two years.

EUROPEAN SOCIETY IN GENERAL.

A glance at English and French society shows us, however, that the character of the Spanish women of this epoch compared favorably with that of their northern sisters. Though perhaps no chaster than the French, they were not street-brawlers like the English women. These latter, we are told, from whom the men would separate themselves in their debauches, would likewise assemble at the public house, drink their ale, talk loudly and lewdly, and gossip, swear, and fight. In a religious play of the period, representing the deluge, Noah, when ready to enter the ark, seeks his wife, and finds her carousing with her gossips at the public drink-house.

"Young ladies, even of great families," says Wright, "were brought up not only strictly but even tyrannically by their mothers, who kept them constantly at work, exacted from them almost slavish deference and respect, and even counted upon their earnings." A mother in those days was accounted a little severe who beat her daughter "once in the week, or twice, and sometimes twice a day," and "broke her head in two or three places," or still worse, permitted her to "speak with no man, whosoever come."

Witness the wooing of Matilda of Flanders by William the Conqueror. Having had the audacity to refuse him, the noble suitor entered her home, seized her long tresses, dragged her about the floor, struck her; then flinging her from him, he spurned her with his foot. Matilda at once accepted him, 54 saying: "He must be a man of courage who dare beat me in my father's palace."

Pedro el Cruel, king of Castile and Leon, about the middle of the fourteenth century held good, and commanded, under heavy penalties, that no one of the laboring classes, man or woman, who was able to work, should be found begging. He fixed the day's wage of every class with the most punctilious exactitude. Shoemakers, tailors, armorers, and others who worked by the job, had a definite price attached to the making of every article. A shoe of such and such leather, made after such a fashion, with a double or single sole; a cloak, lined or unlined; a weapon of an ordinary, or of a superior temper and finish—each article in its fabrication was to cost just so much and no more.

It was an age of interference in the affairs of men, the strong against the weak. It was in these trade regulations, and in sumptuary laws, the superstition of political economy and social statics, that the science of ignorance culminated. It was then that learned men threw dust into the air, cast a cloud about their own intellect, and labored hard to inculcate the principles of nescience into the minds of men. In England the number of servants a nobleman might have was fixed by law, as was also costume, and the number of courses at dinner. Soup and two dishes legally constituted a Frenchman's dinner in 1340.

Ferdinand and Isabella were, perhaps, the most parentally inclined of all. No affair, religious, moral, political, judicial, economical, literary, industrial, mechanical, or mercantile could escape their attention. From the regulation and organization of the high councils, and of the civil and ecclesiastical tribunals, to the ordinances for the leather-dressers and cloth-shearers; from the decrees concerning the universities and the literary and scientific bodies, to the orders that prescribed the weight of horseshoes; from the general laws on commerce and 55 navigation, to those which fixed the expenditure at weddings and baptisms, and the amount of wax to be burned at funerals; from the highest interests and rights of religion and of the throne, down to the most humble and mechanical industries—all were considered, legislated upon, and seen to by their Catholic Majesties, with infinite pains and vigilance. In 1510, thinking the colonists of Española too fond of ostentation and extravagance, Ferdinand issued a proclamation, forbidding them to wear rich silks, brocades, or gold or silver lace. Owners of vessels, in times of peace, were forced to engage at fixed prices in perilous voyages of discovery or commerce.

SUMPTUARY LAWS.

In England it appears that the dress of the men commanded the special attention of their rulers. Spaniards made men and women alike to feel the iron heel of sumptuary legislation; while the English, in laws of nearly coincident date, for the most part omitted the sex. By distinctive qualities, Edward IV., 1461-1483, regulated the dress of his people—from the royal cloth-of-gold down to the two-shillings-a-yard, and under, cloth of the laboring classes; but, if we may believe Sanford, he took care to exempt his women subjects from the provisions of this act, save only the wives of the two-shillings-a-yard boor, who might be expected to have other things to attend to.

The continental ladies, it appears, could flaunt it bravely upon occasion, at least in France and Flanders. For through these countries crusaded, in 1428, Thomas Conecte, a Carmelite friar, preaching against the evils of the age, or what he considered as such. Among these, dress held a place, and many other things not generally condemned at present. His manner of going to work was peculiar, and is pretty well described by Monstrelet.

In his audiences he always separated the men from the women by a cord, "for he had observed some sly doings between them while he was preaching." Having 56 taken these wise precautions, he was accustomed earnestly to admonish his hearers "on the damnation of their souls and on pain of excommunication, to bring to him whatever backgammon-boards, chessboards, nine-pins, or other instruments for games of amusement they might possess." Right bitterly would he then attack the luxurious apparel of ladies of rank; especially the monstrous head-gear which was in fashion at that time; all of which bred trouble, as may readily be imagined, and produced no good results.

We see the same style of preaching indulged in by the Wesleys in England and Whitefield and others in America at different times, and ever with the same lack of practical results. The most costly jewelry, the finest apparel, grand houses and free living are as conspicuous among the followers of these self-sacrificing and conscientious men as among the members of any other church, or among those who are not members of any church. And if the pious Carmelite friar failed in his crusade against fine clothes, free living, and monstrous head-gear among the Spanish of the fifteenth century, so have more modern crusaders failed in similar attempts in later times.

This then was Spain and Spanish character, as nearly as I have been able to picture them in the short space allotted, at or prior to the dawn of the sixteenth century. We have found Spaniards the noblest race on earth at that time; their men brave, their women modest. Before them opened a career more brilliant than the world has ever seen before or since. To follow them in some parts of that career is the purpose of these volumes.

We have found these people after all not so very different from ourselves—more loyal than we, but more ignorant; more religious, but more superstitious; 57 more daring, but more reckless; more enthusiastic, but more chimerical. They were endowed with the virtues and vices of their age, as we are with the virtues and vices of ours. They were sincere in their opinions, and honest in their efforts; but we have the advantage of them by four centuries of recorded experiences. Our knowledge, our advantages, are superior to theirs; do we make superior use of them? Spain lighted a hemisphere of dark waters, brought forth hidden islands and continents, and presented half a world to the other half. With all our boasted improvement, have we done more?

It is the custom of historical commentators to praise and to blame ad libitum. This is right if it be done judiciously. We should praise discreetly, and blame with steadiness. But there is really little to praise or to blame in history, and most of it that is done is simply praising or blaming the providence of progress. Would you blame the Spanish people for being ignorant, submissive, and cruel? They were as God and circumstances made them. Would you blame their king and princes for domineering them? They were as the people and circumstances made them. The people were indignant if their rulers did not impose upon them. Says Grenville, writing in his memoirs so late as 1818: "The Regent drives in the park every day in a tilbury, with his groom sitting by his side; grave men are shocked at this undignified practice."

Meanwhile, amidst the many so-called spirits which in this epoch hovered over man, the spirit of discovery was not the least potent. Curiosity, the mother of science, became the mother of new worlds; gave birth to continents, islands, and seas; gave form and boundary to earth. Over the sea, the mists of the Dark Age had rested with greater density even than on land. The aurora of progress now illumined the western horizon as of old it did the eastern. Hitherto the great ocean, beyond a few leagues from 58 shore, was a mystery. As may be seen depicted on ancient charts, it was filled, in the imaginations of navigators, with formidable water-beasts and monsters, scarcely less terrible than those that Æneas saw as he entered the mouth of Hades:

"Multaque præterea variarum monstra ferarum:

Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllæque biformes,

et centumgeminus Briareus, ac belua Lernæ

horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimæra,

Gorgones Harpyiæque et forma tricorporis umbræ."

Ancient geographers affirmed that the heat of the torrid zone was intolerable, that men and ships entering it would shrivel. This belt of consuming heat presented an impenetrable barrier between the known and the unknown.

What wonder that intellect was stunted, civilization dwarfed, restricted as was human knowledge to the narrow grave-like walls of western Europe! No sooner were these ancient boundaries burst, and the black and dreadful fog-banks which lay upon primeval ocean pierced, than fancy, like a freed bird, bounded forth, swept the circumference of the earth, soared aloft amid the stars, and dared even to ask of religion a reason.

EUROPE AND AMERICA.

One glance westward. On either side of an unswept sea, a Sea of Darkness it was called by those that feared it, there rested at the opening of this history two fair continents, each unknown to the other. One was cultivated; its nations were well advanced in those arts and courtesies that spring from accumulated experiences; the other, for the most part, unmarred by man, lay revelling in primeval beauty, fresh as from the Creator's hand. The leaven of progress working in one, brought to its knowledge the existence of the other; the Sea of Darkness with its uncouth monsters was turned into a highway, and civilized Europe stood face to face with sylvan America. This world newly found was called the 59 New World; though which is the new and which the old; which, if either, peopled the other, is yet undetermined. One in organism and in the nature human, the people of the two worlds were in color, customs, and sentiment several. The barbarous New World boasted its civilizations, while the civilized Old World disclosed its barbarisms; on Mexican and Peruvian highlands were nations of city-builders as far superior in culture to the islanders and coast-dwellers seen by Columbus, as were the European discoverers superior to the American highlanders. Of probable indigenous origin, this lesser civilization shows traces of high antiquity; even the ruder nations of the north leave far behind them absolute primevalism.

I do not say with some that in America were seen in certain directions marks of as high culture as any in Europe. There were no such marks. But this unquestionably is true; that, as in Europe, we here find that most inexplicable of phenomena, the evolution of civility; man's mental and spiritual necessities, like his physical wants, appear everywhere the same. The mind, like the body, craves nutriment, and the dimmed imprisoned soul a higher sympathy; hence we see men of every clime and color making for themselves gods, and contriving creeds which shall presently deliver them from their dilemma. The civilizations of America, unlike well-rooted saplings of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, were sensitive-plants which collapsed upon the first foreign touch, leaving only the blackness of darkness; hence it was the wild tribes, far more than the cultivated nations, that influenced the character of subsequent American societies.

In her civil and religious polities America was every whit as consistent as Europe. Neither was altogether perfect or wise; and we wonder at the blindness and stupidity of one as of the other. Although we could catch but a glimpse of the Americans before they vanished, yet we might see that 60 intellect was not stationary, but growing, and that society was instinct with intelligent and progressional activity.

COMPARATIVE RELIGIONS.

In their religions the Americans paralleled the rest of mankind. Every religion derives its form and color from the mind of the worshippers, so that by their gods we may know them. From elevated natures emanate chaste and refined conceptions of the deity; from brutish natures coarse conceptions. Christianity is the highest and purest of all religions; but if we study the moral precepts of the foremost American nations, we shall see that in many respects they were not far behind, and were indeed in some instances in advance of Christianity. True, the Aztecs practised human sacrifice, with all its attendant horrors; but what were the religious wars, the expulsion of Jews, the slaughter of Infidels, the burning of heretics, but human sacrifice? Moreover, while we turn in horror from the sacrificial stone of the Aztecs, where the human victims were treated as gods and whence their souls were sent direct to Paradise, yet we find among them little of that most infamous of crimes—persecution for opinion's sake; nor yet do we read of their ingenuity being taxed for the contrivance of engines of the most excruciating torture, as we do in the history of Christianity. Tortures which, while killing the body, it was believed consigned the soul to eternal agonies.

There was little in the social or political systems of Europe of which the counterpart could not be found in America; indeed, the economical, social, and political condition of every civilization finds its counterpart in every other civilization; and there were institutions then existing in America at whose feet Europe might have sat with benefit.

AMERICAN ABORIGINALS.

Among the wilder tribes we find prevalent the patriarchal state, with its hundreds of languages and theologies; a slight advance from which are those associations of families banded for safety, thus presenting 61 a state of society not unlike that of European feudalism. From this point, every quality and grade of government presents itself until full-blown monarchy is attained, where a sole sovereign becomes an emperor of nations with a state and severity equal to that of the most enlightened. The government of the Nashua nations, which was monarchical and nearly absolute, denotes no small progress from primordial patriarchy.

Like their cousins of Spain and England, the sovereigns of Mexico had their elaborate palaces, with magnificent surroundings, their country residence and their hunting-grounds, their botanical and zoological gardens, and their harems filled with the daughters of nobles, who deemed it an honor to see them thus royally defiled. There were aristocratic and knightly orders; nobles, plebeians, and slaves; pontiffs and priesthoods; land tenures and taxation; seminaries of learning, and systems of education, in which virtue was extolled and vice denounced; laws and law courts of various grades, and councils and tribunals of various kinds; military orders with drill, engineer corps, arms, and fortifications; commerce, caravans, markets, merchants, pedlers, and commercial fairs, with a credit system, and express and postal facilities.

They were not lacking in pleasures and amusements similar to those of the Europeans, such as feasts with professional jester, music, dancing; and after dinner the drama, national games, gymnastics, and gladiatorial combats. They were not without their intoxicating drink, delighting in drunkenness while denouncing it. Their medical faculty and systems of surgery they had, and their burial-men; also their literati, scholars, orators, and poets, with an arithmetical system, a calendar, a knowledge of astronomy, hieroglyphic books, chronological records, public libraries, and national archives.

The horoscope of infants was cast; the cross was 62 lifted up; incense was burned; baptism and circumcision were practised. Whence arose these customs so like those of their fellow-men across the Atlantic, whom they had never seen or heard of?

The conquerors found all this when they entered the country. They examined with admiration the manufactures of gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead, wrought to exquisite patterns with surprising skill. They gazed with astonishment on huge architectural piles, on monumental remains speaking louder than words; on temples, causeways, fountains, aqueducts, and light-houses, surrounded as they were with statues and intricate and costly stone carvings. They found that the Americans made cloth, paper, pottery, and dyes, and were proficient in painting. Their mosaic feather-work was a marvel.

There are many points of interest, well worth examination, which I have not space here properly to mention. The interested reader, however, will find all material necessary to careful comparison in my Native Races of the Pacific States. He will there find described conditions of society analogous to feudalism and chivalry; he will find municipal governments, walled towns, and standing armies. There were legislative assemblies similar to that of the Cortes, and associations not unlike that of the Holy Brotherhood. To say that trial by combat sometimes occurred is affirming of them nothing complimentary; but upon the absence of some European institutions they were to be congratulated.

Although living lives of easy poverty, the wild tribes of America everywhere possessed dormant wealth enough to tempt the cupidity alike of the fierce Spaniard, the blithe Frenchman, and the sombre Englishman. Under a burning tropical sun, where neither meat nor clothing was essential to comfort, the land yielded gold, while in hyperborean forests where no precious metals were discovered the richest peltries abounded; so that no savage in all this northern continent 63 was found so poor that grasping civilization could find nothing to rob him of.

When Europe undertook the mastery of America, she found the people, as a rule, ready to be friendly. Some at first were startled into the seizure of their arms, the first impulse of the wild man on meeting anything strange being to defend himself. But their fears were easily allayed, their confidence easily gained, and their pledges of good faith were usually to be depended upon.

COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS.

The variations between them and their brethren across the Atlantic were less of kind than of quality. They were more children than wild beasts. Physically they were complete, but mentally they were not fully developed. Their minds were not so broad, nor so strong or subtle as those of white men. Their cunning partook more of brute instinct than of civilized artifice. There was mind-power enough, but it lacked shape and consistency. They were naturally no more blood-thirsty, or cruel, or superstitious than their conquerors, but their cruelty and superstitions were of coarser, cruder forms. The American aboriginal character has been greatly misconstrued, and is to-day but imperfectly understood.

The chief difference, or cause of difference, between the people of Europe and the more advanced nations of America, it seems to me, lay in the ignorance of some few things, apparently insignificant in themselves, yet mighty enough to revolutionize Christendom; such as the use of iron, gunpowder, and movable types. The absence of horses, and other of the more useful domestic animals, was also a disadvantage.

After reading of the Europeans of that day it is irony to call the Americans revengeful or cruel. Where is it possible to find more strongly developed those qualities which civilization most condemns than among civilized nations—the same, only refined? So blind 64 are we to our own faults, so quick to see and condemn the faults of our weak and defenceless neighbor!

Catalogue crime and place the white beside the red. Seldom was the Indian treacherous until he had been deceived. The Indians tortured their prisoners; so did the white men, hunting them with bloodhounds, enslaving them, branding them with hot irons, beating and roasting them, making them work in the mines until death relieved them by thousands, butchering wives and children because the husband and father dared strike a blow in their defence. It is well to call them brutal in warfare when the white man so quickly adopts their most brutal customs; it is well to call them beasts of prey, when the white man crosses the ocean to prey upon those very beasts which he pretends to slur.

In speaking of the Indians, it has become the custom wilfully to misapply terms. If a tribe resist an injury, it is called an outbreak; if successful in war, it is a massacre; if successful in single combat, it is a murder. Thus soldiers speak to cover the disgrace of defeat, and thus reports are made by men who regard not decency in speaking of a savage, to say nothing of fairness. It is enough that we have exterminated this people, without attempting to malign them and exalt our own baseness. What should we do were a foreign power to come in ships to our shore and begin to slaughter our animals, to stake off our land and divide it among themselves? We should drive them away if we were able; but if we found them the stronger, we should employ every art to destroy them, and in so doing regard ourselves as patriots performing a sacred obligation. This is the Indians crime; and in so doing we call him cunning, revengeful, hateful, diabolical. But the white man brings him blankets, it may be said, brings him medicine, tells him of contrivances, teaches him civilization. These things are exactly what the savage does not want, and what he is much better off without. 65 The white man's comforts kill him almost as quickly as do his cruelties; and the teachings of Christ's ministers are abhorrent if they are coupled with the examples of lecherous and murderous professors of Christianity.

These, however, were by no means all that white men gave the Indian. We might enumerate alcohol, small-pox, measles, syphilis, and a dozen other disgusting adjuncts of civilization of which the savage before knew nothing. Can savagism boast greater achievements? White men have killed fifty Indians where Indians have killed one white man, and this, notwithstanding that nine tenths of all injuries inflicted have been perpetrated by white invaders. A thousand Indian women have been outraged by men whose mothers had taught them the Lord's prayer, where one white woman has been injured by these benighted heathen. At any time in the history of America I would rather take my chances as a white woman among savages, than as an Indian woman among white people.

SIGNIFICATIONS OF PROGRESS.

Brethren by procreation, but by destiny foes, as we behold them there the so-called New and Old thus so strangely brought together, naturally enough we ask ourselves, Whence came the one, and whither tends the other? Whence came these dusky denizens of the forest, and for how many thousands of ages has the feeble light of their intelligence struggled with the darkness, dimly flickering, now gathering strength, now falling back into dense obscurity; how long and in what manner has the divine spark thus wrestled with its environment? And whither tends this fierce flame of human advancement which just now bursts its ancient boundaries, sweeps across the Sea of Darkness, absorbs all lesser lights, and dazzles and consumes a hemisphere of souls? More especially, when we look back toward what we are accustomed to call the beginning, and mark the steady advance of knowledge, the ever-increasing power of 66 mind; when we consider the progress of even the last half century, and listen to the present din and clatter of improvement, do we raise our eyes to the future and ask, Whither tends all this? Whither tends with so rapidly accelerating swiftness this self-begetting of enlightenment, this massing of human acquirements; whither tends this perpetually increasing domination of the intellectual over the material? Within the past few thousand years we have seen our race emerge from barbarism, and notwithstanding the inherent tendency to evil ever present in our natures, we have seen mankind put on civilization and accept for their faith Christianity, the purest and highest type of religion. We have seen nations cease somewhat their hereditary growlings, and brutal blood-sheddings, and mingle as brethren; we have seen wavy grain supplant the tangled wildwood, gardens materialize from the mirage, and magnificent cities rise out of the rocky ground. Thus we have seen the whole earth placed under tribute, and this mysterious reasoning intelligence of ours elevating itself yet more and more above the instincts of the brute, and asserting its dominion over nature; belting the earth with an impatient energy, which now presses outward from every meridian, widening its domain as best it may toward the north and toward the south, building equatorial fires under polar icebergs. All this and more from the records of our race we have seen accomplished, and yet do see it; civilization working itself out in accordance with the eternal purposes of Omnipotence, unfolding under man's agency, yet independent of man's will; a subtile, extraneous, unifying energy, stimulated by agencies good not more than by agencies evil, yet always tending in its results to good rather than to evil; an influence beyond the reach or cognizance of man, working in and round persons and societies, turning and overturning, now clouding the sky with blackness and dropping disorder on floundering humanity, but only to be followed by a yet more fertilizing sunshine; laying 67 waste and building up, building up by laying waste, civilizing as well by war and avarice as by good-will and sweet charity, civilizing as surely, if not as rapidly, with the world of humanity struggling against it, as with the same human world laboring for it.

Slowly rattles along the dim present, well-nigh buried in its own dust; it is only the past that is well-defined and clear to history.

Summary of Geographical Knowledge and Discovery from the Earliest Records to the Year 1540.

Before entering upon the narration of events composing this history, it seems to me important, in order as well properly to appreciate the foregoing Introduction as to gain from succeeding chapters something more than gratified curiosity, that an exposition of Early Voyages should be given,—acting powerfully as they did on evolving thought and material development, giving breadth and vigor to intellect, enthusiasm to enterprise, and in elevating and stimulating that commercial spirit which was eventually to depose kings, exalt the people, strip from science its superstitions, from religion its cabalistic forms, and by its associations, its negotiations, its adventurous daring, its wars, its alliances, and its humanizing polities, to break the barriers of ancient enmity and bring together in common brotherhood all the nations of the earth.

Therefore, I now propose to give a chronological statement of every authentic voyage of discovery made beyond the Mediterranean prior to 1540, while doubtful and disputed voyages will be discussed according to their relative importance. I shall notice, moreover, such books and charts relating to America as were produced during this period, with fac-similes of the more important maps, to illustrate, at different dates, the progress of discovery. It is my purpose, so far as possible, in the very limited space allowed, to state fairly the conclusions of the best writers on every important point.

One word as to the authorities consulted in the preparation of this Summary. Of books relating to America, published prior to 1540, there are in all about sixty-five; only twenty-five, however, contain original information; twenty-three are general cosmographical works with brief sections on America compiled from the original twenty-five; while seventeen merely mention the New World or its discoveries, and are therefore of no value in this connection. Of the forty-eight containing matter more or less important, there are over two hundred editions, the earliest of which only, in most instances, will be mentioned, and that without extensive bibliographical notes. These books and charts I notice in chronological order under dates of their successive appearance.

The subject of Early Voyages has been so frequently and so thoroughly discussed by able modern writers that it is unnecessary, and indeed impracticable 68 in so condensed an essay, to refer to ancient authorities alone, and prove everything from the beginning. I shall therefore, besides the Spanish historians Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Las Casas, Gomara, Herrera, and the standard collections of Ramusio, Grynæus, Purchas, and Hakluyt, freely use the works of later writers according to their relative worth. And of these last mentioned I epitomize the following. Historia del Nuevo-Mundo, escribíala D. Juan Baut. Muñoz, tom. i.—all ever published—En Madrid, 1793, contains a clear well-written prologo, or essay, on the first three voyages of Columbus with minor mention of contemporary discoveries. An account is also given of the author's labors in beginning the large and invaluable collection of documents completed and published by Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los Españoles desde fines del siglo XV., 5 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1825-37. This collection of Navarrete's is without doubt the most valuable work on the subject of early American voyages, and the foundation of all that followed; containing as it does the original Spanish, Latin, and Portuguese texts of the more important Spanish and Portuguese expeditions from 1393 to 1540—the Latin and Portuguese done into Spanish—together with over five hundred original documents from the Spanish archives, with extensive and generally impartial notes by the editor. For a biographical sketch of this author see chapter iii. of this volume. Washington Irving's Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus and his Companions, published in London, 1828-31 (edition used, that of New York, 1869, 3 vols.), is an able and elegant abridged translation of Navarrete, and of La Historia de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon, by his son Fernando Colon, in Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos, tom. i., Madrid, 1749. Alexander von Humboldt's Examen critique de l'histoire de la Géographie du nouveau continent, et des progrès de l'astronomie nautique aux 15ème et 16ème Siècles, 5 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1836-9, is a most exhaustive digest of materials furnished by Navarrete and the older historians, illustrated with the results of the author's personal investigations. The work embraces two treatises; first, the causes which led to the discovery of America; second, facts relating to Columbus and Vespucci, with the dates of geographic discoveries. Humboldt's Abhandlung über die ältesten Karten, printed as an introduction to Ghillany, Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim, Nuremberg, 1853, of which I have only a manuscript English translation, is an essay as well on the naming of America as on early maps. Another important treatise is that of J. G. Kohl, Die beiden ältesten General-Karten von America, Weimar, 1860, of nearly two hundred large folio pages on the earliest manuscript and printed maps, two of the former, dated 1527 and 1529, accompanying the work, reproduced in chromo-lithographic fac-simile. The same author has produced other works on the subject, the most important being A History of the Discovery of the East Coast of North America, published in Collections of the Maine Historical Society, 2d series, vol. i., Portland, 1869. This contains reduced copies of twenty-three early maps, and is perhaps the most complete work existing, so far as the northern coasts are concerned, giving comparatively little attention to more southern voyages. Kunstmann, Die Entdeckung Amerikas, Munich, 1859, is a careful compilation of ninety-six imperial quarto pages, with copious notes and references, 69 written to accompany a collection of thirteen large chromo-lithographic reproductions of manuscript maps preserved in the Academy of Sciences at Munich, and generally known as the Munich Atlas. Herr Kunstmann treats chiefly of the Atlantic islands, with special reference to the connection between the discoveries of Spaniards and Northmen. Major's Life of Prince Henry of Portugal, London, 1868, is the best authority for Portuguese voyages as well as for the revival of maritime enterprise in the fifteenth century. Stevens' Historical and Geographical Notes on the Earliest Discoveries in America, 1453-1530, New Haven, 1869, was written originally as an introduction to a book by the author's brother on his proposed interoceanic communication via Tehuantepec. It is a concise statement of the whole matter, presenting some of its phases in a practically new light. Varnhagen, Le Premier Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci, Vienna, 1869, must not be omitted as the chief support of a theory on Vespucci's voyages which nearly concerns the first discovery of our Pacific States territory proper. Rafn, Antiquitates Americanæ, Hafniæ, 1837, is the source of nearly all our knowledge of the discoveries of the Northmen in America in the tenth and following centuries; and De Costa, The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America, Albany, 1868, presents an English translation of the same Icelandic sagas in which the enterprises of the Northmen are recorded. The Cartografía Mexicana of Orozco y Berra, published by the Mexican Geographical Society, contains, as its title indicates, a mention of early maps in chronologic order; and the Mapoteca Colombiana of Urricœchea, London, 1860, is another important contribution of similar nature. There should be mentioned the excellent review given in the first volume of Bryant's History of the United States, which has appeared since this Summary was written; and I might present quite a list of papers read before the various learned societies of Europe and America on different topics connected with this subject in late years, none of them I believe materially affecting my conclusions.

The above form but a small portion of the works devoted wholly or in part to the subject, but they are believed to contain all the material necessary for even a more detailed statement than my purpose demands.

ADVENTURES OF THE ANCIENTS.

Of the voyages of the ancients, properly so called, that is, of such as preceded the fall of the Roman Empire at the end of the fourth century, I shall here say little. These maritime expeditions, confined for the most part to the Mediterranean, though extending for some distance along the coasts of the Indian and Atlantic oceans, with occasional voyages designedly or accidentally prolonged to more distant islands, and it may be continents, come down to us through antique histories, cosmographies, and poems, so mixed with vague hypothetical and mythological conceptions, that the most searching investigation is often unable to separate fact from fable. There are multitudes of classic and mediæval legends adopted by Tasso, Pulci, and other Italian poets, such, for example, as that which makes the Greek wanderer Ulysses the pioneer of western adventure, which in a sober treatise are scarcely worthy of mention. Turning to the dawn his vessel's poop, this son of Laertes, it is said, passed Gibraltar, the bound ordained by Hercules not to be overstepped by man, and, as Dante tells us, sailed for the Happy Isles of 70 the unknown Atlantic, unrestrained by son, or father, or even Penelope's ever-weaving web of love.

A little journey was a wonderful exploit before the time of Christ—instance the immortal fame achieved by Hanno, the Carthaginian, in visiting the west coast of Africa, b. c. 570; by Herodotus, in making the excursion of Egypt and India, b. c. 464-456; by Pytheas, in his voyage to the British Isles, b. c. 340; by Nearchus, in descending the Indus, b. c. 326; by Eudoxus, in his attempt to sail round Africa, b. c. 130; by Cæsar, in undertaking the conquest of Gaul, b. c. 58; by Strabo, in penetrating Asia some thirty or forty years later. After the Christian era Pausanias, a Roman, in 175 wrote a guide-book of Greece; Fa Hian, a Chinese monk, went westward into India in the year 400 or thereabout; Cosmas Indicopleustes travelled in India a century and a half later and wrote a book to prove the world square, and the universe an oblong coffer; Arculphe wrote of the Holy Land about 650; an Englishman, Willibald, made the tour of southern Europe and Palestine, setting out from Southampton in 721; in 851 went Soliman from Persia to the China sea. So it has been said.

Indeed, the writings of Herodotus indicate that, over two thousand years before Dias and Vasco da Gama, Africa was circumnavigated by a fleet of Phœnician ships sent by Pharaoh Necho down the Red Sea with orders to return to Egypt by way of the Pillars of Hercules. A Persian, Sataspes, endeavored to accomplish the voyage from the other direction, but failed. Plato's island of Atlantis, founded by the god Neptune, was of great size, "larger than Asia and Libya together, and was situated over against the straits now called the Pillars of Hercules." The climate and soil were so good that fruits ripened twice every year. There were metals, with elephants and other animals in abundance. Upon a mountain was a beautiful city with gold and ivory palaces, having gardens and statues. Unfortunately in time the sea swallowed up this island, so that it could scarcely have been America.

THE PROPHECY OF QUETZALCOATL.

So far as these voyages and strange tales concern the possible knowledge of America by the ancients, I have already discussed them in my Native Races of the Pacific States. Therein is mentioned a theory which has found many advocates, and to which I will again briefly allude in this place. It is that at the beginning of the Christian era America was visited by the Apostle St Thomas. He was accompanied by a number of fellow-laborers in the ministry, who preached the gospel and planted the Christian religion in America. The theory is ably advocated in the excellent work of Rev. W. Gleeson, The History of the Catholic Church in California. The principal arguments advanced may be briefly stated as follows: First, that the whole tenor of Scripture teaching is in favor of the supposition that the gospel was preached to all the world from the beginning, rather than after the lapse of several centuries. Second, that at a date fixed by Mexican hieroglyphics as a little before the middle of the first century after Christ, a celebrated personage, certainly the most remarkable in Mexican mythology, came from the north. He is represented as a white man, with flowing beard, clad in a long white robe, adorned with red crosses, head uncovered, and a staff in his 71 hand. This was the Quetzalcoatl, whom the Mexicans afterward worshipped, and whose return was so anxiously looked for by them. See Torquemada, Monarq. Ind. Third, that to him popular tradition ascribes the worship paid to the cross, the practice of confession, and in a word all the customs found on the arrival of the Spaniards to be nearly identical with those of the Christian religion. Veytia, Hist. Ant. de Mexico. Fourth, that the name Quetzalcoatl is synonymous with that of St Thomas. See Native Races, v. 26. Fifth, that Quetzalcoatl promised on his departure to return at some future day with his posterity and resume the possession of the empire, and that day was looked forward to with general confidence, Prescott's Conq. Mex., and that a general feeling prevailed at the time of Montezuma that the period of his return had arrived. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mex. Sixth, that there were at the convent of Nijapa, in the province of Oajaca, hieroglyphs containing all the principal doctrines of the Christian religion, and the coming of the Apostle to the country. Id.

Sahagun, who wrote at the time of the conquest, speaks of the general belief in this prophecy, and assures us that on the arrival of the Spaniards they repeatedly offered them divine honors, believing that their god Quetzalcoatl had returned. Conq. Mex., i. chap. iii.

"It is then undeniably true," says Gleeson, Catholic Church in Cal., 185, "that a popular tradition existed in the country respecting a prophecy made by Quetzalcohuatl, in which was foretold the future arrival of whites on the coast; and this, while it proves the reality of the man, and his character as a teacher of religion, also proves the still more important and appreciable fact of his being a Christian, and of western origin; for, it was clearly set forth in the prophecy, that the persons who should come would be whites, and of the same religion as he. The time also seems to have been specified by the Apostle, if we are to judge by the expression that they were expecting him every day. And, indeed, Boturini assures us that the time mentioned in the Mexican hieroglyphics was that in which the Christians arrived. The year ce acatl was that foretold by Quetzalcohuatl, and in that year the Spaniards landed in the Country." On ancient voyages and cosmography see also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 125-206.

It is the results of ancient voyages, the point of geographical knowledge attained by ancient civilization in its most advanced stage and by it bequeathed to the Dark Age, and not the voyages themselves, with which we have to do at present. This knowledge is found for the most part embodied in the system of Ptolemy, the Alexandrian geographer of the second century, whose works became the standard text-books, and holding their prominence for fourteen hundred years were not superseded as late as the sixteenth century, but were republished from time to time, with additions, setting forth the results of new discoveries. In this manner twenty-one editions appeared during the first half of that century. Nor was even Ptolemy the originator of this prolonged system. One hundred and fifty years before him was the Greek geographer Strabo, who gave descriptions of countries and peoples, fixing his localities usually by itinerary distances; and to this work of Strabo's, Ptolemy added a century and a half of progress, and determined 72 his localities by astronomical observation. The work of Pomponius Mela, the Roman geographer who wrote probably somewhat later than Strabo, is regarded as no improvement on that of his predecessor.

Ptolemy's World was nearly all in the north temperate zone, embracing about fifty degrees of latitude and one hundred and twenty of longitude. The Fortunate Isles, now called the Canaries, were known to Ptolemy, and by him used as a western limit or first meridian. This, and as a nucleus of poetic myths, seem to have been their only use; as Muñoz says, Hist. del Nuevo Mundo, p. 30: "Fuera de este uso apenas aprovecharon sino para entretenir ociosas imaginaciones con fábulas de poetas." The eastern limit was vaguely located in the region beyond the Ganges; actually in about 100° east longitude. On the south were included the African coasts of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, with the southern coasts of Arabia and India proper—the term India being then applied indefinitely to all eastern lands, including even parts of Africa—thus fixing the southern bound at about 30° north latitude in the west, and 10° in the east. Northward the limit may be placed a little above 60°, within which falls the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, then supposed to be an island, and also the island of Thule, the location of which is disputed, some claiming it to have been Iceland, others the Faroe Islands, and others the Shetland Islands. But Ptolemy's latitudes were all some ten degrees too far north, while in his longitudes he went still further astray; since, reckoning from the Canaries as his first meridian, he made his last meridian 180°, when it should have been 120°, and thus by narrowing half the circumference of the globe some sixty degrees he made the world nearly one third less than it really is. Authorities differ, however, as to what were Ptolemy's ideas. But more of this hereafter. On the opposite page is a map in which the world as known in these times is left white, the shaded portions being the result of subsequent discoveries down to the last half of the fifteenth century. A map of Ptolemy's World, reduced to its true proportions, may be seen in Goselin, Recherches sur la géographie systématique et positive des anciens, tom. iv., Paris, 1813.

The World; the white part as known at the end of the Fourth Century, the lightly shaded portions as known at the end of the Fifteenth.

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Within these limits, then, geographical knowledge was confined at the end of the fourth century; limits not sharply defined, but indefinite and wavering according to ages, to the directions of conquest, and to distances from Mediterranean centres. Beyond these limits was a realm of darkness peopled by strange beings, creatures of poetic fancy or crude conjecture. Just as the wonder-land of Homer to contemporaneous eastern Greeks, was Italy, with its strange waters inhabited by very strange beasts, and Sicily, and neighboring isles, where were the Satyrs, and the gigantic one-eyed Cyclops eating milk and mutton and men, so to later teachers were the strange seas beyond. On the north was an impenetrable region of eternal ice; on the south, an equatorial zone of burning heat; a barrier of frost on the one side and of fire on the other, both equally uninhabitable to the European man, and cutting off all communication with possible habitable lands elsewhere. The burning zone, however, seems to have been a popular idea, rather than a part of the system taught by Ptolemy, who, indeed, held that Africa extended south-east and north-east toward the eastern parts of Asia, making of the Indian Ocean an immense gulf not connected with the Atlantic on the 74 west. Strabo and other geographers who preceded Ptolemy gave Africa approximately its correct shape; traditions of its circumnavigation even were kept alive, in spite of Ptolemy's theory, influencing geographic thought not a little during the fifteenth century. Irving is of opinion, Columbus, vol. iii. p. 440, that modern authors consider the knowledge of the ancients concerning Africa much less extensive than has been generally supposed; but Major, Prince Henry, p. 89 et seq., accepts a circumnavigation of Africa in the seventh century b. c., and also Hanno's voyage far down the African coast, placing the date of the latter 570 b. c. Among the philosophers of western Europe no definite hypotheses appear to have been advanced as to the extent of land beyond the known region; as to the ideas of the Arabs and Buddhist priests concerning the matter it is difficult to determine. See Kohl's Hist. Discov., p. 149; Draper's Intellectual Development, p. 451, New York, 1872. Beyond the Fortunate Isles to the west stretched a Mare Tenebrosum, or Sea of Darkness, as early writers express it, separating the known western coast from the far unknown east. In this dark sea tradition planted islands at various points, reiterating the fact of their existence so often that names and locations were finally given them on maps, though the islands themselves have never yet been found. Except these fabulous islands, there was little thought of land between the coasts of Europe and Asia. Compare maps in this volume; also George Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. i. p. 6, Boston, 1870; D'Avesac, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1845, tom. cv. p. 293; tom. cvi. p. 47.

To sum up the geographical knowledge of the ancients, we have first, the sphericity of the earth surmised, although its size was vaguely conceived and underrated; secondly, the positive knowledge of Europeans limited to the unshaded portion of the map on page 73; thirdly, divers theories respecting the conformation of southern Africa; fourthly, a mare oceanum stretching westward to the unknown Asiatic shore, with hypothetical islands intervening, and expressed opinions that this sea was navigable, and that possibly India might be reached by sailing westward. These ideas, vague as they seem, were held only by the learned few; the world of the ignorant reached scarcely beyond the horizon of their actual experience. Not until long after its actual circumnavigation, in the sixteenth century, was the popular mind able to grasp the idea of the earth's sphericity.

We come now to mediæval times, when from the fifth to the fifteenth century the cosmographical as well as all other knowledge of the ancients lay well-nigh dormant; to the people a land of darkness as well as a sea, though in some few colleges and convents these things were thought of. "Ces ténèbres," says Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 59, "s'étendaient sans doute sur les masses; mais, dans les couvens et les colléges quelques individus conservaient les traditions de l'antiquité." Upon this world of darkness light first broke from the far north, the voyages of the Scandinavians from the ninth to the twelfth centuries being the aurora borealis of maritime discovery. These Northmen, as in their expeditions Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes were indiscriminately called, by their warlike propensities made themselves known and feared along the shores of Europe at an early date; 75 but their western discoveries were known only to themselves; at all events, no trace of distant voyages to the west are found in the records of their neighbors. It is only quite recently that the sagas of the Northmen were brought to the attention of European scholars; and when the Danish bishop, Müller, published his bibliography of the sagas, 3 vols., Copenhagen, 1817-1820, these narratives were held to be more fiction than fact. Even so late a writer as George Bancroft, History of the United States, vol. i. pp. 5, 6, says that the story of colonization by the Northmen "rests on narratives, mythological in form, and obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary," and that "no clear historic evidence establishes the natural probability that they accomplished the passage." Irving, Columbus, vol. iii. pp. 432-5, considers the matter "still to be wrapped in much doubt and obscurity." Both of these authors, however, seem to have considered only the evidence presented by Malte-Brun and Forster. Since their time proofs beyond question have established the authenticity of these voyages of the Northmen. The sagas on American discoveries are preserved in the archives at Copenhagen, with a collection of other historical data, reaching down to the fourteenth century, the date of their completion. It is true that they deal somewhat in the marvellous—they would not be authentic else, written at that time—but they contain tales no more wonderful or monstrous than the writings of more southern nations. See an account of the Copenhagen documents and the examination of their authenticity in De Costa's Pre-Columbian Discov. Am., pp. i-lx. Two nearly contemporary ecclesiastical histories—that of Adam of Bremen, 1073, and Ordericus Vitalis, about 1100—describe briefly the western lands of the Northmen. Further reference, Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 32; Rafn, Antiquitates Am., p. 337; Kohl's Hist. Discov., p. 76.

THE NORTHMEN AND THEIR SAGAS.

Vague notions were not wanting of communication with America before the time of the Northmen, but these, whatever they were, are now to us pure speculation and may be omitted here. Passing over a general movement by which before the middle of the ninth century the Northmen appear to have broken through their former bounds, and to have extended their plundering raids in all directions, taking possession of the Shetland and Faroe islands and even of the north of Britain, we come to the first definite adventure westward.

[a. d. 860-4.] Two bold men, Naddod and Gardar, in one of their coast-island cruises, were driven from their course to the north-west and discovered Iceland, called by one Snowland, and by the other Gardar Island. Kohl, Hist. Discov., p. 61, dates both voyages 860; Forster gives 861 to Naddod's; other authors place the former in the year 860, and the latter in 864.

[874.] Ingolf made a settlement in Iceland at a point still called by his name. Other immigrants followed, and a flourishing colony was founded. The Northmen found on the island Irish priests, who had come there at a time not definitely known, but who immediately abandoned the country to the new settlers. Within twenty years thereafter Iceland was fairly well inhabited. De Costa, Pre-Columbian Discov. Am., pp. xxii-iv., makes the date a. d. 875.

[876.] One Gunnbjörn, an Icelandic colonist, is reported to have seen accidentally, 76 from a distance, the coast of Greenland. Kohl dates this voyage 877.

[982-6.] Eric the Red, banished from Iceland for murder in 982, sailed west, found land, remained there three years, and returned, naming the country Greenland to attract settlers. In 985, or 986, he sailed again with a larger force, this time founding a settlement to which other adventurers resorted. Of the first voyage Kohl makes no mention.

[983.] One of the sagas contains a report by an Irish merchant that one Are Marson was carried in a storm to Whiteman's Land "in the Western Ocean, opposite Vinland, six days' sail west of Ireland." Rafn thinks this may have been that part of America in the vicinity of Florida; others make it the Azores. There are also vague reports of later voyages to the same land by Björn Asbrandson in 999, and by Gudleif in 1027. In the present stage of investigation the proof is insufficient to establish an Irish pre-Scandinavian discovery of America.

[990.] In this year, or, as De Costa makes it, in 986, Biarne, sailing from Iceland in search of his father, who had previously gone to Greenland, was carried far to the south-west, to within sight of land, undoubtedly America, which he coasted north-east for several days and returned to Greenland. Three points particularly noticed on the new coast are conjectured by Kohl to have been Cape Cod, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

[1000.] Leif, son of Eric the Red, sailed from Greenland south-west in search of the lands seen by Biarne, reached the same in reverse order, landing probably at Newfoundland, which he named Helluland (Stony Land); Nova Scotia, he called Markland (Woodland); and passing round Cape Cod, made a settlement, named after himself, Leifsbudir, at some point on Narragansett Bay. He called this country Vinland from the fact that vines were found there, and the name was afterwards applied to the whole region extending northward to Markland. In the spring of 1001 Leif returned to Greenland with a cargo of grapes and wood.

[1002-5.] Thorwald, another of Eric's sons, sailed with one vessel to Vinland, where Leif had landed, and lived there through the winter by fishing. Early in 1003 he explored the country westward in boats, and in the spring of 1004 doubled Cape Cod, naming it Kialarnes (Ship's Nose), and perished in a battle with the Skraellings, or Indians, at some point on the shore of Massachusetts Bay. His companions spent the winter at Leifsbudir and returned to Greenland in 1005.

[1008.] In the spring of 1008 Thorfinn Karlsefne sailed from Greenland with three vessels to Helluland—which name was applied not only to Newfoundland but to the region north of that point—and thence along the coast to Nova Scotia, and to Cape Cod. Here the party divided, Thorhall, the hunter, in attempting to explore northward, being driven by a storm to Ireland, while Thorfinn spent the winter farther south near Leifsbudir, where a son was born to him. After an unsuccessful search for Thorhall by one vessel, a third winter was spent in Vinland, and in 1011 Thorfinn returned to Greenland, leaving perhaps a small colony. De Costa, Pre-Columbian Discov. Am., pp. 48-76, makes the date of this voyage 1007-10.

[1012.] Helge, Finboge, and Eric's daughter Freydisa, who had before 77 visited America with her husband, sailed to Vinland, and such as were not killed in the internal dissensions of the party returned to Greenland in 1013. The records of this expedition are very slight. De Costa's date is 1011-12.

[1035.] Adam of Bremen speaks of Frisian or German navigators who about the year 1035 landed on an island beyond Iceland, where the inhabitants were of great size, and were accompanied by fierce dogs—perhaps the Eskimos.

[1121.] After the expeditions that have been mentioned, concerning each of which the sagas contain one or more accounts, no farther regular reports have been preserved; but various voyages are briefly alluded to in different records, as though trips to the new regions of Vinland were no longer of sufficient rarity to be specially noticed. Such allusions refer to voyages made in 1121, 1285, 1288, 1289, 1290, and 1357. After 1357 no more is heard of the western lands. The settlements were gradually abandoned both in Vinland and Greenland, as the power of the Northmen declined, and so far as can be known, even their memory was buried in the unread records of former greatness. On Scandinavian discoveries, besides Rafn and De Costa, see Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 32; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 61-85 and 478; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. pp. 88-128; Abstract of Rafn, in Journal Lond. Geog. Soc., 1838, vol. viii. pp. 114-29.

DECLINE OF SCANDINAVIAN DISCOVERY.

Thus after this play of northern lights upon the western horizon for four or five centuries, enterprise in that direction languished, and finally the Sea of Darkness lapsed into its primeval obscurity. Nevertheless the deeds of the Scandinavians must have become more or less known to other parts of Europe, for the spirit of uneasiness which sent these Northmen across their western waters sent them also—particularly the Danes—eastward in the Holy Crusades. It would be well for the student to examine the works of Adam of Bremen, and Ordericus Vitalis, who beside these pre-Columbian voyages describe also the Crusades. Moreover, Iceland had Catholic bishops and was therefore in communication with Rome, where the discoveries of the Northmen must have been known. Rafn, Antiquitates Am., pp. 283, 292, and De Costa, Pre-Columbian Discov. Am., pp. 106-109, give translations from Scandinavian archives of contemporaneous descriptions of the earth in which these New World discoveries of the Northmen are included. Sailing charts and maps of the new discoveries must have been drawn by the Northmen, for although none of them were preserved, yet in Torfæus, Grœnlandia antiqua, Hauniæ, 1706, made by Icelandic draughtsmen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and in Ptolemy's Geography, edition of 1482, is information of certain things contained in no other charts of the period extant, which must therefore have been partially compiled from Scandinavian sources.

It is not to be supposed that the Northmen imagined that they had found a new continent; very naturally to them Greenland, Helluland, Markland, and Vinland were but the western continuation of Europe. It is to this belief, as well as to the prevailing apathy and skepticism of the age concerning matters beyond the reach of positive knowledge, that the strange fact of the loss of all trace of these discoveries is due.

The exact results of these ancient expeditions, and their influence on the subsequent revival of maritime enterprise, form a difficult and as yet undecided 78 point in the discussion of this subject. Kunstmann gives particular attention to this matter, and attaches more importance to northern voyages and their connection with later expeditions than most other authors; still it has not yet been proved that Prince Henry, Toscanelli, or Columbus in the fifteenth century had any knowledge of north-western discoveries.

[1096-1271.] The Crusades—as expeditions, but chiefly for their results—deserve a brief mention in this connection. When in the seventh century Palestine passed from Christian to Mahometan hands, in which possession it has remained with but temporary interruptions to the present time, Christian pilgrimages to the Holy City for a few centuries were allowed, and to some extent protected. By successive changes of dynasty, however, power was transferred from the Arab to the Turkish branch of the Mahometans, so that in the eleventh century Christian pilgrims were cruelly oppressed, and hindered from their pious visits to the tomb of Christ. Roused at first by the exhortations of Peter the Hermit, Italy, France, England, and Germany sent armies of the undisciplined and fanatical rabble to avenge the insults to their faith, and wrest the Holy City from the power of barbarian heretics. From the eleventh to the thirteenth century nine expeditions were undertaken eastward in the prosecution of this work. Jerusalem was several times taken and retaken, but finally the Crescent was successful in resisting the encroachments of the Cross, and the Crusades failed in their visionary purpose. Still the continued migration of vast multitudes, from different nations through strange and distant lands, contributed much to increase popular knowledge of the world, to arouse fresh interest in regions hitherto little known, and to excite curiosity respecting the countries still further to the east. Meanwhile, commerce received an impetus from the work of furnishing supplies to the crusaders; so that these expeditions are included by modern writers as prominent among the causes which led to the coming revival of civilization.

[1147.] During the twelfth century few maritime expeditions are reported deserving of notice. At some not very clearly defined date before 1147, eight Arabs, the Almagrurins, are said to have sailed thirty-five days south-west from Lisbon with the intention of exploring the Sea of Darkness. At the end of the thirty-five days they found and named an Isle of Sheep, and twelve days farther south reached another island peopled by red men. They are said to have found there a man who spoke Arabic. Upon the whole the claim to a discovery of any part of America in this voyage should be slight. If the voyage be authentic, the land reached was perhaps the Canary Islands; some say those of Cape Verde.

[1160-73.] Benjamin de Tudela, a Spanish Jew, travelled for thirteen years in India, bringing back considerable information respecting Chinese Tartary and the islands of the Indian Ocean. D. Benjamini, Itinerarium ex versione Montani, Antwerp, 1575; Itinerarium D. Benjaminis, Leyden, 1633; Travels of Benjamin, Son of Jonas, London, 1783.

[1170.] In this year is placed the reported voyage of Madoc, a Welsh prince, who, sailing to the west and north from Ireland, landed on an unknown shore. He afterward returned to this new country with ten ships 79 with the intention of colonizing, but was never again heard of. This voyage rests on very slight authority, but has claimed importance by reason of reports, long believed, of the existence in various parts of America of Welsh-speaking Indian tribes. These reports, like scores of others referring the Americans to European relationships, proved groundless. To say the least, the voyage of Madoc must be considered doubtful. The most ancient Discouery of the West Indies by Madoc the sonne of Owen Guyneth, Prince of North-wales, in the yeere 1170; taken out of the history of Wales, in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 1.

[1246 et seq.] In the middle of the thirteenth century the desire to extend Christianity was encouraged by rumored conversions already made in the dominions of the Mogul, and especially by the report of a powerful Christian monarch, Prester John, who had reigned somewhere in the interior of Asia. This report led to the sending of several priests as missionaries to the far East. Carpini in 1246, and Ascelino in 1254, Italian Franciscans, penetrated to the region now known as Chinese Turkestan. About the same time, 1253 according to Hakluyt, Rubruquis, also a Franciscan, from Brabant, traversed the central Asiatic deserts. He was the first to present a definite idea of the position of Tartary and Cathay. A notice of his travels was given in the writings of Roger Bacon in 1267. Toward the end of this century Odorico, of the same order, visited Persia, India, and finally China, remaining three years in Peking. Viaggio del Beato Frate Odorico di Porto Maggiore del Frivli fatto nell'Anno MCCCXVIII (half a century later than above), in Ramusio, tom. ii., fol. 254. See also Hakluyt's Voy., vol. i. pp. 21-117; vol. ii. pp. 39, 53; Navarrete, Col. Viages, tom. i. pp. ix. x.

VENETIAN AND GENOESE EXPEDITIONS.

[1250-95.] Nicolo and Maffio Polo, Venetian brothers, left Venice in 1250 on a trading trip north-eastward. Passing north of the Caspian Sea, they spent three years at Bokhara, and afterward in 1265, proceeded to the court of Kublai Khan at Kemenfu in Chinese Tartary, whence they returned in 1269, intrusted with a mission to the Pope. In 1271 they again set out, taking with them Marco, son of Nicolo. They revisited the Tartar court, where they spent seventeen years, and returned by sea down the Chinese and Indian coasts to Ormuz in Persia and thence overland to Constantinople, reaching Venice in 1295. Marco seems to have been a great favorite at the eastern court, where he was intrusted with missions in all directions. By means of his own travels and by reports of the natives from all sections whom he met, he gained an extensive knowledge of China and adjoining countries, including the numerous islands of the coast, chief among which was Zipangu, or Japan. From his memoranda, he afterwards wrote in prison, a full account of his eastern travels, which was copied and widely circulated in manuscript. See Hakluyt Society, Divers Voyages, Introd., p. lii., London, 1850, for an account of printed editions of Polo's work. Its authenticity and general reliability are now admitted, though doubtless errors have been multiplied by copyists. This journey of Marco Polo was by far the most important, for revising geography, of any undertaken during the middle ages. From this time the coasts of Asia were laid down on maps and described with tolerable accuracy by cosmographers. De i Viaggi di Messer Marco Polo, Gentil 'hvomo Venetiano, in Ramusio, tom. ii. fol. 2-60; 80 Marco Polo de Veniesia de le meravegliose cose del mondo, Venice, 1496; Marci Pauli veneti de regionibus orientalibus libri tres, Cologne, 1671.

The Venetians were the most enterprising navigators of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. They reached England at an early date,—Estancelin, Recherches, pp. 114-16, Paris, 1832—and not improbably extended their commercial operations still farther north, Iceland being at the time a flourishing republic with Catholic bishops. Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 92-4. No details however are preserved of any particular one of these voyages, nor of such as may have been directed toward Cape Non, the southern limit of oceanic navigation. Some time during this century a Moor, Ibn Fatimah, was driven by storms from Cape Non down past Cape Blanco, and his adventure was recorded in an Arabian geography.

[1291.] Doria and Vivaldi, Genoese, undertook a voyage down the African coast with a view of reaching India, and were last heard of at a place called Gozora. On this voyage, which rests on several authorities, has been founded a claim that the Italians preceded the Portuguese in passing Cape Bojador. Major, Prince Henry, pp. 99-110, concludes from an examination of all the documents that there are no grounds for this claim, although admitting the voyage and its purpose, in fact everything but its success. Gozora was probably Cape Non. Kohl regards this expedition as uncertain. One of the documents gives the date as 1281; from which circumstance Kohl and Humboldt erroneously make of it two voyages. D'Avesac, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1845, tom. cviii. p. 45, has the date 1285. Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 30-1, speaks of Genoese expeditions and the rediscovery of the Canaries during this century.

[1306.] On a map made by the Venetian Sanuto in 1306, Africa is represented as surrounded by the sea, but there is no evidence that the geography of that region is derived from any actual observations. The map simply shows one of the two theories then held respecting the shape of southern Africa.

[1332 et seq.] Sir John Mandeville, an English physician, between 1332 and 1366, travelled in eastern parts, including the Holy Land, India, and China. On his return he wrote in three languages an account of his adventures, with descriptions of the countries visited. See Hakluyt Soc., Divers Voy., Introd. p. xliii. His work corroborates that of Marco Polo, and although full of exaggerations, and probably tampered with by copyists in respect to adventures and anecdotes, "yet," says Irving, "his accounts of the countries which he visited have been found far more veracious than had been imagined." Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iii. pp. 128-38; Travels of Sir John Mandeville, London, 1725.

[1341 et seq.] As we have seen, the Canaries were known to the ancients, and made by Ptolemy the western limit of the world; but subsequently they were nearly forgotten until rediscovered and visited, perhaps several times, toward the middle of the fourteenth century, by the Portuguese. There is a definite account of one of these voyages. Two vessels were sent there by the King of Portugal in 1341, and nearly all the islands of the group visited, but no settlement was made. Before this, Luis de la Cerda represented to the Pope the existence of such islands, and received by a bull of 81 lordship of them, with the title of Prince of Fortune. The king of Portugal claimed in 1345 to have sent out previous expeditions to the islands. The project of Cerda proved a failure and no colony was founded. Voyages to the Canaries became quite frequent before the end of the century. Galvano, Discoveries, London, 1862; and in Collection of Curious Voyages, London, 1812, p. 10; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 30-1; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 1-4. Major, Prince Henry, pp. 139-45, dates the bull 1334.

[1346.] In August, 1346, Jaime Ferrer, a Catalan navigator, sailed from Majorca in the Mediterranean to search down the African coast for the Rujaura, or River of Gold, and never was heard from. This is proved by a document in the Genoese archives, and by an inscription on a Catalan map of 1375. Major shows this to have been an expedition in search of an unknown or imaginary river of gold, whose supposed existence rested on ancient traditions that a branch of the Nile flowed into the Atlantic, and which belief was strengthened by the gold brought from Guinea by the Arabs. Humboldt understands this Rujaura to have been the Rio d'Ouro below Cape Bojador, an inlet named later by the Portuguese; and he also states that Ferrer actually reached that point; but of this there seems to be no evidence.

[1351 et seq.] The Azores appear to have been discovered by the Portuguese early in this half century, appearing on a map of 1351. There is however no account of the voyage by which this discovery was made, although there is a tradition of a Greek who was there cast away in 1370. On a Genoese map of the same date the Madeira group is shown, having probably been discovered by Portuguese ships under Genoese captains early in the fourteenth century.

[1364.] By Villault de Bellefond, Relation des costes d'Afrique, Paris, 1669, it is stated that the Dieppese in 1364 made a voyage round Cape Verde, and far beyond, establishing trading-posts, which were repeatedly visited in the following years. On this account, repeated by many writers—Estancelin, Recherches, p. 72; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 285—is founded the French claim of having preceded the Portuguese in passing Cape Bojador and occupying the gold coast. Major, Prince Henry, pp. 117-33, maintains by strong proofs that this voyage rests on no good authority, and that the French occupation of that coast is of much later date.

THE ZENI.

[1380.] Nicolo Zeno, a Venetian, sailing northward for England, was driven in a storm still farther north, and landed on some islands in possession of the Northmen, which he named Friesland, but which are supposed to have been the Faroe group. Kindly received by the people, he sent to Venice for his brother, and both spent there the rest of their lives, making frequent excursions to neighboring islands, and gaining a knowledge of other more distant lands known to the Northmen, including two countries called Drogeo and Estotiland, lying to the southward of Greenland, which countries the Frieslanders claimed once to have visited. Nicolo died in 1395, and Antonio in 1404, after writing an account of their adventures, which, with a chart, he sent to a third brother, Carlo. The manuscript was preserved by the family and first published under the title Dei Commentarii del viaggio in Persia, etc., Venezia, 1558. After passing the ordeal of criticism the work is generally accepted as a faithful report of actual occurrences, though embellished, like 82 all writings of the time, with fable. Dello Scoprimento dell' Isola Frislanda Eslanda, en Grovelanda, et Icaria, in Ramusio, tom. ii. fol. 230-4; Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 121-8; Bos, Leben der See-Helden, pp. 523-7; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 48-9; Lelewel, Géog. du moyen âge, tom. iii. pp. 74 et seq. Irving, however, Columbus, vol. iii. pp. 435-40, sees in this voyage only another of "the fables circulated shortly after the discovery of Columbus, to arrogate to other nations and individuals the credit of the achievement," while Zahrtmann, Remarks on the Voy. to the Northern Hemisphere, ascribed to the Zeni of Venice, in Journal of the Geog. Soc., vol. v. pp. 102-28, London, 1835, claims that the whole account is a fable.

The chart by the brothers Zeni, published with the manuscript, is of great importance as the first known map which shows any part of America. It contains internal evidences of its own authenticity, one of which is that Greenland is much better drawn than could have been done from other or extraneous sources even in 1558. I give from Kohl's fac-simile a copy of the map, omitting a few of the names.

Zeno's Chart, Drawn about 1390.

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There can be little doubt that the countries marked Estotiland, Drogeo, and Icaria—possibly Nova Scotia, New England, and Newfoundland—owe their position on this chart to the actual knowledge of America, obtained either by a fishing-vessel wrecked there, as stated by the Zeni, or from a tradition preserved since the time of the Northmen. The lines of latitude and longitude were not on the original manuscript chart, but were added by the editors in 1558. Lelewel, Géog. du moyen âge, tom. iii. pp. 79-101, Bruxelles, 1852; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 97-106. 83

At an unknown date, probably near the end of the thirteenth century, Robert Machin, an Englishman, eloped with a lady in his own vessel from Bristol. He steered for France, but was driven by a tempest to the island of Madeira, where both died. Some of the crew escaped to the African coast, where they were taken prisoners, but afterward were redeemed by the Spaniards, to whom one of them related the discovery of Madeira, his account leading to its rediscovery. Major concludes, "that henceforth the story of this accidental discovery of Madeira by Machin must be accepted as a reality," but the date cannot be fixed. That of 1344 often assigned to the voyage results from a misreading of Galvano. Beside Galvano, Discov., pp. 58-9, see Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. ii. p. 1672; The Voyage of Macham, an English man, wherein he first of any man discovered the Iland of Madera, in Hakluyt, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 1; Curious and Ent. Voy., p. 13; Major's Prince Henry, p. 67; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 4.

[1402.] At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Jean de Betancourt with a company of Norman adventurers conquered Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. He afterward became tributary to the crown of Castile, and by the aid of the Spanish government obtained possession of other islands of the group, establishing there a permanent colony. Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo Mundo, pp. 30-33; Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. i., gives the date 1405; Galvano, Discov., p. 60; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 6; Pinkerton's Col. Voy., vol. xvi. pp. 808-15.

PRINCE HENRY OF PORTUGAL.

We enter now a new epoch in maritime discovery. Hitherto, if we exclude the voyages of the Northmen, there had been no attempt worthy the name of systematic ocean exploration. In the words of Major, "the pathways of the human race had been the mountain, the river, and the plain, the strait, the lake, the inland sea," but now a road is open through the trackless ocean, "a road replete with danger, but abundant in promise." Portugal, guided by the genius of Prince Henry the Navigator, was the first to shake off the lethargy which had so long rested on Europe. For some time past the Portuguese had been gradually eclipsing the Italians in maritime enterprise; but not until a prince leaves the pleasures of youth for the perils of the sea, throwing his life into the cause with all the ardor of a devotee, does ocean navigation become anything more than private commercial speculation, with now and then some slight aid from governments. True, others had undertaken the voyage round Africa, but Portugal was perhaps the first to make it. As D'Avesac remarks, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1846, tom. cx. p. 161: "Les Portugais ne s'y engagèrent point les premiers; mais seuls ils y persevérèrent, et les premiers ils atteignirent le but." Born in the year 1394, at a time when under his father, John, Portugal was already casting wistful glances over the Sea of Darkness, Prince Henry devoted his early life to geographical studies and his later life to discovery. Leaving the pomp and luxury of his father's court, he removed to the coast of Algarve, and from the dreary headland of Sagres let fly his imagination along the unknown shores of Africa. Drawing to him such young noblemen as were willing to share his labors, he established a school of navigation, giving special care to the study of cartography and mathematics. The geographical position of his native land was to the 84 Portuguese, in regard to oceanic adventure, not unlike that of the Italians in regard to Mediterranean navigation. Several causes united to inspire this prince with so noble an ambition. He desired to promote geographical science; to test the theories and traditions of the day; to know the truth concerning the disputed question of the form and extent of southern Africa; to turn the flow of riches, the gold and spices and slaves of India, from Italy into his own country. Nor was this last stimulant lessened by the fact that of late, by reason of Mahometan encroachments on Christian dominions, the old avenues of eastern traffic via the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf, or by the Red Sea and caravans across the deserts, were yearly becoming more insecure, and this too at a time when the taste for eastern luxuries was constantly increasing. Yet other incentives were Christian rivalry and Christian zeal. Spain had carried the cross to the Canaries; rumors kept coming in of Prester John and his Christian kingdom, now supposed to be in Africa instead of in Asia. Prince Henry moreover was grand master of the Order of Christ, and it behooved him to be stirring. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. xxvi.; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 33-4.

[1415.] Prince Henry began his voyages along the coast of Africa about the year 1415, at which time João de Trasto was sent with vessels to the Canaries. It was Henry's custom to despatch an expedition almost every year, endeavoring each time to advance upon the last, and so finally attain the end of the mystery—whereat the nobles grumbled not a little about useless expense. Obviously progress southward at this rate was very slow, and many years elapsed before Cape Bojador was passed and unknown seas were entered. Major's Prince Henry, pp. 64-65.

[1416-28.] Meanwhile Pedro, Henry's brother, travelled extensively, journeying through the Holy Land, visiting Rome, Babylon, and even England. Fortunately he found at Venice a copy of Marco Polo's work, and brought it home to Prince Henry. Galvano's Discov., pp. 66-7; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 11, 12.

[1418.] Gonzalez and Vaz, who were sent this year by Prince Henry on the regular annual expedition, were driven from their course and rediscovered Porto Santo. Galvano, Discov., pp. 62-4; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 11, 12; Curious and Ent. Voy., pp. 14, 15.

[1419.] Nicolo di Conti, Venetian, spent twenty-five years in India, Mangi, and Java, returning in 1444, and confirming many of Polo's statements. Discorso sopra il Viaggio di Nicolo di Conti Venetiano, in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 373. Twice in 1419, if we may credit Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. xxvi., did Prince Henry's ships pass seventy leagues beyond Cape Non.

[1420.] Gonzalez again embarks from Portugal intending to plant a colony, and guided by one Morales, a survivor of Machin's voyage, rediscovered Madeira. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. pp. xxvi-vii.; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 73-7; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 13; Galvano's Discov., pp. 63-4; Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, tom. i. pt. ii. p. 16. On a certain map dated 1459 is a cape supposed to be Good Hope, with the statement that in 1420 an Indian junk had passed that point from the east; but for this no authority is given. 85

1431.] The Formigas and Santa María islands of the Azore group were this year discovered by Cabral. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 15, makes the date August 15, 1432. For details of the discovery and settlement of all the eastern Atlantic islands, see idem, pp. 1-25.

[1434-6.] Gil Eannes, after an unsuccessful attempt in the preceding year, succeeded in 1434 in doubling Cape Bojador for the first time. Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, p. 34, makes the date 1433, and Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. xxvii., 1423. In 1435 Eannes with Baldaya passed fifty leagues beyond the cape, and in 1436 Baldaya advanced to a point fifty leagues beyond the inlet since known as Rio d'Ouro.

THE SLAVE-TRADE.

[1441-8.] For several years after the successful doubling of Cape Bojador, no new attempt of importance is recorded, but in 1441 the voyages were renewed, and in the next eight years the exploration was pushed one hundred leagues below Cape Verde. Prior to 1446 fifty-one vessels had traded on the African coast, nearly one thousand slaves had been taken to Portugal, and the discoveries in the Azores had been greatly extended. By these explorations Prince Henry had exploded the theory of a burning zone impassable to man, and of stormy seas impeding all navigation; his belief that Africa might be circumnavigated was confirmed; and he had obtained from the pope a grant to the crown of Portugal of lands he might discover beyond Cape Bojador to the Indies inclusive.

[1455-6.] According to Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i. p. 105, Alvise Cadamosto, a Venetian, the first of his countrymen as he claims to sail down the new coast, made a voyage for Prince Henry to the Gambia River below Cape Verde. This expedition derives its importance not from the limit reached, where others had preceded him, but from his numerous landing points, careful observations, and the detailed account published by the voyager himself in La Prima Navigazione, etc., Vicenza, 1507; also in Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i. pp. 104-15. This explorer touched at Porto Santo, Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Blanco, Senegal, Budomel, Cape Verde, and the Gambia River.

[1457.] Cadamosto claims, La seconda navigazione, in Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i. pp. 116-20, to have made a second voyage, during which he discovered the Cape Verde Islands; but Major, Prince Henry, pp. 278-88, shows that such a voyage was not made in that year, if at all.

[1460.] Diogo Gomez discovered the Cape Verde Islands, and their colonization was effected during the following years. Major, Prince Henry, pp. 288-99, publishes the original account for the first time in English. Prince Henry died in November of this year. Major's Prince Henry, p. 303; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 19. Irving, Columbus, vol. i. p. 30, fixes this date 1473; and Galvano, Discov., p. 14, says 1463.

[1461.] The spirit of discovery and the thirst for African gold and slaves had become too strong to receive more than a temporary check in the death of its chief promoter. In the year following Prince Henry's death a fort was built on the African coast to protect the already extensive trade, and in 1461 or 1462 Pedro de Cintra reached a point in nearly 5° north, being over six hundred miles below the limit of Cadamosto's voyage. La Nauigation del Capitan Pietro di Sintra Portoghese, scritta per Meser Aluise da ca da Mosto, in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 119. 86

[1469-89.] In 1469 Fernam Gomez rented the African trade from the king of Portugal for a term of five years, and during that time pushed his explorations under Santarem and Escobar to Cape St Catherine in 2° south, first crossing the equator in 1471. Under João II., who succeeded Alfonso V. in 1481, the traffic continued, and in 1489 Diogo Cam reached a point in 22°, over two hundred leagues below the Congo River, planting there a cross which is said to be yet standing. Martin Behaim, the mathematician and cosmographer, accompanied Cam on this voyage, and an error or interpolation in Schedel, Registrum, etc., Nuremberg, 1493, gave rise to the unfounded report that they sailed west and discovered America. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 257, 283, 292, 309; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 325-38; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. xl.; Harrisse, Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima, p. 40; Galvano's Discov., pp. 74-6; Otto, in Am. Phil. Soc., vol. ii., 1786.

We enter now the Columbian epoch proper, to which, as we have seen, the enterprises of Prince Henry and the Portuguese were precursory. About 1484, Christopher Columbus having proposed a new scheme of reaching India by sailing west, the king of Portugal surreptitiously sent a vessel to test his theory, which, after searching unsuccessfully for land westward, returned to the Cape Verde Islands. Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 53-4 et al. Columbus had resided in Portugal since 1470, and had made several trips in Portuguese ships down the African coast, in the course of which he is supposed to have first conceived his new project. Indignant at the conduct of the Portuguese king, Columbus left for Spain. Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, Hist. Prim., tom. i. pp. 9-10; translation in Pinkerton's Col. Voy., vol. xii. pp. 1-16; and in Kerr's Col. Voy., vol. iii. pp. 1-242.

In 1486 Bartolomeu Dias sailed round Cape Good Hope and continued his voyage to Great Fish River on the south-east coast, from which point he was compelled to return on account of the murmurs of his men. The cape, now for the first time doubled by Europeans, was seen and named by him on his return. In 1487 King João sent two priests, Covilham and Payva, to travel in the East, in the hope of gathering more definite information respecting Prester John and his famous Christian kingdom. Prester John they did not find, but Covilham in his wanderings reached Sofala on the east coast of Africa in about 20° south latitude, being the first of his countrymen to sail on the Indian Ocean. At Sofala he learned the practicability of the voyage which Dias had actually accomplished a little before, and a message to that effect was immediately sent to the king. Major's Prince Henry, pp. 339-42; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. xl-i; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 230 et seq.; Galvano's Discov., pp. 77-8.

From this time to the great discovery of 1492, few expeditions remain to be mentioned. It must not be forgotten, however, that by this time trading voyages were of ordinary occurrence all along the eastern Atlantic coast and its adjoining islands from Scandinavia to Guinea. A lively commerce was carried on throughout this century between Bristol and Iceland, and in the words of Kunstmann, substantiated by older authorities, "a bull of Nicolas IV. to the bishops of Iceland, proves that the pope in 1448 was intimately acquainted with matters in Greenland." It seems incredible 87 that during all this intercourse with northern lands, no knowledge of America was gained by southern maritime nations, yet so far as we know there exists no proof of such knowledge.

[1476.] John of Kolno, or Szkolny, is reported to have made a voyage in the service of the king of Denmark in 1476, and to have touched on the coast of Labrador. The report rests on the authority of Wytfliet, Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ augmentum, Lovanii, 1598, fol. 188, supported by a single sentence, "Tambien han ydo alla hombres de Noruega con el Piloto Iuan Scolno," in Gomara, Hist. Gen. de las Indias, Anvers, 1554, cap. xxxvii. fol. 31; by a similar sentence in Herrera, Hist. Gen., Madrid, 1601, dec. i. lib. vi. cap. xvi., in which the name is changed to Juan Seduco; and by the inscription, Jac Scolvus Groetland, on a country west of Greenland on a map made by Michael Lok in 1582, fac-simile in Hakluyt Soc., Divers Voy., p. 55. According to Kohl, Hist. Discov., pp. 114-15, this voyage is considered apocryphal by Danish and Norwegian writers. Lelewel, Géog. du moyen âge, p. 106, regards the voyage as authentic, and Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 45-8, attaches to it great importance as the source of all the voyages to the north which followed. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. pp. 152-4, gives but little attention to the voyage, and confesses his inability to decide on its merits: "Je ne puis hasarder aucun jugement sur cette assertion de Wytfliet."

[1477.] In this year Columbus, whom we first find with the Portuguese traders on the African coast, sailed northward, probably with an English merchantman from Bristol, to a point one hundred leagues beyond Thule, in 73° north. Colon, Hist. del Almirante in Barcia, tom. i. p. 4; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 43-7; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 272. He probably visited Iceland, although he gives the latitude incorrectly, taking it very likely from ancient geography rather than his own observations.

[1482.] According to Kunstmann, the edition of Ptolemy this year, Ptolomæi Cosmographia, Ulmæ, 1482, lib. viii., contains a map that includes Greenland, and must have been compiled from northern sources.

[1488.] Desmarquets, Mémoires Chronologiques, etc., Dieppe, 1785, tom. i. pp. 92-8, states that one Cousin sailed from Dieppe early in 1488, stood off further from land than other voyagers had done, and after two months reached an unknown land and a great river, which he named the Maragnon. Was this the Marañon in South America? He then sailed south-eastward and discovered the southern point of Africa, returning to Dieppe in 1489. The discovery was kept secret, but Cousin made a second voyage round the cape and succeeded in reaching India. Major, besides pointing out some inconsistencies in this account, shows that M. Desmarquets "could commit himself to assertions of great moment which are demonstrably false." He is not good authority for so remarkable a discovery not elsewhere recorded.

THE COLUMBIAN EPOCH.

Before striking out with Columbus in his bold venture to the west, let us sum up what we have learned thus far and see where we stand. First, the geographical knowledge of the ancients was restricted to a parallelogram extending north-west and south-east from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean, comprising one hundred and twenty degrees east and west by fifty degrees 88 north and south; circumscribe this knowledge with legendary stories and hypothetical and traditional beliefs concerning the regions beyond; then add a true theory of the earth's sphericity, though mistaken as to its size. This is all they knew, and this knowledge they committed to the Dark Age, during which time it was preserved, and, indeed, little by little enlarged, as we have seen. During the latter part of the fifteenth century, particularly, a powerful impulse had been given to discovery, especially toward the south; so that now the limits of the ancients were moved eastward at least forty degrees, to the eastern coasts and islands of Asia, chiefly by the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville. Toward the south, the true form of Africa had been ascertained, and its coasts had been explored by the Portuguese, except a space of about fifteen degrees on the south-west. Northward the old limit had been advanced but slightly, but within this limit much information had been gained by actual navigation about regions only vaguely described by Ptolemy. Westward, in what was still a Sea of Darkness, great discoveries had been made by the Northmen, but their results were now practically lost; while toward the south, several important groups of islands had been added to the known world. See map on page 73, where the regions added during this period are lightly shaded. And now, within the old bound the world is much better known than at the beginning of the period, and many minor geographical errors of the ancients have been corrected by the Crusaders, and others who attempted on a smaller scale to extend the Catholic faith, as well as by commercial travellers in distant lands. Again, by the influx of Mahometans into Europe during five or six centuries, eastern luxuries had been introduced to an extent hitherto unknown, and had in fact become necessities in Christian courts, thus making the India trade the great field of commercial enterprise even by the tedious and uncertain overland routes where middle-men absorbed the profits, and rendering the opening of other and easier routes an object of primary importance. The almost exclusive possession of trade via the old routes by the Italians, furnished an additional motive to other European nations for explorations by sea. The art of printing, recently invented, facilitated the diffusion of learning, so that it was impossible for the world ever again to lapse into the old intellectual darkness. The astrolabe, the foundation of the modern quadrant, had been adapted by a meeting of cosmographers in Portugal to the observation of latitudes by the sun's altitude, and thus the chief obstacle to long sea-voyages was removed. The polarity of the magnet had long been known, but the practical adaptation of the magnetic needle to purposes of navigation occurred about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The mariner's compass, however, only attained its highest purpose toward the close of the fifteenth century, when the Sea of Darkness was traversed. But before this, the greatest impediments to ocean navigation had been overcome by voyages actually made through the aid of the new inventions. Beside the coasts brought to light by these voyages, they had done much to dispel the old superstitions of burning zones, impassable capes, and unnavigable seas.

REAL AND IMAGINARY ISLANDS.

We have seen that, as a result either of the poetic fancy or of the actual discovery of the ancients, various islands were traditionally located in the Atlantic. Most of them undoubtedly owed their existence to the natural 89 tendency of man to people unknown seas with fabulous lands and beings, "Il est si naturel à l'homme de rêver quelque chose au-delà de l'horizon visible," observes Humboldt. For a full account of the history and location of these islands, "dont la position est encore plus variable que le nom," and the important part played by them in ancient and middle-age geography, see Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. pp. 156-245, and Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 6 et seq., and 35-37. In the fifteenth century, with the revival of maritime enterprise, came a renewal and multiplication of the old fables. Monastic scholars, by their continued study of the old writers, by their attempts to reconcile ancient geography with fabulous events in the lives of the saints, and by their inevitable tendency to exaggeration, had contributed largely to their preservation. Still, throughout the preceding period, the belief in the existence of such islands had been vague and hypothetical; but when the actual existence of numerous islands in the western ocean was proved, and the Canary, Madeira, Azore, and Cape Verde groups were discovered and explored, the old ideas were naturally revived and confirmed, and with them rose a desire to rediscover all that had been known to the ancient voyagers. The reported wonders of the fabulous isles, having on them great and rich cities, were confidently sought in each newly found land, and not appearing in any of them, the islands themselves were successively located farther and farther to the west, out in the mysterious sea, to be surely brought to light by future explorations.

And of a truth, this wondrous western empire was subsequently brought to light; peoples and cities were found, but beyond the limits within which the wildest dreams of their discoverers had ever placed them. On this foundation not a few speculators build a theory that America was known to the ancients. The chief of the hypothetical isles were San Brandan, Antilia, and the Island of the Seven Cities; their existence was firmly believed in, and they were definitely located on maps of the period. San Brandan is said to have been visited by the saint whose name it bears in the sixth century. It was at first located far north and west of Ireland, but gradually moved southward until at the time of Columbus' first voyage it is found nearly in the latitude of Cape Verde. To the inflamed imagination mirage is solid earth, or sea, or a beautiful city; an island which was long supposed to be visible from Madeira and the Canaries had something to do with the location of this island of the saint, and of the others.

Antilia, and the Island of Seven Cities, according to Behaim's map, are identical. See page 93 this volume; also a reputed letter of Toscanelli, about the existence of which Humboldt thinks there may be some doubt. The only tangible point in the traditionary history is the migration of seven bishops, driven from the Peninsula by the Moorish invasion in the eighth century, who took refuge there and built the Seven Cities. The history and location of this Island of the Seven Cities in the fifteenth century are similar to those of San Brandan Island. Galvano says a Portuguese ship was there in 1447. Brazil, Bracie, or Berzil, was another of these wandering isles, whose name has been preserved and applied to a rock west of Ireland, to one of the Azore islands, and to a country in South America. This name has been the theme of much discussion, which, so far as I know, leads to no 90 result beyond the fact that the name of a valuable dye-wood known to the ancients was afterward applied to lands known or conjectured to produce such woods. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. pp. 214-45; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 7-10, and 35 et seq. Kunstmann attaches greater geographical importance to the fabulous isles than Humboldt, connecting them in a manner apparently not quite clear to himself with the previous discoveries of the Northmen. Thus stood facts and fancies concerning the geography of the world, when the greatest of discoverers arose and achieved the greatest of discoveries.

Although in the chapters following I speak more at length of the deeds of the Genoese and his companions, yet in order to complete this Summary it is necessary to mention them here. I shall attempt no discussion concerning the country, family, date of birth, or early life of Christopher Columbus. For the differences of opinion on these points, with numerous references, see Harrisse, Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima, New York, 1866, p. 2 et seq. Born somewhere in Italy, probably Genoa, about 1435, he received something more than a rudimentary education, went to sea at the early age of fourteen, and in 1470, which is about the date of his coming to Portugal, had already an extensive experience in the navigation of the Mediterranean, and was skilled in the theory as well as the practice of his profession. We have already seen him with the Portuguese on the African coast, and with the English in Iceland. In fact, before his first voyage westward in 1492, he was practically acquainted with all waters then navigated by Europeans.

The promptings which urged forward this navigator to the execution of his great enterprise may be stated as follows: The success of the Portuguese in long voyages down the African coast suggested to his mind, soon after 1470, that if they could sail so far south, another might sail west with the same facility and perhaps profit. Says his son: "Estando en Portugal, empeçó à congeturar, que del mismo modo que los Portugueses navegaron tan lejos al Mediodia, podria navegarse la buelta de Occidente, i hallar tierra en aquel viage." Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, tom. i. p. 4; edition of Venetia, 1709, pp. 22-3; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 12; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. lxxix; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i. lib. i. cap. 1-7. His ardent imagination once seized with this idea, every nook and corner of geographical knowledge was searched for evidence to support his theory. By intercourse with other navigators he learned that at different times and places along the western coasts of Europe and Africa, objects apparently from unknown western lands had been washed ashore, suppositionally by the wind, really by the Gulf Stream or other oceanic currents. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. p. 249. Though well aware of existing rumors of islands seen at different times in the western ocean, it was not upon these, if any such there were, that he built his greatest anticipations of success. In the writings of the ancients he found another stimulant. Filled with fervent piety and superstitious credulity, he pored over every cosmographical work upon which he could lay his hands, as well the compilations of antiquated notions, such as the Imago Mundi of Pierre D'Ailly, or the more modern travels of Marco Polo and 91 Sir John Mandeville. Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, tom. i. p. 4 et seq.; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 349, 352; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 46, 60; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 74-6.

EVOLUTION OF THE GRAND CONCEPTION.

The result of these studies was a complete acquaintance with the geographical knowledge of the day, with the greater part of what I have thus far epitomized, the doings of the Northmen excepted. From all this he knew of the earth's sphericity; he believed that the larger part of the world's surface was dry land; that the land known to Ptolemy extended over at least 180 degrees, or half the circumference of the globe, that is, from the Canaries to the Ganges; he knew that by later travels the eastern limit of geographical knowledge had been moved much farther east, even to Cathay; he believed that far out in the ocean lay the island of Zipangu; he knew that some eight or ten degrees had been added on the west by the discovery of the Azores; he believed that at most only one third of the circumference remained to be navigated; that this space might naturally contain some islands available as way stations in the voyage; that the explorations in the East were very indefinite, and consequently Asia might, and probably did, extend farther east than was supposed; that Ptolemy's figures were not undisputed—Marino making the distance from the Canaries to the Ganges 225 degrees instead of 180, while another geographer, Alfragano, by actual measurement, made each degree about one sixth smaller than Ptolemy, thus reducing the size of the earth, and with it the remaining distance to India; that several ancient writers—see quotations from Aristotle, Strabo, Seneca, et al., in Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 38, 61, 98 et seq.—had pronounced the distance to India very short, and had affirmed that it might be navigated in a few days; and finally that other scholars, as Toscanelli, had arrived at the same conclusions as himself, possibly before himself. Cartas de Pablo Toscanelli, Físico Florentin, á Cristobal Colon y al Canónigo Portugues Fernando Martinez, sobre el descubrimiento de las Indias, in Navarrete, tom. ii. pp. 1-4; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 48-9. See also, on Columbus' motives, Irving's Columbus, vol. i. pp. 42-51, and vol. ii. p. 148; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, pp. 45-7; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. pp. 324-9; Stevens' Notes, p. 28; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 347-52; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 74. Many of these conclusions were erroneous, being founded on an incorrect idea of longitude; but this reduction of the earth's size was an error most fortunate for discovery, inasmuch as with a correct idea of the distance to be traversed, and with no suspicion of an intervening continent, such an expedition as that of the Genoese would not have been undertaken at the time.

Such were the ideas and aspirations of Columbus before his undertakings; later in life a theologic mysticism took possession of his mind, and his success was simply a fulfillment of divine prophecy in which cosmographical realities went for nothing. See Cartas de Don Cristobal Colon, in Navarrete, tom. i. p. 330.

All attempts to diminish the glory of Columbus' achievement by proving a previous discovery whose results were known to him have signally failed. The reports of mysterious maps which have been claimed to have prompted his enterprise evidently amount to nothing in view of the fact that Columbus never suspected the existence of any new countries, yet that he saw maps 92 of the world, including the Asiatic coasts, can not be doubted. The case of the pilot Sanchez, said to have died in the house of Columbus, and to have told him of lands he had seen toward the west, if true, is likewise of little moment as touching the honor due to Columbus, for many men were confident of having seen such lands from the Canaries and other islands, and several voyages had been made in search of them, all of which was certainly known to Columbus. The story of Sanchez was started by Oviedo, who gives no authority or date for the event; it was repeated generally with disapproval by other historians, until revived by Garcilaso de la Vega with date and details; but his date, 1484, is ten years after Columbus is known to have proposed his scheme to the Portuguese government. Columbus originated no new theory respecting the earth's form or size, though a popular idea has always prevailed, notwithstanding the statements of the best writers to the contrary, that he is entitled to the glory of the theory as well as to that of the execution of the project. He was not in advance of his age, entertained no new theories, believed no more than did Prince Henry, his predecessor, or Toscanelli, his contemporary; nor was he the first to conceive the possibility of reaching the east by sailing west. He was however the first to act in accordance with existing beliefs. The Northmen in their voyages had entertained no ideas of a New World, or of an Asia to the west. To knowledge of theoretical geography, Columbus added the skill of a practical navigator, and the iron will to overcome obstacles. He sailed west, reached Asia as he believed, and proved old theories correct.

There seem to be two undecided points in that matter, neither of which can ever be settled. First, did his experience in the Portuguese voyages, the perusal of some old author, or a hint from one of the few men acquainted with old traditions, first suggest to Columbus his project? In the absence of sustaining proof, the statement of the son Fernando that the father should be credited with the reconception of the great idea, goes for little. Second, to what extent did his voyage to the north influence his plan? There is no evidence, but a strong probability, that he heard in that voyage of the existence of land in the west. It is hardly possible that no tradition of Markland and Vinland remained in Iceland, when but little more than a hundred years had passed since the last ship had returned from those countries, and when many persons must have been living who had been in Greenland. If such traditions did exist, Columbus certainly must have made himself acquainted with them. Still his visit to the north was in 1477, several years after the first formation of his plan, and any information gained at the time could only have been confirmatory rather than suggestive. Both Humboldt and Kunstmann think that even if he ever heard of the discoveries of the Northmen—which is thought probable by the latter—this knowledge would not have agreed with, nor encouraged, his plans. Kohl, Hist. Discov., pp. 115-20, believes that such a knowledge would have been the strongest possible confirmation of his idea of the nearness of Asia and Europe, in which opinion I concur. The idea of Draper, Hist. Int. Develop., p. 446, that had Columbus known of the northern discoveries he would have steered farther to the north, seems of no weight, since he sought not the northern but the southern parts of India. 93

FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.

What Columbus had to contend with at this juncture was not, as I have said, old doctrines oppugnant to any new conception, but the ignorance of the masses, who held no doctrine beyond that of proximate sense, which spread out the earth's surface, so far as their dull conceptions could reach, in one universal flatness; and the knowledge of courts, whence alone the great discoverer could hope for support, was but little in advance of that of the people. Then the Church, with its usual firmness and conservatism, was against him. The monks, who were then the guardians of learning, knew, or might have known, all that Prince Henry, Columbus, and other earnest searchers had ascertained regarding the geography of the earth; but what were science and facts to them if they in any wise conflicted with the preconceived notions of the Fathers, or with Church dogmas? "II est vrai," says Humboldt, "que les scrupules théologiques de Lactance, de St. Chrysostôme et de quelques autres Pères de l'Eglise, contribuèrent à pousser l'esprit humain dans un mouvement rétrograde." And again, the African expeditions of the Portuguese had not on the whole been profitable or encouraging to other similar undertakings, and the financial condition of most European courts was not such as to warrant new expenses. Portugal, more advanced and in better condition to embark in new enterprises than any other nation, now regarded the opening of her route to India via the Cape of Good Hope an accomplished fact, and therefore looked coldly on any new venture. Nor were the extravagant demands of Columbus with respect to titles and authority over the new regions of Asia which he hoped to find, likely to inspire monarchs, jealous of their dignities, with favor toward a penniless, untitled adventurer. Passing as well the successive disappointments of Columbus in his weary efforts to obtain the assistance necessary to the accomplishment of his project, as his final success with Queen Isabella of Castile, let us resume our chronological summary.

Martin Behaim's Globe, 1492.

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[1492.] Shortly before the sailing of Columbus, the learned astronomer Martin Behaim, of Nuremberg, constructed a globe showing the whole surface of the earth as understood by the best geographers of the time. This globe has been preserved, and I present a fac-simile of the American hemisphere published in Ghillany, Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim, Nürnberg, 1853. The entire globe may be seen in Jomard, Les Monuments de la Géographie, no. xv., Paris, 1854. A section of the globe is given by Irving, Columbus, vol. i. p. 53 (see also Id., p. 135), by London Geog. Soc. Journal, 1848, vol. xviii. p. 76; and a copy from Ghillany, with some of the names omitted, may be found in Kohl's Hist. Discov., p. 147, map no. iv.

The chart by which the voyage of Columbus was made is supposed to have been a copy of Behaim's Globe, which indeed may be regarded as the exponent of geographical conceptions, those of Columbus as well as those of the learned men and practical navigators of the day. By an inscription on the original, the Asiatic coast is known to have been laid down from Marco Polo, and to the islands of Antilia and San Brandan are joined other inscriptions giving their history as I have before indicated. Sailing from Palos on the 3d of August, 1492, with one hundred and twenty men in three vessels commanded by himself and the two brothers Pinzon, Columbus was at last fairly launched on the Sea of Darkness. After a detention of three weeks at the Canaries, he sailed thence the 6th of September; marked, not without alarm, the variation of the needle on the 30th of September; and on the 12th of October discovered San Salvador, or Cat Island.

So far all was well; all was as the bold navigator had anticipated; all accorded with current opinions, his own among the number; he had sailed certain days, had accomplished a certain distance, and had reached triumphantly one of the numerous islands mentioned by Marco Polo, and, God willing, would soon find the larger island of Zipangu. Alas for mathematical calculations, for that other third of the earth's circumference; alas for the intervening continent and broad Pacific sea, which baffled the great discoverer to the day of his death!

Passing over the cruise through the Bahamas, or Marco Polo's archipelago of seven thousand islands, in which the discoverers touched successively at Concepcion, Exuma (Fernandina), and Isla Larga (Isabela), we find Columbus sailing from the last-mentioned island on the 24th of October for Zipangu, with the intention of proceeding thence to the main-land, and presenting his credentials to the great Khan.

Touching at the Mucaras group, Columbus arrived at Zipangu, which was none other than the island of Cuba, on the 28th of October, and gave to the island, in place of its barbarous appellation, the more Christian name of Juana. Cruising along the northern shore of Cuba, in frequent converse with the natives, he soon learned that this was not Zipangu, was not even an island, but was the veritable Asiatic continent itself, for so his fervid mind interpreted the strange language of this people. Unfortunately he could not find the Khan; after diligent search he could find no great city, nor any imperial court, nor other display of oriental opulence such as were described by Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville—only naked barbarians and thatched huts; so after advancing west beyond Savana la 95 Mar, the discoverers returned to the eastern end of Cuba, visiting on the way the group El Jardin del Rey. Postponing the exploration of the coast toward the south-west, Columbus returned eastward and followed the northern coast of Española, turning off on his way to discover the Tortugas, and arriving at La Navidad, where he built a fort and left a colony of thirty-nine men. Now, Española, and not Cuba as he had at first supposed, was the true Zipangu; for the main-land of China could not by any possibility be the island of Japan; and in this belief Columbus sailed for Spain on the 16th of January, reaching the Azores on the 18th of February, and arriving at Palos the 15th of March, 1493. Primer viage de Colon, in Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 1-197; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 10-13; Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen, tom. xiii. p. 10; Napione and De Conti, Biografia Colombo, pp. 305-36; Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. i.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. pp. 21-31, 46-55; Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, tom. i. pp. 13-38; Irving's Columbus, vol. i. pp. 124-289; vol. iii. pp. 447-68; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 356-7; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 10; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 66-76.

[1493.] Just before reaching the Azores, Columbus wrote on shipboard two letters describing his voyage, one under date of the 15th of February, and the other of the 14th of March. The manuscript of one, with copies printed in Spain probably during this same year, are yet preserved. Of the other, both the original manuscript and Spanish copies, if any were printed, are lost; but of a Latin translation, six editions are extant, supposed to have been printed in 1493, in France and in Italy, under the title Epistola Christofori Colom, or De Insulis Inventis, etc. A poetical paraphrase of the same letter appeared the same year as Dati, Questa e la Hystoria, etc., Florence, 1493, and four other works of this year contain slight allusions to Columbus. Seven or eight editions of Columbus' letters appeared in different forms during the next forty years. Both letters may be found with Spanish translations in the first volume of Navarrete's collection. For the bibliographical notices of this sketch I have depended chiefly on Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., as the latest and most complete essay on early American books, notwithstanding the few blunders that have subjected it to so much ridicule. I shall not consider it necessary to repeat the reference with each notice, as Harrisse's work is arranged chronologically.

PAPAL BULL OF PARTITION.

As soon as Columbus had explained to Ferdinand and Isabella the nature of his important discovery, the Spanish sovereigns applied to the Pope for the same grants and privileges respecting lands discovered, and to be discovered, in the west, that had before been granted the Portuguese in the south and east. His Holiness, accepting the Spanish statements that the concessions demanded did not in any way conflict with previous grants to the Portuguese, by bull of May 2, 1493, ceded to Spain all lands which might be discovered by her west of a line drawn from pole to pole, one hundred leagues west of the Azores; the Portuguese to have all new lands east of the same line. It is obvious that his Holiness fixed this line arbitrarily, without a thought of the position or importance of the corresponding meridian at the antipodes. This opposite meridian, according to the idea of longitude entertained at the time, would fall in the vicinity of India proper; and the Portuguese, besides their natural jealousy of this new success of Spain, feared that 96 the western hemisphere thus given to her rival might include portions of their Indian grants. Hence arose much trouble in the few following years between the two courts. See infra.

Amidst the enthusiasm following his success Columbus had no difficulty in fitting out another expedition. Embarking from Cádiz September 25, 1493, with seventeen vessels and over 1,200 men, among whom were Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa, el almirante, or the admiral, as Columbus was now called, touched at the Canaries, discovered Dominica the 3d of November, and Guadalupe a few days later; thence sailing north-west through the Caribbean Archipelago, he occasionally landed and gave names to islands. Resting two days at Puerto Rico, he reached the coast of Española on the 22d of November, and on the 27th anchored off the port of Navidad. The settlement established at this place in the previous voyage had totally disappeared; the colonists as is supposed falling victims to internal dissensions and general excesses. A new city called Isabela was then founded at another port of this island, and Ojeda was sent inland to explore the country. After a short absence he returned, reporting the country rich in gold. On the second of February, 1494, twelve vessels, with specimens of the people and products of the country, were despatched for Spain under Antonio de Torres. By this departure was also sent a request for immediate supplies. Recovering from a serious illness, Columbus checked a revolt among his people on the 24th of April, built a fort in the interior, and then sailed to explore the main coast of Asia—as he supposed, but in truth Cuba—south-westward from the point where he left it on his first voyage. Following the south coast of Cuba the admiral at length reached the vicinity of Philipina, or Cortés Bay, where the shore bends to the southward. This to him seemed conclusive proof that it was indeed the main-land of Asia which he was coasting. The statements of the natives who said that Cuba was in fact an island, but that it was so large that no one had ever reached its western extremity, confirmed him in his belief—since one might question the knowledge of a boundary which no one had ever reached and from which no one had ever come. The theory of the age was thus made good, and that was sufficient; so Columbus brought all his crew, officers and men, before the notary, and made them swear that the island of Cuba was the continent of Asia—an act significant of methods of conversion in those days. He even proposed to continue the voyage along the coast to the Red Sea, and thence home by way of the Mediterranean, or, better still, round the Cape of Good Hope, to meet and surprise the Portuguese; but his companions thought the supplies insufficient for so long a voyage, and the admiral was persuaded to postpone the attempt.

Returning therefore to Española, on the way back Columbus discovered and partially explored Jamaica, Isla de Pinos, and the small islands scattered to the southward of Cuba, arriving at Isabela on the 4th of September. There he found matters in a bad way. The colony, comprising a motley crew of lawless adventurers, ever ready to attribute success to themselves and ill-fortune to their governor, trumped up numerous complaints which caused the admiral no little trouble. Margarite, to whom had been given a command for an expedition inland, had revolted and sailed with several ships for Spain. 97 Open war had been declared with the natives, and the colonists were hard pressed; but the admiral's presence and Ojeda's impetuous bravery soon secured order. Meanwhile two arrivals inspired the colonists with fresh courage; that of Bartolomé Colon, brother of the admiral, with three ships, and that of Torres, with four vessels laden with supplies. With the gold that had been accumulated, and specimens of fruits and plants, and five hundred natives as slaves, Torres was sent back to Spain, accompanied by Diego Colon, whose mission was to defend his brother's interests at court. The pacification of the natives was then completed, and heavy taxes were imposed upon them. In October, 1495, arrived Juan de Aguado, sent by the king to ascertain the facts concerning charges against the admiral. This man, in place of executing his commission fairly, only stirred up the accusers of Columbus to greater enmity—which quality of justice well accorded with the temper of his master Ferdinand. On account of these troubles, as well as from the discovery of a new gold mine, which proved beyond question that Española was the ancient Ophir of King Solomon, Columbus decided to return to Spain. So leaving his brother, Bartolomé, in command as adelantado, or lieutenant-governor, he sailed with Aguado, on the 10th of March, in two caravels, carrying 225 Spaniards and thirty natives. Touching at Marigalante, and Guadalupe, he arrived at Cádiz June 11, 1496. Segundo Viage de Cristobal Colon, in Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 198-241; Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, tom. i. pp. 42-73; Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. 2-4; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. pp. 31-5; Napione and De Conti, Biografia Colombo, pp. 331-50; Irving's Columbus, vol. i. pp. 338-497; vol. ii. pp. 1-87; Major's Prince Henry, p. 358; Humboldt's Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 217; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 93-9. The letters which Columbus sent to Spain by Torres in February, 1494, if ever printed, are lost; but in Syllacio, ad Sapiẽtissimũ ... de insulis, etc., Pavia, 1494 or 1495, appeared certain letters from Spain to the author of this work, describing the second voyage of Columbus.

[1494.] Thus during the absence of Columbus on his second voyage we have seen the ocean route between Spain and Española six times navigated; first, by the fleet of twelve vessels sent back to Spain by the admiral under Antonio de Torres; second, by Bartolomé Colon, who followed his brother to Española with three ships; third, by Margarite, who revolted and left Española during the absence of Columbus in Cuba; fourth, by Torres in command of four vessels from Spain with supplies for the colony; fifth, by the return of the same four ships to Spain with gold and slaves; and sixth, by Juan de Aguado with four ships from Spain in August, 1495.

REPARATION OF THE WORLD.

With the division of the world by Pope Alexander VI., Portugal was not satisfied. The world was thought to be not so large then as now, and one half of it was not enough for so small a kingdom which had boasted so great a navigator as Prince Henry. It was not their own side, but the other side, that troubled the Portuguese, fearing as they did that the opposite meridian threw into Spain's half a part or the whole of India. So Spain and Portugal fell to quarrelling over this partition by his Holiness; and the matter was referred to a commission, and finally settled by the treaty of Tordesillas in June, 1494, which moved the line 270 leagues farther west. About the location of 98 this line of demarcation, and its effect on Brazil, and the Moluccas, much has been written, though little has been said as to the motive that prompted Portugal in making this change. The fact is, that at a time when the Spice Islands were but vaguely known, and the existence of Brazil not even suspected, it is impossible to conceive why Portugal desired to change the partition line from 100 leagues to 370 leagues west of the Azores; for the change could only diminish the possessions of Portugal in India by 270 leagues, as in truth it did, including the Moluccas in the loss, and gaining in return 270 leagues of open Atlantic sea! True, there proved to be an accidental gain of a part of Brazil, but there could have been no idea at the time that this partition line cut through any eastern portion of lands discovered by Columbus to the west. In whatever light we imagine them to have regarded it, there is still an unexplained mystery. The Pacific ocean was unknown; between the discoveries of Spain and Portugal, so far as known, all was land—India. By carrying the partition line westward, Portugal may have thought to find some western land; at all events, it is generally believed that the effect of the partition in the antipodes was not well considered; that the only point in question was the right of making discoveries in the western ocean, and that the treaty of Tordesillas was decided in favor of Spain—Portugal being forced to yield the main point, but insisting on the change of partition in order to give her more sea-room. On the other hand it may be claimed that the antipodes, of which they knew so little, were the avowed object of all the expeditions sent out by both parties. See the original bull and treaty in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. ii. pp. 28, 130; also Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. ii. pp. 173-83; Calvo, Recueil Complet des Traités, Paris, 1862, tom. i. pp. 1-36; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 13-15; Curious and Ent. Voy., p. 20; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, p. 183.

Italy, and especially Venice, as we have seen, was the first of the European states to display in any marked degree in mediæval times that commercial spirit so early and so well developed in the Phœnicians. Portugal caught the flame under John the Great, 1385-1433, and led the van of a more daring discovery and exploration by conquests on the north-west coast of Africa. Simultaneously Prince Henry was sending expeditions farther down the western coast of Africa, and among the islands of the Atlantic. His country reaped the reward in 1486, when the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope opened her a way by sea to Hindostan, and to the commerce of the Orient, and gave at the same time the death-blow to Venetian ascendancy in that market.

But Spain, as chance would have it, did not lag far behind her sister kingdom. The fact of the great navigators, Columbus and Vespucci, being Italians, and yet having to seek assistance of Spain, sufficiently indicates in what direction the swing of maritime power was tending. The astronomical schools of Córdova, Seville, and Granada had well prepared Spain for the application of astronomy to navigation, and the long internal wars had bred those bold and enduring spirits who alone are fitted to conduct with success great enterprises of certain danger and uncertain result.

It is claimed by some that John and Sebastian Cabot made their first voyage 99 and discovered Newfoundland in 1494. The claim rests on a statement of the Spanish ambassador to England in a letter dated July 25, 1498, to the effect that during the past seven years several vessels had been sent each year from Bristol in search of Brasil and the Islands of the Seven Cities, and on an inscription on Sebastian Cabot's map of 1544, which states that land was first discovered by the Cabots on June 24, 1494. D'Avesac, Letter on the Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot, in Kohl, pp. 506-7. But other authors consider the map—even if made by Cabot, which is extremely doubtful—insufficient authority to prove such a voyage.

[1495.] At the solicitation of the brothers Pinzon and other navigators, a license was granted April 10, 1495, permitting any native-born Spaniard to make private voyages for trade and discovery from Cádiz to the Western India; such expeditions to be under the inspection of government, one of whose officials was to accompany each vessel to ensure the payment to the crown of one tenth of the profit of the voyage. For this document in full, see Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. ii. p. 165. See also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 356 et seq. Whether any one actually took advantage of this license before its repeal—which was on June 2, 1497, at the instigation of Columbus—is a disputed point of some importance in connection with certain doubtful expeditions to be considered hereafter.

[1496.] Pedro Alonso Niño sailed from Cádiz June 17, 1496, just after the return of Columbus, in command of three vessels laden with supplies for the colony at Española.

AMERIGO VESPUCCI.

[1497.] Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator, claims to have set sail from Cádiz with four vessels in the service of the king of Spain on the tenth, or twentieth, of May, 1497. In what capacity he accompanied the expedition, or who was its commander, he does not state, but says that he was chosen by the king to go with the expedition. "Me ad talia investiganda in ipsam societatem elegit." Sailing south-south-west to the Canaries, 280 leagues from Lisbon, he remained there eight days, and then sailed west-one-quarter-south-west 1,000 leagues in twenty-seven, or thirty-seven, days, to a point on the main-land in 16° north and 75° west of the Canaries—that is to say, on the coast of Central America near Cape Gracias á Dios. This must have been about the 1st of July, some days perhaps after Cabot's landing farther north, which was the 24th of June. The Spaniards went ashore in boats, but the natives were too timid to trade; so that continuing their voyage for two days north-west in sight of the flat coast, they reached a more secure anchorage, established friendly relations with the people, and found some traces of gold. The ships then followed the coast for several days, to a port where was found a village built over the water like Venice, and there fought with the natives (of Tabasco?); sailed eighty leagues along the coast to a region of many rivers (Pánuco?), where they were kindly received by people of a different language, and made a journey of eighteen leagues inland, visiting many towns. This province was called by the inhabitants Lariab, and is situated in the torrid zone, near the tropic of Cancer, in 23° north. Again they started, pursued a north-west course and frequently anchored, sailing thus 870 leagues, until after thirteen 100 months, that is to say in June, 1498, they reached "the best harbor in the world" (port of Cape Cañaveral?), in 28° 30', where they resolved to repair their ships for the return voyage. There they remained thirty-seven days, and when about to depart, the natives complained of certain cannibals who came each year from an island 100 leagues distant to attack them. The Spaniards, in return for their kindness, promised to avenge their wrongs. Accordingly they sailed north-east and east to a group of islands, some of which were inhabited (Bermudas?); landing at one of them called Ity, they defeated the cannibals, and made 250 prisoners, with a loss of one man killed and twenty-two wounded. Returning, they arrived at Cádiz October 15, 1499, with 222 prisoners, who were sold as slaves. The above is the account given by Vespucci in a letter written in 1504, according to the edition adopted as authentic and original by Varnhagen, Le premier Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci, who believes that Vicente Yañez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis were the commanders. This voyage is not generally regarded as authentic; and a long and complicated discussion has arisen on the question whether the account given is to be regarded as true, as wholly a fabrication, or as belonging to a subsequent voyage and accidentally or intentionally dated back two years. As this voyage, if actually made as claimed by M. Varnhagen, would be the first to touch the territory which I denominate the Pacific States, I find it necessary to give in this place the leading points in the discussion. In what may be called the standard authorities on American discovery, such as Navarrete, Humboldt, and others, is found fully presented the question of the authenticity of Vespucci's voyage, always, however, under the supposition that the land claimed to have been visited was the coast of Paria. The theory of M. Varnhagen, that that region must be sought in North America, reopens the question and introduces some new features which cannot be passed by unnoticed in this connection. Without entering upon the somewhat complicated bibliography of Vespucci's narrations, or taking up the question of his claims in the matter of naming America, I shall attempt to state briefly, and as clearly as I am able, the arguments for and against the authenticity of a voyage, in which perhaps is involved the question of the first post-Scandinavian discovery of the North American continent.

THE DISPUTED VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.

Besides Vespucci's own statement, in a letter written in 1504, no contemporary document has been found which mentions such an expedition, though most diligent search for such documents has been made in the Spanish archives by partisans and opponents of the Florentine's claim. This absence of confirmatory documents is the more noticeable as the expedition was made under royal patronage. In another and previously written letter describing his second voyage in 1499, Vespucci not only makes no mention of this voyage, but even excuses his long silence by saying that nothing had occurred worth relating. True, a short letter of one Vianello, dated 1506, published by Humboldt, mentions a voyage to which no date is given, made by Vespucci in company with Juan de la Cosa. M. Varnhagen supposes this to have been the voyage in question, and a large river discovered at the time to have been the Mississippi; but, beside the fact that there is no reason for attributing the date of 1497 rather than any other to this voyage, Vianello's letter, 101 with two others, published by Harrisse, indicates a much later date for the expedition with Juan de la Cosa.

Moreover, not only is there a want of original records, but contemporary historians are silent respecting this expedition; the first mention by later writers being a denial of its authenticity when it was thought to conflict with the admiral's claims as discoverer of the continent. Yet, on the supposition of a voyage to the North American coast, there are some passages in the historians Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, and Herrera, which point more or less definitely to an exploration of the gulf of Honduras before 1502. Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. vi., writing before 1508, says that many claim to have sailed round Cuba; and later, dec. i. cap. x., he mentions a report that Pinzon and Solis had explored the coast of Honduras, giving, however, no dates. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii. p. 140, says positively that the gulf of Honduras was discovered not by Columbus, but by Pinzon and Solis, and that before the former discovered the Amazon, or the latter the Rio de la Plata, that is to say before 1499. Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, fol. 63, states that Pinzon and Solis are said by some to have explored the coast of Honduras three years before Columbus, which would make it in 1499. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. iii., says that the gulf of Honduras was named Hibueras from the gourds found floating in its waters by the first Spaniards who sailed along the coast. To M. Varnhagen, this it may be random remark of Herrera is proof positive that as Columbus did not enter or name the gulf, he was not the first Spaniard who sailed along the coast. Whatever weight may be attached to these passages from the historians, in proving a voyage to North America previous to that of the admiral, such evidence is manifestly increased by the fact that the date of the voyage attributed to Pinzon and Solis seems to rest entirely on the statement of Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i. lib. vi. cap. xvi., who describes the expedition with other events under the date of 1506. Yet in the testimony in the lawsuit hereinafter to be mentioned, it is implied, though not expressly stated, that the voyage was after that of Columbus, since special pains was taken by the king to prove the coast explored by Pinzon to be distinct from that discovered by the admiral. Another point is that in this same testimony the name 'Caria' is given to a place visited during Pinzon's voyage, and for this name Vespucci's 'Lariab' may possibly be a misprint.

Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. pp. 59, 267, 272-4, repeatedly states it as an undeniable fact that Vespucci was employed in Spain in fitting out the vessels for the third voyage of Columbus, up to the date of the sailing of the expedition, May 30, 1498, and consequently could not himself have sailed in May or any other month of 1497. He makes this statement on the authority of documents collected by Muñoz. Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., p. 57, states, also on the authority of Muñoz, that from April, 1497, to May 30, 1498, Vespucci was "constantly travelling from Seville to San Lúcar." Vespucci is known to have succeeded Juanoto Berardi, who died in December, 1495, in a contract to fit out vessels for the Spanish government, and to have received money on account of that contract on the 12th of January, 1496. Irving, with access to the documents of Muñoz, says that four caravels fitted out by Vespucci sailed February 3, 1496, but were driven back; and he speaks of 102 no evidence of his presence in Spain in 1497 or 1498. Navarrete, relying on the same Muñoz documents—which consist of extracts from the books of expenses of Indian armadas in the Casa de Contratacion in Seville—gives no date to the sailing and wreck of the four vessels mentioned by Irving, but implies that the event took place before Berardi's death. After speaking of the receipt of money on the 12th of January, 1496, he states that Vespucci "went on attending to everything until the armada was despatched from San Lúcar." Col. de Viages, tom. iii. p. 317. He does not state that the fleet thus fitted out was that in which Columbus sailed in 1498. Muñoz in the printed portion of his work is silent on the subject. Varnhagen, Vespuce et son Premier Voy., p. 18, argues that Humboldt had no authority whatever for applying Navarrete's statement respecting the armada despatched from San Lúcar to the admiral's fleet, that statement having probably been his authority, and not the original documents of Muñoz; and that the four vessels whose fitting-out Vespucci personally superintended were much more probably those in which he himself sailed and made the voyage in question. Varnhagen furthermore thinks that the death of Berardi furnished a reasonable motive for the resolution formed by Vespucci to visit the Indies, and a favorable opportunity for carrying out his resolution. If it can be proved that Vespucci was in Spain in 1497 and 1498, of course the question of his claimed voyage admits of no farther discussion; but if Humboldt's only authority be his interpretation of Navarrete's statement, even if the interpretation be not unnatural or improbable, the matter must still be considered doubtful until the original Muñoz documents are produced.

The silence of contemporary documents respecting Vespucci's voyage carries the greater weight from the fact that there are special reasons for the existence of such documents, if the voyage had been actually made. In 1508 a suit was begun by Diego Colon against the Spanish crown for the government of certain territory claimed by virtue of the discovery of Paria by his father, the admiral. The suit continued to 1513, and every effort was made by the crown to prove a previous discovery of the coast in question; hundreds of witnesses were examined, and their testimony has been preserved and published in Navarrete's collection. In this suit Vespucci was not summoned as a witness, although much of the time in royal employ, having held the office of piloto mayor from 1508 to his death in 1512. No claim was advanced for his discovery, although the voyage is stated to have been made under royal patronage, and by proving its authenticity the crown would have gained its object. Indeed, Vespucci's name is only mentioned once in all the testimony, and that as having accompanied Alonso de Ojeda in his voyage of 1499. That no one of the many witnesses examined knew of Vespucci's voyage in 1497, if it were a fact, is hardly possible. Not only were the witnesses silent on the Florentine's expedition, but many of them, including Ojeda, affirmed that Paria was first discovered by Columbus, and next afterward by Ojeda himself. Now as Vespucci accompanied Ojeda, the latter would surely have known of any previous discovery by Vespucci, and as Ojeda was not friendly to Columbus he certainly would have made the fact known. Moreover, the admiral's charts and sailing-directions were followed by Ojeda in his voyage, which would hardly have been done with a 103 skilful pilot like Vespucci on board, and one who had visited the coast before. True, this last point would have little weight if the coast of Paria was not the region visited by Vespucci, while the other points would be little if at all affected by the theory that North America was the coast explored. No other Spanish voyage to the new region was neglected; indeed, to have so completely disregarded Vespucci's expedition, it must be supposed that the king not only knew exactly what region he explored, but had a positive conviction that said region was entirely distinct from Paria; and we have seen that no such definite opinion was held at the time, but on the contrary, special pains was taken to prove that the new regions were "all one coast." When it is considered that Vespucci's voyage, that is the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, was mentioned in the testimony, the failure to summon the piloto mayor appears all the more remarkable. What more efficient witness could have been brought forward? Thus the silence of the testimony in this suit on the question under discussion, must be deemed something more than mere negative proof, as it is termed by M. Varnhagen. This gentleman also notes that only one witness mentions that Vespucci accompanied Ojeda in 1499; but he does not note that the presence of Vespucci on Ojeda's ships was of no importance to either party in the suit, while a previous discovery by him was of the very greatest importance to the crown.

VESPUCCI'S VOYAGE FURTHER CONSIDERED.

The date of sailing from Cádiz is given by different editions of Vespucci's letter as May 10, and May 20, 1497; and of his return as October 1, 15, and 18, 1499. From these dates two difficulties arise; first, the duration of the voyage is stated in the letter to have been eighteen months, while the period between the dates of sailing and return is twenty-nine months; and again, Vespucci is known to have sailed with Ojeda in May, 1499, that is, five months before he returned from the voyage in question. One way of reconciling the first difficulty is to suppose that the author reckoned time by the Florentine method, then common in familiar correspondence, according to which the year began the 25th of March. Then in case of a very natural misprint in the original of May for March, the voyage really began in 1498, its duration being thus reduced to nineteen months. A more simple method of removing both difficulties is to suppose a misprint of 1499 for 1498 as the date of the return; this would reduce the time to seventeen months. Several later editions have made this change. The edition claimed as original by M. Varnhagen has the date 1499 according to his translation, and strangely enough the editor makes no allusion to it in his notes, although in a former pamphlet he speaks of 1498 as the date of the return. I attach very little weight to discrepancies in dates in this relation except as evidence against any intentional deception on the part of Vespucci. Confusion in dates is common in all relations of the period; and Vespucci's letters were written hastily, not for publication, and merely to interest his correspondents by a description of the marvels he had seen in his New World adventures. It may here be stated that the long and bitterly argued question of the rival claims of Vespucci and Columbus in the matter of naming America has no bearing on the present discussion. There is no evidence that the voyage in question had any influence in fixing the name America; and to pronounce this expedition not authentic has no tendency to weaken Vespucci's reputation 104 for honesty, which may now be considered fully established; nor do the arguments against intentional falsification on Vespucci's part tend to prove the voyage authentic.

Several coincidences between the narratives of this voyage and that of Ojeda have led many writers to conclude that both describe the same expedition, the dates having been accidentally or intentionally changed. Humboldt, after a careful examination, was convinced that the two voyages were identical. But when we consider that Humboldt, Navarrete, and Irving formed their conclusions without a suspicion of a voyage to North America, and before that question had ever once arisen; that Navarrete severely criticises Vespucci's narrative as applied to Ojeda's voyage; that two of the strongest coincidences—the mention of Paria as the coast visited, and the discovery of a town built over the water like Venice—have no weight in view of the new theory, since the province is called Lariab in the original edition, and that method of building was not uncommon in all the tropical regions of America, it must be admitted that this argument has by itself little force against the authenticity of Vespucci's voyage.

The right granted to private individuals by the Spanish government in April, 1495, to make voyages of discovery at their own expense, subject to certain regulations, was partially revoked in June, 1497, after Vespucci's claimed departure. All authorities agree that during this time such private voyages, or even clandestine expeditions, may have been and probably were made, of which no records have been preserved. It is argued that Vespucci's voyage may have been of this number, although claimed to have been made under royal patronage, and by no means clandestine. It is even suggested that the revocation of the right of private navigation, brought about by the influence of Columbus, was purposely delayed until after Vespucci's departure—all of which proves, if it proves anything, simply that there was nothing to prevent Vespucci from making the voyage.

We have seen how certain statements of the old chroniclers may be taken as indicative of a voyage along the Central American coast previous to that of Columbus. There are also similar indications in some of the early maps. Thus Juan de la Cosa's map representing Cuba as an island in 1500 (see page 115 this volume) might be accounted for by such a voyage as Vespucci claims to have made. It will be seen hereafter that early maps show some slight traces of a knowledge of Florida before its discovery in 1512 (pp. 128-9 this vol.) In the Ruysch map of 1508 (p. 126 this vol.) the eastern coast of what seems to be Cuba is identified by M. Varnhagen with the main-land; in his opinion the inscription at the north point of that coast refers directly to Vespucci's expedition, and 'Cape S. Marci' at the southern point may indicate Vespucci's arrival on Saint Mark's day, especially as his uncle was a priest of the order of St Mark. If this appears somewhat far-fetched, perhaps more weight should be attached to the name 'Cape Doffin de Abril' on the southern point of what may be Florida on the Ptolemy map of 1513 (p. 130 this vol.), for at the end of April Vespucci may, according to his narrative, have been at that point. On this matter of an early voyage it may be noted that Columbus, striking the coast at Guanaja Island in 1502 in search of a passage westward, instead of following westward, as he naturally would have done, at 105 least to the head of the gulf of Honduras, turned directly east. A knowledge on his part that Vespucci had already explored westward and northward without finding a passage, would account for his actions. But they have already been satisfactorily accounted for by the fact that he simply proposed to sail along the sinuosities of the supposed southern coasts of Asia to India, rather than to penetrate any intervening continent, whose existence he did not suspect.

CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.

In addition to the leading arguments for and against the voyage in question, the following minor points are urged:

It is claimed that the command of such an expedition would not have been given to a foreigner, and Vespucci did not become a naturalized citizen of Spain until 1505. But on the other hand, if Vespucci had rendered no other service to Spain than to have accompanied Ojeda, he would hardly have received so many favors from the government, especially after having served four years under the king of Portugal.

Señor Navarrete finds a difficulty in Vespucci's claim to have brought back to Spain 222 slaves in the few small vessels under his command. Vespucci also speaks of Ferdinand as king of Castile, which it was not customary to do until after Isabella's death.

The high opinion held of Vespucci during his life by Columbus and his zealous friends is of little weight, because the admiral's claim to have discovered the supposed Asiatic continent or islands adjacent thereto was undoubted; but the favorable opinions expressed by later writers, especially by Fernando Colon, writing after America was known to be distinct from Asia, tend to prove that the Florentine made in his lifetime no claim to a voyage in 1497. Yet the publication and circulation of his letter in several languages, uncontradicted for years, would indicate its authenticity, unless it be taken as a sign of carelessness for dates and details so long as they were not supposed to conflict with the admiral's claims. It must also be remembered that the same voyager's second, third, and fourth expeditions have all been disputed and have at last proved authentic.

M. Varnhagen applies to Vespucci and his men the well-known tradition related by Sahagun and others of white men who appeared at Pánuco from the east before the coming of the Spaniards. He also supposes Guerrero, the soldier found by Cortés at Cozumel, and believed by other authors to have been a survivor with Aguilar of Valdivia's shipwreck in 1512, to have been left in Yucatan by Vespucci; but he gives no reason for this belief, except that Guerrero had married among the natives, and had adopted many of their customs. By the same writer it is thought much more likely that Cape Gracias á Dios was named by Vespucci after a long voyage in search of land, than by Columbus after following the coast a few days and taking possession; especially as Columbus in his own letter simply mentions his arrival at the cape, the fact of his having given the name coming from other sources.

The events of the voyage, and the description of the coast visited by Vespucci as given in his letter, furnish no evidence whatever for or against the authenticity of the expedition; but if it be admitted from outside evidence that the voyage was actually made, and was distinct from that of Ojeda, while the narrative has nothing except the occurrence of the name Paria in favor 106 of a South American destination, from it may be gathered the following points in support of the theory that a more northern coast was the one explored. The course sailed from the Canaries, W. ¼ SW.; the time thirty-seven days; the distance 1,000 leagues, taking the distance from Lisbon to the Canaries, 280 leagues, as a scale of measurement; the latitude of the landing 16°, and longitude 75° west of the Canaries; and the arrival by sailing up the coast at a province situated in about 23°, and near the tropic of Cancer, are worthy of consideration, since a series of blunders such as these is hardly probable. The natives of Lariab were of different language from and hostile to the nations passed further south, as the Huastecs of the Pánuco region are known to have been with respect to the Mexicans. Moreover, Lariab has a slight claim to being a Huastec word, since Orozco y Berra gives three names of places in that language containing an l and ending in ab; but of course this would interfere sadly with the theory that Lariab is a misprint of Caria. Vespucci's description of the natives, criticised by Navarrete as incorrect when applied to the people of Paria, agrees better, as M. Varnhagen thinks, with the aborigines of Honduras. Other parts of Vespucci's vague and rambling descriptions apply well enough to the North American coasts, or in fact to any part of tropical America, north or south.

The application of the narrative to North America is not, however, without its difficulties. Vespucci makes no mention of the Antilles, through which his course must have led him; perhaps not seeing them by reason of fog; or he had instructions not to concern himself with what the admiral had already discovered. He also refers to a larger work, never published, in which details were to be given. Neither does he mention the prominent peninsulas of Yucatan and Florida, nor the lofty mountain peaks which he would naturally have seen in following the Mexican coast. He claims to have sailed north-west from Pánuco 870 leagues (over dry land?) to the best harbor in the world. M. Varnhagen's explanation of this difficulty is that Vespucci simply states incidentally that he left Pánuco "tuttavia verso il Maestrale" still toward the north-west, not intending to include in this course the whole voyage of 870 leagues. All the windings of the coast and the entering and leaving of many ports or rivers must be taken into account to make up a distance of 870 leagues between Pánuco and Cape Cañaveral; and the latter port would hardly be considered the 'best harbor in the world' except by a great stretch of the imagination, or by a navigator little acquainted with good harbors. The archipelago of Ity has generally been supposed to be Hayti, but there is probably no reason for the identity beyond the resemblance of names. The Bermudas when discovered in 1522 were uninhabited, but this does not prove that they were always so; the Spaniards may have returned and captured the people for slaves. Indeed the Bermudas may have been the archipelago of San Bernardo, famous for its fierce Carib population, but generally located off the gulf of Urabá. It may even have been named by Vespucci, for on San Bernardo's day, the 20th of August, he was probably there.

Thus have I given, and let me hope without prejudice, the arguments for and against this disputed voyage; and from the evidence the reader may draw his own conclusions. To me the proofs seem conclusive that Vespucci made no voyage to South America prior to 1499, when he accompanied 107 Alonso de Ojeda. Against a North American expedition the evidence, if less conclusive, is still very strong; since the most that can be claimed in its favor is a probability that the Central American coast was visited by some navigator before 1502, and a possibility, though certainly a very slim one, that Vespucci accompanied such navigation.

On this voyage see Navigationum Alberici Vesputii Epitome, in Grynæus, Novus Orbis, pp. 122, 155; Varnhagen, Le Premier Voyage de Vespucci; Id., Vespuce et son Prem. Voy.; also in Société Géog., Bulletin, Jan. and Feb., 1853; Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 58-68, and Additions, pp. xxvii-viii.; Lester and Foster's Life of Vespucius, pp. 93-139; Leben der See-Helden, p. 24; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 183-241, 291-3, 309-34; Irving's Columbus, vol. iii. pp. 395-418; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. v.; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 370-5; Kerr's Col. Voy., vol. iii. p. 342; Eerste Zee-Togt van Alonso D'Ojeda, en Amerikus Vesputius, in Gottfried, Reysen, tom. iii. p. 38; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 41-7, 257.

CABOT AND VASCO DA GAMA.

[1497.] To continue our chronological summary. Following the brilliant success of Spain, England was the first nation to attempt discovery to the westward. Fully acquainted with the achievements and hypotheses of Columbus, having been indeed almost persuaded by him to embrace his beliefs, King Henry VII. on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a license to John Cabot, a Venetian citizen and trader of Bristol, to attempt discoveries in that direction.

Either from respect for Portuguese and Spanish rights in the south, or from some vague hints received from the Northmen during their trading voyages to Iceland, or possibly from a dim idea of the advantages of great-circle sailing, the English determined to attempt reaching India by a northern route. This expedition of Cabot's, with perhaps several vessels, sailed from Bristol probably in May, 1497; discovered land the 24th of June on the coast of Labrador between 56° and 58°; sailed some 300 leagues in a direction not known, but probably northward; and one vessel, the Matthew, returned to Bristol in August of the same year. No further details of the voyage are known, and those given, which are the conclusions of Humboldt, Kohl, and Stevens, have all been disputed in respect to date, commander, and point of landing. D'Avesac, as we have seen (pp. 98-9), insists on a previous voyage in 1494. Biddle, Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, London, 1831, p. 42 et seq., claims that Sebastian Cabot was the commander. Robinson, Account of Discov. in the West, Richmond, 1848, pp. 81-93, explains that by a change in the method of reckoning time after 1752, the date should properly read 1498. Many authors moreover confound this voyage with a later one. Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 4-11; Galvano's Discov., pp. 87-9; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 40-1. Irving, Columbus, vol. ii. p. 316, names but one voyage and regards the accounts as "vague and scanty." See also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 279, 313; Hakluyt Soc., Divers Voy., pp. lxviii., 19-26; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 121-35; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 48-53; Stevens' Notes, pp. 17-19; Pinkerton's Col. Voy., vol. xii. p. 158; Bancroft's Hist. U. S., vol. i. p. 13.

The Portuguese, to complete their discovery of the route to India by way 108 of the Cape of Good Hope, sent out Vasco da Gama with four ships. Sailing from Lisbon July 8, 1497, he doubled the Cape of Good Hope the 22d of November, passed the limit reached by Dias on the 17th of December, received intelligence of Prester John at several points on the eastern coast, and anchored at Calicut May 20, 1498. Trading somewhat, jealous of everybody, after quarrelling with Arabian merchants and failing to make good his arbitrary measures, he thought best to return. Accordingly he set sail the 29th of August, passed the cape March 20, 1499, and reached Lisbon about the end of August. Thus Gama was the first to accomplish the grand object of so many efforts, and to reach India by water. His achievement would doubtless have been regarded as the most glorious on record, both to himself and to Portugal, had not Columbus for Spain reached the same continent, as he supposed, farther east several years before. Navigatione di Vasco di Gama, in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 130; Galvano's Discov., pp. 93-4; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. pp. xli.-ii.; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 391-406; Voyages, Curious and Entertaining, p. 103; Leben der See-Helden, p. 40; Notizie di Vasquez di Gama, in Cancellieri, Notizie, p. 165.

[1498.] After the return of the Cabots in August, 1497, with the news of having discovered the northern regions of Cathay, King Henry issued a new patent dated February 3, 1498, and, probably in May of the same year, two vessels with 300 men sailed from Bristol under command of Sebastian Cabot. Little is known of the voyage, save that he reached the coast of Labrador, which he followed northward until at a certain point where the coast trends eastward he found much ice even in July. This northern limit is placed by Ramusio at latitude 56°; by Gomara, who states that Cabot himself gives a much higher latitude, at 58°; by Galvano, at above 60°. Kohl follows Humboldt in the opinion that it was 67° 30', which would place it on the Cumberland peninsula. Cabot then turned southward and sailed as near shore as possible. The southern limit of this voyage is more indefinite than the northern. In a conversation with Peter Martyr, prior to 1515, Cabot stated that he reached the latitude of Gibraltar, and the chronicler adds that he sailed so far west that he had Cuba on his left. Cabot's remark would place him in latitude 36°, near Cape Hatteras, while Martyr's addition might apply to any locality on the east coast. Martyr's statement is the only authority for the supposition by Humboldt and others—see Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 313, and Preface to Ghillany—that Cabot reached Florida. Stevens, Notes, pp. 17-19 and 35, considers Peter Martyr's remark as absurd, since it would place Cabot near Cincinnati. He is satisfied that the southern limit was the gulf of St Lawrence, founding this belief on maps of 1500 (see p. 115 this vol.) and 1508 (p. 126 this vol.), 1514, and 1544, the latter said to have been made by Cabot himself. That Cabot did not reach the southern coast of the United States seems proved by the fact that he was in Spain from 1513 to 1524, holding high positions, including that of piloto mayor, while that coast was actually being explored, and he making no claim to a previous discovery. The point reached, therefore, must remain undetermined between Cape Hatteras, where Kohl fixes it, and the gulf of St Lawrence, with a strong probability, as I think, in favor of the latter. Nothing whatever is known of the route or date of Cabot's return. And it is to be remembered that concerning this voyage we have only one contemporary document, which is a letter dated 109 in 1498, stating simply that the expedition was still absent. All additional details are from accounts written after the geography of the New World was better known in consequence of the discovery of the South Sea. Nothing, then, can be proved by Cabot's voyages beyond the discovery of the continent in June, 1497, and the exploration of the coast from the gulf of St Lawrence to above 60° in 1498. The statement of Asher, Life of Henry Hudson, London, 1860, that Cabot "was the first to recognize that a new and unknown continent was lying as one vast barrier between western Europe and eastern Asia," accepted also by Kohl, Hist. Discov., p. 145, appears to me utterly without foundation. Cabot's complaint that a new-found land—that is a land further north and east than any part of Asia described by Polo—was a barrier to his reaching India, and the fact that on a map made as late as 1544, and doubtfully attributed to him, a separate continent is shown, seem weak authority for according him so important a discovery, especially when other voyagers and geographers, intimate with him and fully acquainted with his discoveries, continued for many years to join those discoveries to the Asiatic continent. See, beside references on page 107, Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. vi.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 31, 115; Robertson's Hist. Amer., book ix.; American Antiq. Soc., Transact., 1865, p. 25 et seq.; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 135-46, 481; Stevens' Notes, pp. 35, 52; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 53-4.

THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.

Returned from his second voyage, Columbus found his popularity waning, and with it the enthusiasm for new discoveries. The voyage had not been profitable, had not been fruitful enough in gold to satisfy the adventurers who accompanied him, and the ghastly faces of the mariners more than counteracted the effect of the specimens of native products exhibited. It was difficult, therefore, to obtain men for a new enterprise. Still, notwithstanding the reports of his numerous enemies, the admiral was considerately treated at court, and finally, by the efforts of the queen, six vessels were made ready, and Columbus embarked from San Lúcar on a third voyage May 30, 1498. This time he determined to steer farther to the south than before, in order to reach, as he supposed, the richer parts of Asia. After touching at Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Canaries, he divided his fleet, sent three vessels direct to Española, and with the other three reached the Cape Verde Islands the 27th of June. Thence he sailed first south-west and west through the region of tropical calms, and then northward to Trinidad Island, where he arrived the 31st of July. Coasting the island on the south, in sight of the main-land, he entered the gulf of Paria, landed, and found much gold of an inferior quality, and an abundance of pearls; from which circumstance, that land, which was the northern end of South America, was for some time thereafter known as the Pearl Coast. Passing out by the Boca del Drago on the 14th of August, he followed the northern coast of Paria to the island of Cubagua, beginning to suspect meanwhile that the land on his left was the main-land of Asia. Ill health and the state of his supplies did not permit him to satisfy himself on that point at the time, and consequently he turned his course north-west for Española. On the 30th of August he arrived at the mouth of the river Ozema, where he met his brother Bartolomé, who informed him of the internal discords and external wars of the colonists. 110 Francisco Roldan had refused to submit to the admiral's authority, and on the 18th of October five ships were despatched for Spain with news of the rebellion. By this departure Columbus sent letters and charts describing this Pearl Coast, as his present South American discoveries which yielded so many gems were called. During the whole year following, peace was maintained among the colonists only by the most humiliating concessions of Columbus to Roldan and his crew. On the 5th of September, 1499, Alonso de Ojeda arrived at Española from the Pearl Coast, whither he had been to take advantage of the discoveries and misfortunes of the admiral.

Vessels laden with complaints by and against Columbus were despatched for Spain in October; needy, ambitious courtiers held King Ferdinand's willing ear against him; from his persistent advocacy of Indian slave-traffic the friendship of his patron, Queen Isabella, grew cold; and in July, 1500, Francisco de Bobadilla was sent to Española with powers to investigate. Arrived at Santo Domingo August 23, the commissioner assumed at once authority, which at most was his right only after careful and conscientious inquiry, seized Columbus and his brother, and in October sent them in irons to Spain. Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, tom. i. pp. 74-99; Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. vi.-vii.; Tercer Viage de Cristobal Colon, in Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 242-76; Napione and De Conti, Biografia di Colombo, pp. 350-75; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 99-108, where is given Columbus' letter received in Spain in December, 1498, but apparently not printed at the time.

During this third voyage, while about the gulf of Paria, new visions of the earth's form filled the mind of the great navigator, inflamed as it was by illness and anxiety. The world was indeed for the most part spherical, as had been supposed, but in this great central region on the equator he believed the surface to rise gradually to a great height, making the earth pear-shape with the terrestrial paradise, or birth-place of man, on its apex, the waters and islands visited by him being on the borders of this elevated portion. It is not necessary to enumerate the natural phenomena, scientific writings, and scripture texts with which he confirmed his theory. In his distracted enthusiasm he leaves us somewhat uncertain as to his idea of the situation of this new region with respect to India proper and those parts of Asia found by him in a former voyage farther north. If he had supposed it to be simply a southern extension of Marco Polo's Asia, he would not subsequently have sought for a strait or passage to India to the north rather than to the south of this point. Gama's successful circumnavigation of Africa forbade a revival in the mind of Columbus of the old theory of Ptolemy, that Africa extended east and north so as to enclose the Indian Ocean like an immense gulf. The admiral's idea, so far as he formed a definite one on the subject, must have been that of a large island, or detached portion of the Asiatic continent, occupying very nearly the actual relative position of the Australian archipelago, and only vaguely included, if at all, in ancient or mediæval knowledge of the far East. No other conclusion could rationally be drawn from his letters and subsequent actions; and we shall find such an idea of the geography of these parts often repeated in following years. We shall also see how unfortunate it was for the posthumous glory of the great discoverer in the matter of naming the western world, that he did not more clearly specify his idea of this 111 new land—for I believe this was the first suspicion that new lands of any considerable extent existed—and that his account of this and his fourth voyage were not more widely circulated in print.

[1499.] The discovery of the Pearl Coast, made known in Spain in December, 1498, caused several expeditions to be sent out in the following year. These were trading and not exploring voyages, and their commanders had no thought of cosmography, caring little whether Paria were the terrestrial paradise or the infernal regions, so that pearls, and gold, and slaves were abundant. No connected journals of these voyages have been preserved, our knowledge of them being derived from statements of the early historians and from testimony in the famous lawsuit with the heirs of Columbus, printed in Navarrete's collection.

MINOR EXPEDITIONS.

The first was that of Alonso de Ojeda, who, by the influence of Bishop Fonseca, the admiral's most bitter enemy, obtained a commission to visit the Pearl Coast, avoiding, however, lands discovered by the Portuguese and by Columbus prior to 1495. In company with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, Ojeda embarked with four vessels from Santa María, near Cádiz, on the 20th of May, 1499. Sailing by the admiral's charts, he touched at the Canaries, and after twenty-four days reached the main-land of South America between 3° and 6° north latitude—that is according to Ojeda's testimony; but Vespucci's account of what was probably the same voyage brings them first upon the continent further south. This is claimed by Varnhagen, Examen de quelques points de l'histoire géographique du Brazil, Paris, 1858, as the first discovery of Brazil. Following the coast north-west for 200 leagues without landing, but discovering the two great rivers Essequebo and Orinoco, they landed on Trinidad Island, the first inhabited coast which they touched, where they traded for pearls and found traces of the admiral who had preceded them. Out through the Boca del Drago, following the coast of Paria to the gulf of Pearls, or Curiana, landing on Margarita Island, anchoring in the bay of Corsarios, they continued from port to port to Chichirivichi, where they had a fight with the natives, and spent twenty days in a port near by. Ojeda then visited Curazao and the gulf of Venezuela, where was found a town built over the water like Venice. On the 24th of August he discovered Lake Maracaibo, and afterward followed the coast westward to Cape de la Vela, whence he directed his course, on the 30th of August, to Española, arriving, as we have seen, September 5, 1499. He finally returned to Spain in the middle of June, 1500, the voyage having yielded but a small profit. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 4-11 and 543-5; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 367-9; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. pp. 195, 220; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. p. 76.

The second minor expedition to South America was that of Pedro Alonso Niño and Cristóbal Guerra, similar in its object to that of Ojeda. A few days after Ojeda's departure they sailed from Palos in one vessel with thirty-three men, reaching the main-land farther north, and some fifteen days later than Ojeda. They traded on the coast of Cumaná for three months, their western limit being the region of Chichirivichi, started for home February 13, 1500, and arrived in Spain about the middle of April with a large quantity of pearls. Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. viii.; Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, fol. 98; 112 Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. ii. p. 147; tom. iii. pp. 11-18, 542; Irving's Columbus, vol. iii. p. 37-42; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 220.

The third expedition of this year was that of Vicente Yañez Pinzon, who had commanded a vessel under Columbus in 1492. Sailing early in December, 1499, from Palos with a fleet of four vessels he crossed the equator, and on the 20th of January—Peter Martyr says the 26th, and Irving the 28th of January—discovered land in latitude 8° south, at Cape St Augustine, which he named Santa María de la Consolacion. Varnhagen, Examen, pp. 19-24, entertains doubts regarding the spot where Pinzon first landed, and thinks it quite as likely to have been some cape further north. From this point, wherever it may have been, Pinzon followed the coast to the north, touched at various places, discovered the Amazon, and in due time reached the gulf of Paria. Thence he sailed through the Boca del Drago, arrived at Española on the 23d of June, and returned to Spain in September, 1500. This voyage was as disastrous as the preceding one had been profitable. Peter Martyr states, dec. i. cap. ix., that Paria was thought to be a part of Asia beyond the Ganges. See also De Navigatione Pinzoni Socii Admirantis, et de rebus per eum repertis, in Grynæus, Novus Orbis, p. 119; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 18-23; Major's Prince Henry, p. 369; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 313-14; tom. iii. p. 221.

Here belongs Amerigo Vespucci's account of a second voyage made in conjunction with others in the service of the king of Spain. Departing in May, 1499—some editions of his letters have it 1489—from Cádiz and touching at the Canaries he steered south-west for nineteen days, sailing in that time 500 leagues to a point on the main-land in latitude 5° south,—from incorrect readings of the originals some editors make him say 800 leagues and latitude 8°—where the days and nights are equal on the 27th of June, at which time the sun enters Cancer. Thence coasting eastward forty leagues; then north-west to a beautiful island and convenient harbor; and yet eighty other leagues to a secure harbor where he remained seventeen days and gathered many pearls; thence to another port; then to an island fifteen leagues from the main-land; and again to another island, which was called Gigantes, where captives were taken; then to a fine bay where the ships were refitted; and finally, after forty-seven days at this last place they sail for Antilla, that is Española. Two months and two days are spent at Antilla, whence on the 22d of July they embark for Spain, and reach Cádiz September 8, 1500. De Secundariæ Navigatinis Cursu, Latin text and Spanish translation of Vespucci's letter in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 242-62.

It has never been claimed that Vespucci attempted discoveries in 1499 as chief in command. The voyage described by him is without doubt that of Pinzon or Ojeda, although D'Avesac, in Bulletin de la Soc. Géog., makes it identical with that of Lepe. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. pp. 200 et seq., by comparing the details decides that it was that of Pinzon, and by the same method he concludes that Vespucci's first voyage was that under Ojeda. As the points of resemblance are slight in either case; as Vespucci is known to have accompanied Ojeda; as he would have been obliged to return to Spain before Ojeda in June, 1500, in order to sail with Pinzon in December, 1499; and as Vespucci describes an astronomical phenomenon which, as Humboldt 113 admits, could not possibly have taken place during Pinzon's voyage, I am inclined to accept the generally received opinion that Ojeda's is the voyage described. "There can now be no doubt that Vespucci's voyage in 1499 was identical with that of Ojeda." Major's Prince Henry, p. 370; Varnhagen, Exam., pp. 1-19. Navarrete and Irving imply that this was the only voyage made by Vespucci for the crown of Spain. However it may be, for the purposes of this Summary the question is of little importance; for there are no disputed points of geographical import depending on the two trading voyages, one of which Vespucci attempts to describe; and if there were, his account in the different forms in which it exists is so full of blunders that it could throw but little light upon the subject.

LEPE, GUERRA, AND CABRAL.

The fourth minor expedition of this year was that of Diego de Lepe, who sailed in less than a month after Pinzon—that is near the end of December, 1499—with two vessels. Touching main-land below Cape St Augustine, he observed the south-western trend of the coast below that point; but of his voyage along the shore nothing is known save that he reached the Pearl Coast. Before the 5th of June he had returned to Spain. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 23-4, 553-5; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 314-15; tom. iv. pp. 221-2.

There are some scattered hints collected in Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, pp. 91 et seq., of a new expedition in 1499 by the Cabots, directed this time to tropical regions. They are not sufficient to render it probable that such a voyage was made, although Ojeda reported that he found several Englishmen cruising on the Pearl Coast. Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 41; Kohl's Hist. Discov., p. 145.

[1500.] In this year Cristóbal Guerra made a second voyage to the Pearl Coast with some success, and returned to Spain before November 1, 1501. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 24-5. Spain also made preparations to explore the northern lands discovered by the Cabots, but without any known results. Peschel, Geschichte der Entd., Stuttgart, 1858, p. 316; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 41-46; Biddle's Mem. Cabot, p. 236; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 192-3. In Diccionario Universal, Apénd., article 'Viages,' p. 805, is mentioned a voyage to the Pearl Coast by Alonso Velez de Mendoza in two vessels. No authorities are given.

The year following the return of Gama from his successful voyage to India, Pedro Alvarez Cabral was entrusted with the command of thirteen well-armed vessels, and sent to establish commercial relations with the new countries now made accessible to Portuguese enterprise. Cabral embarked from Lisbon on the 9th of March, 1500; thirteen days later he left behind him the Cape Verde Islands, pursuing a south-westerly course. Whether he was driven by storms in this direction, or wished to avoid the calms of the Guinea coast, or whether he entertained a hope of reaching some part of the regions recently discovered by the Spaniards is not known. Certain it is, however, that notwithstanding his having sailed for India, on the 22d of April—Humboldt says in February—he found himself on the coast of Brazil in about latitude 10° south, leaving a gap probably of some 170 leagues between this point and the southern limit of Lepe and Pinzon. Thence he coasted southward, took formal possession of the land on the 1st of May at 114 Porto Seguro, and named the country Vera Cruz, which name soon became Santa Cruz. Cabral immediately sent Gaspar de Lemos in one of the ships back to Portugal with an account and map of the new discoveries. Leaving two convicts with the natives of that coast, Cabral continued his journey for India on the 22d of May. Off the Cape of Good Hope he lost four vessels, in one of which was Bartolomeu Dias, the discoverer of the cape, and reached Calicut on the 13th of September. Returning he met at Cape Verde a fleet, on board of which is supposed to have been Amerigo Vespucci, and arrived at Lisbon July 23, 1501. Navigation del Capitano Pedro Alvares, in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 132-9; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. i. booke ii. pp. 30-1; Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 48-9; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 45-6, 94-101; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 315; tom. iv. p. 223; tom. v. pp. 53, 61.

The Portuguese did not overlook the north while making their important discoveries to the south. Two vessels, probably in the spring of 1500, were sent out under Gaspar Cortereal. No journal or chart of the voyage is now in existence, hence little is known of its object or results. Still more dim is a previous voyage ascribed by Cordeiro to João Vaz Cortereal, father of Gaspar, about the time of Kolno, which, as Kunstmann views it, "requires further proof." Touching at the Azores, Gaspar Cortereal, possibly following Cabot's charts, struck the coast of Newfoundland north of Cape Race, and sailing north discovered a land which he called Terra Verde, perhaps Greenland, but was stopped by ice at a river which he named Rio Nevado, whose location is unknown. Cortereal returned to Lisbon before the end of 1500. Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 48-9; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 57; Galvano's Discov., pp. 95-6; Major's Prince Henry, p. 374; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 166-8, 174-7. Biddle, Mem. Cabot, pp. 137-261, thinks that Cortereal landed south of Cape Race; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 222, is of the opinion that Terra Verde was not Greenland.

In October of this same year Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed from Cádiz with two vessels. Touching the shore of South America near Isla Verde, which lies between Guadalupe and the main-land, he followed the coast westward to El Retrete, or perhaps Nombre de Dios, on the isthmus of Darien, in about 9° 30' north latitude. Returning, he was wrecked on Española toward the end of 1501, and reached Cádiz in September, 1502. This being the first authentic voyage by Europeans to the territory herein defined as the Pacific States, such incidents as are known will be given hereafter. For references to this voyage, see Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. p. 76; tom. ii. p. 334, where the date given is 1502; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 67, date of voyage also 1502; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 25-8, 545-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i. lib. iv. cap. xi.; Galvano's Discov., pp. 99-100, date of voyage 1503; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 360-1; tom. iv. pp. 224; Voyages, Curious and Ent., p. 436; Churchill's Col. Voy., vol. viii. p. 375; Harris' Col. Voy., vol. i. p. 270; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 369-70; Asiento que hizo con sus Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de Bastidas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. ii. pp. 362-467; Robertson's Hist. Am., vol. i. p. 159; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Célebres, 'Balboa,' p. 1.

EARLIEST EXISTING MAPS.

Of the many manuscript maps and charts made by navigators prior to this 115 time none have been preserved. In the year 1500, however, a map of the world was made by the veteran pilot Juan de la Cosa, who had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage, and had accompanied Alonso de Ojeda to the Pearl Coast. It is preserved in the Royal Library of Madrid, and shows in a remarkably clear manner all discoveries up to that date. Drawn in colors and gold on ox-hide, on a scale of fifteen leagues to the degree, it lays down the parallels of Gibraltar and Paris, beside the equator and tropic of Cancer, and gives a scale at the top and bottom. Stevens' Notes, p. 16. Humboldt first published a copy of the American portion, and the whole, or parts thereof, have been since published or described in Lelewel, Géog. du moyen âge, tom. ii. pp. 109 et seq., atlas, no. 41; Sagra, Hist. physique et politique de l'île de Cuba, Paris, 1838, and atlas; Ghillany, Geschichte, etc., pref. by Humboldt; Jomard, Monuments de géog., atlas no. xvi., which gives a full-sized fac-simile; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 151-5, 239, plate v., being a copy of the northern part from Humboldt with additions from Jomard. Stevens in his Notes, see pp. 11-16, 33, 51, and plate i., produces a photo-lithographic copy of the western hemisphere from Jomard. I give a copy of the central portions of the western hemisphere from Humboldt, Stevens, and Kohl.

Juan de la Cosa's Map, 1500.

View larger image

The upper portion is North America, and the lower South America, between which a continuous coast line remains as yet undiscovered. 116

All the newly found regions are represented as parts of Asia, and consequently names are applied only to islands and particular localities. Up to this time three portions of the supposed Asiatic seaboard have been explored. First, there are the discoveries of the Cabots in the north, represented as extending from 'Cabo de Yngleterra' westward to the flag which bounds the 'Sea discovered by the English.' This direct western trend of the coast, most likely laid down from Cabot's charts, is one of the strongest evidences that the coast explored by Cabot was the northern shore of the gulf of St Lawrence. Another reason for entertaining such belief is the use of the words Mar descubierta por Yngleses instead of Mare Oceanus, thus indicating that it was a sea or gulf and not the open ocean. Cosa could not at the time have known the results of Cortereal's voyage. On Cabot's coast various points are named, but farther to the north-east and to the south-west the line is laid down indefinitely and without names, probably from Marco Polo. Kohl puts the inscription Mar descubierta, etc., farther south and west than on the original, and thinks the curve in the coast west of the last flag to be Cape Cod. Then we have in the south the northern coast of South America quite accurately laid down from Cape de la Vela south-eastward to the limit of Pinzon's voyage in 1499; with a nameless coast-line south-east to the locality of Cape St Augustine. From Cape de la Vela we have the same imaginary coast-line without names extending westward, as if to meet the line from the north-east; but just at the point where the lines must meet, or be separated by a strait leading to India proper, the non-committal map-maker inserted a picture—indicated by the double dotted lines—thus avoiding the expression of his opinion as to whether the Pearl Coast was joined to Asia, or was detached from the continent. On the original map no attempt is made to show inland topography, although the copies of Humboldt and Kohl have some lakes and rivers. I have taken the liberty to indicate the indefinite, nameless coasts by a dotted line for greater clearness. The last of the three several explored regions shown by this map are the central islands, Cuba, Española, and others discovered by Columbus, who was accompanied in at least one of his voyages by the author himself. In this part of the map some difficulty has arisen from the fact that Cuba is represented as an island, while Columbus is known to have held the opinion that it was a part of the mainland; an opinion, as before stated, which was subscribed to under oath by all his men, including Juan de la Cosa. On the original, the western part of Cuba is cut off by green paint, the conventional sign of terra incognita, which leads Stevens to infer that the pilot "did not intend to represent Cuba to be an island," but that he only supposed it to be such. This, however, by no means implies that the draughtsman intended to say that Cuba was not an island, but rather that he was not certain that it was an island, but only supposed it to be. It will be remembered that the natives affirmed from the first that it was an island, although so large that no one had ever reached its western extremity. This statement, together with his own observations during the voyage, probably caused Juan de la Cosa to afterward change the opinion to which he had perhaps hastily subscribed at the request of Columbus. There can be but little doubt of the authenticity of this map, although Stevens considers it has been distorted in the various copies and descriptions. 117 That the author did not himself make any later additions to it is evident from the fact that his own subsequent discoveries are not shown.

[1501.] Again King Henry of England issues commissions permitting private persons to make discovery at their own expense. So far as known, however, no voyage was effected under this royal encouragement, although it is not improbable that intercourse with Newfoundland was continued after Cabot's discovery. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 55; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 185-7; Biddle's Mem. Cabot, p. 228 et seq.; Peschel, Geschichte der Entd., p. 334 et seq.

JUAN DE NOVA AND THE CORTEREALS.

The Portuguese, more practical in their attempts, push discovery in all directions. Juan de Nova with four vessels sails from Lisbon March 5, 1501, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, and returning reaches Lisbon September 11, 1502, having discovered Ascension Island on the voyage out, and St Helena on the return. Galvano's Discov., pp. 97-8; Major's Prince Henry, p. 413; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 225; tom. v. p. 107. The Cape of Good Hope route to India may now be declared open; voyages thither from this time cannot properly be called voyages of discovery; hence of the frequent subsequent voyages of the Portuguese to India I shall make no mention except of such as in some way relate to America. For a summary of these later voyages see Major's Prince Henry, pp. 413-18.

Gaspar Cortereal this year makes a second voyage to the regions of the north, sailing from Belem, near Lisbon, May 15, 1501, with two or three vessels, touching probably at some point in Newfoundland, and coasting northward some six or seven hundred miles. He does not, however, reach the Terra Verde of the former voyage on account of ice. One of the vessels—Kunstmann says two—returned, arriving at Lisbon October 8, 1501; the other with the commander was never afterward heard from. One of the chief objects of this expedition seems to have been the capture of slaves. The name Labrador is applied by Cortereal to this discovery, "and is perhaps the only permanent trace of Portuguese adventure within the limits of North America." Bancroft's Hist. U. S., vol. i. p. 16; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. p. 44; Major's Prince Henry, p. 374; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 224; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 169-71; Peschel, Geschichte der Entd., pp. 331 et seq.; Biddle's Mem. Cabot, pp. 237 et seq.

The Portuguese also send an expedition to prosecute the discoveries begun by Cabral, who has not yet returned from India, but whose discovery of Brazil has been reported by Lemos. Strangely enough no documents exist in the Portuguese archives touching this voyage, nor is the name of its commander known, although Varnhagen thinks it may have been Manuel. It is known as Vespucci's third voyage, and its incidents are found only in his letters. The authenticity of this as of his other voyages has been often doubted and denied, and as it is the voyage that resulted in the naming of America, it has given rise to much discussion, into which however I shall not enter. The discussion does not affect the voyage itself, nor the leading facts connected with it, the questions being whether Vespucci was in command, which indeed he does not claim to have been; and above all, whether the results of the voyage entitled him to the honor of naming America, which they certainly did not, even had he commanded, from the fact that other 118 navigators had discovered both of the Americas before him. Navarrete, one of Vespucci's most jealous enemies, admits that he visited the coast of Brazil in a subordinate capacity in some Portuguese expedition; and Humboldt, in an essay of 115 pages, effectually defends the veracity of Vespucci in his accounts of his voyages, which the distinguished commentator quotes with notes on the variations of different editions.

Vespucci was induced to leave Seville in order to accompany the fleet, which consisted of three vessels—some editions say ten, some fourteen—and which sailed from Lisbon on the 13th of May. Passing the Canaries without landing, to the African coast and Basilica in 14°, probably Cape Verde, there he remained eleven days. At this place he met Cabral's fleet returning from India and learned the particulars of the voyage, including the American discoveries, of which he gives a full account in a letter written at the time under date of June 4, 1501, which is a strong proof of the veracity of his other accounts. See extracts in Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. v. pp. 34-44. It is extraordinary that in the several accounts of this meeting the name of Vespucci's commander is not mentioned. From Cape Verde the fleet sailed south-west sixty-seven days and touched the main-land the 17th of August, at a point in 5° south latitude, taking possession for the king of Portugal. Thence it followed the coast south-east, doubled Cape St Augustine, and went on in sight of land for 600 leagues to a point in 32° south—according to Gomara, 40°; Navarrete thinks it could not have been over 26°. Having found no precious metals during a voyage of ten months, the Portuguese abandoned this coast on the 13th (or 15th) of February, 1502, and after having been driven by storms far to the south-east, and discovering some land whose identity is uncertain—Humboldt thinks it was an accumulation of ice, or the coast of Patagonia—they reached the coast of Ethiopia on the 10th of May, the Azores toward the end of July, and Lisbon September 7, 1502. Vespucci gives full descriptions of the natives of Brazil, but these descriptions, together with the numerous conflicting statements, or blunders of the various texts relating to details of the voyage, I pass over as unimportant to my purpose. That Vespucci was with a Portuguese fleet which in 1501-2 explored a large but ill-defined portion of the Brazilian coast, there can be no doubt. Grynæus, Novus Orbis, pp. 122-30; Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. i. pp. 139-44; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 46, 262-80; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. v. pp. 1-115; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 375-7; Galvano's Discov., pp. 98-9.

[1502.] Miguel Cortereal sailed from Lisbon May 10, 1502, in search of his brother Gaspar, only to share his brother's fate. Neither of his two vessels appears to have returned. Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 44; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 226; Major's Prince Henry, p. 374; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 171-2.

It is probable that Portuguese fishermen continued their trips more or less to Labrador and Newfoundland, but if so, no accounts have been preserved. Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 187-92; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 69, 95; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii. lib. v. cap. iii.

In January, 1502, Alonso de Ojeda with four vessels departed from Cádiz on a second voyage to the Pearl Coast, with the intention of there establishing 119 a colony. Accompanied by Garcia de Ocampo, Juan de Vergara, Hernando de Guevara, and his nephew Pedro de Ojeda, he touched at the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands, and reached the gulf of Paria. Refitting his vessels, on the 11th of March he set sail and coasted north-westward, touching at various points until he came to a port which he called Santa Cruz, probably Bahía Honda, about twenty-five miles east of Cape de la Vela. During the voyage along the coast the vessels were much of the time separated, following different courses. At Santa Cruz Ojeda found a man who had been left by Bastidas, and there he determined to establish his colony. A fort was built, and a vessel sent to Jamaica for supplies; but the colony did not prosper. To other troubles were added dissensions among the fiery leaders, and about the end of May Ojeda was imprisoned by his companions; the colony was finally abandoned, and its governor brought as a prisoner to Española in September. The few disputed points of this voyage concern only the personal quarrels of Ojeda and his fellow-captains. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 28-39, 168-70, 591 et seq.; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 360; tom. iv. p. 226.

FOURTH VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.

On the eleventh of May, 1502, Columbus embarked from Cádiz on his fourth and last voyage. Refitting at Española, he directed his course westward, discovered terra firma at the Guanaja Islands, off the north coast of Honduras, and sailing southward, followed the shores of the supposed Asia to El Retrete on the isthmus of Darien, where terminated the discovery of Bastidas from the opposite direction, whose chart may have been in the admiral's possession. Particulars of this voyage are given hereafter. See Cuarto y Último Viage de Cristobal Colon, in Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 277-313; Colon, Hist. del Almirante, in Barcia, tom. i. pp. 101-18; Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, fol. 31; Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. iv.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i. lib. v.-vi.; Benzoni, Historia del Mondo Nvovo, Venetia, 1572, fol. 28; Galvano's Discov., pp. 100-1; Robertson's Hist. Am., vol. i. pp. 164-74; Burke's European Settlements in Am., vol. i. pp. 37-45; Napione and De Conti, Biografia Colombo, pp. 379-406; Laharpe, Abrégé, tom. ix. p. 122; Acosta, Comp. Histórico de la Nueva Granada, cap. i.; Navigatio Christophori Colvmbi, in Grynæus, Novus Orbis, p. 90, and elsewhere.

Since the admiral's discovery, in 1498, of the Pearl Coast, that is, the extreme northern shore of South America, nothing had occurred to modify his views formed at that time concerning the new regions, except to show that this southern addition of the Asiatic continent was much larger than had at first been supposed. His special aim in this fourth voyage was to do what various circumstances had prevented him from doing before, namely, to sail along the eastern and southern coasts of Asia to India, passing, of course, through the supposed strait between the main-land and the land of Paria. It is certainly extraordinary that this idea entertained by Columbus corresponded so closely with the actual conformation of the eastern Asiatic coast, and its southern addition of the Australian archipelago; that this conformation is so closely duplicated in the American coasts; and that the position of the admiral's hypothetical strait was almost identical with the actual narrowest part of the American continent. Columbus followed the coast to the western limit of Bastidas' voyage and could find no opening in the shore, 120 either because the ancient chroniclers were faulty in making no mention of this great supposed southern extension of Asia, or because the strait had in some way escaped his scrutiny. He therefore abandoned the search, and gave himself up to other schemes, but he never relinquished his original idea, and died, 1506, in the belief that he had reached the coast of Asia, and without the suspicion of a new continent. Moreover, his belief was shared by all cosmographers and scholars of the time. Peter Martyr, dec. i. cap. viii.; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i. p. 26; tom. iv. p. 188; Preface to Ghillany; Major's Prince Henry, p. 420; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 140, 238-9; Draper's Int. Develop., p. 445; Stevens' Notes, p. 37.

[1503.] Another expedition was sent by Portugal in search of the Cortereals, but returned unsuccessful. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 58; Peschel, Geschichte der Entd., p. 334.

According to Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 173-4, we have "authentic deeds and depositions proving beyond doubt a French expedition to Brazil as early as 1503;" in support of which he refers to De Gonneville, Mémoires, Paris, 1663; De Brosses, Hist. des Navigations, Paris, 1756, tom. i. pp. 104-14; Revista Trimensal, Rio de Janeiro, tom. vi. p. 412-14; D'Avesac, in Bulletin de la Soc. Géog., tom. xiv. p. 172.

In 1503 the Portuguese sent a third fleet of six vessels under Gonzalo Coelho to make farther explorations on the coast of Brazil, then called Santa Cruz, and to sail, if possible, around its southern extremity to India, an idea that seems to have been conceived during the preceding voyage, but which could not then be carried into effect for want of supplies. Vespucci commanded one of the vessels, and set out with high hopes of accomplishing great things for his country, his God, and himself. This is known as Vespucci's fourth voyage. Beyond the account which he gives in his letters, little is known of it except the fact that Coelho made such a voyage at the time. The identity of the two expeditions has not been undisputed, but Humboldt and Major both show that there can be little doubt in the matter. The fleet sailed from Lisbon on the 10th of June—Vespucci says May—remained twelve or thirteen days at the Cape Verde Islands, and thence sailed south-east to within sight of Sierra Leone. The navigators were prevented by a storm from anchoring, and so directed their course south-west for 300 leagues to a desert island in about lat. 3° south, supposed to be Fernando de Noronha, where Coelho lost his ship on the 10th of August. Vespucci's vessel was separated from the rest for eight days, but afterward joined one of them, and the two sailed south-west for seventeen days, making 300 leagues, and arriving at the Bahía de Todos os Santos. Remaining there two months and four days, they followed the coast for 260 leagues to the port now called Cape Frio, where they built a fort and left twenty-four men who had belonged to the vessel which had been wrecked. In this port, which by Vespucci's observations was in lat. 18° south and 35° (or 57°) west of Lisbon, they remained five months, exploring the interior for forty leagues; they then loaded with Brazil-wood, and after a return voyage of seventy-seven days arrived in Lisbon June 28 (or 18), 1504. Vespucci believed the other ships of the fleet to have been lost, but after his account was written, Coelho returned with two ships; nothing, however, is now known of his movements after the separation. 121 Di Amerigo Vespucci Fiorentino, in Ramusio, tom, i., Lettera prima, fol. 139, Lettera secondo, fol. 141, Sommario, fol. 141; Viages de Vespucio, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 281-90; Southey's Hist. Brazil, vol. i. p. 20.

DIVERS EXPEDITIONS.

Alfonso de Alburquerque sailed from Lisbon April 6, 1503, with four vessels for India; but shaping his course far to the south-west, after twenty-four (or twenty-eight) days he reached an island previously discovered by Vespucci; thence he touched the main-land of Brazil, after which he proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope to India, and returned to Lisbon September 16, 1504. Viaggio fatto nell'India per Giovanni di Empoli, in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 158; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. i. pp. 32-3. Bergomas, Nouissime historiarũ omniũ, etc., Venetiis, 1503, a book of chronicles published with frequent additions to date, contains, for the first time, in this edition, a chapter on the newly found islands of Columbus. In my copy, which is dated ten years later, this chapter is on folio 328. At least nine editions of the work appeared before 1540.

[1504.] Soon after the return from his third voyage, Vespucci wrote a letter to Piero de' Medici, setting forth its incidents. This letter, which bears no date, was probably written in corrupt Italian, and after circulating to some extent in manuscript, as was the custom at the time, it may have been printed, but no copies are known to exist, and the original is lost. Translations were made, however, into Latin and German, which appeared in small pamphlet form in at least seventeen different editions before 1507, under the title of Mundus Novus, or its equivalent. The earliest edition which bears a date is that of 1504, but of the nine issues without date, some undoubtedly appeared before that year. It is probable that other editions have disappeared on account of their undurable form. None of Vespucci's other accounts are known to have been printed before 1507.

This same year the Libretto de tutta le Navigazione del Re di Spagna is said to have been printed at Venice, being the first collection of voyages, and containing, according to the few Italian authors who claim to have seen it, the first three voyages of Columbus and those of Niño and Pinzon. If authentic, it was the first account of the voyage of Columbus to the Pearl Coast; but no copy is known at present to exist, and its circulation must have been small compared with Vespucci's relations. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. pp. 67-77; Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., nos. 22-41.

A chart made about 1504 has been preserved which shows Portuguese discoveries only. In the north are laid down Newfoundland and Labrador under the name of 'Terra de Cortte Reall,' and Greenland with no name, but so correctly represented as to form a strong evidence that it was reached by Cortereal. On the south we have the coast of Brazil, to which no name is given; between the two is open sea, with no indication of Spanish discoveries. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 127-8, and Munich Atlas, no. iii.; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 174-7, plate viii.

With the year 1504 the fishing voyages of the Bretons and Normans to Newfoundland are said to have begun, but there are no accounts of any particular voyage. Sobre las navegaciones de los vascongados á los mares de Terranova, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 176; Viages Menores, Id., p. 46. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 69 et seq., makes these trips begin with Denys' in 1503. 122

Juan de la Cosa equipped and armed four vessels, and was despatched in the service of Queen Isabella of Spain, to explore and trade in the vicinity of the gulf of Urabá, and also to check rumored encroachments of the Portuguese in that direction. All that is recorded of the expedition is that in 1506 the crown received 491,708 maravedís as the royal share of the profits. Carta de Cristobal Guerra, in Navarrete, tom. ii. p. 293; Carta de la Reina, in Id., tom. iii. p. 109; Real Cédula, adicion, Id., p. 161. Stevens, in his Notes, p. 33, gives the date as 1505.

[1505.] Alonso de Ojeda, with three vessels, made a third voyage to Coquibacoa and the gulf of Urabá. Noticias biográficas del capitan Alonso Hojeda, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 169.

The letter written by Columbus from Jamaica July 7, 1503, describing the events of his fourth voyage, is preserved in the Spanish archives. If printed, no copies are known to exist, but an Italian translation appeared as Copia de la Lettera, Venetia, 1505.

A Portuguese map made about 1505 by Pedro Reinel shapes Newfoundland more accurately than the map of 1504, being the first to give the name 'C. Raso' to the south-east point; but Greenland is drawn much less correctly. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 125-7; Munich Atlas, no. i. Plate ix. in Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 177-9, differs materially from the fac-simile in the Munich Atlas. See also Peschel, Geschichte der Entd., p. 332; Schmeller, Ueber einigen der handschriftlichen Seekarten, in Akademie der Wissenschaften, Abhandl., tom. iv. pt. i. p. 247 et seq.

[1506.] The Bretons under Jean Denys are said to have explored the gulf of St Lawrence, and to have made a map which has not been found. The reports of this and of succeeding voyages northward are exceedingly vague. Charlevoix, Hist. de la Nouvelle France, Paris, 1744, tom. i. p. 4; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 41; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 201-5; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 69; Bancroft's Hist. U. S., vol. i. p. 16.

Vicente Yañez Pinzon made a second voyage with Juan Diaz de Solis, in which he explored the gulf of Honduras, from the Guanaja Islands, the western limit of Columbus' voyage, to the islands of Caria on the coast of Yucatan, in search of the passage which was still believed to exist between the main continent of Asia and the land known as the Pearl Coast, Santa Cruz, or, in the Latin translations of Vespucci, as the Mundus Novus, or New World. Brief mention of this voyage may be found in Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 46, repeated in Irving's Columbus, vol. iii. p. 52; and Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 228. See also Reise des Diaz de Solis und Yanez Pinzon, in Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen, tom. xiii. p. 157.

Tristan da Cunha in a voyage to India, sailing from Lisbon March 6, 1506, round Cape St Augustine, heard of—eut connaissance de—a Rio São Sebastião in the province of Pernambuco, and discovered the island since called by his name, in 37° 5' south latitude, on his passage to the Cape of Good Hope. Galvano does not mention that Cunha reached America.

On the 20th of May, 1506, at Valladolid, died the great admiral of the Western Ocean, Christopher Columbus; whose story, notwithstanding his 123 innumerable historians, is nowhere more fully comprehended than in the simple lines which may be seen to-day upon his tomb:

"Por Castilla y por Leon

Nuevo Mundo halló Colon."

Maffei of Volterra, Commentariorum urbanorum, Rome, 1506, a kind of geographical encyclopædia, contains a section on the loca nuper reperta. Five editions are mentioned as having been issued in the years 1510, 1511, and 1530, all but one at Paris.

M. Varnhagen claims that the original mixed Italian text of Vespucci's first voyage was printed in Florence in 1505 or 1506, and that several copies have been preserved. This is the text used by him in his defense of Vespucci. See Premier Voy., Vienna, 1869, and Vespucci, son caractère, etc., Lima, 1865, in which the letter is reproduced. I find no mention by any other author of such an edition.

[1507.] No voyages are mentioned in this year; but the bibliography of the year is remarkable. Montalboddo (or Zorzi), Paesi Nouamente retrouati, Et Nouo Mondo da Alberico Vesputio, Florentino, intitulato, Vicentia, 1507, is the second collection of voyages issued, and the first of which any copies at present exist. This work is divided into six books, of which the fourth and fifth relate to America, the fourth being a reproduction of the Libretto of 1504, while the fifth is the Nouo Mondo, or third voyage of Vespucci; and its mention in the title shows how important a feature it was deemed in a work of this character. In the following year, besides a new Italian edition, there appeared a German translation under the title of Ruchamer, Newe unbekanthe landte, Nuremberg, 1508, and a Latin translation, Itinerariũ Portugallẽsiũ, Milan, 1508. At least fourteen editions in Italian, Latin, German, and French appeared before 1530.

THE NAMING OF AMERICA.

Hylacomylus (Waldsee-Müller), Cosmographiæ Introdvctio ... Insuper quatuor Americi Vespucij Nauigationes, Deodate (St Dié, Lorraine), 1507, is the title of a work which appeared four times in the same place and year. It is the first collection of Vespucci's four voyages, and generally regarded as the first edition of the first and fourth, although as we have seen M. Varnhagen claims an Italian edition of the first in 1506. This account of the third voyage is different from that so widely circulated before as Mundus Novus. Three other editions of the work, or of the part relating to Vespucci, appeared in 1509 and 1510. In Hylacomylus the following passage occurs: "But now that those parts have been more extensively examined, and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus (as will be seen in the sequel), I do not see why we should rightly refuse to name it America, namely, the land of Americus or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious mind, since both Europe and Asia took their names from women." Here we have the origin of the name 'America.' To the northern discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, and Cortereal, on the islands and coast of the supposed Asia, no general name was given because those regions were already named India, Cathay, Mangi, etc., while names were applied by Europeans only to particular places on the new coasts. When Columbus in 1498 explored the northern coast of South America he had no doubt it was a portion, 124 though probably a detached portion, of Asia, and the terms Paria and the Pearl Coast sufficed to designate the region during the succeeding trading voyages. Concerning these voyages, only a letter of Columbus and a slight account of Pinzon's expedition had been printed, apparently without attracting much attention. The voyages of Columbus, Bastidas, and Pinzon along the coast of Central America were almost unknown. Meanwhile the fame of the great navigator had become much obscured. His enterprises on the supposed Asiatic coast had been unprofitable to Spain. The eyes of the world were now directed farther south. By the Portuguese the coasts of Brazil had been explored for a long distance, proving the great extent of this south-eastern portion of the supposed Asia, whose existence was not indicated on the old charts, and which certainly required a name. These Portuguese explorations and their results were known to the world almost exclusively by the letter of Vespucci so often printed. To the Latin translation of the letter, the name Mundus Novus had been applied, meaning not necessarily a new continent, but simply the newly found regions. The name 'America' suggested itself naturally, possibly through the influence of some friend who was an admirer of Vespucci, to the German professor of a university in Lorraine, as appropriate for the new region, and he accordingly proposed it. Having proposed it, his pride and that of his friends—a clique who had great influence over the productions of the German press at that period—was involved in securing its adoption. No open opposition seems to have been made, even by the Portuguese who had applied the name 'Santa Cruz' to the same region; still it was long before the new name replaced the old ones. In later years, when America was found to be joined to the northern continent, and all that great land to be entirely distinct from Asia, the name had become too firmly fixed to be easily changed, and no effort that we know of was made to change it. Later still some authors, inadvertently perhaps, attributed the first discovery to Vespucci. This aroused the wrath of Las Casas and others, and a discussion ensued which has lasted to the present time. See list of partisans on both sides in Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 65-7. Muñoz and Navarrete insist that Vespucci was an impostor, but others, headed by Humboldt, have proved conclusively that the name 'America' was adopted as the result of the somewhat strange combination of circumstances described, without any intentional wrong to Columbus. This conclusion is founded chiefly on the following reasons, namely: The honor to Vespucci resulted chiefly from his third voyage in 1501, and not from his first voyage in 1497, which last mentioned is the only one possible to have claimed precedence over Columbus in the discovery of the continent. Furthermore, neither Columbus nor Vespucci ever suspected that a new continent had been found; and to precede Cabot in reaching Asia, Vespucci, even if relying on his first voyage, must have dated it somewhat earlier in 1497 than he did; while to precede Columbus he must have dated it before 1492, when, as they both believed, Columbus had touched Asia at Cuba. Then, again, there is no evidence whatever that Vespucci ever claimed the honor of discovery. He was on intimate terms with the admiral and his friends, and is highly spoken of by all, especially by Fernando Colon, who was extremely jealous in every particular which might affect his father's honor. Moreover, it is certain that Vespucci did not himself propose the 125 name 'America;' it is not certain that he even used the term Mundus Novus or its equivalent in his letters; and it is quite possible that he never even knew of his name being applied to the New World, since the name did not come into general use until many years after his death, which occurred in 1512. The most serious charge which in my opinion can be brought against Vespucci is neglect—perhaps an intentional deception for the purpose of giving himself temporary prominence in the eyes of his correspondent—in failing to name the commanders under whom he sailed; and with exaggeration and carelessness in his details. But it is to be remembered that his writings were simply letters to friends describing in familiar terms the wonders of his voyages, with little care for dry dates and names, reserving particulars for a large work which he had prepared, but which has never come to light. "After all," says Irving, "this is a question more of curiosity than of real moment ... about which grave men will continue to write weary volumes, until the subject acquires a fictitious importance from the mountain of controversy heaped upon it." Cancellieri, Notizie di Colombo, pp. 41-8; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. and v., and Preface to Ghillany; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i. p. cxxvi.; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 380-8; Kohl's Hist. Discov., p. 496; Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 65-6; D'Avesac, Martin Hylacomylus, Paris, 1867; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, p. x.; Stevens' Notes, pp. 24, 35, 52 et seq.; Viages de Vespucio, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 183; Carta del Excmo. Sr. Vizconde de Santarem, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 309-34. Ludd, Speculi Orbis, Strasburg, 1507, adopts Waldsee-Müller's suggestion so far as to speak of the 'American race,' or people, gentis Americi. Major, Prince Henry, pp. 380-8, explains the connection between this and other works of the time influenced by the St Dié clique. See also Stevens' Notes, p. 35.

[1508.] Pinzon and Solis, with Pedro Ledesma as pilot, were sent by Spain for the third time to search southward for the strait which they, as well as Columbus and Bastidas, had failed to find farther north and west. Sailing from San Lúcar June 29, 1508, they touched at the Cape Verde Islands, proceeded to Cape St Augustine, and followed the coast south-west to about 40° south latitude, returning to Spain in October, 1509. Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 47. Kohl, Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 110, joins this voyage to the preceding one of 1506.

Another of the uncertain French voyages to Newfoundland is reported to have taken place in 1508, under the command of Thomas Aubert, from Dieppe. Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 41; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 203-5.

In 1508 the governor of Española sent Sebastian de Ocampo to explore Cuba. He was the first to sail round the island, thus proving it such, as Juan de la Cosa probably imagined it to be eight years earlier. Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, tom. vi. p. 1; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i. lib. vii. cap. i.; Stevens' Notes, p. 35.

BOOKS AND MAPS OF THE PERIOD.

Ptolemy, In hoc opere hæc continentvr, Geographiæ Cl. Ptolemæi, Rome, 1508, is said to be the first edition of this work which contains allusions to the New World. Other editions of Ptolemy, prepared by different editors, with additional text and maps, and with some changes in original matter, appeared in 1511, 1512, 1513, 1519, 1520, 1522, 1525, 1532, and 1535. The edition first 126 mentioned contains, in addition to the preceding one of 1507, fourteen leaves of text and an engraved map by Johann Ruysch—the first ever published which includes the New World. Copies have been printed by Lelewel in his Géog. du moyen âge, atlas; by Santarem, in his Recherches, Paris, 1842, atlas; and by Humboldt, Kohl, and Stevens. I have taken the annexed copy from the three last mentioned authorities, omitting some of the unimportant names.

Map by Johann Ruysch, 1508.

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This map follows closely that of Juan de la Cosa in 1500, but illustrates more clearly the geographical idea of the time. The discoveries of Cabot, whom Ruysch is supposed to have accompanied, as well as those of Cortereal in the north, of Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, are laid down with tolerable accuracy; and the rest of the supposed Asiatic coast as in Behaim's globe is taken from Marco Polo. In the centre we have the lands discovered by Columbus, and the old fabulous island of Antilia restored. To 'Spagnola' (Española) is joined an inscription stating the compiler's belief that it was identical with Zipangu, or Japan. Western Cuba is cut off by a scroll, instead of by green paint as in the map of Juan de la Cosa, with an inscription to the effect that this was the limit of Spanish exploration. Ruysch, having as yet no knowledge of Ocampo's voyage performed during this same year, evidently entertained the same idea respecting Cuba that was held by Juan de la Cosa, but did not venture to proclaim it an island. In the south, the New World is shown under the name 'Terra Sanctæ Crucis sive Mvndvs Novvs.' An open sea separates the New World from Asia, showing that Ruysch did not know of the unsuccessful search for this passage by Columbus, Bastidas, and Pinzon. It is worthy of remark that the name America is not used by this countryman of Hylacomylus. Humboldt thinks that he had not seen the Cosmographiæ Introdvctio, but had read some other edition of Vespucci's third 127 voyage. Exam. Crit., tom. ii. pp. 5, 9; tom. iv. p. 121, and Preface to Ghillany. See also Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 136-7; Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 107-8; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 156-8; Stevens' Notes, pp. 31-2.

OCCUPATION OF TIERRA FIRME.

[1509.] Stimulated by the admiral's gold discoveries at Veragua, which had been corroborated by subsequent voyages. King Ferdinand of Spain determined to establish colonies on that coast. The region known as Tierra Firme was to that end divided into two provinces, of which Alonso de Ojeda was appointed governor of one, and Diego de Nicuesa of the other. Ojeda sailed from Española November 10, 1509, and Nicuesa soon followed. Their adventures form an important part of early Central American history, and are fully related in the following chapters. During the succeeding years frequent voyages were made back and forth between the new colonies, Jamaica, Cuba, and Española, which are for the most part omitted here as not constituting new discoveries. Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. i.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fols. 67-9; Galvano's Discov., p. 109-10; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii. pp. 421-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i. cap. vii. lib. vii. et seq.

The Globus Mundi, Strasburg, 1509, an anonymous work, was the first to apply the name America to the southern continent. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. p. 142; Major's Prince Henry, p. 387.

Peter Martyr's Map, 1511.

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[1511.] Juan de Agramonte received a commission from the Spanish government, and made arrangements to sail to Newfoundland and the lands of the north-western ocean, but nothing further is known of the matter. Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 42; Sobrecarta de la Reina Doña Juana, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 122. P. Martyris, Anglimediolanensis opera, Seville, 1511, is the first edition of Peter Martyr's first decade; containing in ten letters, or books, accounts of the first three voyages of Columbus, certain 128 expeditions to the Pearl Coast, and closing with a brief mention of the admiral's fourth voyage. The learned author was personally acquainted with Columbus, and his relations are consequently of great value. This work contains a map, of which I give a copy from Stevens, the only fac-simile I have seen.

The map shows only Spanish discoveries, but it is by far the most accurate yet made. Cuba, now proved to be an island, is so laid down. No name is given to the Mundus Novus, which, by a knowledge of the Spanish voyages, is made to extend much farther north and west than in Ruysch's map; but above the known coasts a place is left open where the passage to India it was believed might yet be found. The representation of a country, corresponding with Florida, to the north of Cuba, under the name of 'Isla de Beimini,' may indicate that Florida had been reached either by Ocampo in 1508, by some private adventurer, as Diego Miruelo, who is said to have preceded Ponce de Leon, or, as is claimed by some, by Vespucci in his pretended voyage of 1497; but more probably this region was laid down from the older maps—see Behaim's map, p. 93—and the name was applied in accordance with the reports among the natives of a wonderful country or island, which they called bimini, situated in that direction. The map is not large enough to show exactly the relation which Peter Martyr supposed to exist between these regions and the rest of the world, but the text of the first decade leaves no doubt that he still believed them to be parts of Asia.

The Ptolemy of 1511 has a map which I have not seen, but which from certain descriptions resembles that of Ruysch, except that it represents Terra Corterealis as an island separated from the supposed Asiatic coast; the name Sanctæ Crucis for South America being still retained. As long as the new lands were believed to be a part of Asia, the maps bore some resemblance to the actual countries intended to be represented, but from the first dawning of an idea of separate lands we shall see the greatest confusion in the efforts of map-makers to depict the New World. Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., no. 68; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., 133; Kohl, Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 33. A copy of this map was published in Lelewel's Atlas.

[1512.] The West India Islands, in which the Spaniards are at length firmly established, become now the point of new departures. Conquerors and discoverers henceforth for the most part sail from Española or Cuba rather than from Spain. Juan Ponce de Leon, a wealthy citizen who had been governor of Puerto Rico, fitted out three vessels at his own expense, and sailed in search of a fountain, which according to the traditions of the natives had the property of restoring youth, and which was situated in the land called Bimini far to the north. This infatuation had been current in the Islands for several years, and, as we have seen, the name was applied to such a land on Peter Martyr's map of 1511. Sailing from Puerto Rico March 3, 1512, Ponce de Leon followed the northern coast of Española, and thence north-west through the Bahamas, reaching San Salvador on the 14th of March. Thirteen days thereafter he saw the coast of Florida, so named by him from the day of discovery, which was Pascua Florida, or Easter-day. The native name of the land was Cautio. On the 2d of April the Spaniards landed in 30° 8', and took possession for the king of Spain; then following the 129 coast southward they doubled Cape Corrientes (Cañaveral) May 8, and advanced to an undetermined point on the southern or eastern coast, which Kohl thinks may have been Charlotte Bay. All this while they believed the country to be an island. On the 14th of June Ponce de Leon departed from Florida, and on his return touched at the Tortugas, at the Lucayos, at Bahama, and at San Salvador, arriving at Puerto Rico the 21st of September. He left behind one vessel under Juan Perez de Ortubia, who arrived a few days later with the news of having found Bimini, but no fountain of youth. Reise des Ponce de Leon, und Entdeckung von Florida, in Sammlung aller Reisebesch., tom. xiii. p. 188; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 50-3: Real cédula dando facultad á Francisco de Garay, in Navarrete, tom. iii. p. 148; Uitvoerlyke Scheepstogt door den Dapperen Jean Ponze de Leon gedaan naar Florida, in Gottfried, tom, iii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fols. 50-2; Galvano's Discov., p. 123. Kohl places the voyage in 1513, relying on Peschel, who, he says, has proved the year 1512 to be an impossible date.

In 1512 the Regidor Valdivia was sent by the colonists from the gulf of Darien, then called Urabá, to Española for supplies. Being wrecked in a violent tempest, he escaped in boats to the coast of Yucatan, where he and his companions were made captives by the natives. Some were sacrificed to the gods, and then eaten; only two, Gonzalo Guerrero and Gerónimo de Aguilar, survived their many hardships, the latter being rescued by Cortés in 1519. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i. pp. 368-72; Gomara, Hist. Mex., fol. 21-2; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. vii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, pp. 24-9.

The very rare map in Stobnicza's Ptolemy, Cracoviæ, 1512, I have not seen. It is said to show the New World as a continuous coast from 50° north latitude to 40° south. Neither in the text nor in the map is found the name America.

DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

[1513.] In September, 1513, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa set out from the settlement of Antigua on the gulf of Urabá, and crossing the narrow isthmus which joins the two Americas, discovered a vast ocean to the southward on the other side of the supposed Asia. The Isthmus here runs east and west, and on either side, to the north and to the south are great oceans, which for a long time were called the North Sea and the South Sea. After exploring the neighboring coasts he returned to Antigua in January, 1514, after an absence of four months. Galvano's Discov., pp. 123-5; Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. i.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii. pp. 9-17; Andagoya's Narrative, p. 7; Carta del Adelantado Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. ii. p. 526.

The Ptolemy of 1513 has a map which is said to have been made by Hylacomylus as early as 1508, but concerning which there seems to be much uncertainty. I give a copy from the fac-simile of Stevens and Varnhagen.

The name Cuba does not appear, and in its place is Isabela. Many of the names given by other maps to points on the coast of Cuba are transferred to the main-land opposite. The compiler evidently was undecided whether Cuba was a part of the Asiatic main or not, and therefore represented it in both ways. The coast line must be regarded as imaginary or taken from the old charts, unless, as M. Varnhagen thinks, Vespucci actually sailed along 130 the Florida coast in 1497. This map if made in 1508 may be regarded as the first to join the southern continent, or Mundus Novus, to the main-land of Asia. This southern land is called 'Terra Incognita,' with an inscription stating expressly that it was discovered by Columbus, notwithstanding the fact that its supposed author proposed the name America in honor of Vespucci only the year before. In fact the map is in many respects incoherent, and is mentioned by most writers but vaguely. Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., no. 74; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. iv. pp. 109 et seq., and Preface to Ghillany; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 130-2; Kohl, Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 33; Varnhagen, Nouvelles Recherches, Vienna, 1869, p. 56; Stevens' Notes, pl. ii. no. i. pp. 13, 14, 51; Major's Prince Henry, pp. 385-6; Santarem, in Bulletin de la Soc. Géog., May, 1847, pp. 318-23.

Map from Ptolemy, 1513.

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The name America is thought by Major to occur first on a manuscript map by Leonardo da Vinci, in the queen's collection at Windsor, to which he ascribes the date of 1513 or 1514.

[1514.] Pedrarias Dávila, having been appointed governor of Castilla del Oro, by which name the region about the isthmus of Darien was now called, sailed from San Lúcar with an armada of fifteen vessels and over 2000 men, April 12, 1514. The special object of this expedition was to discover and 131 settle the shores of the South Sea, whose existence had been reported in Spain, but whose discovery by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa was not known before the departure of Pedrarias. Herrera, dec. i. lib. x. cap. xiii.; Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. vii.; dec. iii. cap. v.; Galvano's Discov., p. 125; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Célebres, 'Balboa,' p. 28; Robertson's Hist. Am., vol. i. p. 207. See chapter x. of this volume.

[1515.] Juan Diaz de Solis sailed from Lepe October 8, 1515, with three vessels, and surveyed the eastern coast of South America from Cape San Roque to Rio Janeiro, where he was killed by the natives. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 48-50. Three vessels were fitted out at Seville, well manned and armed for a cruise against the Caribs, under command of Juan Ponce de Leon, but the Spaniards were defeated in their first encounter with the savages at Guadalupe, and the expedition was practically abandoned.

GRADUAL ENLARGEMENT OF THE TWO AMERICAS.

The adventures of Badajoz, Mercado, Morales, and others in 1515-16 and the following years, by which the geography of the Isthmus was more fully determined, are given elsewhere.

Schöner, Luculentissima quædã terræ totius descriptio, Nuremberg, 1515, and another edition of the same work under the title Orbis Typvs, same place and date, have a chapter on America 'discovered by Vespucci in 1497.' In Reisch, Margaritha Philosophica, Strasburg, 1515, an encyclopedia frequently republished, is a map which is almost an exact copy of that in the Ptolemy of 1513, except in its names. The main-land to the north-west of Cuba is called Zoana Mela, but the names of certain localities along the coast are omitted. Both Cuba and Española are called Isabela, and the southern continent is laid down as 'Paria seu Prisilia.' Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., nos. 80-2; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 130-1; Kohl, Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 33; Stevens' Notes, p. 52; fac-simile, pl. iv. no. 2.

[1516.] After Ponce de Leon's voyage in 1512 or 1513, and probably before that time, trips were made by private adventurers northward from Española and Cuba to the Islands and to Florida. Among these is that of Diego de Miruelo in 1516, who probably visited the western or gulf coast of Florida, and brought back specimens of gold. No details are known of the expedition. Garcilaso de la Vega, La Florida del Inca, Madrid, 1723, p. 5.

Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci, Florence, 1516, the second collection of the four voyages; Peter Martyr, Ioannes ruffus, De Orbe Decades, Alcala, 1516, the first edition of three decades; and Giustiniani, Psalterium, Genoa, 1516, which appends a life of Columbus to the nineteenth Psalm, are among the new books of the year.

[1517.] Eden, in his dedication of an English translation of Munster's Cosmography, in 1553, speaks of certain ships "furnished and set forth" in 1517 under Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert; but so faint was the heart of the baronet that the voyage "toke none effect." On this authority some authors have ascribed a voyage to Cabot in 1517, to regions concerning which they do not agree. An expedition whose destination and results are unknown, can have had little effect on geographical knowledge; and Kohl, after a full discussion of the subject, seems to have proved against Biddle, its chief supporter, that there is not sufficient evidence of such a voyage. Navigatione di Sebastiano Cabota, in Ramusio, tom. ii. fol. 212; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., 132 pp. 54-5; Roux de Rochelle, in Bulletin, Soc. Géog., Apr. 1832, p. 209; Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. vi.

Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, with three vessels and 110 men, sailed from La Habana February 8, 1517, sent by the governor of Cuba to make explorations toward the west. Touching at Cape Catoche, in Yucatan, he coasted the peninsula in fifteen days to Campeche, and six days later reached Potonchan, or Champoton, where a battle was fought with the natives, and the Spaniards defeated. Accounts indicate that the explorers were not unanimous in supposing Yucatan to be an island, as it was afterward represented on some maps. Failing to procure a supply of water in the slough of Lagartos, Córdoba sailed across the Gulf to Florida, and thence returned to Cuba, where he died in ten days from his wounds. I find nothing to show what part of Florida he touched. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i. pp. 349-51; Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. i.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. pp. 497-8; Galvano's Discov., pp. 130-1; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 8-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii. lib. ii. cap. xvii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, pp. 3-8; Prescott's Mex., vol. i. pp. 222-24; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 53-5; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 188; Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., tom. i. pp. 338-41.

[1518.] The following year Juan de Grijalva was sent from Cuba to carry on the explorations begun by Córdoba. Grijalva sailed from Santiago de Cuba April 8, 1518, with four vessels, reached the island of Santa Cruz (Cozumel) on the 3d of May, took possession on the 6th of May, and shortly after entered Ascension Bay. From this point he coasted Yucatan 270 leagues, by his estimate, to Puerto Deseado, entered and named the Rio de Grijalva (Tabasco), and took possession of the country in the vicinity of Vera Cruz about the 19th of June. Advancing up the coast to Cabo Rojo, he turned about and entered Rio Tonalá, engaged in a parting fight at Champoton, followed the coast for several weeks, and then turned for Cuba, arriving at Matanzas about the 1st of November. During his absence, Cristóbal de Olid had coasted a large part of Yucatan in search of Grijalva's fleet. Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. iii.-iv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i. pp. 351-8, Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. pp. 502-37; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 8-11, 56-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. ix.; Robertson's Hist. Am., vol. i. pp. 240-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv. pp. 40-50; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, pp. 8-16; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. pp. 1-47; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 53-64; Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. i. pp. 45-8; Reise des Johann Grijalva und allererste Entdeckung Neuspaniens, in Sammlung, tom. xiii. p. 258; Itinerario de Juan de Grijalva, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., tom. i. p. 281.

I may here remark that such manuscript maps, made generally by pilots for government use, as have been preserved are, as might be expected, far superior to those published in geographical works of the period. I give a copy of a Portuguese chart preserved in the Royal Academy at Munich.

From the fact that Yucatan is represented as a peninsula, though not named, while the discoveries of Grijalva and Cortés are not shown, the date of 1518 may be ascribed to the map. Stevens believes it to have been made some time about 1514; Kohl about 1520; Kunstmann some time after 1511. Unexplored coasts are left out instead of being laid down from old Asiatic 133 maps; as for example the United States coast from Newfoundland (Bacalnaos) to Florida (Bimini), and the Gulf coast from Florida to Yucatan. In the central region the names 'Terram Antipodum' and 'Antilhas de Castela' are used without any means of deciding to exactly what parts they are to be applied. The South Sea discovered by Balboa in 1513 is here shown for the first time with the inscription 'Mar visto pelos Castelhanus.' To South America the name 'Brasill' is given. The presence of two Mahometan flags in locations corresponding to Honduras and Venezuela, shows that the compiler still had no doubt that he was mapping parts of Asia. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 129 et seq.; Munich Atlas, no. iv., from which I take my copy; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 179-82, pl. x.; Stevens' Notes, pp. 17, 53, pl. v. Pomponius Mela's Libri de situ orbis, Vienna, 1518, contains a commentary by Vadianus, written however in 1512, in which the name America is used in speaking of the New World. Other editions appeared in 1522 and 1530.

Map in Munich Atlas, supposed to have been Drawn about 1518.

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[1519.] Stobnicza's Ptolemy of 1519 alludes to the New World discovered by Vespucci and named after him.

Enciso, Suma de geografia, Seville, 1519, is the first Spanish work known which treats of the new regions. The author was a companion of Ojeda in his unfortunate attempt to found a colony on Tierra Firme. Another edition appeared in 1530.

CONQUEST OF MEXICO.

On February 18, 1519, Hernan Cortés set sail from Cuba to undertake 134 the conquest of the countries discovered by Córdoba and Grijalva. After spending some time on the island of Cozumel, where he rescued Gerónimo de Aguilar from his long captivity (see p. 129), he followed the coast to Rio de Grijalva, where he defeated the natives in battle, and took possession of the land in the name of the Catholic sovereigns. From this place he continued his voyage sailing near the shore to Vera Cruz, where he landed his forces and began the conquest of Montezuma's empire, the history of which forms part of a subsequent volume of this series.

Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica, prompted by the reports of Ponce de Leon, Córdoba, and Grijalva, despatched four vessels in 1519, under Alonso Alvarez Pineda, who sailed northward to a point on the Pánuco coast (where, according to Gomara, an expedition had been sent during the preceding year, under Camargo). Prevented by winds and shoals from coasting northward as he desired, he sailed along in sight of the low gulf shores until he reached Vera Cruz, where he found the fleet of Cortés. Troubles between the commanders arose from this meeting which will be narrated hereafter.

Garay continued for some time his attempts to found a settlement in the region of Pánuco, but without success. Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. i.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 55-6; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 202; Gomara, Hist. Conq., fol. 222-7; Viages Menores, in Navarrete, tom. iii. pp. 64-7; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 73.

Soon after landing at Vera Cruz Cortés despatched for Spain a vessel under the pilot Antonio de Alaminos, with messengers who were to clear up before the king certain irregularities which the determined conqueror had felt obliged to commit, and furthermore to establish his authority upon a more defined basis. Alaminos sailed July 16, 1519, following a new route north of Cuba, through the Bahama Channel, and down the Gulf Stream, of which current he was probably the first to take advantage. Touching at Cuba and discovering Terceira he reached Spain in October. Diaz del Castillo, Hist. Verdadera de la Conqvista, Madrid, 1632, fol. 37-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii. lib. v. cap. xiv.; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 243-5.

The history of the Darien colonies is elsewhere recounted in this volume, and the introduction here of the numerous land and water expeditions on and along the Isthmus would be confusing and unprofitable. Suffice it to say that in 1519 the city of Panamá was founded, and a second expedition sent under Gaspar de Espinosa up the South Sea coast. The northern limit reached was the gulf of San Lúcar (Nicoya), latitude 10° north, in Nicaragua, and the expedition returned to Panamá by land from Burica. Andagoya's Narrative of the Proceedings of Pedrarias Dávila, London, 1865, pp. 23-4; Kohl, Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 162; Oviedo, Hist Gen., tom. iii. p. 61 et seq.

We have seen several unsuccessful attempts by both Spaniards and Portuguese to find a passage to India by the southern parts of Brazil, Santa Cruz, or America. In 1519 a native of Oporto, Fernando de Magalhaens, called by Spaniards Magallanes, and by English authors Magellan, after having made several voyages for Portugal to India via Good Hope, quit the Portuguese service dissatisfied, entered the service of Spain, and undertook the oft-repeated attempt of reaching the east by sailing west. His particular destination 135 was the Moluccas, which the Spaniards claimed as lying within the hemisphere granted to them by the treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. It appears that Magellan had seen some map, of unknown origin, on which was represented a strait instead of an open sea at the southern point of America—probably the conjecture of some geographer, for, says Humboldt, "dans le moyen âge les conjectures étaient inscrits religieusement sur les cartes." See Exam. Crit., tom. i. pp. 306, 326, 354; tom. ii. pp. 17-26. Sailing from San Lúcar September 20, 1519, with five ships and 265 men, he reached Rio de Janeiro on the coast of Brazil on the 13th of December, and from that point coasted southward. An attempt to pass through the continent by the Rio de la Plata failed, and on March 31, 1520, the fleet reached Port St Julian in about 49° south, where it remained five months until the 24th of August. On the 21st of October Magellan arrived at Cabo de las Vírgenes and the entrance to what seemed, and indeed proved, to be the long-desired strait. Having lost one vessel on the eastern coast, and being deserted by another which turned back and sailed for Spain after having entered the strait, with the remaining three he passed on, naming the land on the south Tierra del Fuego, from the fires seen burning there. Emerging from the strait, which he called Vitoria after one of his ships, on the 27th of November he entered and named the Pacific Ocean. Then steering north-west for warmer climes he crossed the line February 13, 1521, arrived at the Ladrones on the 6th of March, and at the Philippines on the 16th of March. This bold navigator, "second only to Columbus in the history of nautical exploration," was killed on the 27th of April, in a battle with the natives of one of these islands; the remainder of the force, consisting of 115 men under Caraballo, proceeded on their way, touching at Borneo and other islands, and anchoring on the 8th of November at the Moluccas, their destination. From this point one of the vessels, the Vitoria, in command of Sebastian del Cano, sailed round the Cape of Good Hope, and reached San Lúcar September 6, 1522, with only eighteen survivors of the 265 who had sailed with Magellan. Thus was accomplished the first circumnavigation of the globe.

THE NAMING OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

As to the circumstances attending the naming of the Pacific Ocean, a few words may not be out of place. Magellan was accompanied by one Antonio Pigafetta, of Vicenza, afterward Caviliere di Rhodi, who wrote in bad Italian a narrative of the voyage, which was rewritten and translated into French, Primer voyage autour du Monde, par le Chevallier Pigafetta, sur l'Escadre de Magellan pendant les années 1519, 20, 21, et 22, by Charles Amoretti. "Le mercredi, 28 novembre," says Pigafetta, liv. ii. p. 50, "nous débouquâmes du détroit pour entrer dans la grande mer, à laquelle nous donnâmes ensuite le nom de mer Pacifique; dans laquelle nous naviguâmes pendant le cours de trois mois et vingt jours, sans goûter d'aucune nourriture fraiche." And again, p. 52, "Pendant cet espace de trois mois et vingt jours nous parcourûmes à peu près quatre mille lieues dans cette mer que nous appelâmes Pacifique, parce que durant tout le temps de notre traversée nous n'essuyâmes pas le moindre tempête;" or, as Ramusio, Viaggio atorno il mondo fatto et descritto per M. Antonio Pigafetta, in Viaggi, tom. iii. fol. 393, puts it, "Et in questi tre mesi, & venti giorni fecero quattro mila leghe in vn golfo per questo mar 136 Pacifico, il qual ben si puó chiamar pacifico, perche in tutto questo tempo senza veder mai terra alcuna, non hebbero né fortuna di vento, né di altra tempesta." Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. vii., speaks of it only as "the huge Ocean" first found by Vasco Nuñez, and then called the South Sea. Galvano, Discov., p. 142, alludes to it as a "mightie sea called Pacificum." Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii. p. 22, merely remarks: "Es aquel estrecho en algunas partes mas ó menos de media legua, y çircundado de montañas altissimas cargadas de nieve, y corre en otra mar que le puso nombre el capitan Fernando de Magallanes, el Mar Pacífico; y es muy profundo, y en algunas partes de veynte é çinco hasta en treynta braças." Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 120, says, "No cabia de gozo por auer hallado aq̃l passo para el otro mar del Sur, por do pẽsava llegar presto alas yslas del Maluco," without any mention of the word Pacific. The Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen, tom. xi. p. 346, gives it essentially the same as Pigafetta: "In einer Zeit von drey Monaten und zwanzig Tagen, legete er viertausend Meilen in einer See zurück, welche er das friedfertige oder stille Meer nannte; weil er keinen Sturm auf demselben ausstund, und kein anderes Land sah, als diese beyden Inseln." Kohl, Die beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 161, is unable to find the name on the old maps: "Der Name 'Oceano Pacifico,' der auch schon auf den Reisen des Magellan und Loaysa in Schwung kam, steht nirgends auf unseren Karten." Herrera, dec. ii. lib. ix. cap. xv., describes the exit from the strait in the language following: "a veynte y siete de Nouiẽbre, salio al espacioso mar del Sur, dando infinitas gracias a Dios." Navarrete, Viages al Maluco; Primero el de Hernando de Magallanes, in tom. iv. pp. 49-50, of his collection says: "Salió pues Magallanes del estrecho que nombraron de Todos los Santos el dia 27 de Noviembre de 1520 con las tres naos Trinidad, Victoria, y Concepcion, y se halló en una mar oscura y gruesa que era indicio de gran golfo; pero despues le nombraron Mar Pacífico, porque en todo el tiempo que navegaron por él, no tuvieron tempestad alguna." Happening thus, that in this first circumnavigation of the globe, as the strangers entered at its southern end the South Sea of Vasco Nuñez, the waters greeted them kindly, in return they gave them a peaceful title; other voyagers entering this same sea at other times gave to it a far different character. For further reference see Voyage de Fernando de Magelhaens, in Berenger, Col. Voy., tom. i. pp. 1-26; Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, tom. ix. pt. ii. p. 7; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. i. pt. ii. pp. 33-46.

MAPS AND BOOKS.

A manuscript map supposed to have been made by Maiollo in 1519, of which a fac-simile is given in the Munich Atlas, no. v., shows the islands and main-land from Yucatan south and east, closely resembling, except in names of localities, the map of 1518 (see page 133). The eastern part of Brazil is called 'Sante Crucis,' and on the Pearl Coast is an inscription to the effect that it was discovered by Columbus. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 135-6; Schmeller, in Abhandl. Akademie der Wissensch., tom. iv. pt. i. p. 253.

[1520.] An anonymous pamphlet without date, Copia der Newen Zeytung, is a translation of a letter describing a voyage of two thousand miles along the Brazilian coast. Harrisse places it under date of 1520, and thinks it may furnish grounds for the belief that Magellan was not the first to reach the strait. Varnhagen, Hist. Brazil, Madrid, 1854, maintains that the voyage 137 described was under Solis and Pinzon in 1508. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. v. p. 249, applies the description to some later voyage made between 1525 and 1540.

To Varthema, Itinerario Nello Egitto, Venetia (supposed to be 1520), is joined an account of Grijalva's voyage to Yucatan in 1518 (see page 132), translated from the original diary of Juan Diaz, chaplain of the expedition. Other editions appeared in 1522-26-35. Discorso sopra lo itinerario di Lodouico Barthema, in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 160. The Itinerary of Diaz is not given by Ramusio. Provinciæ sive Regiones in India Occidentali, Valladolid, 1520, is a Latin translation of an account, by an unknown author, of the conquest of Cuba by Diego Velazquez. Pigghe, De æquinoctiorum sol, etc., Paris, supposed to have been printed in 1520, has a passage on the lands discovered by Vespucci. A New Interlude, London, 1519 or 1520, has a verse in which the name America is used.

A globe made by John Schöner in 1520 is preserved in Nuremberg, and copies have been given by Ghillany, Lelewel, and Kohl, of which I give a reduction.

Schöner's Globe, 1520.

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This is the first drawing to represent all the regions of the New World as distinct, although not distant, from the Asiatic coast, which is laid down mostly as in Behaim's globe, with some imaginary additions round the north pole. This separation was undoubtedly a mere conjecture of the compiler, for the voyage of Magellan, which might have suggested such an idea, was 138 not yet known or even consummated, and the map shows no knowledge of the later voyages even to the eastern coast. All the northern discoveries are given as an island, 'Terra Corterealis.' The central and southern parts—except their separation from Asia—are accurately copied from the map of Ptolemy, 1513 (see page 130), although a strait leads through the Isthmus into the South Sea. 'Terra de Cuba' is the name applied to the northern part of what may be regarded as the nucleus which afterward grew into North America, while the southern part is called Paria. Several names of localities on the coast, as 'C. Dellicontis' and 'C. Bonaventura,' are retained from the map of 1513, although Kohl erroneously calls all the names new and original. To the southern continent various names are applied, as America, Brazil, Paria (repeated), Land of Cannibals and of Parrots. On the original is an antarctic region round the south pole, called 'Brasiliæ Regio,' and separated from America in lat. 42° south by a strait, although the discovery of such a strait could not at the time have been known. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. p. 28. Several globes of about this date preserved in Germany are said to agree with this of Schöner's in their general features. Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 153-63, pl. vii., and Beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 33; Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., p. 141.

In the Solinus-Camers, Enarrationes, Vienna, 1520, was published a woodcut map, the first to give the name America. The map was made by Petrus Apianus, and afterward used by him in his cosmography. According to various descriptions it agrees very nearly with Schöner's globe except in the extreme north, where Engronelant is represented very much as in the map of the Zeni in 1400 (see page 82). Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 134-5; Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 33; Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 184, 192.

Cortés with his second letter dated October 30, 1520, sent to Spain a map of the Gulf of Mexico, which was printed in 1524. The map is valuable only for its list of names along the whole extent of the gulf coast, and it is therefore unnecessary to reproduce it here. Yucatan seems to be represented as an island. Stevens' Notes, pp. 38, 53, pl. iv. no. vii.

In 1520 Lucas Vazquez de Aillon and other wealthy citizens of Española sent two vessels, probably under one Jordan, to the Lucayos Islands for slaves. Not succeeding according to their expectations in the islands, the Spaniards directed their course northward toward the country discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513, and finally touched the coast in about 32° or 33°—Port Royal according to Navarrete; Stevens says Cape Fear—a region probably never before visited. They called the country Chicora, and the place of landing was named Cabo de Santa Elena and Rio Jordan. They made no explorations in any direction. One vessel and nearly all the slaves were lost on the return. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 69-71; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 245-8; Stevens' Notes, p. 48.

Pánfilo de Narvaez sailed from Cuba in 1520 with a large force to dispossess Cortés, who had declared himself independent of his chief Velazquez; but after many reverses his forces went over to his opponent. Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 52-5; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. p. 540; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i. p. 474.

SOUTH SEA DISCOVERIES.

The conquest of Mexico once accomplished, Hernan Cortés very soon 139 turned his attention to the South Sea coasts. Hearing from natives that the Pacific extended as far north as the land he had conquered, he sent small parties to explore and take possession, which they did at two points, Tehuantepec and Zacatula, before the end of 1521. Cortés was fully acquainted with the cosmographic theories of the time, and was enthusiastic in their application to the discovery of islands and main, rich in spices and precious metals. It was now established in a general way, as shown by the best maps, that the newly discovered lands were not the main Asiatic continent of Marco Polo, but a great south-eastern projection of that continent, probably separated from it by a strait. Cortés' idea was to sail down the coast as he termed it, northward at first, until he should either reach the rich Indian lands, or on the way find the strait which should afford a short cut from Spain to those lands. His efforts will be briefly noticed here in chronologic order, but fully presented in another part of my work. The best and almost only authority is Cortés, Cartas.

[1521.] Juan Ponce de Leon, learning from other voyagers that the land of Florida discovered by him was not, as he had believed it to be, an island, fitted out an expedition in Puerto Rico and sailed to repeat in Florida the glorious achievements of Cortés in New Spain. He reached the west coast of the peninsula, but was killed by the natives soon after landing, and his men returned without having accomplished their object.

Peter Martyr, De nvper svb D. Carolo repertis Insulis, Basiliæ, 1521, is the first edition of a part of the fourth decade.

[1522.] Pomponius Mela, De Orbis Sitv, Basiliæ, 1522, reproduced Apianus' map of 1520 (see page 137), also Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten, p. 33. The Ptolemy of this year, edited by Frisius, contains two maps resembling in their general appearance the Ptolemy map of 1513, and showing but little advance in geographical knowledge. These maps are also in the edition of 1525. Asher's Catalogue, no. civ., Berlin, 1873. Translationus hispanischer, etc., n.p., n.d., has a slight notice of the City of Mexico. Ein Schöne Newe Zeytung, Augsburg (1522), notices the voyages of Columbus and the conquest of Mexico. Of the newe lãdes and of ye people founde by the Messengers of the Kynge of portygale, attributed to this year, is regarded as the first book in English to treat of America, which it calls Armenica. Cortés, Carta de Relaciõ, Seville, 1522, is the letter dated October 30, 1520, supposed to be the conqueror's second letter, the first having been lost. Eight other editions or translations appeared in various forms before 1532.

In 1522 Pascual de Andagoya followed the west coast of America southward from Panamá, to a point six or seven days' sail below the gulf of San Miguel in the province of Birú (Peru), a little beyond Point Pinos. Information obtained during this expedition concerning more southern lands, furnished the motive for the conquest of Peru undertaken a few years later by Francisco Pizarro. Pascual de Andagoya, Narrative, pp. 40-1.

Gil Gonzalez Dávila with a fleet of four vessels sailed from the islands in the Bay of Panamá, January 21, 1522, to explore the South Sea coast north-westward. Reaching the gulf of Nicoya, the limit of Espinosa's voyage, Gil Gonzalez proceeded by land and discovered Lake Nicaragua. The pilot Andres Niño continued westward, discovered and named the gulf of 140 Fonseca, and reached, according to Herrera, dec. iii. lib. iv. cap. v.-vi., the province of Chorotega, having discovered 350 leagues of sea-coast from Nicoya, or 650 leagues from the gulf of San Miguel. Peter Martyr places Niño's ultimate limit at 300 leagues beyond the gulf of San Vicente; Ribero's map at 140 leagues west of the bay of Fonseca. Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten von Am., pp. 163-9, thinks he probably reached the mountains south of Soconusco. See also Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 413, 417-18; Galvano's Discov., pp. 148-9; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii. pp. 97-114; Squier's Nicaragua, New York, 1860, pp. 157-61. Not long afterward the cities of Granada and Leon were founded, and communication with Nicaragua from the south became of frequent occurrence.

In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado occupied Tututepec on the Pacific; while at Zacatula a villa was founded, and a beginning made there on several vessels for exploration northward. Cortés, Cartas, Letter of May 15, 1522.

[1523.] Francisco de Garay fitted out a new fleet of eleven vessels, with 850 men, which sailed from Jamaica June 26, 1523. This force was intended for the conquest and settlement of Pánuco, but soon united with the army of Cortés without having accomplished anything of importance. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 67-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii. lib. v. cap. v.-vi.; Peter Martyr, dec. vii. cap. v.; Cortes, Carta tercera de Relaciõ, Seville, 1523. This third letter was written May 15, 1522. Other editions appeared in 1524, and 1532. For the bibliography of Cortés' letters see Harrisse, Bib. Am. Vet., pp. 215-23. Maximilian, De Molvccis Insulis, Coloniæ, 1523, is a letter written by the emperor's secretary, describing Magellan's voyage round the world. Other editions are mentioned as having appeared in 1523, 1524, 1534, 1536, and 1537.

[1524.] Apianus, Cosmographicus Liber, Landshutæ, 1524, contains a short chapter on America, which the author describes as an island, because he says it is surrounded by water; furthermore, he affirms this land was named from Vespucci, its discoverer. The map of Solinus-Camers, 1520, is repeated in this and in several succeeding editions of the cosmography. Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 134-5. Francis, De Orbis Sitv ac Descriptione, Antwerp, 1524, also describes the New World.

In 1524 Cortés' fleet at Zacatula was not yet launched, the work having been delayed by fire. The conquest of Colima had however made known a good port, and brought new rumors of rich islands further north. The conqueror's plans were unchanged and his enthusiasm undiminished. His use of the term "la costa abajo," or down the coast, when he meant to sail northward, has sadly confused many writers as to his real intentions, and as to his ideas of the strait. Cortés, Cartas, Letter of Oct. 15, 1524.

In 1524 was made the first official French expedition to the New World. A fleet of four vessels was made ready under Giovanni Verrazano at Dieppe, but three of his ships were separated from him in some inexplicable manner before leaving European waters; and in the remaining one, the Dauphine, with fifty men, he sailed on the 17th of January, 1524, from an island near Madeira. After a voyage of forty-nine days, during which time he sailed 900 leagues, Verrazano struck the United States coast in about latitude 34°, perhaps at Cape Fear. Thence he sailed first southward fifty leagues, then 141 turning about he followed the coast northward, frequently touching, to Newfoundland, whence he returned to Dieppe in July, 1524. Verrazano in his journal mentions only one date, and names but one locality; consequently there is much difference of opinion concerning his landings.

The southern limit of the voyage, so far as it can be known, was in the vicinity of Cape Romain, South Carolina, though some authors, apparently without sufficient authority—the voyager says he saw palms—have placed the limit in Florida. It is probable that a large part of the United States coast was for the first time explored during this voyage, which also completed the discovery of the whole eastern shore-line of America, except probably a short but indefinite distance in South Carolina and Georgia, between the limits reached by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and by Verrazano; one intermediate point having also been visited by Aillon in 1520. Relatione di Giouanni da Verrazzano Fiorentìno della terra per lui scoperta in nome di sua Maestà, scritta in Dieppa, adi 8, Luglio, MDXXIIII., in Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 420. In the preface to this volume, edition of 1556, the author states that it is not known whether New France is joined to Florida or not. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii. lib. vi. cap. ix.; Hakluyt's Divers Voy., pp. 55-71; New York Hist. Soc., Collections, 1841, series ii. vol. i.; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 249-70; Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 295-300; Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, tom. x. app. p. 13. A chart given by Verrazano to Henry VIII. is said to have been used by Lock in compiling the map published in Hakluyt's Divers Voy., London, 1582. (Reprint by the Hakluyt Society, 1850. Copy in Kohl, p. 290.)

In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado had accomplished the conquest of Tehuantepec on the South Sea; in 1524 and the following years he extended his explorations and conquests by land across the isthmus over all the north-western region of Central America, joining his conquests to those of his countrymen from Panamá. In 1523 Cristóbal de Olid made an expedition by water to Honduras in the service of Cortés, founding a settlement; and in 1524 Cortés himself marched overland from Mexico to Honduras. Lettres de Pédro de Alvarado à Fernan Cortés, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. x. pp. 107-50, and in Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii. fol. 296-300; Peter Martyr, dec. viii. cap. v. x.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii. pp. 434, 439, 475-87; Gomara, Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 228-33, 245-6, 250-74; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii. lib. iii. cap. xvii.; lib. vi. cap. x.-xii.; lib. vii. cap. viii.-ix.; lib. viii. cap. i.-vii.; Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. i. pp. 203-25; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv. pp. 546-50, 598 et seq., 631-705.

CONQUEST OF PERU.

In this same year, 1524, Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panamá southward, and began the conquest of Peru, which, as related elsewhere in this volume, brought to light, before 1540, nearly the whole western coast of South America. For references to Pizarro's discovery see a later chapter of this volume.

A meeting of the leading pilots and cosmographers of Spain and Portugal, known as the Council of Badajoz, was convened for the purpose of settling disputed questions between the two governments. Failing in its primary purpose, the council nevertheless contributed largely to a better knowledge of New World geography. Indeed, from this time the European governments may be supposed to have had, and to have delineated on their official charts, tolerably accurate ideas of the general form of America and of its 142 relation to Asia, except in the north-west, although the existence of a passage through the continent was still firmly believed in. Writers on cosmography and compilers of published maps did not, however, for a long time obtain the knowledge lodged in the hands of government officials.

[1525.] The man who accompanied Magellan in 1519, but left him after entering the strait and returned with one vessel to Spain, was named Estévan Gomez. In 1525 this captain was sent by Spain to search for a corresponding strait in the north. Although an official expedition, and the only one ever sent by Spain to northern parts, no journal has been preserved, and only slight particulars derived from the old chroniclers are known. Gomez expected to find a strait somewhere between Florida and Newfoundland, probably not knowing the result of Verrazano's voyage of the preceding year. Cabot was at the time piloto mayor in Spain, and if Verrazano had, as is claimed for him by some, reached the southern United States coasts, it is not likely that Gomez would have looked there so confidently for his strait. This voyage lasted about ten months, and in it Gomez is supposed to have explored the coast from Newfoundland to a point below New York—possibly to Georgia or Florida. Peter Martyr, dec. vi. cap. x.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. viii.; Kohl's Hist. Discov., pp. 271-81; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iv. p. viii.; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., pp. 70-1. According to Harrisse, Fries, Auslegung der Mercarthen oder Cartha Marina, Strasburg, 1525, contains a map of the world, including America, but Kohl states that this map, although made in 1525, was not published till 1530. Other publications of the year are: Pietro Arias (Pedrarias Dávila), Lettere di Pietro Arias Capitano generale, della conquista del paese del Mar Occeano, written from Darien, and printed without place or date; Pigafetta, Le voyage et nauigation faict par les Espaignolz es Isles de Mollucques, an abridgment of the original account by the author, who was with Magellan; Cortes, La quarta Relacion, Toledo, 1525, dated October 15, 1524.

García de Loaisa sailed from Corunna July 24, 1525, to follow Magellan's track. Passing through the strait between January and May, 1526, he arrived at the Moluccas in October. Viages al Maluco, Segundo el del Comendador Fr. Garcia de Loaisa, in Navarrete, tom. v.; Burney's Discov. South Sea, vol. i. pp. 127-45; Relaciones del viaje hecho á las islas Molucas, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, tom. v. p. 5.

[1526.] One small vessel of Loaisa's fleet, under command of Santiago de Guevara, became separated from the rest June 1, 1526, after having reached the Pacific Ocean. Guevara decided to steer for the coast of New Spain, which was first seen in the middle of July; and on the 25th he anchored at Tehuantepec. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. v. pp. 176-81, 224-5.

Cortés' exploring vessels, begun in 1522—the first having been burned on the stocks, others were built in their place—were now, after long delay, nearly ready to sail; and Guevara's vessel was brought up from Tehuantepec to join them. Cortés, Cartas, Letter of September, 1526.

Aillon, in 1523, was made adelantado of Chicora, the country discovered by him in 1520, and immediately prepared a new expedition with a view to colonize the country, explore the coasts, and to find, if possible, a passage to India. The preparations were not completed until July, 1526, when he 143 sailed from Española with six vessels, 500 men, and ninety horses. He reached the Rio Jordan—perhaps St Helena Sound, South Carolina—and thence made a careful exploration northward, at least to Cape Fear, and probably much farther. Aillon died on the 18th of October, and after much internal dissension 150 men, all that remained alive, returned to Santo Domingo. Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii. pp. 71-4, 153-60; Kunstmann, Entdeckung Am., p. 71.

Oviedo, De la Natural hystoria de las Indias, Toledo, 1526, describes the New World, but this book is not the great historical work, lately printed, by the same author. It may be found also in Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos, and in Ramusio.

Sebastian Cabot attempted a voyage to India in 1526, sailing with four vessels in April, with the intention of bearing succor to Loaisa. Owing to insubordination among his officers, and other misfortunes, he reached only the Rio de la Plata, and after extensive explorations in that region, returned to Spain, having been absent four years. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii. p. 169; Diccionario Universal, Mexico, apend., 'Viages,' tom. x. p. 807; Roux de Rochelle, in Bulletin de la Soc. Geog., April, 1832, p. 212.

[1527.] June 10, 1527, an English expedition—the last officially sent by that nation within the limits of my sketch—sailed from Plymouth, still in search of a north-west passage. The two vessels sailed in company to latitude 53°, and reached the coast, where, on the 1st of July, they were separated by a storm, and one of them was probably lost. The other, under John Rut, turned southward, followed the coast of New England, often landing, probably reached Chicora, and returned to England via the West India Islands, arriving early in October. Hakluyt's Divers Voy., pp. 27, 33; Biddle's Mem. Cabot, pp. 114, 275; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i. p. 611; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii. lib. v. cap. iii.

Francisco Montejo, who had accompanied the expeditions of Grijalva and Cortés, and had since been sent by the latter as ambassador to Spain, obtained from the king in 1526 a commission as adelantado to conquer the "islands of Yucatan and Cozumel." He sailed from Seville in 1527, landed at Cozumel, penetrated the northern part of the peninsula, and during the following years fought desperately to accomplish its conquest, but failed. A small colony struggled for existence at Campeche for several years, but in 1535 not a single Spaniard remained in Yucatan. Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, pp. 59-94; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62-3; Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, New York, 1858, vol. i. pp. 56-62.

La Salle, La Salade, Paris, 1527, contains references to Greenland and other northern parts of America.

PACIFIC COAST EXPLORATIONS.

In July, 1527, three of the vessels built by Cortés made a preliminary trip up the Pacific coast from Zacatula to Santiago in Colima and back—the first voyage along that coast. Relacion ó Derrotero, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., tom. xiv. pp. 65-9; Relacion de la Derrota, in Florida, Col. Doc., pp. 88-91. But an order from Spain required the fleet to be sent to India direct—instead of by the roundabout route proposed by Cortés—for the relief of Loaisa; and the three vessels sailed from Zacatula in October under Saavedra, arriving safely in India. Guevara's ship was too worm-eaten to accompany them; 144 but several vessels were already on the stocks at Tehuantepec to replace those sent across the ocean. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, introd. pp. vi.-xi.; Navarrete, Col. Viages, tom. v. pp. 95-114, 181, 440-86; Gil, Memoria, in Boletin de la Soc. Mex. Geog., tom. viii. p. 477 et seq.

In 1527 Robert Thorne, English ambassador to Charles V., wrote a book or memorial to Henry VIII. on cosmography, on the Spanish and Portuguese discoveries, and on the importance of exploring northward for a passage to Cathay. It was afterward printed as The booke made by the right worshipful M. Robert Thorne, in Hakluyt's Voy., vol. i. pp. 214-20.

In 1526 a commissioner was appointed to correct the Spanish charts. Fernando Colon was charged with the revision, and in 1527 a map was made called Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo se ha descubierto fasta agora. This map has been preserved, and a fac-simile is given in Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten von Am. It shows the whole eastern coast line from the strait of Magellan to Greenland, and the western coast from Panamá to the vicinity of Soconusco, and indicates that the information in possession of the Spanish government was remarkably accurate and complete. Yucatan is represented as an island, and the discoveries on the Pacific side of South America are not laid down; otherwise this map varies but little except in names from a map made by Diego Ribero, in 1529, of which I shall give a copy. Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten von Am., pp. 1-24; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii. p. 184, and Preface to Ghillany.

[1528.] Bordone, Libro di Benedetto Bordone Nel qual si ragiona de tutte l'Isole del mondo, Vinegia, 1528, gives maps of the larger American islands, and also a map of the world, the American part of which I copy from the original. No part of the western coast is shown, although the New World is represented as distinct from Asia.

Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten von Am., p. 34, mentions another work printed at Venice the same year, which has a map resembling that of Schöner in 1520.

Pánfilo de Narvaez sailed from Spain in 1527 with five ships and 600 men, to conquer the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and after losing some of his ships by storm, and many of his men by desertion, in cruising about Española, Cuba, and other islands, he landed in the vicinity of Tampa Bay April 14, 1528, and nearly all the company perished in an attempt to follow the coast toward Vera Cruz. Cabeça de Vaca's Relation, New York, 1871, pp. 13-20; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv. lib. iv. cap. iv.-vii.; lib. v. cap. v.

Map by Benedetto Bordone, 1528.

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[1529.] Major, Prince Henry, pp. 440-52, entertains the opinion that Australia was discovered probably before 1529, and certainly before 1542.

In 1529 was made the before-mentioned Spanish official map by Diego Ribero, which may be supposed to show all that was known by European pilots at that time of New World geography. It contains some improvements and additions to Colon's map of 1527 with the same title, although 145 criticised, perhaps justly, by Stevens as partisan in its distribution of the new regions among the European powers. I give a copy reduced from the full-sized fac-simile in Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten von Am.

Greenland is called Labrador and is joined to the continent, as the separating strait had not at the time been explored. It will be noticed that Greenland is far less accurately laid down on this and other late maps than on some earlier ones which are supposed to have derived some of their details from northern sources. Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia have the general name of Bacallaos. Many of the numerous islands along the coast are named in the original. Corresponding perhaps to the New England and middle United States we have the 'Tiera de Estevã Gomez,' stated by an inscription to have been discovered by the Spaniards in 1525. From this land to Florida extends the 'Tiera de Ayllon,' between which and 'Nveva España' comes the 'Tiera de Garay,' thus dividing nearly all of the northern continent among the Spaniards. The West India Islands have here their true number, position, and names. Yucatan is given in its true proportions but is separated by a strait from the main-land. The South Sea coast is represented only to the limit of the voyage of Gil Gonzalez Dávila on the north, and extends southward to the port of Chinchax in about latitude 10° south, including, according to an inscription, the countries which had been reached by Pizarro in 1527. The form of South America is correctly laid down and the name 'Mvndvs Novvs' is applied to the whole, which is divided into the provinces of 'Castilla del Oro,' 'Perv,' 'Tiera del Brasil,' 'Tiera de Patagones,' and 'Tiera de Fernã de Magallaes,' or land of Magellan. South of the strait is the 'Tiera de los Fuegos,' whose true form and extent were not known until Schouten and Le Maire doubled Cape Horn in 1616.

Thus far I have copied or mentioned all maps which could throw any light on the progress of geographical knowledge, and have endeavored to give a statement of all the voyages by which this progress was made. Thus far we have seen the coasts of both North and South America, except in the south-west and the far north-west, more or less carefully explored by European voyagers; we have seen the New World recognized as distinct for the most part from Asia, a tolerably correct idea of its form and extent given by government pilots, and the name America applied, except on official maps, to the southern continent. Henceforth voyages to the parts already discovered become of common occurrence, and numerous maps, both in manuscript and print, are made, no one of which I shall attempt to follow. In the expeditions of the next and concluding ten years of this Summary I shall notice chiefly those by which a knowledge was acquired of the countries lying toward California and the great Northwest, presenting several maps to illustrate this part of the subject.

[1530.] During the absence of Cortés in Spain no progress had been made in maritime exploration; and by 1530 his ships on the stocks at Tehuantepec were ruined, but he made haste to build more. Cortés, Cartas, letters of Oct. 10, 1530, and April 20, 1532.

NUÑO DE GUZMAN.

Nuño de Guzman, formerly president of the audiencia of New Spain, and the inveterate enemy of Cortés, undertook with a large force, recruited in 147 Mexico, the conquest of the region lying to the north-west of that city. The northern limit of his conquest in 1530-1 was Culiacan, between which and Mexico the whole country was brought under Spanish control by expeditions sent by Guzman in all directions under different leaders. Relation di Nvnno di Gvsman, in Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 331, and abridged in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iv. p. 1556; Jornada que hizo Nuño de Guzman á la Nueva Galicia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.; Primera relacion, p. 288; Tercera relacion, p. 439; Cuarta relacion, p. 461; Doc. para Hist. de Mex., serie iii. p. 669; Mota Padilla, Conquista de Nueva Galicia, MS. of 1742; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii. pp. 559-77; Gil, Memoria, in Boletin de la Soc. Mex. Geog., tom. viii. p. 424 et seq.

Diego Ribero's Map, 1529.

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Hakluyt, in his Voyages, vol. iii. p. 700, states that one William Hawkins, of Plymouth, made voyages, in a ship fitted out at his own expense, to the coast of Brazil in 1530 and 1532, bringing back an Indian king as a curiosity.

PETER MARTYR, PTOLEMY, AND MUNSTER.

Peter Martyr, De Orbe novo, Cõpluti, 1530, is the first complete edition of eight decades; and Opus Epistolarum, of the same date and place, is a collection of over eight hundred letters written between 1488 and 1525, many of them relating more or less to American affairs.

In the Ptolemy of 1530, in several subsequent editions, and in Munster's Cosmography of 1572 et seq., is the map of which the following is a reduction.

The New World, from Ptolemy, 1530.

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I give this drawing, circulated for many years in standard works, to illustrate how extremely slow were cosmographers to form anything like a correct idea of American geography, and how little they availed themselves of the more correct knowledge shown on official charts. The following map, made in 1544, illustrates still further the absurdities circulated for many years 148 under the name of geography. Scores of additional examples might be given.

Ruscelli's Map, 1544.

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[1532.] At last, in the middle of 1532, Cortés was able to despatch from Acapulco two vessels, under Hurtado de Mendoza and Mazuela, to make the first voyage up the coast beyond Colima. Mendoza touched at Santiago and at the port of Jalisco, near the later San Blas, discovering the islands of Magdalena, or Tres Marías. Then they took refuge from a storm in a port located only by conjecture, probably on the Sonora coast, where after a time the vessels parted. Mendoza went on up the coast. Having landed and ascended the Rio Tamotchala—now the Fuerte—he was killed, with most of his men, by the Indians. The rest were massacred a little later, when the vessel grounded and broke up at the mouth of the Rio Petatlan, or Sinaloa. Meanwhile, Mazuela with the other vessel returning down the coast was driven ashore in Banderas Bay, where all his men but two or three were killed by the natives. Authorities, being voluminous, complicated, and of necessity fully presented elsewhere, are omitted here.

Cortes, De Insvlis nvper inventis, Coloniæ, 1532, is a translation of Hernan Cortés' second and third letters, with Peter Martyr's De Insulis, and a letter from Fray Martin de Valencia, dated Yucatan, June 12, 1531, with some letters from Zumárraga, first bishop of Mexico.

Grynævs, Novvs Orbis, Paris and Basle, 1532, is a collection of the voyages of Columbus, Pinzon, Vespucci, and others. In this work the assertion is made that Vespucci discovered America before Columbus, which aroused the wrath of Las Casas, and seems to have originated the subsequent bitter attacks on Vespucci. About the maps originally published with this work there seems to be some doubt, most copies, like my own, having no map. 149 According to Stevens' Notes, pp. 19, 51-2, pl. iii. no. 4, the Paris edition of Grynæus contained a map made by Orontius Fine in 1531. The following is a reduction from Stevens' fac-simile on Mercator's projection:

Orontius Fine's Map, 1531.

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All of the New World, so far as explored, is represented with tolerable accuracy, but the unexplored South Sea coast is made to extend westward from the region of Acapulco, and to join the southern coast of Asia, which is laid down from the ancient chronicles. Instead of being, as Stevens terms it, a "culmination of absurdities," I regard this map as more consistent with the knowledge of the time than any other printed during the first half of the sixteenth century. North America when found was regarded as Asia; South America was at first supposed to be a large island, and later an immense south-eastern extension of Asia; subsequent explorations, chiefly that of Magellan, showed the existence of a vast ocean between southern America and southern Asia; official maps left unexplored regions blank, expressing no theory as to the northern extension of the Pacific Ocean; other maps, as we have seen, without any authority whatever, make that ocean extend north and completely separate Asia from the New World. The present map, however, clings to the original idea and makes North America an eastern extension of Asia, giving the name America to the southern continent.

The map in the Basle edition of Grynæus, also given in Stevens' Notes, pl. iv. no. 4, closely resembles Schöner's Globe of 1520 (see page 137).

LOWER CALIFORNIA DISCOVERED.

[1533.] The expedition of Becerra, Grijalva, and Jimenez, sent out by Cortés to search for Hurtado de Mendoza and to continue north-western discoveries, sailed from Santiago in November. This voyage, like those following, will be fully treated elsewhere in this work. The only result, so far as the purposes of this chapter are concerned, was the discovery of the Revilla Gigedo group of islands and the southern part of the peninsula of Lower California, supposed then to be an island. Jimenez landed and was killed at 150 Santa Cruz, now known as La Paz. The subsequent expedition of 1535-6, headed by Cortés in person, added only very slightly to geographical knowledge of the north-west. Many points were touched and named along the coast; but comparatively few can be definitely located except by the aid of information afforded by the earlier explorations of Guzman by land.

Schöner, Opvscvlvm Geographicvm, supposed to have been printed in 1533, maintains that the New World is part of Asia, and contains, so far as known, the first charge against Vespucci. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. v. pp. 174-5. Other books of the year are: Franck, Weltbuch, Tübingen, 1533, which includes America in a description of the world; and Zummaraga, Botschafft des Grossmechtigsten Königs Dauid, n.p., n.d., containing a letter from Mexico dated in 1532.

[1534.] In 1534, 1535, and 1540, Jacques Cartier made three voyages for France, in which Newfoundland and the gulf and river of St Lawrence were carefully explored. Prima Relatione di Iacqves Carthier della Terra Nvova detta la Nuoua Francia, trouata nell'anno MDXXXIIII., in Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 435; Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 201-36; Sammlung alter Reisebeschreibungen, tom. xv. p. 29.

Simon de Alcazaba sailed from San Lúcar in September, 1534, with two ships and 280 men, intending to conquer and settle the western coast of South America south of Peru. After spending a long time in the strait of Magellan, he was finally prevented by the mutiny of his men from proceeding farther. His explorations in the Patagonian regions were more extensive than had been made before. Seventy-five men, the remnant of his expedition, reached Española in September, 1535, one vessel having been wrecked on the coast of Brazil. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii. pp. 155-65; Galvano's Discov., pp. 198-9; Herrera, dec. v. lib. vii. cap. v.; Diccionario Univ., app. tom. x. p. 807; Burney's Discov. South Sea, vol. i. p. 171.

The books of 1534 are, Francis of Bologna, La Letera, Venetia, n.d.; Chronica compendiosissima, Antwerp, 1534, containing letters from priests in Mexico; Vadianus, Epitome, Tigura, 1534, includes the Insulæ Oceani; Peter Martyr, Libro Primo Della Historia, Vinegia, 1534, which has joined to it a libro secondo by Oviedo, and an anonymous third book on the conquest of Peru; two anonymous works, Letera de la nobil cipta, and Copia delle Lettere del Prefetto della India, being letters from Peru, the latter describing the conquest; Honter, De cosmographiæ, Basileæ, 1534, with a chapter on the new islands; Xeres, Uerdadera relacion de la conquista del Peru, Seville, 1534; and an anonymous work on the same subject, La conquista del Peru, Seville, 1534.

[1535.] In this year appeared the first edition of the great historical work of Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, La Historia general de las Indias, Seville, 1535. Only nineteen of the fifty books which comprise the whole work appear in this edition; the work complete has since been published in Madrid, 1851-5. Steinhowel, Chronica Beschreibung, Franckenfort, 1535, has a chapter on 'America discovered in 1497.'

[1536.] In April, 1528, as we have seen, Pánfilo de Narvaez had landed on the west coast of Florida, probably at Tampa Bay, and attempted with three hundred men to reach Pánuco by land. The company gradually melted 151 from famine, sickness, and battles with the savages, until only Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca with a few companions remained. They were held as slaves by the natives of the Gulf coast for six years; and then escaping, traversed Texas, Chihuahua, and Sonora, by a route which has not been very definitely fixed. Cabeza de Vaca with three companions reached the Spanish settlements in northern Sinaloa early in 1536, and their reports served as a powerful incentive to more extended exploration. Relatione che fece Alvaro Nvnez detto Capo di vacca, in Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 310-30; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iv. p. 1499; Cabeça de Vaca's Relation, New York, 1871; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom, vii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii. p. 582 et seq.; Barcia, Historiadores Prim., tom. i.

Peter Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, Paris, 1536, contains nine decades. This work, with Sacro Bosco, Sphera Volgare, Venetiis, 1537, and Nunez, Tratado da Sfera, Olisipone, 1537, closes the bibliographical part of this Summary, in which, following Harrisse as the latest authority, I have endeavored to mention all the original works by which the geographical results of voyages of discovery were made known prior to 1540.

[1537.] After the abandonment of California by the colony, Cortés sent two vessels under Hernando de Grijalva and Alvarado (not Pedro) to Peru with supplies and reinforcements for Pizarro. There are vague reports that Grijalva sailed westward from Peru and made a long cruise in the Pacific, visiting various islands which cannot be located. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. v. lib. viii. cap. x.; dec. vii. lib. v. cap. ix.; Galvano's Discov., pp. 202-3; Burney's Discov. South Sea, vol. i. p. 180.

[1538.] Fernando de Soto landed on the west coast of Florida, crossed the peninsula to that part discovered by Aillon in 1526, wandered four or five years in the interior of the southern United States and followed the course of the Mississippi, probably as far up as to the Ohio. Here Soto died, and the remnant of his company, after penetrating farther west to the buffalo country, floated down the Mississippi and returned to Mexico in 1543. Soto's travels are esteemed by Kohl as "the principal source of knowledge regarding these regions, for more than a hundred years." Discov. and Conq. of Terra Florida, Hakluyt Soc., London, 1851; Selection of Curious Voy., Sup. to Hakluyt, London, 1812, p. 689; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iv. p. 1532; Ferdinands von Soto Reise nach Florida, in Sammlung, tom. xvi. p. 395.

[1539.] In August, 1539, three vessels under Alonso de Camargo were despatched from Seville for India via the South Sea, and reached Cabo de las Vírgenes January 20, 1540. One of the vessels was wrecked in the strait of Magellan; another returned to Spain, and the third entered the Pacific, and finally, after touching Chile in 38° 30', arrived at Arequipa in Peru. This voyage is supposed to have afforded the first knowledge of the intermediate coast between the strait of Magellan and Peru. Diccionario Univ., app. tom. x. p. 807; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. vii. lib. i. cap. viii.; Burney's Discov. South Sea, vol. i. p. 186.

NEW MEXICO INVADED.

Cabeza de Vaca brought to Sinaloa and thence to Mexico accounts of wonderful towns in the northern regions traversed by him; and in March, 1539, Fray Marcos de Niza, accompanied by one of the men who had seen the reported wonders, set out from Culiacan and proceeded northward in search 152 of the Seven Cities of whose existence other rumors were current besides those brought by Alvar Nuñez. Marcos de Niza reached the Pueblo towns of Zuñi and brought back greatly exaggerated reports of the wealth of the people and the magnificence of their cities. Relatione del Reverendo Fra Marco da Nizza, in Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 356; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iv. p. 1560; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. de Doc., tom. iii. p. 325; Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 366-73; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. ix. p. 256. See also Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. iii. pp. 104-8.

Niza's report prompted Cortés to renewed efforts in his Californian enterprise, and in July, 1539, Francisco de Ulloa was sent from Acapulco with three vessels to prosecute the discoveries by water. Ulloa spent some time in the port of Santiago for repairs, lost one vessel in a gale near the entrance to the gulf, visited Santa Cruz, and then followed the main coast to the mouth of the Colorado, and returned along the coast of the Peninsula to Santa Cruz, where he arrived on the 18th of October. From this place he doubled the southern point of California, and sailed up the western coast to Cedros Island, and somewhat beyond. During the whole voyage he touched and named many places, whose names have seldom been retained, but some of which may be with tolerable certainty identified. In April the vessels separated, one returning by a quick passage to Colima. Ulloa himself with the other vessel attempted to continue his explorations northward, with what success is not known. According to Gomara and Bernal Diaz, he returned after several months spent in fruitless endeavors to reach more northern latitudes; other authorities state that he was never heard from. Preciado, who accompanied the expedition, wrote of it a detailed but not very clear narrative or journal. Relatione dello scoprimento che nel nome di Dio va à far l'armata dell' illustrissimo Fernando Cortese, etc. (Preciado's Relation), in Ramusio, tom. iii. 339-54, and in Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 397-424; Gomara, Hist. Conq., fol. 292-3; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 234; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. vi. lib. ix. cap. viii. et seq.; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. v. p. 856; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. xxii.-vi.; Burney's Discov. South Sea, vol. i. pp. 193-210; Venegas, Noticia de la California, quoted from Gomara, tom. i. pp. 159-61; Clavigero, Storia della California, tom. i. p. 151.

[1540.] Also in consequence of Marcos de Niza's reports, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, who had succeeded Nuño de Guzman and Torre as governor of New Galicia, set out from Culiacan in April, 1540, penetrated to the Pueblo towns, or the Seven Cities of Cibola, and thence to the valley of the Rio Grande and far toward the north-east to Quivira, whose location, fixed by him in latitude 40°, has been a much disputed question. While in Sonora, he sent forth Melchor Diaz, who explored the head of the gulf, and the mouths of the rivers, Gila and Colorado, where he found letters left by Alarcon. See infra. From Cibola, Coronado sent Garcia Lopez de Cárdenas west, who passed through the Moqui towns and followed the Colorado for some distance. Coronado returned in 1542. Relatione che mando Francesco Vazquez di Coronado, in Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 359; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. de Doc., tom. iii. p. 511. Hakluyt's Voy., vol. iii. pp. 373-82, has the same and Gomara's account. Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, série i. tom. ix., gives the relations of Coronado, 153 Castañeda, and Jaramillo. See also Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. iii. pp. 108-12; Simpson, in Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1869.

To coöperate with Coronado's land expedition, Hernando de Alarcon was despatched from Acapulco in May, 1540. Alarcon followed the coast to the head of the gulf, and ascended the Buena Guia (Colorado) some eighty-five leagues in boats, but hearing nothing from Coronado, he returned after burying letters, which, as we have seen, were found by Melchor Diaz. Beside the references given above, see Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xxviii.; Burney's Discov. South Sea, vol. i. pp. 211-16; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, vol. iv. p. 1560; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv. p. 21 et seq.; vol. vi. p. 60; Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii. p. 671.

I here present reductions of two maps of the time to illustrate the explorations on the north-west coast, with which I close this sketch. The first was made by the pilot Castillo in 1541, and is taken from Cortés, Hist. Nueva-España, edited by Lorenzana, Mexico, 1770, p. 325.

Castillo's Map, 1541.

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CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA DISCOVERED.

A similar chart is mentioned by Señor Navarrete as existing in the hydrographic archives in Madrid. The second, from the Munich Atlas, no. vi., is of uncertain date. Peschel places it between 1532 and 1540; and it was certainly made about that time, as Yucatan is represented as an island, and California as a peninsula, although later it came again to be considered an island, as at its first discovery. 154

Manuscript Map, Author Unknown, Supposed to have been Drawn between 1532 And 1510.

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This, then, was Discovery. And in the progress of discovery we may trace the progress of mind. We can but wonder now, when we see our little earth belted with steam and lightning, how reluctantly the infant intellect left its cradle to examine its surroundings. Wrapped in its Mediterranean swaddlings, it crept forth timidly, tremblingly, slowly gaining courage with experience, until, throwing off impediments, it trod the earth in the fearless pride of manhood. Like all science, philosophy, and religion, cosmography was at first a superstition. Walled within narrow limits, as we have seen, by imaginary frost and fire, shaken from fear of heaven above and hell beneath, there is little wonder that the ancients dared not venture far from home; nor that, when men began to explore parts unknown, there should appear that romance of geography so fascinating to the Greek mind, that halo thrown by the dimness of time and distance over strange seas and lands. From this time to that of the adaptation of the magnet to purposes of navigation, about a score of centuries, there was little progress in discovery.

Is it not strange how the secrets of nature, one after another, reveal themselves according to man's necessities? Who would have looked for the deliverance of pent-up humanity from certain mysterious qualities in magnetic iron ore, which floated toward the north that side of a cork on which it was placed? When Vasco da Gama and Columbus almost simultaneously opened to Europe oceanic highways through which were destined to flow the treasures of the eastern and the western Indies, then it was that a new quality was discovered in the loadstone; for in addition to its power to take up iron, it was found to possess the rare virtue of drawing gold and silver from distant parts into the coffers of European princes; then it was that paths were marked out across the Sea of Darkness, and ships passed to and fro bearing the destroyers of nations, and laden with their spoils. 155

CHAPTER II.
COLUMBUS AND HIS DISCOVERY.
1492-1500.

Early Experiences—The Compact—Embarkation at Palos—The Voyage—Discovery of Land—Unfavorable Comparison with the Paradise of Marco Polo—Cruise among the Islands—One Nature Everywhere—Desertion of Pinzon—Wreck of the Santa María—The Fortress of La Navidad Erected—Return to Spain—Rights of Civilization—The Papal Bull of Partition—Fonseca Appointed Superintendent of the Indies—Second Voyage—Navidad in Ruins—Isabela Established—Discontent of the Colonists—Explorations of the Interior—Coasting Cuba, and Discovery of Jamaica—Failure of Columbus as Governor—Intercourse with Spain—Destruction of the Indians—Government of the Indies—Diego and Bartolomé Colon—Charges against the Admiral—Commission of Inquiry Appointed—Second Return to Spain—Third Voyage—Trinidad Discovered—Santo Domingo Founded—The Roldan Rebellion—Francisco de Bobadilla Appointed to Supersede Columbus—Arbitrary and Iniquitous Conduct of Bobadilla—Columbus sent in Chains to Spain.

In the developments of progress the agent, however subordinate to the event, cannot fail to command our intelligent curiosity. The fact is less one with us than the factor. The instrument is nearer us in pulsating humanity than the event, which is the result of inexorable causations wholly beyond our knowledge. That America could not have remained much longer hidden from the civilized world does not lessen the vivid interest which attaches to the man Columbus, as he plods along the dusty highway toward Huelva, leading by the hand his boy, and bearing upon his shoulders the more immediate destinies of nations. 156

Nor are we indifferent to the agencies that evolved the agent. Every signal success springs from a fortuitous conjunction of talent and opportunity; from a coalition of taste or training with the approaching fancy or dominant idea of the times. While assisting his father wool-combing, the youthful Genoese was toughening his sinews and acquiring habits of industry; while studying geometry and Latin at Pavia, while serving as sailor in the Mediterranean, or afterward cruising the high seas, he was knitting more firmly the tissues of his mind, and strengthening his courage for the life-conflict which was to follow. Without such discipline, in vain from the north and south and west might Progress come whispering him secrets; for inspiration without action is but impalpable breath, leaving no impression, and genius unseasoned by application decomposes to corruption all the more rank by reason of its richness.

His marriage with the daughter of Bartolommeo Perestrello, a distinguished navigator under Prince Henry; his map-making as means of support; his residence on the isle of Porto Santo, and his interest while there in maritime discovery; his conversations and correspondence with navigators and cosmographers in various quarters; his zealous study of the writings of Marco Polo, Benjamin of Tudela, and Carpini, and his eager absorption of the fantastic tale of Antonio Leone, of Madeira; his ponderings on ocean mysteries, and his struggles with poverty; his audience of John of Portugal, and the treachery of that monarch in attempting to anticipate his plans by secretly sending out a vessel, and the deserved defeat which followed; his sending his brother Bartolomé with proposals to England; his stealing from Lisbon with his son Diego, lest he should be arrested for debt; his supposed application to Genoa; his interviews with the dukes of Medina Sidonia and Medina Celi, and the letter of the latter to Queen Isabella of Castile; his visit to the court at Córdova, 157 and the dark days attending it; the conference of learned men at Salamanca, and their unfavorable verdict; the weary waitings on the preoccupied sovereigns at Málaga and Seville; the succor given at La Rábida, and the worthy prior's intercession with the queen; the humble dignity of the mariner at Granada amidst scenes of oriental splendor and general rejoicings, which only intensified his discontent; the lofty constancy in his demands when once a royal hearing was obtained; the fresh disappointment after such long delay, and the proud bitterness of spirit with which he turned his back on Spain to seek in France a patron for his schemes; the final appeal of Santángel, who afterward assisted in obtaining the money, and the conversion of Isabella, who now offered, if necessary, to pledge her jewels to meet the charges of the voyage; the despatching of a royal courier after the determined fugitive, who returned in joy to receive the tardy aid—these incidents in the career of Columbus are a household story.

And therein, thus far, we see displayed great persistency of purpose by one possessed of a conception so stupendous as to overwhelm well-nigh the strongest; by one not over-careful in money-matters, or morality; proud and sensitive whenever the pet project is touched, but affable enough otherwise, and not above begging upon necessity. It was a long time to wait, eighteen years, when every day was one of alternate hope and despair; and they were not altogether worthless, those noiseless voices from another world, which kept alive in him the inspiration that oft-times now appeared as the broken tracery of a half-remembered dream.

TERMS OF AGREEMENT.

An agreement was made by the sovereigns and the mariner, that to Columbus, his heirs and successors forever, should be secured the office of admiral, and the titles of viceroy and governor-general of all the lands and seas he should discover, with power to nominate candidates from whom the sovereigns 158 might choose rulers for the realms discovered; that one tenth of the net returns of gold, pearls, or other commodities brought therefrom should be his; that in disputes arising from the new traffic he, or his lieutenant, should be sole arbitrator within his domain, the high admiral of Castile being judge within his district; and that by contributing one eighth of the cost of any enterprise to the regions found by him he should receive one eighth the profits. To these dignities and prerogatives was added the right of the discoverer, and of his heirs, to prefix to their names the title 'Don,' which should elevate them into respectability beside the grandees of Spain. This agreement was signed by Ferdinand as well as by Isabella, although the crown of Castile alone assumed the risk, and alone was to receive the benefit.

It was not a common spectacle in those days along the southern seaboard of Spain, that of science urging religion into its service. Nevertheless, by royal order, reiterated by Peñalosa in person with pronounced effect, the devil-fearers of Palos were forced to provide ships and seamen for what they regarded as anything but an orthodox adventure. This they did with the greatest reluctance.

Even under pressure of that civil and ecclesiastical system so completely interwoven in Spain that to disobey one was rebellion against both, even in the face of king and priest, these mechanical sea-farers, who halted not before tangible danger in any form, shrank from the awful uncertainty of a plunge into the mysteries of the dim, lowering, unintelligible west. Then came bravely forward the brothers Pinzon, and not only assisted in providing two ships, so that Queen Isabella, after all, might wear her jewels while her deputy was scouring the high seas for new dominions, but furnished Columbus with money to equip another vessel and to pay his eighth 159 of the charge which should secure him one eighth of the profits—a service never sufficiently remembered or rewarded by either Columbus, his masters, or successors.

FIRST VOYAGE.

The expedition comprised one hundred and twenty men, in three small vessels, the Santa María, decked, and carrying the flag of the admiral, and the Pinta and Niña, open caravels, commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez Pinzon respectively. Among others were the inspector-general of the armament, Rodrigo Sanchez; the chief alguacil, Diego de Arana; the royal notary, Rodrigo de Escobar; and four pilots, Francisco Martin Pinzon, Sancho Ruiz, Pedro Alonso Niño, and Bartolomé Roldan. The commander-in-chief with his tall, enduring form bowed by an idea; his long, thin face, with its large, round eyes, high forehead, straight, pointed nose; features, in which tenacity and gloom struggled for the predominance, surrounded by thin locks and gray beard—was scarcely a personage either to inspire confidence or win affection. The squadron sailed from the port of Palos August 3, 1492.

But for the fact that it was the first, the voyage was quite commonplace; the most serious occurrences being the breaking of a rudder, which obliged the expedition to put in at the Canaries for repairs, and the variation of the needle, which caused a little fright among the pilots. The sea was tranquil, toward the last extremely so, and the wind generally favorable; yet no small trepidation attended this gradual loosening of hold upon the substantial world, and the drifting daily farther and farther into the fathomless unknown. Hence it was with the wildest joy that early in the morning of the 12th of October the cry of Land! was heard, and that soon afterward the venturesome navigators felt beneath their feet the indubitable isle to which they gave the name San Salvador, taking possession for Castile. 160

Now the sovereigns had promised that he who first saw land should be recompensed by a pension of ten thousand maravedís, equivalent to thirty-six dollars. It was at two o'clock in the morning that Rodrigo de Triana, a mariner on board the Pinta, gave the signal, the first that proved true after several had been mistakenly made; whereupon he claimed the reward. But previously, during the night, Columbus had fancied he descried a fitful light that should be on some shore. On the strength of this surmise he secured to himself the insignificant sum, which, to say nothing of its justness, was not a very magnanimous proceeding in so great a discoverer. We are told of Triana, that, burning under a sense of wrong, after returning to Spain, he passed into Africa and turned Mahometan. However this may have been, dawn had shown them the island, which seemed itself but dawn, to be dispelled by the full sun's rays when the night's dream had passed. Over the trackless waste of sea, suspended between earth and sky, the good ships had felt their way, until now, like goddesses, they sat at anchor on the other side of Ocean.

Though this land was unlike the Zipangu of his dreams, Columbus was not disposed to complain; but rather, midst tears and praises, to kiss the earth, be it of whatsoever quality, and smile benignantly upon the naked natives that crept timidly forward, wondering whether the ships were monsters of the deep, or bright beings dropped from heaven.

Of a truth, it was a wonderful place, this India of Marco Polo that the Genoese now sought. Intersected by rivers and canals, spanned by bridges under which the largest ships might sail, were fertile provinces fragrant with fruit and spices. Mangi alone boasted twelve thousand cities with gorgeous palaces, whose pillars and roofs were emblazoned in gold, and so situated as to be compassed within a few days' 161 travel. The cities and fortresses of Cathay were counted by tens of thousands, and their busy population by millions. On every side were gardens and luxurious groves; pleasure-boats and banqueting-barges floated on the lakes, and myriads of white sails swept over the bays. The mountains were veined with silver, the river-beds paved with gold, and pearls were as common as pebbles. Sheep were as large as oxen, and oxen were as large as elephants. Birds of brilliant plumage filled the enchanting air, and strange beasts of beauty and utility roamed the forests. The inhabitants were arrayed in silks and furs, and fed on luscious viands; there were living springs that cured all diseases. The army of the great Khan, the happy ruler of all these glories, was in number as the grains of the sand which the sea surrounds; and as for vessels of war, and horses, and elephants, there were a thousand times ten thousand. What a contrast to such a creation was this low-lying strip of jungle-covered sand, peopled by copper-hued creatures dwelling in huts, and sustaining life by the natural products of the unkempt earth! This, however, was but an outlying island of Cathay; the main-land of Asia could not be far distant; in any event, here was India, and these people were Indians.

THE TWO INDIAS COMPARED.

There was little enough, now appearing, in the India thus far found to enrich Spain. In their noses the natives displayed gold, always a royal monopoly when discovered; and they brought cotton for barter, on which the admiral immediately laid the same restriction. Being informed, by signs, that the metal came from the south, after examining the shore thereabout in boats, the Spaniards set sail on the 14th, took possession of Santa María de la Concepcion on the 15th, of Fernandina, now Exuma, the day following, and afterward of Isabela, now Isla Larga, or Long Island; also of a group to which they gave the name Islas de Arena. Soils and 162 other substances, atmospheres and sunshines, were all familiar; plants and animals, though differing in degree and kind, were similar to those they had always been accustomed to see. One creation was everywhere apparent; one nature; one rule. It was wonderful, stupendous! And if these human kind have souls, what a mighty work is here to fit them for eternity!

Crossing the Bahama Bank, they came on the 28th to Cuba, which Columbus called Juana, and which, with its dense uprolling green spangled with parrots, gay woodpeckers, and humming-birds, scarlet flamingoes and glittering insects; its trees of royal palm, cocoanut, cedar, mahogany, and shrubs of spicy fragrance; its unknown fruits and foods; its transparent waters whose finny denizens flashed back the sunlight from their variegated scales, all under the brightest of skies, all breathed upon by softest airs, and lapped in serenest seas, was more like his own Zipangu, if, indeed, it was not Mangi itself.

Coasting eastward, the Pinta sailed away and left the other vessels, and it was with deep chagrin that Columbus saw no attention paid his signals to return. Pinzon had heard of gold-fields in advance of him, and he was going to reap them. The wreck of the Santa María a month afterward, leaving the admiral only the little Niña, made his situation all the more critical, and made him feel more keenly than ever the desertion. Nor was this the first indication of mutiny and disruption among his people during the voyage. If the truth must be told, the character of the man, though inured to the cruel hardihood of the age, seems here to be undergoing change; else it was not originally as either he or his friends have estimated. The new and varied experiences amidst the new and varied phenomena attending the idea and its consummation make it a matter of no wonder that his head began to be a little turned. He had pondered painfully on what Aristotle taught regarding 163 the sphericity of the earth, on what Seneca said about sailing to the Indies westwardly, and on the terrestrial paradise placed by Dante at the antipodes of the holy city; and now he was here among those happy regions of which so long ago philosophers had spoken and poets sung. Under the inspiration of rare intelligence, and by wonderful courage and force of will, this Genoese sailor had brought to his own terms the world's proudest sovereigns. Success, in his mind the most perfect, the most complete, was by this time proved beyond peradventure. At the outset he had suspected himself the special agent of the supernatural; now he was sure of it. It was meet, therefore, that all men should fear and obey him. Impelled to activity, he was impelled, if necessary, to severity. During the passage he had deemed it expedient several times to mislead the sailors, who were consequently backward about reposing in him the respect and confidence due a commander. Suspicious of the Spanish sovereigns from the first, his fears constantly increased as the magnitude of his discovery slowly unfolded before him, that he should eventually be robbed of it. He was jealous lest any of those who had shared with him the perils of the adventure should secure to themselves some part of the honor or profit attending it. He had quarrelled with the Pinzons, who, having staked their money and lives on what was generally regarded a mad risk, thought some consideration from the commander their due. The admiral's temper was tamed somewhat by the very boldness of Pinzon's act; for when the Pinta returned from her cruisings, little was then said about it; but if ever the opportunity should come, her commander must pay dearly for his disobedience.

SAILING AMONG THE ISLANDS.

Cuba failed to display any opulent oriental city, but furnished tobacco and maize, gifts from savagism to civilization as comforting, perhaps, as any received in return. The mariners next discovered 164 and coasted Hayti, or Española, thus occupying the greater part of December. On the northern side of the island, out of the wrecked Santa María and her belongings, Columbus built and equipped a fortress, which he called La Navidad; and leaving there thirty-nine men under command of Diego de Arana, with Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo de Escobedo, lieutenants, on the 4th of January, 1493, he embarked for Spain. Those left behind were expected by the ardent-minded admiral, during his absence, to obtain, in trade, a ton of gold, beside discovering mines and spices.

Violent storms attended the homeward voyage; but on the 15th of March the expedition reached Palos in safety, after touching at the Azores and the coast of Portugal. Then followed rejoicings. Over Spain, over Europe, the tidings flew: A New World to the westward! Bells rang and choirs pealed hosannas. A New World for Spain; now were their Catholic Majesties well paid for their losses and trials in connection with Mahometans and Jews!

With six natives, and divers birds and plants and other specimens from the Islands, Columbus set out for Barcelona, then the residence of the Spanish sovereigns. Throughout the journey, the highway and houses were thronged with spectators eager for a glimpse of the strange spectacle. Arrived at court, the great mariner was most graciously received, being permitted even to be seated in the presence of royalty. He told his tale. It is said that all present wept. Columbus was as much excited as any. In a delirium of joy he vowed within seven years to appoint an army of four thousand horse and fifty thousand foot for the rescue of Jerusalem, and to pay the cost out of his own pocket; but, unfortunately, he never found himself in funds sufficient to fulfil his pious promise. The original compact between the sovereigns and the discoverer was confirmed, and to 165 the latter was granted a family coat of arms. While Columbus was fêted by the nobles, and all the world resounded with his praises, Martin Alonso Pinzon lay a-dying; the reward for his invaluable services, exceeding a hundred-fold all that Isabella and Ferdinand together had done, being loss of property, loss of health, the insults of the admiral, the scorn of the queen, all now happily crowned by speedy death.

A HAPPY PEOPLE.

Never had nature made, within historic times, a paradise more perfect than this Cuba and this Hayti that the Genoese had found. Never was a sylvan race more gentle, more hospitable than that which peopled this primeval garden. Naked, because they needed not clothing; dwelling under palm-leaves, such being sufficient protection; their sustenance the spontaneous gifts of the ever generous land and sea; undisturbed by artificial curbings and corrections, and tormented by no ambitions, their life was a summer day, as blissful as mortals can know. It was as Eden; without work they might enjoy all that earth could give. Disease and pain they scarcely knew; only death was terrible. In their social intercourse they were sympathizing, loving, and decorous, practising the sublimest religious precepts without knowing it, and obeying Christ more perfectly than many who profess to serve him. With strangers the men were frank, cordial, honest; the women artless and compliant. Knowing no guile, they suspected none. Possessing all things, they gave freely of that which cost them nothing. Having no laws, they broke none; circumscribed by no conventional moralities, they were not immoral. If charity be the highest virtue, and purity and peace the greatest good, then were these savages far better and happier beings than any civilization could boast. That they possessed any rights, any natural or inherent privileges in regard to their lands or their lives; that these innocent and inoffensive people were not fit subjects 166 for coercion, treachery, robbery, enslavement, and slaughter, was a matter which seems never to have been questioned at that time by either discoverer, adventurer, or ruler. However invalid in any of the Spanish courts might have been the argument of a house-breaker, that in the room he entered he discovered a purse of gold, and took it, Spaniards never thought of applying such logic to themselves in regard to the possessions of the natives in the new lands their Genoese had found.

What Spain required now was a title such as the neighboring nations of Europe should recognize as valid. So far as the doctrine was concerned, of appropriating to themselves the possessions of others, they were all equally sound in it. Europe with her steel and saltpetre and magnetic needle was stronger than naked barbarians, whose possessions were thereupon seized as fast as found. The right to such robbery has been held sacred since the earliest records of the human race; and it was by this time legalized by the civilized nations. Savagism had no rights which civilization was bound to respect. The world belonged not to Christian or Mahometan, but to whatever idea, principle, or power could take it. In none of their pretended principles, in none of their codes of honor or ethics, was there any other ultimate appeal than brute force; their deity they made to fit the occasion, whatever that might be. This they did not know, however. They thought themselves patterns of justice and fair morality; and all that troubled them was in what attitude they would stand toward each other with regard to their several discoveries and conquests. But while such was the recognized condition of affairs at the beginning of the sixteenth century among the reckless adventurers of Spain, such were not the teachings of the Church, nor the views of the intelligent and right thinking men of the time. True, the army of fortune-seekers who first rushed to the new world in search of gold came 167 for lust and plunder, but with them, and inspired with very different motives, came the missionaries of the cross, pointing the savages to civilization and a purer religion than their own. But civilization and religion, it must be confessed, had little to recommend them in the examples of unprincipled men who were ever present to give the lie to the teachings of the priests.

THE WORLD PARTITIONED BY THE POPE.

Thus it was that the Spanish sovereigns, being Christian, applied for a confirmation of title to Alexander VI., then sovereign pontiff of Christendom, at the same time insinuating, in a somewhat worldly fashion, that learned men regarded the rights of their Catholic Majesties secure enough even without such confirmation. No valid objections before the holy tribunal could be raised against Christian princes powerful enough to sustain their pretensions to ownership while propagating the true faith in heathen lands; but Pope Eugene IV. and his successors had already granted Portugal all lands discovered by Portuguese from Cape Bojador to the Indies. In order, therefore, to avoid conflict, the bull issued the 2d of May, 1493, ceding Spain the same rights respecting discoveries already granted Portugal, was on the day following defined to this effect:—An imaginary line of demarcation should be drawn from pole to pole, one hundred leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands; all lands discovered east of that line should be Portugal's, while west of that line all should belong to Spain. Thus by a very mortal breath and the flourish of a pen, the unknown world, with all its multitudes of interests and inhabitants, was divided between these two sovereignties, occupying the peninsula of south-western Europe; though in their wisdom they forgot that if the world was round, Portugal in going east and Spain in going west must somewhere meet, and might yet quarrel on the other side. Subsequently, that is to say on the 7th of June, 1494, by treaty between Spain and Portugal the papal line of partition was removed, 168 making it three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, Portugal having complained of want of sea-room for southern enterprise. This removal ultimately gave the Portuguese Brazil. And ecclesiastics claim that care was ever exercised by the Spanish crown to comply with the obligations thus laid upon it by this holy sanction.

Appointed to take charge of the affairs of the New World was Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, arch-deacon of Seville, and afterward patriarch of the Indies. Although high in ecclesiastical preferment, he was a bustling man of business, and ably filled the office during a period of some thirty years. Of unflinching devotion to his sovereign, sedate, stern in the accomplishment of his duty, and obliged as he was, in the interests of the crown, to exercise occasional restraint on the rashness or presumption of the conquerors, he incurred their enmity and was reviled by their biographers. That he was retained so long in office by such able monarchs as Ferdinand and Charles goes far to prove invalid the charges of misrule and villainy so liberally made against him. Associated with Fonseca was Francisco Pinelo, as treasurer, and Juan de Soria as contador, or auditor. Their chief office was at Seville, with a custom-house at Cádiz belonging to the same department. This was the germ of the famous Casa de Contratacion de las Indias, or India House of Trade, so long dominant in the government of the New World.

THE SECOND VOYAGE.

Thus all went swimmingly. Columbus found no difficulty in fitting out a fleet for a second venture, a royal order being issued that all captains, with their ships and crews, in all the Andalusian ports, should hold themselves in readiness for that purpose. Seventeen vessels sailed from Cádiz the 25th of September, 1493, having on board twelve hundred persons,—miners, mechanics, agriculturists, and gentlemen,—with horses, cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, and fowls; the seeds of vegetables, of orchard fruits, of oranges, lemons, 169 and grain for planting; together with provisions, medicines, implements, goods for trade, arms, ammunition, and all the requirements for founding a colony. Among the passengers were Diego Colon, the admiral's brother, Bernal Diaz de Pisa, contador, Fermin Cedo, assayer, and Alonso de Ojeda and Juan de la Cosa, subsequently famous in New World discoveries; also twelve priests, chief among whom was Bernardo Buil, a Benedictine monk, sent by the pope as his apostolic vicar, with all the ornaments and vestments for full service, which always had a wonderful effect upon the natives. The work of conversion had already been begun by baptizing in solemn state the six savages brought over by Columbus, Ferdinand and Isabella with Prince Juan standing sponsors. The 3d of November the expedition reached Dominica, so named from the day of arrival, Sunday. Next was discovered an island to which Columbus gave the name of his ship, Marigalante; then Guadalupe, where were tamed geese, and pine-apples, also human bones, significant of the presence of the horror-breeding Caribs, or cannibals. Thus cruising among these Caribbee Islands, and naming them one after another, Columbus continued his way and finally came to Navidad, only to find the fortress in ruins, its former occupants having fallen victims to their own follies.

Choosing a site a little to the east of Navidad, still on the north side of Hayti, the Spaniards landed their effects, and laid out a city, which they called Isabela, surrounding it with ramparts. As soon as the vessels could be laden with gold, they were to be sent back to Spain; but the death of the Spaniards left at Navidad had somewhat marred original plans.

While Columbus lay ill, directing affairs as best he might, early in January, 1494, two parties under Ojeda and Gorvalan reconnoitred the island, each in a different direction, and returning, reported gold. As it was inconvenient to their anchorage, and as many 170 of the colonists were prostrate with disease, it was deemed best to let the ships go back empty rather than detain them longer; hence, on the 2d of February, twelve of the largest craft put to sea under command of Antonio de Torres, having on board further specimens of the people and products of the country. By this departure was sent a request for immediate supplies.

Murmurs now arose against Columbus, the sick and disappointed ones complaining most loudly that he had deceived them, had lured them thither with false hopes to die. And they begged Diaz de Pisa, already at the head of a faction, and Cedo, who said there was not gold in those isles in paying quantities, to seize the remaining ships and sail with them for Spain. But the admiral hearing of it, arrested Diaz, and held him in irons on board one of the vessels to await trial in Spain.

Recovered from illness, Columbus left his brother Diego in command at Isabela, and set out, at the head of four hundred men, for the golden mountains of Cibao, in the interior of the island, intending there to build a fortress, and to work the mines on an extensive scale. Arrived at a favorable locality, where gold seemed plentiful in the brooks, the Spaniards threw up a strong wooden fort, which they called Santo Tomás, a piece of pleasantry aimed at the doubting assayer, Cedo. Leaving in command Pedro Margarite, Columbus returned to Isabela. Afterward a smaller post was built, called Magdalena, and the command was given to Luis de Arriaga.

The natives could not welcome so large an invasion, which they now clearly saw would bring upon them serious results. Thereupon they withdrew from the vicinity of Santo Tomás, refusing all intercourse with its inmates; and as a Spanish hidalgo could by no means work, even at gold-gathering, success in that direction was not marked. Provisions and medicine 171 then began to fail, and fresh discontent arose, even Father Buil arraying himself in opposition to the admiral.

As much to keep his people occupied as through any expectation of profit, Columbus sent another expedition into the interior of Hayti, and himself crossed to the south side of Cuba in three caravels, intending thence to reach Cathay. Soon he discovered to the southward a lofty isle, which he called at first Santa Gloria, then Santiago, but which finally retained its native name, Jamaica, that is to say, Island of Springs. After reaching nearly the western end of Cuba, thinking it still the continent of Asia, and that possibly he might by that way reach Spain, in which event he could then see what was beyond, he coasted the south sides of Jamaica and Hayti, and returned to Isabela, where he arrived insensible from excitement and fatigue. When he awoke to bodily suffering, which for a time had been drowned in delirious energy, there, to his great joy, he found his brother Bartolomé, who had come from Spain with three well-laden ships to his assistance.

COLONIZATION A FAILURE.

Great events generally choose great men for their accomplishment, though not unfrequently we see no small dust raised by an insignificant agent. As a mariner and discoverer, Columbus had no superior; as colonist and governor, he had by this time proved himself a failure. There are some things great men cannot do as well as their inferiors. It was one thing to rule at sea, and quite another to rule on shore. In bringing to his India these unruly Spaniards, he had sown for himself the whirlwind. Had he been more judicious in the selection of his followers, his later days would have been more successful as well as more peaceful. Discovery was his infatuation; he was never for a moment unattended by a consuming curiosity to find a western way to civilized India. Had he been possessed of sound practical judgment 172 in the matter, of the same knowledge of himself and of political affairs that he had of navigation, he would have seen that he could not, at the same time, gratify his passion for discovery and successfully govern colonies. In his fatal desire to assume rulership, and upon the ill-understood reports of simple savages, with no knowledge of the resources or capabilities of the country, without definite purpose or mature plans, he had brought upon himself an avalanche of woes. Beside his incapacity for such a task, his position was rendered all the more trying by the fact that he was a foreigner, whose arbitrary acts galled his impatient subordinates, and finally wrought them to the pitch of open rebellion. The Spaniards were quick enough to perceive that this Genoese sailor was in no wise fitted to lay the foundation of a prosperous Spanish colony; and when during his absence he left in command his brother, to whom attached no prestige of high achievement to make up for his misfortune in not being born in Spain, complications grew daily worse. Even the ecclesiastics were against the admiral; for with a foresight born of a deep study of human nature they saw that between the fires of the real and the unreal this man was becoming mad. They saw the religious hypochondria, which had already inflamed his intellect, now aggravated by the anxieties incident to the government of a turbulent element under circumstances unprecedented, undermining his health, and bringing rapidly upon him those mental and physical distempers which rendered the remainder of his life prolonged misery. Thus we may plainly see how Columbus brought upon himself the series of calamities which are commonly found charged to unscrupulous sovereigns and villainous rivals.

And thickly enough misfortunes were laid upon him on his return to Isabela. Margarite, who had been ordered to explore the island, leaving Ojeda in command at Santo Tomás, had abandoned himself to 173 licentious idleness, followed by outrages upon the natives, which notwithstanding their pacific disposition had driven them to retaliation.

TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES.

And here was the beginning of these four centuries of such rank injustice, such horrible atrocities inflicted by the hand of the stronger upon the weaker, of the civilized upon the savage, that should make a man blush to own kinship to a race so defiled before its maker in whose image it was created.

It is the self-same story, old and new, from Española to Darien and Mexico, from Brazil to Labrador, and from Patagonia to Alaska, by sailor and cavalier, Spaniard and Englishman, by gold-hunter and fur-hunter—the unenlightened red man welcoming with wonder his destroyer, upon whom he is soon forced to turn to save himself, his wife, his children, but only at last to fall by the merciless arm of development beneath the pitiable destiny of man primeval.

Throwing off all pretence of allegiance to Columbus, when satiated with his excesses, Margarite, with a mutinous crew at his heels and accompanied by Father Buil, had taken such ships as best suited them and had departed for Spain. Two caciques, or native chieftains, Guatiguana, and Caonabo the Carib, with their followers had arisen in arms, had killed some of the Spaniards, had besieged Magdalena and Santo Tomás, and had even cast an ominous eye on Isabela. Such were the chief occurrences at the settlement during the absence of the admiral.

First of all, Columbus made his brother Bartolomé adelantado, that is to say, leader of an enterprise, or governor of a frontier province. Then he sent relief to the fortress of Magdalena, and established another military post near where was subsequently Santiago, which he called Concepcion. Later the chain was continued by building other posts; one near the Rio Yaquí, called Santa Catalina, and one on the river Yaquí, called Esperanza. Meanwhile Ojeda 174 offered to take the redoubtable Carib, Caonabo, by stratagem; which was accomplished, while he was surrounded by a multitude of warriors, by first winning the admiration and confidence of the cacique, and then on the plea of personal ornamentation and display obtaining his consent to wear some beautiful bright manacles, and sit bound behind Ojeda on his steed; in which plight he was safely brought by the dashing cavalier at the head of his horsemen into Isabela.

About this time Antonio de Torres arrived with four ships from Spain, and was sent back with the gold which had been collected, and five hundred Indians to be sold as slaves. By this departure went Diego Colon to refute the charges of incompetency and maladministration now being preferred against his brother at court.

Though suffering from a fresh attack of fever, on the 27th of March, 1495, accompanied by the adelantado and all his available forces, Columbus set out from Isabela to subjugate the caciques of the island, who had combined to extirpate the Spaniards. Charging the naked red men amidst the noise of drum, trumpet, and halloo, with horse and bloodhound, lance, sabre, and firelock, a peace was soon conquered. Multitudes of the inhabitants were butchered, and upon the rest was imposed such cruel tribute that they gradually sank beneath the servitude. But when the white men thus had the domain to themselves, they did not know what to do with it. It was not for them to till the soil, or labor in the mines; hence famine threatened, and they were finally reduced to the last extremity.

There is little wonder, under the circumstances, that orders were issued in Spain to depose Columbus, first by the appointment of a commission of inquiry, and finally by removal.

GOVERNMENT OF THE INDIES.

Thus far the government of the Indies, as the New World began to be called, had been administered 175 solely by the admiral, according to agreement, with Fonseca as superintendent in Spain. None but they were permitted to freight or despatch any vessel to the New World. Columbus was authorized to appoint two subordinate officers subject to royal sanction; and yet the sovereigns took offense when he named Bartolomé adelantado, which office was not that of lieutenant-governor, as many writers aver, but nearer that of territorial governor, with political as well as military powers, usually appointed by and subject only to the king. Assuming a certain degree of state, the admiral appeared at Isabela richly dressed, with ten escuderos de á pié, or squires of foot, and twenty familiares, composing his civil and military family. He had been directed before leaving Spain to appoint in each of the several settlements or colonies which should be planted an alcalde, or justice, exercising the combined duties of mayor and judge, with jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, appeal being to the admiral; also an alguacil mayor, or high sheriff; and, if necessary, an ayuntamiento, or town council. All edicts, orders, and commissions must be issued in the name of the sovereigns, countersigned by the notary, with the royal seal affixed. The admiral had been further directed to build a warehouse where the royal stores should be kept, and all traffic should be subject to his direction. When he sailed upon his Cuban expedition he left for the direction of the colony a junta, of which his brother Diego was president, and Alonso Sanchez Carvajal, Juan de Luxan, Pedro Fernandez Coronel, and Father Buil, councillors.

Diego Colon was a well-meaning man, gentle and discreet, approaching in visage and dress nearer the priest than the cavalier; he was neither shrewd nor energetic. Bartolomé was quite the opposite, and in many respects was the ablest of the brothers. Powerful in mind and body, authoritative and determinate in demeanor, generous in disposition, fearless in spirit, 176 a thorough seaman, a man of no narrow worldly experience, fairly educated, and talented with the pen, he was neither the amiable, inefficient Diego, nor the dreamy, enthusiastic admiral.

Quick to notice in their deputy any indication of misrule, or undue assumption of authority, their Majesties did not fail to lend an attentive ear to the charges preferred against him. Yet the record does not show from first to last that either Isabella or Ferdinand ever really desired or intended to do Columbus injustice or injury. When Torres returned from Spain, after the first accusation had been made, the sovereigns, besides a letter expressing the warmest confidence in the discoverer, and high consideration for the affairs of the colony, sent a special real provision ordering all to obey the admiral as themselves, under penalty of ten thousand maravedís for every offence. When further accusations came, instead of divesting him of his authority, they sent as commissioner of inquiry Juan Aguado, a warm friend of the admiral. Often they checked Fonseca's too harsh measures with regard to Columbus and his brothers, and interposed their royal protection from such officers as acted too severely under the exasperating folly of the admiral. To satisfy the discoverer would have been impossible for any patron, so wild were his desires, so chimerical his plans, so injudicious his acts.

Aguado arrived at Isabela in October. He brought four caravels laden with supplies, and Diego Colon, passenger. Soon it was noised abroad that the conduct of the admiral was to be questioned, whereat both white men and red rejoiced. Aguado could but see the pitiable state of things upon the island, idleness, poverty, excesses, and disobedience among the colonists, folly and mismanagement among the rulers, and seeing, could but report accordingly; for which, and for no other reasons that I am able to 177 discover, the biographers of Columbus heap upon the commissioner opprobrious epithets.

When Aguado returned to Spain, Columbus accompanied him to make such excuses before the sovereigns as best he might. They embarked from Isabela March 10, 1496, leaving the adelantado in command, and carrying with them two hundred and twenty-five disaffected colonists, and a number of Indian captives, among whom was the proud and once powerful chieftain, Caonabo, so treacherously taken by Ojeda. Contrary winds and starvation attended them, Caonabo dying during the voyage. Arrived at Cádiz in June, the admiral found Pedro Alonso Niño about to sail with three caravels for Hayti. Niño carried out more priests, and brought back more slaves.

Columbus appeared in Spain in a Franciscan garb and with dejected demeanor. To all the world, except to himself, it was by this time evident that his gorgeous India was a myth, and settlement on the supposition of its existence a mistake. He seemed now dazed by reverses, as formerly he had been dazed by successes. Nevertheless, he continued to make as much as possible of his discoveries, parading a brother of Caonabo in a broad gold collar with a massive gold chain attached.

Still the sovereigns were gracious. They scarcely alluded to the complaints and ever-increasing charges against the admiral, but confirmed anew his dignities, enlarged his perquisites, and showed him every kindness. The title of adelantado was formally vested by them in Bartolomé. When asked for more ships and money, they readily granted both; moreover, they offered the admiral a tract of land in Hayti, twenty-five by fifty leagues, which, however, he declined; they offered him sixty sailors, a hundred and forty soldiers, one hundred miners, mechanics, and farmers, and thirty women, the services of all to be paid by the crown. But because there 178 was some delay, occasioned by the operations in Italy and the armada for Flanders, the biographers of the admiral again break out in abuse of the sovereigns and their servants. The truth is, Ferdinand and Isabella stood by the Genoese much longer than did their subjects. For example, when certain millions of maravedís, equivalent to over a hundred thousand dollars to-day, had been appropriated, and eight vessels equipped, so unpopular had the admiral and his enterprises become, that it was found necessary to press sailors into the service, and empty the prisons for colonists. And it was only when their admiral, viceroy, and governor of the Indies so far forgot himself, when on the point of sailing, as publicly, and with his own hand and foot, to strike down and kick Jimeno de Berviesca, an official under Fonseca, that the sovereigns began to realize the unfitness of Columbus for the management of colonies. It was a serious offense to attack a public servant; and when this was done under the very eyes of royalty, and by the man they had so delighted to honor, the truth came home to them, and they never afterward regarded the Genoese with the same degree of favor. Yet for his great merits, his genius, enthusiasm, and perseverance, and for the glory unparalleled conferred by him on Spain, they would ever be to him just and generous. He could never become again the pauper pilot, as he had been called at Granada while begging help for his first voyage.

THIRD VOYAGE.

Two vessels were despatched to the colony under Pedro Fernandez Coronel early in 1498. On the 30th of May Columbus embarked from San Lúcar with six vessels, arrived at the northern seaboard of South America, and discovered there the isle of Trinidad the 31st of July, sailed through the gulf of Paria, where gold and pearls were seen in profusion, discovered the Margarita Islands, and came to 179 Hayti, arriving off the river Ozema, on the southern side of the island, the 30th of August.

Prior to the last departure of the admiral for Spain, gold had been discovered in this vicinity, and during his absence a military post, called San Cristóbal, had been planted there, and at the adjacent harbor a fort built, which was named Santo Domingo, and which was from this time the capital of the Indies. At intervals during the past two years, the adelantado at the head of his marauders had scoured the island, collecting the quarterly tribute, and making observation on such measures as he thought might increase the same. Insurrections had been occasionally organized by the caciques, but were usually stifled by the prompt and politic action of the adelantado. Many of the colonists had gradually relaxed in their loyalty to Columbus, until finally, at the instigation of Francisco Roldan, they declared their independence of the adelantado, though still acknowledging fealty to Spain. After creating no small disturbance about Concepcion and Isabela, Roldan had retired with his band to the province of Jaraguá.

AFFAIRS AT SANTO DOMINGO.

On landing at Santo Domingo, the admiral first proclaimed his approval of the adelantado's measures, and then set about to pacify the colonists. With the common people, many officers of trust had joined the revolt of Roldan. Columbus offered amnesty to all, which was at first refused, and letters from both sides were sent to Spain. But at length there was reconciliation; Roldan became a partisan of Columbus, and assisted in subduing other hostile factions, which resulted in flinging Adrian de Moxica off the battlements of Fort Concepcion.

The distracted state of the colony, the continued charges against Columbus, and the inadequate returns from large outlays, impelled the sovereigns to send out another commission with power to punish offenders, civil and criminal, and, if necessary, to 180 supersede the admiral in the government. The commissioner chosen for this purpose was Francisco de Bobadilla, an arrogant, shallow-minded man, who delighted rather in degrading merit than in exercising justice. He was authorized by letters patent to acquaint himself concerning the truth of the rebellion against the admiral; what robberies, cruelties, or other overt acts had been committed; he was directed to seize the person and sequestrate the property of any offender, or punish in any way he might deem best. A provisional letter was addressed by the sovereigns to the admiral of the ocean sea, ordering him to surrender to the commissioner all forts, arms, ships, houses, cattle, or other public property, which letter was to be used only if necessary. Bobadilla, accompanied by a body-guard of twenty-five men, sailed with two caravels in July, 1500, and arrived at Santo Domingo on the 23d of August. By this opportunity some of the Indians sent over by Columbus as slaves were returned in charge of six friars. It is doubtful whether the enslavement of the red man could ever have been made profitable, but whether it could or not, the Catholic Church is entitled to much credit for thus promptly setting its foot upon the diabolical traffic which had already received the approval of some of the first jurists of the day. Indeed the doctrine that the Indians were not endowed with souls was rapidly spreading, and had found many believers, and had not the pope fortunately at this juncture decided against the proposition, the subject of Indian slavery would not have been so easily or so quickly settled.

UNWARRANTED CONDUCT OF BOBADILLA.

Among the first objects to meet the eye of Bobadilla, on landing, were the bodies of two Spaniards swinging from gibbets, which argued not very favorably for the quietude of the island. Columbus was absent at Fort Concepcion; the adelantado and Roldan were pursuing rebels in Jaraguá; Diego Colon, who was in charge at Santo Domingo, was 181 peremptorily commanded to surrender certain prisoners, which he refused to do until the admiral, whose commission was higher than that of Bobadilla, and under whom he served, should order it.

Thereupon Bobadilla broke open the jail, and the prisoners were finally set at liberty. He not only assumed the custody of the crown property, but he entered the house of Columbus, took possession of his effects, and made his residence there. He sided with the late insurgents, giving ear only to them. Next he ordered to appear before him the admiral, who came with all quietness, and was immediately ironed and cast into prison. The brothers of Columbus met the same fate. It was a most villainous proceeding on the part of Bobadilla, wholly unauthorized, wholly unnecessary. Columbus was condemned before he was tried. While in the act of coming forward of his own accord, not with hostile front, but unattended, he was seized, manacled, and incarcerated. It was not until afterward that he was charged with inflicting on the colonists, even on hidalgos, oppressive labor, abuse, and cruel punishments; with failing to provide them sufficient food; with opposing royal authority; with secreting gold and pearls; and with unjust treatment of the natives, making unnecessary war upon them, levying iniquitous tribute, preventing their conversion, and sending them as slaves to Spain. Some went so far as to hint at an intended transfer of allegiance to some other power. But were all the calumnies true, twice told, which vile, revengeful men had heaped upon him, he would not have merited the treatment that he now received at the hand of their Majesties' agent. Ever loyal, high-minded, and sincere, ever performing his duties to the best of his ability, the worst that can be truthfully said of him is that he was unfitted by temperament and training, unfitted by his genius, by those very qualities which made him so superior to other men in other directions, for 182 organizing in a tropical wilderness that social thrift upon which might be built a staid community out of the ignorant, presumptuous, and desperate element fresh from conflicts with Jews and Moors.

After having been subjected to much insult and indignity, the three brothers were placed on shipboard and sent to Spain. Andrés Martin, master of the caravel, offered to remove the manacles, but the admiral said no. It was by the king's agent the irons were put on; it must be by the king's order if ever they are taken off. "And I will always keep these chains," he added with proud bitterness, "as memorials of reward for faithful services."

Both Ferdinand and Isabella and all the people were shocked to see the illustrious discoverer in such a plight. Immediately the sovereigns heard of it the chains were stricken off, and the prisoners released. From the odious abasement into which he had been unjustly thrust by an infamous agent, Columbus was once more lifted high into favor by the sovereigns, whose moist eyes testified their hearts' sincerity. 183

CHAPTER III.
DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

Rodrigo de Bastidas—Extension of New World Privileges—The Royal Share—Juan de la Cosa—Ships of the Early Discoverers—Coasting Darien—The Terrible Teredo—Wrecked on Española—Spanish Money—Treatment of Bastidas by Ovando—Accused, and Sent to Spain for Trial—He is Immediately Acquitted—Future Career and Character of Bastidas—The Archives of the Indies—The Several Collections of Public Documents in Spain—The Labors of Muñoz and Navarrete—Bibliographical Notices of the Printed Collections of Navarrete, Ternaux-Compans, Salvá and Baranda, and Pacheco and Cárdenas.

The first Spaniard to touch the territory which for the purposes of my work I have taken the liberty to denominate the Pacific States of North America was Rodrigo de Bastidas, a notary of Triana, the gypsy suburb of Seville.

THE NEW WORLD OPENED TO SETTLEMENT.

Although the discoveries of Columbus had been made for Castile, and Castilians regarded their rights to the new lands superior to those of any others, even other inhabitants of Spain; and although at first none might visit the New World save those authorized by Columbus or Fonseca; yet, owing to inadequate returns from heavy expenditures, and the inability of the admiral properly to control colonization in the several parts of the ever-widening area, at the solicitation of several persons desirous of entering the new field of commerce and adventure at their own charge, on the 10th of April, 1495, the sovereigns issued a proclamation granting native-born subjects of Spain permission to settle in Hayti, 184 or Española,[III-1] as I shall continue to call the island, and to make to other parts private voyages of discovery and trade, under royal license. The regulations were that the vessels so sailing should be equipped under royal inspection, that they should depart only from the port of Cádiz, and that they should carry one or two crown officers. The sovereigns retained, without payment, one tenth of the tonnage, and were to receive one tenth of the gross returns. Settlers on Española were to receive grants of land, and one year's provision; of the gold they gathered they were to pay two thirds to the crown; on all other products one tenth. Although this step was taken without consulting Columbus, it was the aim of the sovereigns fully to respect his rights in the matter; therefore, and in lieu of his property in one eighth of all the tonnage, for every seven vessels thus privately adventured he was privileged to despatch one on his own account. The admiral still complaining, such parts of the proclamation as in any wise interfered with his rights were revoked, and his former privileges confirmed, the 2d of June, 1497.[III-2] 185

Among those to take advantage of this permission, 186 beside Bastidas, was Alonso de Ojeda, who embarked with four vessels from Spain in May, 1499, in company with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, sailed along the seaboard of South America from Paria and the Pearl Coast, discovered by Columbus, to the gulf of Venezuela, so called because like Venice the native villages were built over the water. At Cape de la Vela, Ojeda left the coast and crossed to Española, whence he was driven off by Roldan at the command of Columbus. He reached Spain in June, 1500; and though his ships were crowded with slaves, after paying expenses there were left but five hundred ducats to divide among fifty-five persons. Sailing in a caravel of only fifty tons, a few days later than Ojeda, were Pedro Alonso Niño and Cristóbal Guerra, who, following the track of Columbus and Ojeda to the Pearl Coast, thence crossed to Margarita, returned to the main-land and coasted Cumaná, and finally returned to Spain, arriving about two months before Ojeda, well laden with gold and pearls. This was the first really profitable voyage, pecuniarily, to the New World. Then there was Vicente Yañez Pinzon, who sailed in four caravels in December, 1499, and shortly after Diego de Lepe, in two vessels, both going to Brazil.

VOYAGE OF BASTIDAS.

Quite exceptional to the ordinary adventurer was Bastidas. He was a man of standing in the community, possessed of some means himself and having wealthy friends; he was intelligent and influential, and withal humane, even Las Casas admitting that no one ever accused him of illtreating the Indians.

The friends of the honest notary, among them Juan de Ledesma, were ready enough to join him, pecuniarily, in a venture to the famous Pearl Coast, as the South American shore of the admiral's third voyage was now called. Obtaining from Fonseca's office a royal license,[III-3] and enlisting the coöperation of Juan de la Cosa, already veteran in western pilotage, Bastidas equipped two caravels,[III-4] embarked at Cádiz in October, 1500, took on board wood, water, meat, and cheese at Gomera, and steering a little north of the admiral's last track, came to a 190 green isle, which he called Isla Verde, and reached the mainland near Venezuela. Coasting westward, he passed Santa Marta, and arrived at the Magdalena River in March, 1501, so naming it on arrival from the day, which was that of the woman's conversion. There he narrowly escaped shipwreck. Continuing, and trading on the way, he found the ports of Zamba and Coronados—the latter so called because the natives wore large crowns—the islands of San Bernardo, Barú, and the Arenas, off Cartagena Bay. Next he saw Fuerte and tenantless Tortuga, touched at the port of Cenú, passed Point Caribana, entered the gulf of Urabá, and saw the farallones, or craggy islet peaks, rising abruptly from the water near the Darien shore. Thus far from Cape de la Vela he had discovered one hundred and fifty leagues[III-5] of new seaboard. And because when the tide was low the water was fresh, he called the place Golfo Dulce. Thus came the Spaniards upon the isthmus that unites the two Americas; and along it they sailed to Point Manzanilla, in which vicinity were El Retrete and Nombre de Dios.[III-6]

GLORIES OF THE ISTHMUS.

It is a balmy beginning, this of these men from Spain, of that intercontinental commerce which is shortly to bring destruction on one side and retrogression 191 on the other; a commerce which shall end only with the next general cataclysm. Threading their way among islands smothered in foliage, which seemed upon the glossy water-surface as floating fragments of the thickly matted verdure of the mainland, listening to notes unfamiliar to their ears, and seeing these strange men and women so like and yet so unlike Spaniards, they find themselves wondering whether they are in the world or out of it. We who so well know our little planet and its ways can scarcely imagine what it was in the darkness to be taken up at Seville, and put down amidst the magic play of light and shade at Darien. Probably now the world was round; yet still it might be fungiform, or crescent-shaped, or amorphous, having a smooth or ragged edge, from which a fearful slipping-off might any moment ensue. All they can know is what they see, and that they cannot half know, for they can scarcely more than half see or feel or smell. Some part of the perpendicular rays of the incandescent sun falling on their toughened skins they can feel; some part of the water that from the surcharged reservoirs of low-lying clouds so frequently and freely pours upon the spot whence it is pumped by this same vertical sun. They can turn their bewildered eyes toward the south and see beyond its clean white border the mainland stretching off in billows of burnished green to the far-away hazy horizon, where like a voluptuous beauty it imprints a kiss upon the blushing sky; they may lie in the gray mist of evening and dream, and dream, their minds—how many removes from the intelligence of the impatient sea and the self-tuned life upon the shore? Or they may drift about in the amber light of a soft vaporous morning without much dreaming; one thing at least to them is real, and that is gold. Without the aid of divine revelation they fathom the difference between the precious solid substance and hollow brass. So do the savages, thinking the latter much the prettier; and thus 192 both sides, each believing the others fools and well cheated, are happy in their traffic. The Spaniards are enchanted less by the lovely garb in which nature everywhere greets them than by the ease with which the golden harvest is gathered. Thus all betokens the most flattering success when a luckless event casts a shadow over their bright fortunes.

The two ships were found to be leaking badly. An examination was made, when the bottoms were found pierced by teredos;[III-7] and thus before they knew it their vessels were unfit for service. Hoping still to reach Cádiz, Bastidas immediately set sail, touched at Jamaica for wood and water, and continued his voyage as far as Contramaestre, an islet one league distant from Española, where he was obliged to anchor and repair his ships. Again embarking for Spain, he was met by a gale which threw him back upon the island. Buffeted in a second attempt, he ran the ships for safety into the little port of Jaraguá, where they filled and sank, the loss in vessels, slaves, Brazil-wood, cloth, and gold, being not less than five millions of maravedís.[III-8] For notwithstanding the estimable 193 reputation for piety, justice, and humanity which he has always borne, the good Bastidas did not scruple gently to entrap on board his ships, along the shore of Darien, several scores of unsuspecting natives, to be sold as slaves; nor, having thus exercised his virtues in the klopemania of the day, did he scruple to abandon with his sinking ships the greater portion of these innocent wretches in order to save the more of his gold, which was deemed of greater proximate and certain value than the bodies or even the souls of the heathen.

Thus observing everywhere, as perforce we must as we proceed, the magnanimity and high morality with which our so prized and petted civilization greeted weak, defenseless, and inoffensive savagism, we are prepared when shipwrecked mariners are thrown upon a distant isle inhabited by their own countrymen, subjects of the same sovereigns—we are prepared by their reception, which we shall presently see, to exclaim with uplifted hands, Behold, how these brethren love one another! 194

After burning superfluous ammunition, the Spaniards gathered up their valuables, and placing them on the backs of such captives as for that purpose they had kindly permitted to live, set out in three divisions over separate routes, so as to secure a more liberal supply of provisions on the way, for Santo Domingo, distant seventy leagues. In his license, as we have seen, Bastidas was authorized to trade only in lands discovered by himself. But on the way his followers with their trinkets had purchased food from the natives; for which offence, on his arrival at Santo Domingo, Bastidas was seized by Bobadilla and cast into prison. In vain did all the shipwrecked company protest that they had bought only such articles as were necessary for their nourishment during the march. To their affirmations the governor turned a deaf ear; and as Bobadilla was about to depart for Spain, the notary was ordered thither for trial, sailing in July, 1502.

Before the sovereigns Bastidas found no difficulty in justifying his conduct; and so rich were the returns from his traffic with the natives of Darien, that notwithstanding the unfortunate termination of the adventure he was enabled to pay a large sum into the royal treasury. For their important successes, to Rodrigo de Bastidas was awarded an annual pension of fifty thousand maravedís, and to Juan de la Cosa a similar sum with the title of alguacil mayor of Urabá, all to be paid them out of returns from the new lands which they had found. "Such," remarks Irving, "was the economical generosity of King Ferdinand, who rewarded the past toils of his adventurous discoverers out of the expected produce of their future labors."[III-9] 195

ARCHIVES OF THE INDIES.

The most fertile source of information relative to the early affairs of America is the Archives of the Indies, a general term comprising various collections in various places. From this source many writers have drawn, and are still drawing; many documents have been printed, and many yet remain to be printed. Altogether the collections are very numerous, as the government required full records, and in some cases copies, to be kept of official documents concerning discovery, conquest, and settlement. The several council-chambers and public offices where the business was transacted were the first depositories of these papers, the chief places then being Seville, Cádiz, and Madrid. In 1566 Philip II. ordered all collections, ecclesiastic and secular, to be united, and deposited in the fortress of Simancas. Again in 1717, when all the councils were consolidated in one, Felipe V., who founded the Academia de la Historia, among other things for the gathering and preserving of materials 196 for history, directed all papers to be conveyed annually to the Archivo de Simancas. These provisions could not have been fully carried out, or else a very extensive system of copying must have been practised; for later, when the Archives were thrown open to the search of historians, the accumulation at Simancas, though large, did not appear to be much greater than at some other places. Further than this, there were family archives in the houses of those who had played prominent parts in public affairs, and ecclesiastical relaciones in the convents of the several orders, of little less importance than public records. And while the government insisted on the making of complete records, and observed great care in preventing their contents from being known, especially to foreigners, little pains was taken to preserve them from damage or destruction, or to arrange them for convenient reference. Therefore when they came to light it was in the form of bulky masses of unassorted, worm-eaten, and partially illegible papers. Many documents, mentioned by contemporary writers, are known to have been lost, and their contents blotted from existence. Fernando VI., 1746-1759, commissioned Burriel and Santiago Palomares to examine the archives of the kingdom and to copy and form into a collection such of the manuscripts as they should deem best. This collection was placed in the Biblioteca Nacional at Madrid. Other collections were made during the two following reigns by Abella, Traggia, Velazquez, Muñoz, Navarrete, Sans, Vargas Ponce, and Villanueva, which found lodgment in various localities.

The early chroniclers of the Indies picked up their knowledge as best they might, by observation, by conversation, and by the examination of written evidence. Las Casas and Oviedo spent much time in the New World; Peter Martyr had access to whatever existed, beside talking with everybody who had been to America; Gomara copied much from Oviedo. Everything was at the disposal of Herrera as crown historiographer, as a matter of course, though he did not always make the best use of his opportunities. Gashard affirms that both Cabrera and Herrera were ignorant of the existence of many of the most valuable documents of their day. Ramusio, Hakluyt, Purchas, and others, succeeded in getting now and then an original paper on the Indies to print in their several collections. Among the first English historians who attempted for purposes of history to utilize the Archives of the Indies was William Robertson, who published the History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles, London, 1769; and in 1777, his History of America, 2 vols. 4to, several editions appearing subsequently also in 8vo. Robertson was a Scotch clergyman of great learning and ability. His style was elegant and vigorous, and he was by far the most philosophic writer on America up to his time. Although his statements are full of errors, intensified by dogmatism, but for which he cannot always be blamed, all who have come after him have profited by his writings; and some of these, indeed, have reaped richer rewards than he to whom they owed their success, and with far less labor.

ROBERTSON AND MUÑOZ.

Early in his work Mr Robertson applied to the proper authorities at Madrid, Vienna, and St Petersburg for access to material. Germany and Russia responded in a spirit of liberality, but Spain would none of it. In 1775 Robertson ascertained that the largest room occupied by the Archivos de Simancas was filled with American papers, in 873 bundles; that they were 197 concealed from strangers with solicitous care, Spanish subjects even being denied access without an order from the crown; and that no copies could be obtained except upon the payment of exorbitant fees. However, through the assistance of Lord Grantham, English ambassador at Madrid, and by preparing a set of questions to be submitted to persons who had lived in America, much new and important information was elicited, and copies of certain manuscripts were obtained. The letters of Cortés, and the writings of Motolinia, Mendieta, and others, which Robertson used in manuscript, have since been printed.

It is greatly to be regretted that the learned Juan Bautista Muñoz did not live to complete his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, only the first volume of which appeared. This was published in Madrid, in 1793, bringing his work down to 1500. Muñoz was born near Valencia in 1745, graduated at the University, and in 1779 was commissioned by the king to write a history of America, all public and private material being placed at his disposal by royal order. Many papers were wanting in the archives of the department of the Indies in Madrid; whereupon he went to Simancas, Seville, Cádiz, and other towns, armed with a royal cédula, which opened to him family and monastic accumulations as well as all public depositories. So great was the confusion in which he found the royal archives, that it seemed to him as if they had been disarranged purposely to hide what they contained. Even in the indices of the Archivo Secreto del Consejo de Indias there was scarcely any indication of papers belonging to the earlier American periods. Nevertheless, by persistent search, mass after mass of rich material was unearthed in the secret archives as well as in the Real Casa Audiencia de la Contratacion, the archives at Simancas, the royal libraries of Madrid and the Escorial, the Contaduría Principal of the Audiencia de Indias in Cádiz, the Archivo General de Portugal, the monastery of Monserrate, the colleges of San Bartolomé and Cuenca at Salamanca, and San Gregorio at Valladolid, the cathedral of Palencia, the Sacromonte of Granada, and in the convents of San Francisco of Tolosa in Guipúzcoa, Santo Domingo of Málaga, and San Acacio, San José, and San Isidro del Campo of Seville, until it may be said of him that his efforts were buried beneath the magnitude of their invocation. Then it was that he found he had undertaken greater things than he could accomplish. Even with the aid of government he could not master the confused masses; for money and men unlimited cannot accomplish everything without time. The indefatigable Muñoz worked faithfully; the king complained of the meagre results; the author died doing his best, and his work to this day remains undone. During his labors he made an extensive collection of papers, memorials, and other manuscripts relating to America, known as the Coleccion de Muñoz, which he once intended to publish, but this with a portion of his history was left in manuscript. Irving states that the papers of Muñoz were left with Señor Uguina, and Ternaux-Compans claims to have obtained all of Uguina's manuscripts; but Prescott asserts that the collection of Muñoz was deposited in the archives of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, and was there augmented by the manuscripts of Vargas Ponce, obtained chiefly from the archives of the Indies at Seville. Prior to 1793 the Archivo General de Indias was established at Seville, and a large quantity of old papers conveyed 198 thither from Madrid and Simancas. About 1810 the archives at Simancas were sacked by Napoleon; in 1814 the remnant was re-arranged and classified.

Before the death of Muñoz, Navarrete was commissioned by the king to search the archives for documents relating to the doings of the Spanish navy. By him personally, or under his direction when occupied in other duties, the search was continued from 1789 to 1825. The results of these labors were as follows: before 1793, twenty-four folio volumes of copies from the Royal Library at Madrid, the collections of the marquises of Santa Cruz and of Villafranca, of the dukes de Medina Sidonia and del Infantado, and from the Biblioteca de los estudios reales de San Isidro, and the Biblioteca alta del Escorial; after 1793, seventeen volumes of copies from the Archivo General de Indias, including the papers in the Casa de Contratacion in Seville, the Colegio de San Telmo, the Biblioteca de San Acacio, and from the collection of the Conde del Aguila. With this material, increased by subsequent researches in the libraries of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, and other public institutions, and in many private collections, particularly that of the Duke of Veraguas, and with access to the Muñoz collection, Navarrete began in 1825 the publication of his Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos, que hicieron por mar los Españoles desde fines del Siglo XV., in 5 vols., Madrid, 1825-37, in which he printed over 500 documents, many of them of the highest importance. As this collection constitutes one of the chief authorities upon the early affairs of Darien, a brief notice of the author may not be out of place.

MARTIN FERNANDEZ DE NAVARRETE.

Martin Fernandez de Navarrete was born in 1765 in Ábalos in old Castile. He entered the seminary of Vergara in 1777, where he studied Latin and mathematics and displayed some literary taste. In 1780 he joined the navy, was stationed first as a midshipman at Ferrol, joined Córdoba's squadron in 1781, and cruised in the summer of that year on the English coast. He did good service before Gibraltar in September, 1782, and in the battle off Cape Espartel the 20th of October following. In 1783, having been promoted to a naval ensigncy, he was appointed to the Cartagena department, and cruised in consequence against the Moors during the years 1784-5. On the close of the Algerine wars he studied the higher mathematics, navigation, and manœuvring with Gabriel de Císcar, distinguishing himself in these branches. In 1789, his health forcing him to quit active service, he was commissioned by Carlos IV. to examine the archives of the kingdom and collect manuscripts relating to marine history; a work for which his zeal and knowledge particularly fitted him. This was the beginning of his famous Collection of Voyages, although its first volumes did not appear till thirty-six years after. When the war broke out between France and Spain in 1793, he joined the squadron commanded by Juan de Lángara, who appointed him his chief aid, primer ayudante, and secretary. He was still at sea, in 1796, when war was declared against England; but in 1797, Lángara being named minister of marine, and unwilling to lose his young secretary, he brought him to Madrid, giving him a place in the department. Here, in 1802, Navarrete published, as a preface to the Relacion del Viage hecho por las goletas Sutil y Mexicana, a résumé of Spanish discoveries on the Californian and Northwest coasts, 199 that has been much cited in the English-American disputes about the Oregon boundary. Meanwhile his merits were recognized in Madrid. In 1807 he was named ministro fiscal of the supreme council of the admiralty court, he holding already the rank of captain. But in this year came the French invasion, overturning all things. Madrid fell in 1808. In 1812 Navarrete was found in Cádiz; in 1814 in Murcia. Fernando regained his throne, however, May 14, 1814; four months after which event Navarrete returned to Madrid. In 1815 he proposed from his place in the Spanish Academy that new system of orthography which has been adopted for its dictionary. He interested himself also in the fine arts, and as secretary of the Academy of San Fernando contributed many valuable papers to its Transactions. Soon after his return to Madrid, being little pleased with the stormy and veering statesmanship of the day, he retired as much as possible from politics, and began to collect materials for his life of Cervantes—an excellent and very complete work published by the academy, with its edition of Don Quijote, in 1820. Honors continued to cluster around the historian. Toward the close of 1823 he was appointed director of the hydrographic department, and he became for many years in fact, if not in name, the great and chief naval authority of Spain; and this without prejudice to his literary activity. In 1825 appeared the first two volumes of his Collection of Voyages; the third appeared in 1829; the fourth and fifth in 1837; while the sixth and seventh were still unfinished at the author's death. On the publication of the Estatuto Real, in 1834, he received a place in the new peerage, and sat afterward as senator for his own province, in almost every legislature. But his studious life and pacific character were hardly destined to shine in a political career, nor was it for the interest of science that they should. In the winter of 1844, in the seventy-ninth year of his age, Navarrete died. The Academy issued a posthumous work of his in 1846, a dissertation on the history of the nautical and mathematical sciences in Spain. A collection of his smaller works, Coleccion de Opúsculos, was begun in 1848 by his son. The two volumes which have already appeared consist mainly of short biographies of Spanish navigators and literary men, previously scattered in periodicals and in the transactions of the various academies and societies. Navarrete was a man of learning and research, as clearly appears; inclined somewhat to verbosity; tiresome to most readers, though pronounced elegante y castizo by his contemporaries. Of the historical value of his works, however, there is but one opinion. Humboldt speaks of his Collection of Voyages as 'one of the most important monuments of modern times,' and calls him 'the most accurate historian of the geographical discoveries on the New Continent.' The Baron de Zach, M. de Berthelot, Prescott, Helps, Irving, and Stirling, have all given him much consideration. Indeed, the friends of Navarrete cannot complain that he has not been honored. Decorated with grand orders, member in high place of many academies and societies, his lot was more fortunate than is usual among literary men. The parts of Navarrete's collection which bear most directly upon this history are: Relacion de Diego de Porras, i. 282-96; Carta que escribió D. Cristóbal Colon, i. 296-313; Relacion hecha por Diego Mendez, i. 314-29; Cartas de Colon, i. 330-52; Viages Menores, iii. 1-74; Real cédula por la cual, con referencia á lo capitulado con Diego de Nicuesa y Alonso de Hojeda, iii. 116-17; Noticias biográficas del capitan Alonso Hojeda, iii. 163-76; 200 and the Establecimientos ó Primeras Poblaciones de los Españoles en el Darien, including instructions to Pedrarias, letters of Vasco Nuñez, memorial of Rodrigo de Colmenares, and the relation of Pascual de Andagoya, iii. 337-459.

Scarcely was Navarrete's Coleccion de Viages put to press, when Washington Irving heard of it, and went to Madrid with the intention of translating it into English. But he soon saw that with less labor he could accomplish a work which would yield him greater returns. Navarrete, who had already collected the material and prepared the way, was still disposed to lend the genial American every assistance; it was necessary for him to make few original investigations; so that under the circumstances the Life of Columbus was by no means a difficult task for so ready a writer. Humboldt visited Madrid before coming to America, but seems to have consulted no important historical documents not in the possession of others. Prescott obtained from the collections of Muñoz and Navarrete 8000 foolscap pages of copies, most of which having any importance have since been printed by Icazbalceta, Alaman, and others.

Between the years 1837 and 1841 Henri Ternaux-Compans published at Paris twenty volumes of Voyages, relations, et mémoires originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique, containing, beside translations of several rare and then unobtainable works, some seventy-five original documents, several of them from the Muñoz collection, and others obtained from the Spanish archives in some unexplained way, possibly not wholly disconnected with the French campaign on the Peninsula. Among his translations are documents relating to the conquest and settlement of Central America and Mexico, the relations of Cabeza de Vaca and Ixtlilxochitl, Oviedo's History of Nicaragua, Zurita's Report on New Spain, and Ixtlilxochitl's History of the Chichimecs. Ternaux-Compans also published Recueil de documents et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions espagnoles dans l'Amérique, Paris, 1840; and Bibliothèque américaine, a catalogue of books on America appearing prior to 1700.

The project of printing original papers selected from national and family archives was agitated in Spain by Campomanes, Jovellanos, Villamil, and others, who collected and wrote much upon the subject. The scheme was delayed by the political disruptions incident to the early part of the century, by which the archives became badly scattered. In 1842, under the auspices of the Academia de la Historia, was begun the publication, at Madrid, of a Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España, with the names of Martin Fernandez Navarrete, Miguel Salvá, and Pedro Sainz de Baranda on the title-page. Navarrete lived to see only the fifth volume; Salvá and Baranda continued the publication to vol. xxiii., after which, Salvá edited alone to vol. xxxii., when he was joined by the marquises of Pidal and of Miraflores. After vol. xlvii., Pidal's name was dropped, and with vol. lvii. Salvá and the Marqués de Fuente del Valle appeared as editors. In connection with documents relating to the general history of Spain is here printed a vast amount of matter about America, and the doings of Spaniards in that quarter.

TERNAUX-COMPANS, ALAMAN, AND OTHERS.

During the next score of years floods of light are let in upon the dark 201 recesses of hidden treasures, the spirit of unearthing which extends to Mexico. I may mention incidentally Ramirez, who, in his Proceso de Residencia contra Alvarado and Nuño de Guzman, gives some original Mexican documents not elsewhere published. Alaman, at the close of his Disertaciones, prints about forty original documents on the time of the Conquest, some of them from the collection of Navarrete, and others from original sources, such as the Hospital de Jesus in Mexico. The Documentos para la Historia de México, Mexico, 1853-7, in 21 volumes, was made chiefly from Mexican sources, and is specially valuable for north-west Mexico. Icazbalceta's collection includes fifty-three documents, with few exceptions inéditos, the existence of several of which, such as a letter of Cortés, and the relation of Tapia on the Conquest, was then unknown. Most of them were obtained through Gonzalez de Vera, of Madrid; only two or three were found in Mexico. Thus far Icazbalceta's collection refers exclusively to the sixteenth century. Brasseur de Bourbourg, for his Histoire des Nations Civilisées du Mexique, Paris, 1857-9, one volume of which is devoted to a history of the Conquest from an Indian stand-point, seems to have relied on his Nahua manuscripts, the standard histories, and a few Spanish manuscripts. Although much thus far had been done, it seemed little to the savans of Spain in comparison with what yet might be accomplished. And it was with this feeling that the government authorized the printing of any documents in the Real Archivo de Indias affecting the history of America down to the end of the seventeenth century. The publication of this new series of papers was begun at Madrid in 1864 under title of Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista y Colonizacion de las posesiones Españolas en América y Oceanía, sacados, en su mayor parte, del Real Archivo de Indias. Joaquin F. Pacheco, Francisco de Cárdenas, and Luis Torres de Mendoza were editors at the first. After vol. iii. the first two names were dropped, and after vol. xii. the third, the work being thenceforth continued, competentemente autorizada. By this publication alone were placed within easy reach of all the world hundreds of the richest treasures of the Archives of the Indies, twenty for every one that the writer of thirty years ago could reach. 202

CHAPTER IV.
COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA.
1502-1506.

The Sovereigns Decline either to Restore to the Admiral his Government, or to Capture for him the Holy Sepulchre—So he Sails on a Fourth Voyage of Discovery—Fernando Colon and his History—Ovando Denies the Expedition Entrance to Santo Domingo Harbor—Columbus Sails Westward—Strikes the Shore of Honduras near Guanaja Island—Early American Cartography—Columbus Coasts Southward to the Darien Isthmus—Then Returns and Attempts Settlement at Veragua—Driven thence, his Vessels are Wrecked at Jamaica—There midst Starvation and Mutiny he Remains a Year—Then he Reaches Española and finally Spain, where he shortly afterward Dies—Character of Columbus—His Biographers.

FOURTH VOYAGE OF THE ADMIRAL.

Since his last return to Spain, Columbus had rested at Granada under the smiles of the sovereigns, who readily promised him all that he might wish, while resolved to grant nothing which could interfere with their absolute domination of the new lands that he had found for them. When tired of begging the restoration of his rights he urged their Majesties' assistance in seizing the holy sepulchre, that his vow might be fulfilled, and his mind at rest. After profound study and elaborate preparation he presented the case to them in a manuscript volume of prophecies and portents intermingled with poetry. Failing in winning them to this scheme, he promised, if ships were provided him, to undertake new discoveries. Partly because they would know more of their New World possessions, and partly to rid themselves of 203 uncomfortable importunities, the sovereigns assented to this proposal, meanwhile intimating that after two years had been allowed in which to quiet Española, the admiral should have his own again, but as clearly indicating to others that he should not.

Four vessels, ranging in burden from fifty to seventy tons, were then made ready, the Capitana, the Santiago de Polos, the Gallego, and the Vizcaino, commanded respectively by Diego Tristan, Francisco de Porras, Pedro de Terreros, and Bartolomé de Fresco, and embarked at Cádiz the 9th of May, 1502. With the expedition sailed Diego de Porras as chief clerk and notary, and Juan Sanchez as chief pilot; one hundred and forty men and boys constituted the company. The admiral was accompanied by his brother Bartolomé, the adelantado,[IV-1] and by his son Fernando,[IV-2] then thirteen years of age. The 204 sail across the ocean was prosperous, with favorable winds and nothing to augur the approaching misfortunes until the ships arrived off Santo Domingo on the 29th of June.

FATE OF BOBADILLA.

During the past two years matters had not improved at Española. It seems that others could govern badly as well as the admiral. Indeed, the kings of Spain, most of them meaning well by their 205 New World subjects, were too often unfortunate in their choice of agents. Until recently Bobadilla had held sway, the sovereigns being apparently in no haste to displace him; from which course it was evident either that they had not been properly informed of his conduct, or they approved of it. Perhaps it was true that a knave was better for the place than an honest man. A successor, however, had at length arrived in the person of Nicolás de Ovando, and the superb fleet which had brought him, and was to carry back the displaced governor to Spain, now rode at anchor in the harbor.

In following that contriving policy which others beside princes sometimes regard as necessary when straightforwardness were better, it had been deemed expedient that Columbus should not on this expedition touch at Española, lest his presence engender fresh broils on the island. And the admiral appeared to entertain no intention of breaking the royal commands, until he found, on reaching the Indies, that one of his vessels was unfit for service; or else he pretended that it was so in order to look in on his late government. But whether in actual or feigned distress, when the admiral sent the 29th of June to ask of Ovando permission to exchange a leaky caravel, or at least to shelter the vessels from an impending storm, his messenger Terreros returned with a refusal.

It was certainly an anomalous position in which the great discoverer found himself, vainly knocking at the door of a possession which he had so lately given to 206 Spain, and he not convicted, nay, scarcely accused of any crime. Columbus sent again and warned the governor of approaching bad weather. Ovando would not heed him. The gubernatorial fleet sailed; but only to face a hurricane which soon strewed the shores of Española with its fragments. Current biographies here read like a moral story. On the wrecked vessels were Bobadilla, Roldan, and other inveterate enemies of the admiral, who with a huge mass of ill-gotten treasure were buried beneath the waves. On a little caravel which survived the tempest was the good Bastidas with his property; and on another, which likewise reached Spain in safety, were four thousand pesos de oro belonging to Columbus. Furthermore the admiral sheltered his vessels, and so received no injury from the storm. From all which, grave deductions were severally made—by Columbus, that the Almighty had preserved him; by his enemies, that he had employed witchcraft to save himself and property; by others, of a luckless order which providence refuses to recognize, that the admiral and adelantado were good seamen. After certain ship repairs, made without difficulty in a little port near Santo Domingo, on the 14th of July Columbus sailed westward on his explorations.

EARLY CARTOGRAPHY.

It must be remembered that at this time, and for several years afterward, the Spaniards did not know where they were. They supposed the earth smaller than it is, and that they were on the barbarous outposts of India,[IV-3] whose interior was civilized and wealthy; and it was the present object of the admiral to find some strait or passage between this 207 border-land and the detached southern regions about Paria, on which he might sail to these rich inner realms, still coasting Asia south-westward.

GUANAJA ISLAND.

A storm greeted him, followed by a calm, during which he was carried first southward by Jamaica, then northward past the western end of Cuba; after which, the wind freshening, he continued his course, and on the 30th of July came to a small elevated island, called by the natives Guanaja[IV-4], to which, from 208 the trees that covered it, he gave the name Isla de Pinos. On going ashore, the adelantado found the 209 island inhabited by people like those of Española and Cuba, except that they seemed more intelligent and 210 knew more of the useful arts. Presently a large canoe appeared coming from the direction of Yucatan. It measured eight feet in its greatest width, and was rowed by twenty-five men. In the middle, under a palm-leaf awning, sat a cacique,[IV-5] or chief, who manifested neither surprise nor fear on being brought into the presence of the admiral. He signified to the Spaniards as best he was able the extent and power of Mexico, and displayed utensils of copper, stone, and wood, earthen-ware, and cotton cloth brought thence. Gold was plentiful there, he also said; but the imagination of the admiral had mapped his strait somewhere southward; so Mexico was kept for Cortés.

There was on the island an ancient aboriginal of scientific attainments sufficient to enable him to draw for the Spaniards a chart of the mainland coast, and tell them much of the country. Him they took on board, and after dismissing the cacique with presents, crossed to the continent, and anchored near a point 211 which Columbus called Punta de Caxinas,[IV-6] from the native name of a certain fruit abounding thereabout. Here the Spaniards landed on the 14th of August, and celebrated mass; then proceeding eastward some fifteen leagues to the mouth of a river,[IV-7] they again landed on the 17th, and took formal possession for Spain. About a hundred painted savages displayed themselves, finer specimens than any on the islands, some naked, and others partially covered with white or colored cotton. They were friendly, and presented fruit and vegetables, fish, fowl, and maize. So conspicuously distended were the ears of the natives at one place that the name Costa de la Oreja was given to that vicinity.[IV-8]

DISCOVERY OF HONDURAS.

Proceeding, the discoverers encountered a succession of gales which continued more than forty days, and having weathered them safely they were so delighted that in sailing round the point of their deliverance they thanked God, and called it Cape Gracias á Dios.[IV-9] All this time Columbus suffered severely. Indeed, he was now but little better than a wreck in body and mind. On the after part of the deck his bed was placed, and there he lay overwhelmed with pain and melancholy, lost in endless 212 mazes of speculation. Now and then he would rouse himself to translate his visions, or to direct the management of the ship, for though half his senses should leave him, he was still a sailor from instinct; but had it not been for the faithful energy of the adelantado, the voyage might as well never have been undertaken.

The mariners had now entered a smooth sea; with a favorable wind they passed rapidly down the Mosquito Coast, giving the name Limonares to a cluster of islands on which grew something like lemons or limes, and on the 16th of September anchored at the mouth of a large river. Boats were sent ashore for water, and in returning one was upset and the whole crew were drowned; from which melancholy occurrence the stream was named Rio del Desastre.[IV-10] Continuing, the 25th found the Spaniards off the Rio San Juan de Nicaragua, where, to escape a storm, they ran in behind an island, the native name of which was Quiriviri,[IV-11] but which from its verdant beauty Columbus called La Huerta, The Garden. There they rested several days, and found sweet speculation, easily inducing the savages to tell them such things as they should most delight to hear. Indeed, all along the coast had vague information been given, by signs ill interpreted, of a remarkable country called Ciguare, nine days' journey westward beyond the mountains. The people there were like the Spaniards, clothed, and armed with steel weapons, with horses and great ships. The women wore bands of coral and strings of pearls, and the commonest utensils were of gold. Ten days' journey from Ciguare must lie the river Ganges; and best of all, there was 213 a passage thither by sea; all the Spaniards had to do was to keep right on; they could not miss the way. The Europeans gave full credit to these assertions. Thus from the beginning mankind have been directed, and oftentimes to the grandest discoveries, by mingled accident and ignorance, and wise men like Columbus have believed these supremely silly stories because it pleased them to do so. These savages may have had rumors of Mexico or Peru on which to build their brilliant fictions; their statements were fictions none the less.

SORCERIES, SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED.

And indeed as they came together there for the first time, the white men and the red, it is often difficult to tell on which side was the greater simplicity and credulity. The folly of the Spaniard was moulded into firmer consistence, was less inept and vapory than the folly of the Americans, and that was about all. For instance, at the village of Cariay,[IV-12] just opposite on the main-land, Columbus thought to raise the Spaniards in the estimation of the savages by declining to take the guanin, an inferior kind of gold which they presented; whereupon for the same reason, and in retaliation, the natives refused European trinkets. When the adelantado, seated on a knoll with the notary by his side, sought to transfix some of the wild knowledge of those parts, the natives fled terrorstruck, supposing some magic spell was being cast upon them by the pens, ink, and paper so solemnly drawn forth by the scribe. Presently with great caution they returned, and with exorcising gesticulations burned and scattered in the air an odorous powder. On the other hand, with equally enlightened common sense, the Christians, unable to fathom the incantations of savagism, fancied 214 these heathen sorcerers bringing from the shades of their wilderness wrathful demons to hurl upon their adversaries; and ever after on the voyage all the ills that befell the Spaniards were attributed to the enchantments of the people of Cariay.[IV-13] At another port called Huiva, Columbus found the huts of the natives built in trees, which he attributed to fear of griffins. After a short excursion into the interior the adelantado returned to the ships. Near Cape Gracias á Dios the old man of Guanaja had been liberated with presents, as no longer of use; now, seven natives were seized and made to divulge what they knew of the country, two of them being retained as guides.

Sailing from Cariay the 5th of October, the second day they came to the Laguna de Chiriquí, the country thereabout being called by the natives Cerebaro.[IV-14] If some distance back Columbus had found The Garden, here was a pluralized paradise. The wonder was how nature contrived such glories. Round the entrance clustered islands whose outspread foliage brushed the venturesome sails that threaded the deep narrow channels. Celestial beauty irradiated the land, and a celestial brightness overspread the sea. But a small additional rent was necessary in the ragged imagination of the admiral to fancy himself already translated. The part of the 215 laguna explored by this expedition was the north-western, known to-day as the Bahía del Almirante; the southern part was called by the natives Aburema.

GATHERING GOLD.

Hanging from the necks of the natives was pure gold in plates, now first found since touching these shores, but the owners were content to keep it. Further on, anywhere but here, they said, was plenty of gold, notably at a place called Veragua, twenty-five leagues distant, where these much-admired plates of gold were fabricated. Hastening forward, the Spaniards arrived, on the 18th, at a river twelve leagues to the eastward of Cerebaro, called by Fernando Colon, Guaiga, and by Porras, Guyga, where the savages attempted at first to drive them away by splashing water, brandishing wooden swords, beating drums, and sounding conchs; which demonstration being over they quietly traded sixteen of their gold-plates, valued at one hundred and fifty ducats, for three hawk-bells. The following day the Spaniards were met in like manner by other savages whom a shot sent scampering; after which they returned and traded dutifully.

After this the discoverers touched at the provinces of Catibá and Cobrabá, where they saw the ruins of a wall built of stone and lime, which excited in them anticipations of a near approach to civilization; but as they neared the rich river the wind freshened and carried them past, without however preventing a glimpse of five towns, one of which the guides assured them was Veragua.[IV-15] In the next province, Cubigá, terminated the gold region, so they were told. Some were eager to go back to Veragua and gather gold, but anxious to find his strait Columbus put them off, saying he would return anon.

Fancy the old admiral groping in the darkness, the 216 world, the universe clear enough to him as mapped in his own mind, but unhappily not fitting the substantial facts. Instinctively he seems to hover about this the narrowest part of the continent, his ship's prow now pointed directly toward Spain, with India so far away, and the vast water intervening, and the small but mighty strip of land that makes his mental map of no avail. Thus since the world began millions have mapped eternity, and still do map it, the heavenly powers meanwhile laughing at the miserable work men make of it.

Thus vainly searching, on the 2d of November Columbus finds his ships at anchor in a beautiful and commodious harbor entered between two islands. On every side are fields of maize, and orchards of fruit, and groves of palm; for the people dwell in houses and cultivate the ground. There he remains seven days, waiting the cessation of a storm; and he calls the place Puerto Bello, also written Portobello, which name it has ever since retained. Venturing forth on the 9th, he makes eastward eight leagues, but is driven back, and takes refuge behind some islands in a small harbor, which he calls Puerto de Bastimentos,[IV-16] from the abundance of provisions brought them there. After repairing the ships, now badly worm-eaten, he again on the 23d attempts an advance eastward, but is speedily driven into a cove, which he names El Retrete, some calling it Puerto de Escribanos, and which is so small as barely to admit the ships, and so deep that bottom cannot be touched.[IV-17] 217

END OF THE ADMIRAL'S DISCOVERIES.

And now the mariners show signs of discontent; with gold so near they are not Spaniards else. And the great discoverer, the admiral of the ocean sea, must he bury in this little crevice of a barbarous shore his mighty hopes? Bastidas was here,[IV-18] although it is not certain how well informed the admiral is of the fact, whether he had notice from Bastidas at Santo Domingo as to the termination of his voyage, or whether the natives here had told him; in any event, there cannot be now in the admiral's mind much doubt that the coast is practically discovered from Trinidad to Guanaja, and that between these two islands is a shore-line of continent unbroken by any strait. Yes, as well unbrace here as elsewhere; and gold-hunting is not a bad occupation for an old man after his life's work is done.

Turning then toward Veragua for solace, the Spaniards sailed from El Retrete the 5th of December. 218 But with this change the fickle wind had likewise changed its course; wherever they went were storms and buffetings, until Columbus pronounced upon that shore the name La Costa de los Contrastes. Where now was the balmy breath of perfumed isles, the sparkling sun dancing beneath the wanton waters? Demonized. Gale followed gale in quick succession; winds contending, veering; now the mariners were hurried on toward their destination, only to be driven back to their starting-point. The stubborn waves struck the crazy barks with such menacing force as to send the terror-stricken sailors to their knees in confession, and prayer for deliverance. For nine days the sea was white with angry foam; the sky blazed with electric fires; the men fell sick; provisions spoiled. Long, lank, muscular sharks, weatherwise monsters, followed the ships expectantly, until the hunger-smitten crews eyed them ominously in return, until these creatures that had come to eat were caught and eaten by these other creatures. All this time down poured the rain in torrents and nearly submerged the ships. In the midst of these cataclysmal horrors a water-spout was seen approaching, "which," Fernando Colon is sure, "if they had not dissolved by reciting the gospel of St John, would certainly have sunk whatever it had fallen upon." Twenty-nine days were occupied in making as many leagues to the westward. Once the ships parted company for three days; twice they ran into Portobello, and twice they took refuge at other places on the coast.

At length, with thanksgiving, January 6, 1503, they came to anchor at the mouth of a river, the native name of which was Yebra; but Columbus, in honor of the day, Epiphany, called it Santa María de Belen.[IV-19] One league to the westward was the river Veragua. The admiral ordered both streams 219 to be sounded. The Veragua was found too shallow for the ships. At the mouth of the Belen was a bar, which however could be crossed at high water; above the bar the depth was four fathoms. On the bank of the Belen stood a village, whose inhabitants at first opposed the landing of the Spaniards; but being persuaded by the interpreter, they at length yielded. They were a well-developed, muscular people, rather above medium stature, intelligent, and exceptionally shrewd; in fact, in point of native ability they were in no wise inferior to the Spaniards. When questioned concerning their country, they answered guardedly; when asked about their gold mines, they replied evasively. First, it was from some far-off mysterious mountain the metal came; then the river Veragua was made to yield it all; there was none at all about Belen, nor within their territory, in fact. Finally they took a few trinkets, and gave the intruders twenty plates of gold, thinking to be rid of them. Within a day or two the vessels were taken over the bar, and on the 9th two of them ascended the river a short distance. The natives made the best of it, and brought fish and gold.

THE QUIBIAN.

With an armed force the adelantado sets out in boats to explore the Veragua. He has not proceeded far when he is met by a fleet of canoes, in one of which sits the quibian,[IV-20] the king of all that country, having under him many subordinate chiefs. He is tall, well-modelled, and compactly built, with restless, searching eyes, but otherwise expressionless features, taciturn and dignified, and, for a savage, of exceptionally bland demeanor. We shall find him as politic as 220 he is powerful; and as for his wealth, unfortunately for him, his domain includes the richest gold mines of that rich coast. On the whole, the quibian is as fine a specimen of his race as the adelantado is of his. And thus they are fairly met, the men of Europe and the men of North America; and as in the gladiatorial combat, which opens with a smiling salutation, this four-century life-struggle begins with friendly greetings. Pity it is, they are outwardly not more evenly matched; pity it is that the European with his superior civilization, his saltpetre, and blood-hounds, his steel weapons, and strange diseases, should be allowed to do his robbery so easily! But ravenous beasts and bloody bipeds are so made that they do not hesitate to take advantage of the helpless; it is only civilized man, however, that calls his butcherings by pleasant names, such as progress, piety, and makes his religion and his law conform to his heart's unjust desires.

As the champions approach each other, we see about them both an air of determination and command; and while extremely cordial, we see on either side that courtesy common to those who fear while they suspect. With princely grace the red man takes from his naked body some massive golden ornaments and presents them to the white man; the adelantado, not to be outdone in generosity by a savage, with equal dignity and solemnity presents the red man a handful of valueless baubles. The ceremony over, with mutual assurances of friendship the chieftains retire. Next day the quibian visits the admiral in his ship. Neither has much to say; presents are exchanged, and the savage returns to his people.

While the ships of the Spaniards lay by the bank in fancied security, on the 24th of January the storm-demon, as if enraged at the escape of its victims from the fury of the sea, rushed to the mountains, and opening the windows of heaven, let down a deluge on the land. The rushing torrents swept everything before 221 them. The vessels were torn from their moorings and carried down the river, only to be met at the mouth by the incoming breakers from the sea. And thus to their imminent peril they were tossed for several days by the contending waters.

BARTOLOMÉ PENETRATES THE INTERIOR.

The storm abating, and the ships made secure, the adelantado again started in search of the gold-fields. With sixty-eight men he ascended the Veragua to the village of the quibian, whose house was situated on a hill round which were scattered the dwellings of his people. The chieftain with a large retinue, unarmed in token of peace, welcomed the visitors at the landing. Guides were readily furnished at the adelantado's request; so leaving part of his company to guard the boats, with the remainder he set out on foot for the base of the mountain, distant six leagues, which he reached the following day. For many miles he found the soil richly impregnated with gold, and returned elated, as visions of populous cities and unbounded wealth floated through his brain. Which seeing, the quibian grimly smiled that they should deem their work already done, himself subdued, the land their own; and he smiled to think how he had sent them round and away from his own rich mines to the poorer and more distant fields of Urirá, his ancient enemy. Then the adelantado explored westward, and came to the town and river[IV-21] of this Urirá, and to the towns of Dururi, Cobrabá, and Catibá, where he obtained gold and provisions.

There were here fifty leagues of coast, from Cerebaro to Veragua, called by the Spaniards the tierra de rescate, or land of trade, meaning trade in gold, that being the only thing worth trading for in an expedition of this kind. This seaboard was heavily wooded, and uninhabited except along the rivers, for three leagues inland. And all things seeming so favorable, Columbus thought he would plant a colony 222 here, leave eighty men and one of the vessels in charge of the adelantado, and with the remainder return to Spain, report the results of his discovery, and obtain reinforcements. In a word, if not restrained by some Ferdinand, or Fonseca, or other hateful friend, he would repeat with fresh enthusiasm his former errors which had so nearly wrought his ruin. But his usual ill-luck came to the rescue. The quibian did not view with favor the preparations which he saw the Spaniards making for a permanent residence on his lands, and he determined it should not be. But how could he prevent it? For he was well aware of the advantages these strangers possessed in open warfare. Yet there were several ways open to him; if he did not wish to attack them with an overwhelming force he could devastate the country around, withdraw his people, and leave the Spaniards to die, meanwhile cutting off such stragglers and foraging parties as he could easily handle. And this he did, beginning operations by summoning the neighboring tribes, ostensibly for the purpose of organizing an expedition against Urirá, and Cobrabá.

The suspicions of the Spaniards were aroused. Diego Mendez, escudero, esquire, or shield-bearer of the ship Santiago,[IV-22] a sharp, bold, and somewhat boastful man, but courageous beyond the comprehension of fear, asked and obtained permission to investigate the matter. Entering the Veragua in an armed boat he found encamped below the quibian's village about a thousand painted warriors. Assuming an air of unconcern Mendez landed and strolled leisurely among the savages. Remarking on their proposed expedition he offered to join them; but his services were rejected, and his presence was manifestly distasteful to them. He returned and reported that the savages were preparing to attack the Spaniards. 223 Yet to satisfy some who doubted, Mendez went again, this time taking with him one companion, Rodrigo de Escobar, intending plainly to demand of the quibian his purpose. A host of frowning savages greeted the visitors, who asked to see the quibian. They were informed that he was lying ill from the effects of a wound received in battle. "For that very purpose," replied the ready Mendez, "I a surgeon am come to heal him." But the Spaniards could not gain audience of the chief, and they returned more than ever convinced of his bloody intention toward them.

CAPTURE OF THE QUIBIAN.

What was to be done? The admiral could not depart while hostilities were pending, nor could the Spaniards delay their operations until it should please the savages to attack them. The adelantado determined to force an issue. With seventy-five men, on the morning of the 30th of March, he ascended the Veragua, and landed unobserved near the quibian's village. Hiding his men, he advanced, first with four attendants, then alone, until after some difficulty he gained admission to the quibian's presence. What Bartolomé was now attempting was the regular game, afterward played for higher stakes, but now being pretty generally practised in the New World; namely, to capture the chief and hold him hostage for the good behavior of his people. It was at the door in front of the quibian's dwelling that this interview took place. The savage suspected nothing. The very boldness of the scheme, so foreign to aboriginal warfare, tended to allay apprehension. Within were fifty of his household, and at easy call five hundred warriors; what had the quibian to fear? The two chiefs sat and talked, first on general subjects; then the adelantado enquired concernedly about his host's illness, examined the wound tenderly, passed his hands over the disabled limb while proposing remedies. Suddenly the savage felt the grasp of the Spaniard tighten upon him, and 224 before his suspicions were fairly aroused his arms were pinioned behind him. Mendez, who had been watching, fired his arquebuse, and the concealed Spaniards rushed forward and surrounded the house. The quibian struggled, but weakened by sickness he was easily held in the iron grasp of the adelantado, until by the aid of the other Spaniards he was made powerless. So adroitly was the feat performed, that before the presence of the Spaniards was generally known among the natives, their chief and all his family were captive, and on the way to the boats. The savages lifted up the usual lamentations, and offered enormous ransom; but it had been determined beforehand that the chief personages of the nation should be sent to Spain; for in such procedure, the admiral thought, lay the greater security of his plans.

At this juncture in the narrative historians, even modern writers of fair intelligence, gravely discuss the probabilities of guilt in the quibian's supposed treachery, some holding with Diego de Porras that the natives did not meditate attack; as if they had not the right to defend their country, their wives and little ones, from the ravages of the invader by any means within their power.

Passing conventional twaddle—for if the quibian was not guilty he ought in honor to have been—it is very certain that this action on the part of the Spaniards was the cause of many woes, and of their final overthrow in these parts.[IV-23] In any event it was now of the highest importance to secure the quibian. The whole adventure on this coast depended upon it; therefore the adelantado hastened to send his captives on board the ships. Desirous of instituting other proceedings for the pacification of that section before 225 returning, the adelantado looked about him for a reliable person to whom he might entrust his weighty charge. Present was Juan Sanchez, chief pilot, an honest sailor, not wholly indifferent to military honors, who earnestly offered service and was accepted. The quibian, tied hand and foot, was firmly bound to his seat in the boat; and superfluous as might appear any admonition, the adelantado charged Juan Sanchez to look well to his prisoner. "Pluck out my beard hair by hair if he escape me," was the vaunting reply of the pilot as he shoved his boat from the bank and started down the river.

JUAN SANCHEZ OUTWITTED.

But alas for the overweening confidence of a Peter or a Juan Sanchez! Fighting the elements at sea is a different thing from fighting Indians on land. Quite a different order of tactics is required; and the sailor's life is not the school in which to study the wiles of Indian strategy. In the one place the sailor is not more superior than is the savage in the other. The quibian, outwardly calm, inwardly is fiercely excited; and like the wild beast when hotly pursued, his instincts quicken with the occasion. He and his loved ones are prisoners, treacherously entrapped by a strange species of the human kind in return for fair words and generous hospitality. Their probable fate possesses all the horrors of uncertainty. Swiftly with the swift boat runs the time away; something must be done or all is lost. Narrowly, but cautiously, the chief surveys his keeper. It is pleasant to look upon the homely face of honest Juan Sanchez; not a lineament there but shines with God's best message to man, and in language which even dumb intelligence may read. Stern duty is largely diluted with humanity, integrity with charming simplicity; from which the wily quibian takes his cue, and thenceforth is master of the situation. With quiet dignity and cheerful resignation he sits among his people, hushing their lamentations and chiding their complaints. By words and little acts of consideration he lightens the 226 labors of the boatmen, and studies for himself and people to give no unnecessary trouble. These conciliatory measures are not lost on the warm-hearted sailor, whose regard for his royal captive rises every moment. He is pronounced by all a well-mannered savage, a most courteous savage. And now the quibian modestly complains of the cords so tightly drawn by the too zealous Mendez. They do indeed cut into the flesh, and constrain him to a most uncomfortable position. And he such a gentleman-savage! Juan Sanchez is not the man to sit there and see a fellow-creature unnecessarily suffer; he cannot do it. The thongs which lacerate the prisoner's wrists are loosened, the cord which binds him to the seat is untied; but for security—for above all this great chief must be kept secure—one end of it the ever-watchful pilot twists round his hand. Night comes on. It is very dark, but the captives are quiet, and the boat glides noiselessly down the stream. Suddenly the light craft sways; a plunge is heard; the pilot feels his hand violently wrenched; he must loosen his hold or be drawn into the water. It is all as the flash of a pistol in point of time; the quibian's seat is empty; and honest Juan Sanchez is obliged to present his hanging front before his comrades, a Spaniard outwitted by a savage!

After scouring the country in several directions, the adelantado returned to the ships, bringing gold-plates, wristlets, and anklets to the value of three hundred ducats, which were divided, after deducting the king's fifth. Among the spoils taken from the quibian were two golden coronets, one of which was presented to Bartolomé by the admiral. Notwithstanding the escape of the chief, who, after all, was probably drowned, Columbus proceeded to execute his plans. There were the king's household and his chief men safely on board, and these should be sufficient to guarantee the tranquillity of the nations. 227 So the arrangements for the comfort and security of the colony during the contemplated absence of the admiral were hastened to completion. The three vessels, after discharging part of their cargoes, were carried by the newly swollen stream over the bar, and reloaded. There they lay at anchor waiting a favorable wind.

THE COUNTRY ROUSED.

All this time, however, the Spaniards were reckoning without their host. The quibian was not dead. In spite of his bonds, he had made good his escape. After his bold plunge, finding himself free from the boat, he had extricated his wrists from the loosened cords, swam beneath the water to the bank, and had set out for his village, resolving vengeance. And now, hastily arming a thousand warriors, he attacked the Spaniards under cover of the dense vegetation, killing one and wounding eight, but was soon repulsed with heavy loss. Shortly afterward Diego Tristan, coming ashore from one of the vessels with eleven men, recklessly ascended the river a league for wood and water. All but one were killed.[IV-24]

The aspect of affairs was serious. It was now evident that no fear of what might befall his imprisoned household would deter the quibian from his bloody purpose. Alive or dead might be his brothers, wives, and children, he would rid his country of these perfidious 228 strangers. To this end he secured the coöperation of the neighboring chieftains, and filled the forest with his warriors. Stealthily they lurked in the vicinity of the settlement, and watched every pathway, ready to cut off any who should venture abroad. Nowhere on the Islands had the Spaniards met such stubborn opposition, and serious misgivings filled their minds. Their own probable doom they saw foreshadowed in the mutilated bodies of Tristan and his men, which came floating past them down the stream, attended by ravenous fishes; and the requiems sung by quarrelling vultures over the remains when afterward they were thrown back by the waves upon the beach, tended in no wise to lessen their dismal forebodings. To heighten their misfortunes, a furious storm arose, which cut off all communication between the settlement and the ships. The adelantado endeavored in vain to quiet the fears of his people, who emboldened by despair would have seized the remaining caravel and put to sea had the weather permitted. Yet closer pressed upon them the enraged quibian, until dislodged they retreated to the river bank, before their caravel, and threw up earthworks, which they capped with the ship's boat, and behind which they planted their guns, and so kept the savages at bay.

On shipboard matters were no better. The continued absence of Tristan and his crew caused the admiral great anxiety. In such a heavy sea it was unsafe to remain near the shore; the parting of a cable would doom the clumsy craft to swift destruction. And as if this were not enough, the spirit of the quibian broke out among his encaged family. Preferring death to captivity they plotted escape. During the night the prisoners were confined in the forecastle, and on the covering slept a guard of soldiers. Collecting one night such articles as were within reach, stones used as ballast, boxes, and provision casks, they piled them up under the hatchway 229 cover. Toward morning, when the guards were sleeping soundly, as many of the captives as were able mounted the heap, and placing their shoulders to the covering, by quick concerted action burst it open, throwing the sleeping sentinels in every direction, and springing out leaped into the sea. Those whose escape was prevented were found next morning dead, some hanging to the roof and sides of their prison, some strangled by means of strings round the neck drawn tight with the foot.

THE SETTLEMENT ABANDONED.

It was now of the utmost importance to communicate with the shore, as the admiral was convinced that the situation of the colonists was becoming perilous in the extreme. At least, all hope of settlement in that quarter must for the present be abandoned. The fate of the captives, when once it was known, would move the very rocks to revenge. But no boat could live in the surf intervening. Then stepped forward Pedro Ledesma, a Sevillian pilot, and offered if rowed to the breakers to attempt to gain the shore by swimming. The thing was done. Scarcely had Ledesma picked himself up from the spot where the waves threw him when he was surrounded by his forlorn countrymen, who informed him of the fate of Tristan, and of their determination to quit that accursed coast at any hazard. Ledesma returned and told the admiral, upon whose mind thereupon gloom settled in yet denser shades. Unrighteously deprived of his command at Santo Domingo, he had nourished the hope that this last and most important of his discoveries might prove the base of better fortune than was possible on the Spanish Isle. For had it not been revealed to him that this Veragua was the source whence Solomon drew the gold to build the temple? These lamentations continued during the remainder of the storm, which lasted nine days longer; after which preparations were made for the embarkation of the colonists, the admiral consoling himself with the promise of return under more favorable auspices. 230

Finally the caravel stationed in the river was dismantled, and out of the spars and some Indian canoes was made a raft, by means of which the colonists and their effects were in two days taken on board. The admiral then bore away eastward for Española. And it may have been the lingering hope of blind infatuation—so his followers thought it—that made him cling to the shore until the Darien country was passed, before striking out across the Caribbean Sea; others say it was to avoid contrary winds, while he affirms it was to deceive his pilots that they might not be able to find Veragua again without his charts. One worm-eaten caravel he was obliged to drop at Portobello. The other two held together until they reached Jamaica, where they were beached.

A new series of misfortunes here awaited the Great Unlucky One. From June 1503 to June 1504 he was doomed to remain on his wrecks, which now lay side by side, partially filled with water. Food became scarce, and the foraging expeditions met with constantly increasing difficulties in seeking the necessary supply. By desperate efforts Diego Mendez succeeded in reaching Española in a canoe; but when he had notified Ovando of the perilous situation of Columbus, the governor was in no haste to relieve his rival. Sickness next followed, and then mutiny. Francisco de Porras with forty-eight men threw off allegiance to the admiral, and taking ten canoes set out for Española. Twice thrown back upon Jamaica by adverse winds they abandoned the attempt, and gave themselves up to licentious roving about the island. A second mutiny was near its culmination when a small vessel appeared in the distance. Presently Diego de Escobar approached in a boat, and without leaving it, thrust in upon the admiral a letter, a side of bacon, and a barrel of wine, all from Ovando; then he disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. Following an attempted reconciliation with Porras 231 was a fight between his gang and the Spaniards under Bartolomé, in which six were killed, among them our honest friend Juan Sanchez, who had cast his lot with Porras. The doughty Ledesma, also a rebel, though badly wounded, lived to be assassinated in Spain. Porras and several others were taken prisoners and confined on board the wreck. The remainder of the deserters then returned, penitent. Finally the admiral's agent at Santo Domingo, Diego de Salcedo, came to his relief with two ships.

DEATH OF THE ADMIRAL.

It was infamous in Ovando to leave Columbus so long in such a strait. The excuses he pleaded were absence at Jaraguá, and lack of suitable ships; but had he been in earnest to deliver the admiral, means could have been found before the lapse of a year. Although on arriving at Santo Domingo Columbus received lodgings in Ovando's house, and the governor was outwardly exceedingly attentive to his guest, in reality there was little in common between the two men but jealousy and distrust. Porras was allowed to roam at large, though finally sent to Spain for trial. Columbus sailed for Spain September 12, 1504. For a time he kept his bed at Seville, writing heart-rending letters to the sovereigns, who paid little attention to them. By the help of the adelantado, ever his most faithful friend and brother, Columbus managed the following year to creep up to court and beg redress from the king, for the queen was now dead. But Ferdinand was deeply disgusted; not so much however as to prevent his granting the illustrious discoverer a magnificent burial shortly after. It was the 20th of May, 1506, that Columbus died at Valladolid, at the age of about seventy years.[IV-25]

Thus terminated the first attempt of Spaniards to plant a colony on the main-land of North America. 232 Columbus himself, the leader, advanced with proffers of friendship in one hand and a sword in the other, retaliated upon a fancied savage treachery by a still more insidious treachery, and was driven from the country by a brave ruler, whose deeds deserve to be enrolled beside those of patriots everywhere. One kind act of a tender-hearted Spanish sailor—would I had more of them to record in this history—brings the direst misfortune on his countrymen, delays for a dozen years the occupation of Veragua, and turns the tide of conquest in other directions.

CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS.

Most remarkable in the character of Columbus was the combination of the theoretical and the practical; and most remarkable in his theories was the anomaly that though nearly all of them were false, they led to as grand results as if they had been true. The aperture through which failure creeps into carefully laid schemes is usually some glaring defect of character; and such defect often appears where little suspected, in natures warped by genius, or where one quality is unduly developed at the expense of another quality. We often see men of rare ability wrecked by what would be regarded an act of folly unaccountable in the stupidest person; but we do not often see success resulting from these same defects. The greatest defect in the faculties of Columbus, extravagance of belief, was the primary cause of his success. Simple to us as is the reality of the earth's rotundity, and of the practicability of a western route to Asia, no one could then have entertained those doctrines without extraordinary credulity; even though Pythagoras and others had so long ago expressed such ideas, 233 no one could then have acted on them short of infatuation bordering on insanity. To say the world is round was not enough; Thales of Miletus proved it not a plane two thousand years before. If it were round, the water would run off; if it were flat, why then one safely might sail on it; if it be flat, and the water runs not off, then at the other end there must be land that keeps the water on, and one might sail over the flat sea to that land—all such logic was less puerile than the feelings by which the Genoese ordinarily reached conclusions. His efforts were the embodiment of the ideas of many thoughtful men, timorous persons, perhaps, or merely meditative and passive, but in none of whom united his ability, courage, and enthusiasm; above all, none so scientific were at the same time so determined. Often the knowledge of a prophecy is the cause of its fulfilment. Some say Alonso Sanchez told him of Española, and he himself affirms that once he visited Iceland. It may have been that on this voyage he learned from the Norsemen of their Vinland and Helluland. What then? Were this true, such stories would have had with him scarcely greater weight than the sayings of the ancients, or than current interpretations of holy writ.

Nothing more plainly proves the power that sent him forth than the fact that in scarcely one of his original conceptions was he correct. He thought to reach Asia over an unobstructed ocean sea by sailing west; he did not. To the day of his death he thought America was Asia, and that Cuba was mainland; that the earth was much smaller than it is, and that six sevenths of it was land. He dwelt much on a society of Amazons who never had existence, and at every step among the Islands he ingenuously allowed his inflamed imagination to deceive him. He claimed to have been divinely appointed for this mission; he affirmed his voyage a miracle, and himself inspired with the conception of it by the most holy Trinity; he vowed to rescue the holy sepulchre, 234 which he never did; he proclaimed visions which he never saw, such as St Elmo at the top-mast with seven lighted tapers, and told of voices which he never heard; he pictured himself a missionary to benighted heathen, when in truth he was scattering among them legions of fiery devils. But what he knew and did, assuredly, was enough, opening the ocean to highways, and finding new continents; enough to fully entitle him to all the glory man can give to man; and as for his errors of judgment, had he been able to map America as accurately as can we to-day, had he been divine instead of, as he claimed, only divinely appointed, with myriads of attendant ministers, his achievement would have been none the greater. From the infirmities of his nature sprang the nobility of Brutus; from the weaknesses of Columbus was compounded his strength.

Assuredly it was no part of the experience and ingenuity which springs from life-long application that made Columbus so essentially a visionary; nor was it his scientific attainments, nor the splendid successes which despite the so frequent frowns of fortune we must accredit him. In his avocation of mariner he was a plain, thoughtful man of sound judgment and wise discretion; but fired by enthusiasm he became more than an ordinary navigator; he became more as he fancied himself, superhuman, the very arm of omnipotence. Once born in him the infatuation that he was the divinely appointed instrument for the accomplishment of this work, and frowning monarchs or perilous seas were as straws in his way. We see clearly enough what moved him, these four hundred years after the event, though he who was moved in reality knew little about it. By the pressure of rapidly accumulating ideas we see brought to the front in discovery Christopher Columbus, just as in the reformation of the church Martin Luther is crowded to the front. The German monk was not the Reformation; like the Genoese 235 sailor, he was but an instrument in the hands of a power palpable to all, but called by different persons different names.

While yet mingling in the excitements of progressive manhood, he became lost in a maze of mysticism, and to the end of his life he never recovered possession of himself. Not that self-mastery, the first necessity of correct conduct, was wholly gone; there was method in his madness; and he could deny the demons within him, but it was only to leave open the door and give himself up to yet other demons.

In the centuries of battle now lately renewed between science and religion, Columbus fought on both sides. Never was a man more filled at once with the material and the spiritual, with the emotional and the intellectual. Mingling with beatified spirits in the garden of his moral paradise were naked wild men equally as glorious in their immoralities. His creed, which was his very life, was not in his eyes a bundle of supernatural abstractions, but concrete reality as much as were any of his temporal affairs. Himself an honest devotee of science, and believing science the offspring of religion, science and himself must therefore finally be forever laid upon the same altar. He had no thought of work apart from religion, or of religion apart from work. He had ready a doctrine for every heavenly display, a theory for every earthly phenomenon. When pictures of other lands rose in his imagination, he knew them to be real, just as Juan Diego of Mexico knew to be real the apparition of our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyacac. By the gnawing hunger of temporal and spiritual ambition he was enabled to see the new lands suggested by science, just as the imprisoned monk, starved and scourged into the beholdings of insanity, sees angels of every incarnation.

While thus obliged to view all his achievements through the atmosphere of creative mysticism, in weighing his manifold qualities, it is well always to 236 remember that there were achievements, and those of the very highest order. His mysticism was the mysticism of practical life rather than of inactive ideality. His faith was of value to him in giving definiteness to energy otherwise vague and fitful. His all-potential enthusiasm subordinated to one idea every erratic and incoherent aspiration. It gave his life a fixedness of purpose which lust, avarice, and every appetite combined could not have given without it; so that while he brooded with misanthropic wistfulness he did not shirk any fancied duty, even when attended by pain and misfortune. His was not a cloistered inspiration, but an overwhelmingly active enthusiasm. There was in him no longing after a perfect life; in his own eyes his life was perfect. No restless questionings over the unknowable; there was no unknowable. His oblique imagination encompassed all worlds and penetrated all space. His positivism bound the metaphysical no less firmly than the material. Abstract conceptions were more tangible than concrete facts. Realities were but accidents; ideas were the only true realities. The highway of the heavens which to profoundest investigation is dusty with the débris of an evolving universe, to this self-sufficient sailor was as plain as the king's road from Seville to Cádiz.

ANOMALIES AND ABERRATIONS.

And as genius grows with experience, so grew his determination with the errors he so frequently fell into. He was not a happy man, nor was he always a pleasant companion. In his delusions he was self-satisfied; in the loss of himself self-possessed. He endeavored to be prudent and thought himself worldly wise; but, like many self-flatterers wrapped in their own fancies he was easily imposed upon, even by the sovereigns, with whom he aimed to be exceedingly shrewd. His contact with man did not deepen his humanity, but seemed rather to harden his heart, and drive his affections all the more from earth to heaven. His mind was of that gloomy cast which made even his successes 237 sorrowful. We have seen among his practical virtues integrity of a high conventional order, single-mindedness, courage, and indomitable perseverance; and in other characteristics which were not so pleasing—pride displaying itself, as it often does, in religious humility; a melancholy temper; a selfish ambition, which with one grasp would secure to himself and his family the uttermost that man and God could give; with all his devout piety and heavenly zeal a painful and often ludicrous tenacity in clutching at high-sounding titles and hollow honors—there were even in the most unlovable parts of him something to respect, and in his selfishness a self-sacrificing nobleness, a lofty abandonment of self to the idea, which we can but admire. It was not for himself, although it was always most zealously and jealously for himself; the ships, the new lands, the new peoples, his fortunes and his life, all were consecrate; should the adventure prove successful, the gain would be heaven's; if a failure, the loss would fall on him. Surely the Almighty must smile on terms so favorable to himself. And that he did not finally make good his promises with regard to rescuing the holy sepulchre, and building temples, and converting nations, was for the same reason that he did not finally satisfy his worldly pretensions, and secure himself in his rulership. He had not the time. In all his worldly and heavenly ambitions, the glory of God and the glory of himself were blended with the happy consummation of his grand idea. And never did morbid broodings over the unsubstantial and shadowless produce grander results than these incubations of alternate exaltation and despondency that hatched a continent. And in all that was then transpiring, there are few intelligent readers of history who cannot see an overshadowing, all-controlling destiny shaping events throughout the world, so that this then unknown continent should be prepared to fill the grand purpose which even then appeared to be marked out for it. 238

While, therefore, in the study of this remarkable character, whose description is but a succession of paradoxes, we see everywhere falsehood leading up to truth and truth to falsehood; while we see spring out of the ideal the real, results the most substantial and success the most signal come from conceptions the most fantastical, we can but observe, not only that penetrative vision which in the mind of genius sees through the symbol the divine significance, but that they have not been always or altogether fruitless of good, those spectral fancies which riot in absurdities, building celestial cities, and peopling pandemoniums, even in the absence of genius, symbol, or significance.[IV-26]

239

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Probably not one of the many accounts of Columbus which have been published is presented with such fulness of detail, commanding vivid interest from first to last, as that of Mr Washington Irving, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus; to which are added those of His Companions, 3 vols., New York, 1869. The first editions, one in London, in 4 vols., and one in New York, appeared in 1828; since which time there have been many issues, in English and other languages. The author was born in New York, in 1783, and died at Sunnyside, near Tarrytown, on the Hudson River, in 1859. A strong literary taste was early displayed, specially manifested in 1802 in a series of articles contributed to the Morning Chronicle. In 1804 he visited Europe for his health, returning in 1807. Then appeared the serial Salmagundi, and in 1809 A History of New York. Again in 1815 he went to Europe, and after engaging for a time in mercantile pursuits, abandoned them and gave himself up to letters. The publication of the Sketch Book was begun in numbers in 1818, and was followed by Bracebridge Hall in 1822, and Tales of a Traveller in 1824. Then came Columbus, the material for which he obtained from Navarrete in Spain. See chapter iii. note 9, this volume. After serving as secretary of the American Legation in London from 1829 to 1832, he returned to New York and published The Alhambra; then Crayon Miscellany in 1835; Astoria in 1836; Captain Bonneville in 1837; and Wolfert's Roost in 1855. From 1842 to 1846 he was American Minister to Spain. His later works were Goldsmith, 1849; Mahomet, 1850; and Washington, 1855-9. Mr Irving has been most praised for his genial manner, his gentleness of thought, and his charming style, which carries the reader almost unconsciously along over details in other hands dry and profitless. Among these is found his highest merit; and yet one would sometimes wish the author not quite so meritorious. Elegance and grace eternal tire by their very faultlessness. In handling the rough realities of life one relishes now and then a rough thought roughly expressed. Neither is Irving remarkable for historical accuracy, or exact thinking. An early criticism on Columbus complains of that without which the works of Irving never would have attained great popularity. He was pronounced too wordy, his details too long drawn. If this was the case fifty years ago, it is much more so now. And yet how 240 fascinating is every page! And who but Irving could make thrilling such trivial events? Permit him the use of words, and howsoever isolated the ideas, or commonplace the events, the result was brilliant; but force him within narrow compass, not only would the charm be lost, but the work would be almost worthless.

The highest delight of a healthy mind, of a mind not diseased either by education or affection, is in receiving the truth. The greatest charm in expression, to a writer who may properly be placed in the category of healthful, is in telling the truth. It is only when truth is dearer to us than tradition, or pride of opinion, that we are ready to learn; it is only when truth is dearer to us than praise or profit that we are fit to teach. If the mind be intelligent as well as healthy, it knows itself to be composed of truth and prejudice, the latter engendered of ignorance and environment, holding it in iron fetters, and with which it knows it must forever struggle in vain wholly to be free. Thus keenly alive as well to the difficulties as to the importance of right thinking and exact forms of expression, it nevertheless has its keenest pleasure in striving toward concrete truth. It is truthfulness to nature in all her beauties and deformities, rather than the construction of some more beautiful than natural ideal, that alone satisfies art, whether in the domain of painting, oratory, or literature. We of to-day, while holding in high esteem works of the imagination, are becoming somewhat captious in regard to our facts. The age is essentially informal and real; even our ideal literature must be rigidly true to nature, while whatever pretends to be real must be presented in all simplicity, without circumlocution or disguisement.

Half a century ago it was deemed necessary, particularly by writers of selected epochs of history, in order to clothe their narrative with dramatic effect equal to fiction, to intensify characters and events. The good qualities of good men were made to stand out in bold relief, not against their own bad qualities, but against the bad qualities of bad men, whose wickedness was portrayed in such black colors as to overshadow whatever of good they might possess. Thus historical episodes were endowed, so far as possible without too great discoloration of truth, like a theatrical performance, each with a perfected hero and a finished villain. Of this class of writers were Macaulay and Motley, Froude, Freeman, Prescott, and Irving, whose works are wonderful in their way, not only as art-creations, but as the truest as well as most vivid pictures of their several periods yet presented, and which for generations will be read with that deep and wholesome interest with which they deserve to be regarded. For, although their facts are sometimes highly varnished, their most brilliant creations are always built upon a substantial skeleton of truth. I say that these, the foremost writers of their day, are none of them free from the habit of exaggeration, deception. Indeed, with a wasteful extravagance in the use of superlatives it is almost impossible to draw character strongly without in some parts of it exaggerating. But in these days of rational reflection wherein romance and reality are fairly separated, celestial fiction and mundane fact being made to pass under the same experimentum crucis; mind becoming so mechanical that it introverts and analyzes not only its own mechanism but the mechanism of its maker; iconoclasm becoming spiritualized, and the doctrine revived of the old Adamic serpent, that the 241 knowledge of good and evil is not death but life and immortality, this knowledge being king of kings, vying with nature's forces and oftentimes defying them—I say, in days like these mature manhood becomes impatient of the Santa Claus, or other fictitious imagery, from which the infant mind derives much comfort, and prefers, if necessary, the torments of truth to the elysium of fable. It is no longer valid logic that if the hero stoops to trickery, his biographer should stoop to trickery to cover it. For once undertake to shape the stiff clay of material facts into the artistic forms of fiction, and the result is neither history nor romance.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

Proud as I am of the names of Prescott and Irving, at whose shrines none worship with profounder admiration than myself; thankless as may be the task of criticising their classic pages, whose very defects shine with a steadier lustre than I dare hope for my brightest consummations; still, forced by my subject, in some instances, into fields partially traversed by them, I can neither pass them by nor wholly praise them. In justice to my theme, in justice to myself, in justice to the age in which I live, I must speak, and that according to the light and the perceptions given me.

Mr Irving's estimate of the value of honesty and integrity in a historian may be gathered from his own pages. "There is a certain meddlesome spirit," he writes, "which, in the garb of learned research, goes prying about the traces of history, casting down its monuments, and marring and mutilating its fairest trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition. It defeats one of the most salutary purposes of history, that of furnishing examples of what human genius and laudable enterprise may accomplish." Now, if conscientious inquiry into facts signifies a meddlesome spirit; if the plain presentment of facts may rightly be called pernicious erudition; if the overthrow of fascinating falsehood is mutilating the trophies of history; if fashioning golden calves for the worship of the simple be the most salutary purpose of history; then I, for one, prefer the meddlesome spirit and the pernicious erudition which mutilates such monuments to the fairest trophies of historical deception. Again—"Herrera has been accused also of flattering his nation; exalting the deeds of his countrymen, and softening and concealing their excesses. There is nothing very serious in this accusation. To illustrate the glory of his nation is one of the noblest offices of the historian; and it is difficult to speak too highly of the extraordinary enterprises and splendid actions of the Spaniards in those days. In softening their excesses he fell into an amiable and pardonable error, if it were indeed an error for a Spanish writer to endeavor to sink them in oblivion." When a writer openly avows his allegiance to falsehood, to amiable falsehood, to falsehood perpetrated to deceive in regard to one's own country, about which one professes to know more than a stranger, nothing remains to be said. Nothing remains to be said as to the veracity of that author, but much remains to be said concerning the erroneous impressions left by him of the persons and events coming in the way of this work.

With what exquisite grace, with what tender solicitude and motherly blindness to faults Mr Irving defends the reputation of Columbus! Is the Genoese a pirate, then is piracy "almost legalized;" is he a slave-maker, "the customs of the times" are pleaded; without censure he lives at Córdova in open adultery 242 with Beatriz Enriquez, and there becomes the father of the illegitimate Fernando; a bungling attempt is made to excuse the hero for depriving the poor sailor of the prize offered him who should first see land; Oviedo is charged with falsehood because he sometimes decides against the discoverer in issues of policy and character; Father Buil was "as turbulent as he was crafty" because he disagreed with the admiral in some of his measures; the most extravagant vituperation is hurled at Aguado because he is chosen to examine and report on the affairs of the Indies; Fonseca is denounced as inexpressibly vile because he thwarts some of the discoverer's hare-brained projects; and so with regard to those who in any wise opposed him, while all who smiled on him were angels of light. All through his later life when extravagant requests were met by more than the usual liberality of royalty, Irving is petulantly complaining because more is not done for his hero, and because his petulant hero complains. And this puerile pride from which springs such petulance the eloquent biographer coins into the noble ambition of conscious merit. Though according to his own statement the madness of the man increased until toward the latter end he was little better than imbecile, yet we are at the same time gravely assured that "his temper was naturally irritable, but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirit." The son Fernando denies that his father once carded wool; Irving does not attempt to excuse this blemish because his readers do not regard work ignoble.

Now it is not the toning-down of defects in a good man's character that I object to so much as the predetermined exaltation of one historical personage at the expense of others utterly debased under like premeditation. Did Mr Irving, and the several scores of biographers preceding and following him, parade the good qualities of Bobadilla, Roldan, and Ovando as heartily as those of their hero, the world would be puzzled what to make of it. We are not accustomed to such statements. Unseasoned biography is tasteless, and we are taught not to expect truth, but a model. We should not know what these writers were trying to do if they catalogued the misdemeanors of Columbus and his brothers with the same embellishments applied to Aguado, Buil, and Fonseca; telling with pathetic exaggeration how the benign admiral of the ocean sea was the first to employ bloodhounds against the naked natives; how he practised varied cruelties in Española beyond expression barbarous; and how he stooped upon occasion not only to vulgar trickery, but to base treachery.

On the other hand, with those who seek notoriety by attempting to degrade the fair fame of noble and successful genius because more credit may have been given by some than is justly due, or by affecting to disbelieve whole narratives and whole histories because portions of them are untrue or too highly colored, I have no sympathy. Books have been written to prove, what no one denies, that centuries before Columbus other Europeans had found this continent, and that thereby the honor of his achievement is lessened—of which sentiment I fail to see the force. So far as the Genoese, his works, and merits are concerned, it makes no whit difference were America twenty times before discovered, as elsewhere in this volume has been fully shown.

IRVING AND PRESCOTT COMPARED.

Prescott was a more exact writer than Irving, though Prescott was not wholly above the amiable weakness of his time. In the main he stated the 243 truth, and stated it fairly, though he did not always tell the whole truth. The faults of his heroes he would speak, though never so softly; he seldom attempted entirely to conceal them. He might exaggerate, but he neither habitually practised nor openly defended mendacity. Prescott would fain please the Catholics, if it did not cost too much. Irving would please everybody, particularly Americans; but most of all he would make a pleasing tale; if truthful, well; if not, it must on no account run counter to popular prejudice. The inimitable charm about them both amply atones in the minds of many for any imperfections. Since their day much new light has been thrown upon the subjects treated by them, but not enough seriously to impair the value of their works. In their estimates of the characters of Ferdinand and Isabella, relatively and respectively, these brilliant writers are not alone. They copied those who wrote before them; and those who came after copied them. It has been the fashion these many years, both by native and foreign historians, to curse Ferdinand and to bless Isabella, to heap all the odium of the nation and the times upon the man and exalt the woman among the stars. This, surely, is the more pleasant and chivalrous method of disposing of the matter; but in that case I must confess myself at a loss what to do with the facts.

FERDINAND AND ISABELLA.

None but the simple are deceived by the gentle Irving when he insinuates "she is even somewhat bigoted;" by which expression he would have us understand that the fascinating queen of Castile was but little of a bigot. Again: "Ferdinand was a religious bigot; and the devotion of Isabella went as near to bigotry as her liberal mind and magnanimous spirit would permit"—that is to say, as the plan of Mr Irving's story would permit. Quite as well as any of us Irving knew that Isabella was one of the most bigoted women of her bigoted age, far more bigoted than Ferdinand, who dared even dispute the pope when his Holiness interfered too far in attempting to thwart his ambitious plans. She was, indeed, so deeply dyed a bigot as to allow her ghostly confessor to overawe her finest womanly instincts, her commonly strict sense of honor, justice, and humanity, and cause her to permit in Spain the horrible Inquisition, the most monstrous mechanism of torture ever invented in aid of the most monstrous crime ever perpetrated by man upon his fellows, the coercion and suppression of opinion. Fair as she was in all her ways, and charming—fair of heart and mind and complexion, with regular features, light chestnut hair, mild blue eyes, a modest and gracious demeanor—she did not scruple, for the extermination of heresy, to apply to such of her loving subjects as dared think for themselves the thumb-screw, the ring-bolt and pulley, the rack, the rolling-bench, the punch, the skewer, the pincers, the knotted whip, the sharp-toothed iron collar, chains, balls, and manacles, confiscation of property and burning at the stake; and all under false accusations and distorted evidence. She did not hesitate to seize and put to death hundreds of wealthy men like Pecho, and appropriate to her own use their money, though her exquisite womanly sensibilities might sometimes prompt her to fling to the widows and children whom she had turned beggars into the street a few crumbs of their former riches. This mother, who nursed children of her own and who should not have been wholly ignorant of a mother's love, turned a deaf ear to the cries of Moorish mothers as they and their children were torn asunder and sold at 244 the slave mart in Seville. Thousands of innocent men, women, and children she cruelly imprisoned, thousands she cast into the fiery furnace, tens of thousands she robbed and then drove into exile; but it was chastely done, and by a most sweet and beautiful lady. We can hardly believe it true, we do not like to believe it true, that when old Rabbi Abarbanel pleaded before the king for his people, "I will pay for their ransom six hundred thousand crowns of gold," Isabella's soft, musical voice was heard to say, "Do not take it," her confessor meanwhile exclaiming "What! Judas-like, sell Jesus!" Besides, thrice six hundred thousand crowns might be secured by not accepting the ransom. And yet this was the bright being, and such her acts by Prescott's own statements, cover them as he will never so artfully, whose practical wisdom, he assures us, was "founded on the purest and most exalted principle," and whose "honest soul abhorred anything like artifice." Isabella was unquestionably a woman of good intentions; but with such substance the soul-burner's pit is paved.

Prescott throws all the odium of the Inquisition on Torquemada, and I concur. The monk's mind was the ashy, unmelting mould in which the woman's more plastic affections were cast. But then he should be accredited with some portion of the virtues that adorned the character of Isabella, for he was the author of many of them. To be just, if Isabella is accredited with her virtues, she must be charged with her crimes. And if the queen may throw from her shoulders upon those of her advisers the responsibility of iniquity permitted under her rule, why not King Ferdinand, who likewise had men about him urging him to this policy and to that? True, we excuse much in woman as the weaker, and very justly so, which we condemn in the man of powerful cunning. But Isabella was not exactly clay in the hands of those about her; or if so, then praise her for her imbecility, and not for any virtue. But she could muster will and spirit enough of her own upon occasion—witness her threat to kill Pedro Giron with her own hand rather than marry him, and the policy which speaks plainly her sagacity and state-craft in the selection of Ferdinand, and in the strict terms of her marriage contract which excluded her husband from any sovereign rights in Castile or Leon. Most inconsistently, indeed, in reviewing the administration of Isabella, at the end of three volumes of unadulterated adulation Prescott gives his heroine firmness enough in all her ways; independence of thought and action sufficient to circumscribe the pretensions of her nobles; and she "was equally vigilant in resisting ecclesiastical encroachment;" "she enforced the execution of her own plans, oftentimes even at great personal hazard, with a resolution surpassing that of her husband." When, however, she signed the edict for the expulsion of the Jews, the excuse was that "she had been early schooled to distrust her own reason." But why multiply quotations? The Ferdinand and Isabella of Prescott is full of these flat contradictions.

We all know that when carried away by feeling women are more cruel than men; so Isabella under the frenzy of her fanaticism was, if possible, more cruel than Ferdinand, whose passions were ballasted by his ambitions. Her feelings were with her faith; and her faith was with such foul iniquity, such inhuman wrong as should cause her euphemistic apologists to blush for resorting to the same species of subterfuge that makes heroes of Jack Sheppard and Dick Turpin. 245 Again, murder and robbery for Christ's sake suits the devil quite as well as when done for one's own sake. And here on earth, to plead in a court of justice good intentions in mitigation of evil acts nothing extenuates in the eyes of any righteous judge. Therefore there is little to choose between those of whom it may be said—Here is a man who perfidiously robs, tortures, and murders his fellow-beings by the hundred thousand in order to glorify himself, and extend and establish his dominions; and, Here is a woman who perfidiously robs, tortures, and murders her fellow-beings by the hundred thousand in order to glorify herself, her priest, her religion, and extend and establish the dominions of her deity. At the farthest, and in the minds of the eloquent biographers themselves, the relative refinement and nobility of the two characters must turn wholly upon one's conception of the relative refinement and nobility of earthly selfishness and heavenly selfishness.

What can we say then, if we make any pretensions to fairness in portraying historical personages, in excuse for Isabella that cannot as rightfully be said in excuse for Ferdinand? For even he, whom sensational biographers array in such sooty blackness in order that the satin robes of Isabella may shine with whiter lustre, has been called in Spain the wise and prudent, and in Italy the pious. Of course there were differences in their dispositions and their ambitions, but not such wide ones as we have been told. He was a man, with a man's nature, cold, coarse, stern, and artful; she a woman, with a woman's nature, warm, refined, gentle, and artful. He was foxlike, she feline. Opposing craft with craft, she jealously guarded what she deemed the interests of her subjects, and earnestly sought by encouraging literature and art, and reforming the laws, to refine and elevate her realm. He did precisely the same. In all the iniquities of his lovely consort Ferdinand lent a helping hand; man could do nothing worse; and all the world agree that Ferdinand was bad. And yet, in what was he worse than she? Both were tools of the times, incisive and remorseless. To the ecclesiastical tyranny of which they were victims they added civil tyranny which they imposed upon their subjects. Ferdinand was the greatest of Spain's sovereigns, far greater than Charles, whose fortune it was to reap where his grandfather had planted. It was Ferdinand who consolidated all the several sovereignties of the Peninsula, save Portugal, into one political body, weighty in the affairs of Europe. He was ambitious; and to accomplish his ends scrupled at nothing. There was no sin he dared not commit, no wrong he dared not inflict, provided the proximate result should accord with his desires. He was less bound by superstition than the average of the age; he was thoughtful, powerful, princely. Both were personages magnificent, glorious, who achieved much good and much evil, the evil being as fully chargeable to the times, which placed princes above promises and religion, above integrity and humanity, as to any special depravity innate in either of them. And what was the immediate result of it; and what the more distant conclusion; and how much after all were Spaniards indebted to these rulers? First Spain enwrapped in surpassing glories! Spain the mistress of the world, on whose dominions the sun refuses to go down. Fortunate Ferdinand! Thrice amiable and virtuous Isabella! And next? Do we not see that these brilliant successes, these gratified covetings are themselves the seeds of Spain's abasement? Infinitely 246 better off were Spain to-day, I will not say had she not driven out her Moors and Jews, but had she never known the New World. How much soever of honor Isabella may have brought upon herself by her speculations in partnership with the Genoese, for the self-same reason, resulting in the great blight of gold and general effeminacy that followed, Spain's posterity might reasonably anathematize her memory could they derive any comfort therefrom.

In regard to that much-lauded act of Isabella's in lending her assistance to Columbus when Ferdinand would not, there is this to be said. First, no special praise is due her for assisting the Genoese; and secondly, she never assisted him in the manner or to the extent represented. Santángel and the Pinzons were the real supporters of that first voyage. Isabella did not pawn her jewels; she did not sell her wardrobe, or empty her purse. But if she had, for what would it have been? It makes a pleasing story for children to call her patronage by pretty names, to say that it was out of pity for the poor sailor, that it was an act of personal sacrifice for the public good, that it was for charity's sake, or from benevolence, for the extension of knowledge or the vindication of some great principle—only it is a very stupid child that does not know better. Clearly enough the object was great returns from a small expenditure; great returns in gold, lands, honors, and proselytings—a species of commercial and political gambling more in accordance with the character as commonly sketched of the "cold and crafty Ferdinand," whose measureless avarice and insatiable greed not less than his subtle state-craft and kingly cunning would have prompted him to secure so great a prize at so small a cost, than with the character of an unselfish, heavenly-minded woman. And were it not for the danger of being regarded by the tender-minded as ungallant, I might allude to the haggling which attended the bargain, and tell how the queen at first refused to pay the sailor his price, and let him go, then called him back and gave him what he first had asked, more like a Jew than like even the grasping Ferdinand.

In conclusion, I feel it almost unnecessary to say that Columbus, Isabella, and all those bright examples of history whose conduct and influence in the main were on the side of humanity, justice, the useful, and the good, have my most profound admiration, my most intelligent respect. All their faults I freely forgive, and praise them for what they were, as among the noblest, the best, the most beneficial to their race—though not always so, nor always intending it—of any who have come and gone before us. And I can hate Bobadilla, Roldan, and others of their sort, all historical embodiments of injustice, egotism, treachery, and beastly cruelty, with a godly hatred; but I hope never to be so blinded by the brightness of my subject as to be unable to see the truth, and seeing it, fairly to report it. 247

CHAPTER V.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.
1492-1526.

Columbus the Rightful Ruler—Juan Aguado—Francisco de Bobadilla—Nicolás de Ovando—Santo Domingo the Capital of the Indies—Extension of Organized Government to Adjacent Islands and Main-land—Residencias—Gold Mining at Española—Race and Caste in Government—Indian and Negro Slavery—Cruelty to the Natives—Spanish Sentimentalism—Pacification, not Conquest—The Spanish Monarchs always the Indian's Friends—Bad Treatment due to Distance and Evil-minded Agents—Infamous Doings of Ovando—Repartimientos and Encomiendas—The Sovereigns Intend them as Protection to the Natives—Settlers Make them the Means of Indian Enslavement—Las Casas Appears and Protests against Inhumanities—The Defaulting Treasures—Diego Colon Supersedes Ovando as Governor—And Makes Matters Worse—The Jeronimite Fathers Sent Out—Audiencias—A Sovereign Tribunal is Established at Santo Domingo which Gradually Assumes all the Functions of an Audiencia, and as such Finally Governs the Indies—Las Casas in Spain—The Consejo de Indias, and Casa de Contratacion—Legislation for the Indies.

We have seen how it had been first of all agreed that Columbus should be sole ruler, under the crown, of such lands and seas as he might discover for Spain. We have seen how, under that rule, disruption and rebellion followed at the heels of mismanagement, until the restless colonists made Española an angustiarum insula to the worthy admiral, and until their majesties thought they saw in it decent excuse for taking the reins from the Genoese, and supplanting him by agents of their own choosing. The first of these agents was Juan Aguado, who was merely a 248 commissioner of inquiry. With him, it will be remembered, Columbus returned to Spain after his second voyage, leaving his brother Bartolomé in command. The admiral was permitted to try again; but on reaching the seat of his government he was unable to quiet the disturbances which had increased during his absence. Rebellion had almost reached the dignity of revolution, and stronger than the government were factions whose leaders openly defied the governor-general, viceroy, and admiral of the ocean sea. That their Majesties were greatly grieved at this, I do not say; or that they were displeased that the rebels, or revolutionists, of Española should refer their troubles to them. But this is certain, that after another fair trial Columbus was obliged to give it up, and to see himself displaced by a person far worse than himself. Perhaps it is true that a knave was better for the office than an honest man.

Not that Francisco de Bobadilla may be lawfully accused of dishonesty; the sovereigns seemed competent to take care of themselves where their revenue was concerned. And yet he was certainly influenced in his conduct by no sense of right or of humanity. He was a man of narrow mind, of ignoble instincts and mean prejudices. He was popular for a time with the colonists because he was like them, and because he reduced the royal share of the product of the mines from a third to an eleventh, and permitted the dissolute to idle their time and illtreat the natives; and because he released those whom the admiral had imprisoned, and enabled Columbus to pay his debts—for which last mentioned measure I have no fault to find with him.

It was the 21st of March, 1499, that Bobadilla was authorized to proceed against offenders at Española, but he did not leave Spain until July, 1500, reaching Santo Domingo the 23d of August. The enchaining of the illustrious discoverer by an infamous agent, and for no crime, excited universal disgust throughout 249 Christendom; and yet their Majesties seemed in no haste to depose him; for it was not until the 3d of September, 1501, in answer to the persistent remonstrances of Columbus, that a change was made, and the government given to Nicolas de Ovando, who sailed from Spain the 13th of February following, and arrived at Santo Domingo the 15th of April, 1502; so that Bobadilla was in office on the island over a year and a half, long enough to sow the seeds of much iniquity.

NICOLAS DE OVANDO.

Ovando was a knight of the order of Alcántara, of neither massive mind nor commanding mien. But his firm and fluent speech lent strength to his slight figure and fair complexion, and a courteous manner made amends for a vanity which in him assumed the form of deep humility. He was well known to their Majesties, having been one of the companions of Prince Juan, and it was thought would make a model governor. Ample instructions, both written and verbal, were given him before sailing. The natives should be converted, but their bodies should not be enslaved or inhumanly treated. They must pay tribute, and gather gold, but for the latter they should be paid wages. There was to be a complete change of soldiers and officials at Española, that the new government might begin untainted by the late disorders. Neither Jews nor Moors might go to the Indies, but negro slaves, born into the possession of Christians, were to be permitted passage. For any loss resulting from Bobadilla's acts, full restitution must be made the admiral, and henceforth his rights of property must be respected. Columbus might always keep there an agent to collect his dues, and he was to be treated with consideration. The idle and profligate were to be returned to Spain. Except the provinces given to Ojeda and Pinzon, Ovando's jurisdiction was made to extend over all the Indies, that is to say, over all the New World dominions of Spain, islands and firm land, with the capital at Santo Domingo, and subordinate 250 or municipal governments in the more important localities. All mining licenses issued by Bobadilla were to be revoked; of the gold thus far collected one third should be taken for the crown, and of all thereafter gathered one half. Supplementing these instructions with much paternal advice consisting of minor moralities and Machiavelisms, their Majesties bade their viceroy God speed and sent him forth in a truly royal fashion.

There were no less than thirty ships and twenty-five hundred persons comprising the expedition. Of the company were Alonso Maldonado, newly appointed alcalde mayor,[V-1] and twelve Franciscans, with a prelate, Antonio de Espinal. Las Casas was present; and Hernan Cortés would have been there but for an illness which prevented him. There were seventy-three respectable married women, who had come with their husbands and children, and who were to salt society at their several points of distribution. It was evident as the new governor entered his capital, elegantly attired, with a body-guard of sixty-two foot-soldiers and ten horsemen, and a large and brilliant retinue, that the colonization of the New World had now been assumed in earnest by the sovereigns of Spain. Nor was Ovando disposed to be dilatory in his duty. He at once announced the residencia[V-2] of Bobadilla, and put Roldan, ci-devant 251 rebel, and later chief judge, under arrest. He built in Española several towns to which arms and other privileges were given, founded a hospital, removed 252 Santo Domingo to a more healthful site on the other side of the river, and established a colony at Puerto de Plata, on the north side of Española, near Isabela.

Distant eight leagues from Santo Domingo were the mines where the twenty-five hundred thought immediately to enrich themselves. For several days after landing the road was alive with eager gold hunters drawn from all classes of the community; cavalier, hidalgo,[V-3] and laborer, priest and artisan, honest men and villains, whose cupidity had been fired by the display of precious metal lately gathered, and who were now hurrying forward with hard breath and anxious eyes under their bundle of necessities. But there was no happy fortune in store for these new-comers. The story then new has been oft repeated since: expecting to fill their sacks quickly and with ease, and finding that a very little gold was to be obtained only by very great labor, they were soon on their way back to the city, where many of them fell into poverty, half of them dying of fever.

Poor fools! they did not know; their countrymen, those that were left from former attempts, did not tell them, though Roldan's men, Bobadilla's men knew well enough, and in truth the remnant of Ovando's men were not slow to learn, that the wise man, the wise and villainous man from Spain, did not work or die for gold, or for anything else, when there were savages that might be pricked to it by the sword. 253

GOVERNMENT OF THE NATIVES.

During this earliest period of Spanish domination in America, under successive viceroys and subordinate rulers, by far the most important matter which arose for consideration or action was the treatment of the aborigines. Most momentous to them it was, certainly, and of no small consequence to Spain. Unfortunately, much damage was done before the subject was fairly understood; and afterward, evils continued because bad men were always at hand ready to risk future punishment for present benefits. Spain was so far away, and justice moved so slowly, if it moved at all, that this risk was seldom of the greatest.

The sovereigns of Spain now found themselves called upon to rule two races in the New World, the white and the red. And it was not always easy to determine what should be done, what should be the relative attitude of one toward the other. As to the superiority of the white race there was no question. And among white men, Spaniards were the natural masters; and among Spaniards, Castilians possessed the first rights in the new lands the Genoese had found for them.

All was plain enough so far. It was natural and right that Spaniards should be masters in America. Their claim was twofold; as discoverers, and as propagandists. But in just what category to place the red man was a question almost as puzzling as to tell who he was, and whence he came. Several times the question arose as to whether he had a soul, or a semi-soul, and whether the liquid so freely let by the conquerors was brute blood, or of as high proof as that which ran in Castilian veins. The savages were to be governed, of course; but how, as subjects or as slaves? Columbus was strongly in favor of Indian slavery. He had participated in the Portuguese slave-trade, and had found it profitable. Spaniards enslaved infidels, and why not heathens? Mahometans enslaved Christians, and Christians Mahometans. Likewise Christians enslaved Christians, 254 white as well as black, though it began to be questioned in Spain whether it was quite proper to enslave white Christians.

SLAVERY.

The negro slave-trade was at this time comparatively a new thing. It was one of the proximate results of fifteenth-century maritime discovery. The Portuguese were foremost in it, organizing for the purpose a company at Lagos, and a factory at Arguin, about the middle of the century, Prince Henry receiving his fifth. Europe, however, offered no profitable field for African slave labor, and but for the discovery of America the traffic probably never would have assumed large proportions. Public sentiment was not in those days averse to slavery, particularly to the enslavement of the children of Ham. And yet neither Isabella nor Ferdinand was at all disposed, in regard to their New World possessions, to follow the example of Portugal on the coast of Africa. Though they had scarcely made personal the application that the practice was one of the chief causes of Rome's ruin, yet they seemed instinctively opposed to it in this instance. They did not want these creatures in Spain, they had no use for them. In regard to the ancient custom of enslaving prisoners of war, particularly the detested and chronically hostile Moors, it was different. This New World had been given them for a higher purpose. Its natives were not the enemies of Spain; they were innocent of any offence against Spain. It was better, it was more glorious, there was higher and surer reward in it, to Christianize than to enslave. This the clergy constantly urged; so that in Spain the passion for propagandism was greater than the passion for enslaving.

Columbus must have been aware of this when in 1495 he sent by Torres, with the four ship-loads of Indian slaves, the apology to their Majesties that these were man-eating Caribs, monsters, the legitimate prey of slave-makers wherever found. Peradventure 255 some of them might be made Christians, who when they had learned Castilian could be sent back to serve as missionaries and interpreters to aid in delivering their countrymen from the powers of darkness. This was plausible, and their Majesties seemed content; but when Columbus pressed the matter further, and requested that arrangements should be made for entering extensively into the traffic, they hesitated. Meanwhile the Genoese launched boldly forth in the old way, not only making slaves of cannibals but of prisoners of war; and whenever slaves were needed, a pretence for war was not long wanting. Thereupon, with another shipment, the admiral grows jubilant, and swears by the holy Trinity that he can send to Spain as many slaves as can be sold, four thousand if necessary, and enters upon the details of capture, carriage, sale, and return cargoes of goods, with all the enthusiasm of a sometime profitable experience in the business. Further than this he permits enforced labor where there had been failure to pay tribute, and finally gives to every one who comes an Indian for a slave.

Then the monarchs were angry. "What authority from me has the admiral to give to any one my vassals!" exclaimed the queen. All who had thus been stolen from home and country, among whom were pregnant women and babes newly born, were ordered returned. And from that moment the sovereigns of Spain were the friends of the Indians. Not Isabella alone but Ferdinand, Charles, and Philip, and their successors for two hundred years with scarcely an exceptional instance, stood manfully for the rights of the savages—always subordinate however to their own fancied rights—constantly and determinately interposing their royal authority between the persistent wrong-doing of their Spanish subjects, and their defenceless subjects of the New World. Likewise the Catholic Church is entitled to the highest praise for her influence in the direction of humanity, and 256 for the unwearied efforts of her ministers in guarding from cruelty and injustice these poor creatures. Here and there in the course of this narrative we find a priest carried away by the spirit of proselytism commit acts of folly and unrighteousness; and men announcing as church measures proceedings which when known in the mother country received the prompt condemnation of the church. These men and measures I shall not be backward to condemn. But it is with no small degree of pleasure that I record thus early in this history the noble attributes of the self-sacrificing Christian heroes who while preaching their faith to the savage endeavored to bridle as best they could the cupidity and cruelty of the Spanish adventurers who accompanied them.

LAWS RESPECTING THE ABORIGINES.

After the first invasions, in various quarters, aggressive warfare on the natives, even on obdurate heathen nations, was prohibited. In the extension of dominion that followed, the very word 'conquest' was forbidden to be employed, even though it were a conquest gained by fighting, and the milder term 'pacification' was substituted.[V-4] Likewise, after the first great land robberies had been committed, side by side with the minor seizures was in practice the regulation that enough of the ancient territory should be left each native community to support it comfortably in a fixed residence. The most that was required of the Indians was to abolish their ancient inhuman practices, put on the outward apparel of civilization, and as fast as possible adapt themselves to Christian customs, paying a light tax, in kind, nominally for protection and instruction. This doing, they were to be left free and happy. Such were the wishes of crown and clergy; for which both strove steadily 257 though unsuccessfully until the object of their solicitude crumbled into earth.[V-5] 258

For the soldier, the sailor, the cavalier, the vagabond, the governor, and all their subordinates and associates, all the New World rabble from viceroy to menial willed it otherwise, the New World clergy too 259 often winking assent. However omnipotent in Spain, there were some things in America that the sovereigns and their confessors could not do. They could not control the bad passions of their subjects when beyond the reach of rope and dungeon. That these evil proclivities were of home engendering, having for their sanction innumerable examples from church and state, statesmen and prelates would hardly admit, but it is in truth a plausible excuse for the excesses committed. The fact is that for every outrage by a subject in the far away Indies, there were ten, each of magnitude tenfold for evil, committed by the sovereigns in Spain; so that it is by no means wonderful that the Spaniards determined here to practise a little sinfulness for their own gratification, even though their preceptors did oppose wickedness which by reason of their absence they themselves could not enjoy.

Though the monarchs protested earnestly, honestly, and at the length of centuries, their subjects went their way and executed their will with the natives. Were I to tell a tenth of the atrocities perpetrated by Christian civilization on the natives of America, I could tell nothing else. The catalogue of European crime, Spanish, English, French, is as long as it is revolting. Therefore, whenever I am forced to touch upon this most distasteful subject, I shall be as brief as possible.

DASTARDLY DOINGS OF OVANDO.

Passing the crimes of Columbus and Bobadilla, the sins of the two being, for biographical effect, usually placed upon the latter, let us look at the conduct of Ovando, who, as Spanish provincial rulers went in those days, was an average man. He ruled with vigor; and as if to offset his strict dealings with offending Spaniards, unoffending Indians were treated with treachery and merciless brutality.

Rumor reaching him that Anacaona, queen of Jaraguá, meditated revolt, he marched thither at the head of two hundred foot-soldiers and seventy horsemen. The queen came out to meet him, and escorted 260 him with music and dancing to the great banqueting-hall, and entertained him there for several days. Still assured by evil tongues that his hostess intended treachery, he determined to forestall her. On a Sunday afternoon, while a tilting-match was in progress, Ovando gave the signal. He raised his hand and touched his Alcántara cross—a badge of honor it was called, which, had it been real, should have shrivelled the hand that for such a purpose touched it. On the instant Anacaona and her caciques were seized and a mock trial given them; after which the queen was hanged, the caciques tortured and burned, and the people of the province, men, women, and children, ruthlessly and indiscriminately butchered. Those who escaped the massacre were afterward enslaved. For intelligence, grace, and beauty Anacaona was the Isabella of the Indies, and there was no valid proof that she meditated the slightest injury to the Spaniards.

The natives of Saona and Higuey, in revenge for the death of a chief torn in pieces by a Spanish bloodhound, rose to arms, and slew a boat's crew of eight Spaniards. Juan de Esquivel with four hundred men was sent against them, and the usual indiscriminate hanging and burning followed. It is stated that over six hundred were slaughtered at one time in one house. A peace was conquered, a fort built; fresh outrages provoked a fresh outbreak; and the horrors of the extermination that followed Las Casas confessed himself unable to describe. A passion arose for mutilation, and for prolonging agony by new inventions for refining cruelty. And the irony of Christianity was reached when thirteen men were hanged side by side in honor of Christ and his apostles. Cotubano, the last of the five native kings of Española, was taken to Santo Domingo, and hanged by order of Ovando. In Higuey were then formed two settlements, Salvaleon and Santa Cruz. To take the places in the Spanish service of the Indians thus slain in Española, forty thousand natives of the Lucayas Islands were 261 enticed thither upon the pretext of the captors that they were the Indians' dead ancestors come from heaven to take their loved ones back with them. Española was indeed their shortest way to heaven, though not the way they had been led to suppose. When tidings of Ovando's doings reached Spain, notably of his treatment of Anacaona, Queen Isabella was on her death-bed; but raising herself as best she was able, she exclaimed to the president of the council, "I will have you take of him such a residencia as was never taken."

THE LABOR QUESTION.

Both the Spaniards and the Indians, as we have seen, were averse to labor. To both it was degrading; to the latter, killing. And yet it was necessary that mines should be worked, lands cultivated, and cattle raised. Else of what avail was the New World?

The colonists clamored, and the crown was at a loss what to do. In her dilemma there is no wonder the queen appeared to equivocate; but when in December, 1503, she permitted Ovando to use force in bringing the natives to a sense of their duty, though they must be paid fair wages and made to work "as free persons, for so they are," she committed a fatal error. The least latitude was sure to be abused. Under royal permission of 1501 a few negro slaves from time to time were taken to the Indies. Las Casas urged the extension of this traffic in order to save the Indians. Ovando complained that the negroes fled and hid themselves among the natives, over whom they exercised an unwholesome influence; nevertheless in September, 1505, we find the king sending over more African slaves to work in the mines, this time about one hundred. From 1517, when importations from the Portuguese establishments on the Guinea coast were authorized by Charles V., the traffic increased, and under the English, particularly, assumed enormous proportions. This unhappy confusion of races led to a negro insurrection at Española in 1522. 262

We come now to some of the results of the temporizing policy of Spain—always a bad one when the subject is beyond the reach of the ruling arm—in regard to the Indians. For out of a desire to avoid the odium of Indian slavery, and yet secure the benefits thereof, grew a system of servitude embodying all the worst features of absolute bondage, with none of its mitigations.

REPARTIMIENTOS AND ENCOMIENDAS.

It will be remembered that during his second voyage Columbus made war on the natives of Española, and after sending some as slaves to Spain, imposed a tribute on the rest; on some a bell-measure of gold, and on others an arroba[V-6] of cotton, every three months. So severe was this tax that many could not meet it, and in 1496 service was accepted in place of tribute. This was the beginning in the New World of the repartimiento,[V-7] or as it shortly afterward became the 263 encomienda, system, under which the natives of a conquered country were divided among the conquerors, recommended to their care, and made tributary to them. 264

ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.

The theory was that the Indians were the vassals of Spain, no more to be imposed upon than other Spanish subjects. The sovereigns wishing to stimulate discovery, pacification, and settlement, were willing to waive their right to the tribute due the crown in favor of enterprising and meritorious persons, who had taken upon themselves the hardships incident to life in 265 a new country. At first in certain instances, but later to an extent which became general, they settled this tribute upon worthy individuals among the conquerors and colonists and their descendants, on condition that those who thus directly received a portion of the royal revenue should act the part of royalty to the people placed temporarily in their care. They were to be as a sovereign lord and father, and not as a merciless or unjust taskmaster. They were to teach their wards the arts of civilization, instruct them in the Christian doctrine, watch over and guide and guard them, and never to restrict them in the use of their liberties, nor impose burdens on them, nor in any way to injure or permit injury to befall them. And for this protection they were neither to demand nor receive more than the legal tribute fixed by the royal officers, and always such as the natives could without distress or discomfort pay. What the system was in practice we shall have ample opportunity of judging as we proceed in this history. Suffice it to say here that to the fatherly-protection part of their compact the colonists paid little heed, but evaded the law in many ways, and ground the poor savages under their iron heel, while the crown by ordering, and threatening, earnestly but vainly sought to carry out in good faith and humanity what they deemed a sacred trust.

THE PARTITION SYSTEM.

First, repartimientos of lands were authorized by the sovereigns. This was in 1497, and nothing was then said about the natives. But after dividing the land it was but a step to the dividing of the inhabitants. With the shipment of six hundred slaves in 1498, and an offer to their Majesties of as many more as they could find sale for, Columbus wrote asking permission to enforce the services of the natives until settlement should be fairly begun, say for a year or two; but without waiting for a reply he at once began the practice, which introduced a new feature into repartimientos. Then to all who chose to take 266 them, to Roldan and his followers, to the worst characters on the island, among whom were the late occupants of Spanish prisons, the vilest of humankind, was given absolute dominion over these helpless and innocent creatures. Having paid nothing for them, having no pecuniary interest in them, they had no object in caring whether they were fed or starved, whether they lived or died, for if they died there were more at hand upon the original terms.

Under Bobadilla the infamy assumed bolder proportions. Columbus had apportioned to certain lands certain natives to labor for the benefit of Spaniards, but they worked under their cacique. Natives were forced by Spaniards to work mines, but only under special monthly license. Bobadilla not only permitted the exaction from the natives of mining and farming labor, but all restrictions were laid aside, and from working their own soil they became mere labor-gangs to be driven anywhere. Before sailing for the New World Ovando had been charged by the sovereigns with the exercise of extreme moderation in levying tributes and making repartimientos. Those who came with him not only failed in mining, but neglected to plant, as did likewise the natives, thinking thereby the quicker to rid themselves of the invaders. Hence famine, engendering new diseases, was at hand for both white men and red. Then the Indians were systematically parcelled among the Spaniards, to one fifty, to another one hundred, and the repartimiento unfolded into the encomienda. Columbus and Bobadilla had each endeavored to fasten Indian slavery upon the New World, but this legalizing by Ovando what had been illegally done by them, was the heaviest blow in that direction. "To you is given an encomienda of Indians with their chief; and you are to teach them the things of our holy Catholic faith," was the thin subterfuge by which this foul act was accomplished.

THE KING'S STRONG BOX.

In 1508 was sent to Santo Domingo as treasurer-general 267 Miguel de Pasamonte to supersede Bernardino de Santa Clara, who had received the office of treasurer from Ovando. Santa Clara loved display and lacked honesty. Using freely the king's money he bought estates, and gave feasts, in one of which the salt-cellars were filled with gold-dust. This folly reaching the king's ears, Gil Gonzalez Dávila, of whom we shall know more presently, was sent to investigate the matter, and found Santa Clara a defaulter to the extent of eighty thousand pesos de oro. His property was seized and offered at auction. Ovando, with whom Santa Clara was a favorite, stood by at the sale, and holding up a pineapple offered it to the most liberal bidder, which pleasantry was so stimulating that the estate brought ninety-six thousand pesos de oro, more than twice its value. Afterward the plan was adopted of having three locks upon the government's strong-box, the keys to which were carried by the three chief treasury officials.[V-8] Pasamonte was an Aragonese, in the immediate service of Ferdinand, with whom he corresponded in cipher during his residence in the Indies. A very good repartimiento of Indians was ordered by the king to be given the faithful Pasamonte. In 1511 Gil Gonzalez Dávila was made contador of Española, and Juan de Ampues factor; to each were given two hundred Indians, and they were ordered to examine the accounts of the treasurer, Pasamonte. For the faithful must be kept faithful by the strictest watching; such was Spanish 268 discretion, whether in the management of men or women.

The removal of Ovando was delayed by the death of Isabella in 1504, and of Columbus in 1506. After persistent importunities Diego Colon, son of the admiral, was permitted in 1508 to plead in the courts of Spain his claim, as his father's successor, to the viceroyalty of the Indies. His marriage, meanwhile, with María de Toledo, a lady of high birth and connection, assisted in opening the eyes of the law to the justness of his demands, fully as much as did any argument of counsel. Ovando was recalled and Diego authorized to take his place.

The new governor, accompanied by his wife, his brother Fernando, his uncles Bartolomé and Diego, and a retinue brilliant with rank and beauty, landed at Santo Domingo in July, 1509. Although Ferdinand had withheld the title of viceroy, Diego evidently regarded his appointment nothing less than a viceroyalty, although the two mainland governors, Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa, for the provinces east and west of Urabá, remained independent of him.

THE SOVEREIGN TRIBUNAL.

Diego's administration was but little if any improvement on those of his predecessors. He possessed neither the ability nor the prudence of Ovando. He had intended equity and honesty in his rulings, and exceptional kindness to the natives; notwithstanding which he began by granting repartimientos to himself, his wife, and kindred, and giving the best of the remainder to his favorites. So that the now standard evils of favoritism and cruelty were in no wise mitigated. Not only were the Indians no better used than formerly, but falling into the errors of his father in the management of men Diego's weak government soon found opposed to it a faction at whose head was the powerful Pasamonte. Charges of a serious nature against the son of the Genoese so frequently reached 269 Spain that in 1511 the king found it necessary to establish at Santo Domingo a sovereign tribunal to which appeals might be made from the decisions of the governor. This tribunal which at first was only a royal court of law, superior to any other colonial power, was the germ of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo by which the greater part of the Indies, islands and firm land, were governed for a period subsequent to 1521. It was at first composed of three jueces de apelacion, or judges of appeal, Marcelo de Villalobos, Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, and Lúcas Vazquez de Aillon. These licenciados, having brought with them instructions from Spain, and also orders on Diego Colon for partitions of land and two hundred Indians each, in 1511 were ready to rule. They were empowered to hear and determine appeals from the governor, his tenientes and alcaldes mayores, and from any other judges that had been or should be appointed either by the colonial governor or by the crown, appeal from their decision being only to the Council of the Indies in Spain. Although from its creation clothed with many of the powers of an audiencia, it did not all at once possess that title, but gradually assumed it.[V-9] By decree of September 14, 1526, we find the emperor ordering that in the city of Santo Domingo there should reside the Audiencia y Chancillería Real, "como está fundada," as at present constituted. It was to consist of a president; four oidores, who were also alcaldes del crímen, or criminal 270 judges; a fiscal, a prosecuting officer in this case; an alguacil mayor, or high sheriff; a teniente de gran canciller, or deputy grand chancellor, and other necessary officers. Indeed, beside some of the other officers, a president had already been provided in 1521, in the person of Luis de Figueroa, bishop of Concepcion. Francisco de Prado was appointed fiscal in 1523, at which time the salaries of the oidores were raised, as they had been deprived of the right of holding Indians. All appeals from the jueces de residencia, where the amount involved was less than six hundred pesos de oro, were thereafter referred to this tribunal. Alonso de Zuazo took his seat among the oidores in 1526. To the audiencia of Santo Domingo was given for its district the West India Islands; and on the mainland the governments of Venezuela, Nueva Andalucía, Rio de Hacha, and Guayana, or el Dorado, this district being bounded by those of the audiencias of the Nuevo Reino de Granada, Tierra Firme, Guatemala, Nueva España, and the provinces of Florida. The president was empowered to make such ordinances as he should deem essential to the good government and defence of the island, just as was done, within their jurisdiction, by other governors of Indian provinces. He might fill vacancies in the various subordinate offices until the pleasure of the king should be known, and he might do generally all things pertaining to the executive power. In these matters the oidores were forbidden to interfere; nor could the president exercise judicial functions, but must nevertheless sign with the judges all sentences. In other respects this tribunal was on an equal footing with others of its class.[V-10] 271

AUDIENCIAS.

Meanwhile the most disturbing question in the colony was that of labor. To govern the few Spaniards at Española, under the arbitrary system of Spain, was 272 a small matter; but to divide among them lands, agricultural and mineral, and laborers in such a way as to satisfy at once the colonists and the many tender and 273 enlightened consciences in Spain, in such a way as to prevent the utter ruin either of colonial enterprise or of the natives themselves, was indeed a difficult task.

END OF DIEGO COLON.

In 1509 possession had been taken of Jamaica by Juan de Esquivel, and toward the end of 1511[V-11] the governor of Española had sent Diego Velazquez to occupy Cuba, which was done without the loss of a Spaniard. Ojeda and Nicuesa having failed in colonizing Darien, the mainland in that vicinity was offered by the king in 1514 to the adelantado, Bartolomé Colon, but he was then too ill to accept the charge, and died not long after. In April, 1515, Diego Colon embarked for Spain; and we find him attempting his vindication at court, when Ferdinand died, the 23d of January, 1516. Cardinal Jimenez, who held the reins of Spanish government for a time, refused to decide between the governor and treasurer; but in 1520 the emperor directed Pasamonte to molest Diego no more. Then affairs at Española became more intolerable than ever, and in 1523 Diego was divested of authority by the Council of the Indies, the sovereign tribunal at Santo Domingo furnishing 274 ample information of a condemnatory character. Diego succeeded, however, in having a commission appointed to examine the matter more carefully, but this tended only to further complications; and the last days of the son, which ended in 1526, were not more happy than those of the father had been.[V-12]

BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS.

A steadily growing character, impressing itself more and more upon the affairs of the Indies as time went by, was that of Bartolomé de las Casas. Born at Seville in 1474, he conned his humanities at Salamanca, making little stir among the Gamaliels there, but taking the bachelor's degree in his eighteenth year. After a residence of about eight years in the Indies, having come with Ovando in 1502, he was admitted to priestly orders, from which time he takes his place in history. He was a man of very pronounced temperament and faculties, as much man of business as ecclesiastic, but more philanthropist than either; possessed of a burning enthusiasm, when once the fire of his conviction was fairly kindled, he gave rest neither to himself nor to his enemies. For every evil-minded man who came hither was his enemy, between whom and himself was a death-struggle. The Apostle of the Indies he was sometimes called, and the mission he took upon himself was to stand between the naked natives and their steel-clad tormentors. In this work 275 he was ardent, ofttimes imprudent, always eloquent and truthful, and as impudently bold and brazen as any cavalier among them all. Nor was he by any means a discontented man. He sought nothing for himself; he had nothing that man could take from him except life, upon which he set no value, or except some of its comforts, which were too poor at best to trouble himself about. His cause, which was the right, gave breadth and volume to his boldness, beside which the courage of the hare-brained babbler was sounding brass.

When the attention of the church was first seriously drawn toward the amelioration of the condition of the Indians, which was in 1511, there were at Española some thirteen Dominicans, living with their vicar, Pedro de Córdoba, according to the strictest rules of the order, and likewise several Franciscans, among whom was Antonio de Espinal. The Dominicans began their protest by a sermon denouncing the course of the colonists, and when ordered to retract, they repeated their charges with still greater emphasis. The colonists sent agents to Spain to have the contumacious monks displaced, and among them Espinal; for the Franciscans, as much in a spirit of opposition to the Dominicans as to find favor with the laity, showed a leaning toward the repartimiento system, though they could not decently defend it. The Dominicans sent Antonio Montesino, he who had preached the distasteful sermon, all the Dominicans present having signed approval of it. To consider the matter, a junta was summoned in Spain, which pronounced the Indians a free people, a people to be Christianized, and not enslaved; they were innocent heathen, not infidel enemies like the Moors, or natural-born slaves like the negroes. Ferdinand and Fonseca were both earnest in obtaining this verdict, for so had said the king's preachers. Meanwhile Montesino encountering Espinal in Spain, won him over to the side of humanity. But all the same the 276 repartimientos were continued, for they were fatherly protection only in theory, and the colonists went on scourging the poor red men.

In the occupation of Cuba, Pánfilo de Narvaez was named by Velazquez his lieutenant, and sent forth to subjugate other parts of the island. With Narvaez went Las Casas, who put forth almost superhuman exertions in vain to stay the merciless slaughter of the helpless and innocent. A warm friend of Las Casas was Velazquez' alcalde, Pedro de Rentería, who in the division of the spoils joined Las Casas in accepting a large tract of land, and a proportionate repartimiento of Indians. This was before Las Casas had seriously considered the matter, and he was at first quite delighted with his acquisition. But the enormity of the wrong coming upon him, his conversion was as decisive as that of St Paul. Like the Dominicans of Española, Las Casas began by preaching against repartimientos. In 1515 he sailed for Spain in company with Montesino, leaving his charge with certain monks sent over from Española by the prelate Córdoba. These Dominican brothers did what they could, but to such straits were the savages driven after the departure of Las Casas that to escape the bloodhounds and other evils set upon them by the Spaniards thousands of them took refuge in suicide. When Diego Colon arrived in 1509 there were left in Española forty thousand natives. A repartidor was appointed in the person of Rodrigo de Alburquerque to repartition the Indians, but when he arrived in 1514 there were but thirteen thousand left to divide. After proclaiming himself with great pomp, Alburquerque plainly intimated that bribery was in order, that he who paid the most money should have the best repartimiento. Afterward the Licentiate Ibarra, sent to Española to take the residencia of the alcalde Aguilar, was authorized to make a new partition. Large numbers of natives were given to the king's favorites in Spain, and the evil grew apace. 277 Nor were affairs at Española mended by sending out so frequently new officials with new and conflicting powers.

THE JERONIMITE FATHERS.

Whatever hopes the monks may have derived from Ferdinand's benign reception, death cut short the proposed relief. Fonseca, now bishop of Búrgos, with coarse ribaldry dismissed the subject; but when Las Casas applied to the regent, Cardinal Jimenez, an earnest and active interest was manifest. Las Casas, Montesino, and Palacios Rubios were directed to present a plan for the government of the Indies, which resulted in sending thither three Jeronimite Fathers, Luis de Figueroa, Alonso de Santo Domingo, and Bernardino Manzanedo, monks of the order of St Jerome, being selected because they were free from the complications in which those of St Francis and St Dominic already found themselves involved in the New World. The Jeronimites were ordered to visit the several islands and inform themselves regarding the condition of the Indians, and adopt measures for the formation of native settlements. These settlements or communities were to be governed each by a cacique, together with an ecclesiastic; and for every two or three settlements a civil officer, called an administrator, having supreme power in the settlements, was to be appointed. The cacique, after obtaining the consent of the ecclesiastic, should inflict no higher punishment on his subjects than stripes; none should be capitally punished except under regular process of law. The matters of education, labor, tribute, mining, and farming were then treated, in all which the welfare of the natives was carefully considered, although the repartimiento system remained. Las Casas was named Protector of the Indians with a salary of one hundred pesos de oro. Zuazo, a lawyer of repute, was sent with the most ample powers to take a residencia of all the judges in the New World, and against his decisions there was to be no appeal. 278

The Jeronimites set out wrapped in mighty determinations. They would not even sail in the same ship with Las Casas, wishing to be wholly free. In this they were right; but unfortunately, on arriving among the wrangling colonists, and having the actual issues thrust upon them, they found themselves by no means infallible. Their measures were tame, and they soon found the Protector arrayed against them. The result was their open defence of the repartimiento system, as the only one by which Spain could colonize the Indies. The burden should be laid as lightly as possible on the shoulders of the natives, but they must be made to work. Las Casas set out in 1517 to enter his complaints at court, closely followed by an emissary of the Jeronimites to represent their side of the question; but they arrived in Spain only to find the regent dying. Had Charles V. remained in Flanders, and had the life of Cardinal Jimenez been spared to Spain and the New World a few years longer, it is certain that the cruelties to the Indians would many of them have been prevented, and it is doubtful if negro slavery would ever have been introduced into America.

DIVERS RULES AND RULERS.

Though the change of rulers which now occurred seriously clogged the wheels of government in Spain, the affairs of the Indies seemed directly to suffer little inconvenience therefrom. It was indeed a great change, Isabella and Ferdinand gone, Columbus and Jimenez also; and the presence of this young Charles, undemonstrative, thoughtful, cautious, even when a boy, and enveloped in a Flemish atmosphere that shut out all that was most beautiful in Spain, even Castile's liquid language, made it seem strange there even to Spaniards, made it seem a long, long time since the Moors were beaten and America discovered. The Indies, however, were far away, and so little understood by the Flemings that they did not trouble themselves much about them. 279

Las Casas was fortunate in winning the favor of the Flemish chancellor, Selvagius, but as in the two previous cases, scarcely was the friendly footing established when the great man died, and the bishop of Búrgos, whose influence in the government of the Indies had fallen low of late, was again elevated. All the measures that Las Casas had proposed to Selvagius fell to the ground—all save one, the only bad one, and one concerning which Las Casas afterward asserted that he would give all he possessed on earth to recall it; it was the introduction of negro slaves to relieve the Indians.

If the Jeronimite Fathers accomplished no great things in the Indies, they at least did little harm. Small-pox attended the herding of the natives in settlements, but it never prevailed to the extent represented. The fact that Fonseca held an encomienda of eight hundred Indians, the Comendador Conchillos one of eleven hundred, Vega one of two hundred, and other influential men at court other numbers, may have had something to do with the hostility manifested in that quarter toward Las Casas, who was unflinching to the end in denouncing the system as unjust, unchristian, and inhuman.

CASA DE CONTRATACION.

The office of Indian distributor was most important, and one in which the vital interests of the colonists were involved. It should have been filled by one of high integrity who would hold aloof from contaminating influences. Such was not Ibarra, who became offensively meddlesome in the affairs of the common council, and died under suspicious circumstances not long after, Lebron being sent out to take his place. When the Jeronimites countenanced negro slavery to relieve the Indians, the colonists were benignant; when they undertook civil service reform, some of them became furious, especially Pasamonte, who had been enriching himself as fast as possible while his patron lived, but who had now sunk into 280 insignificance. The favorites of the Flemish ministers, such as Rodrigo de Figueroa, to whom was given charge of the Indian settlements, were now the recipients of the fat offices; and the fact of their being Flemish favorites was sufficient to array the colonists against them. It was not long before they succeeded in having the residencia of Figueroa ordered, and Lebron installed as overseer of Indians in his place. In 1518, Jimenez who sent the Jeronimites being dead and Fonseca once more manager, the monks were recalled to Spain, and the affairs of Española and of the Indies were left with the audiencia of Santo Domingo, acting in conjunction with the Consejo de Indias[V-13] in Spain, the Casa de Contratacion 281 having more especial charge of commercial matters. 282

Many schemes for the benefit of the Indians filled the mind of Las Casas, who continued to labor for 283 them indefatigably. One, originating with Pedro de Córdoba, was to set apart on the mainland one hundred leagues as a place of refuge for the savages, into which no Spaniards but priests might enter. This 284 measure was opposed by Fonseca, who said: "The king would do well, indeed, to give away a hundred leagues without any profit to himself." After this Las Casas spent some time travelling through Spain and inducing Spaniards to emigrate to the Indies, but little that was beneficial came of it. Succeeding finally in enlisting the sympathies of the king's preachers in behalf of the Indians, a plan for founding a colony on the Pearl Coast was carried, and notwithstanding Oviedo appeared in opposition to his brother chronicler by offering a larger royalty, a grant of two hundred and sixty leagues was signed in May, 1520. Failing as a colonist, Las Casas retired for a time to the Dominican convent at Santo Domingo. After many years spent as missionary and preacher in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, he was appointed bishop of Chiapas, where in the progress of this history we shall again meet him.

SUNDRY PROVISIONS.

Certain attention which the Indies were now receiving may be mentioned here. Some little attention was paid by the ever-watchful government to the welfare of society in these distant parts. The wearing of rich apparel in Española was forbidden by the king in 1523. The appellations of certain of the islands were undergoing change, so that in due time their aboriginal names were restored to Cuba and Jamaica, the authorities thereby evincing a good taste which rulers and explorers of other nations might well have profited by at a later period. In 1515 six loaves of sugar and twenty cassia fistula were taken by Oviedo to Spain. In 1517 the pope made bishops in the Indies inquisitors; and when in 1521-2 the bulls of Leo X. and Adrian VI. ordered the Franciscans to prepare for mission work in the New World, liberal concessions were made to friars going thence. After the death of Pedro de Córdoba, who had been appointed inquisitor of the Indies, authority became vested in the audiencia of Santo Domingo. Desirous of stimulating emigration, the emperor in 1522 granted 285 further privileges to settlers in the Indies. Colonists were ordered to take their families to the New World under severe penalties for neglect. Licenses were revised, and regulations concerning the going to the New World of the religious orders as well as of all others were made to the utmost extent favorable, but friars found in the New World without a license must be sent forthwith to Spain. Then laws were made attempting to regulate the method of making war on Indians; and in 1523 it was decreed that idols should be destroyed and cannibalism prevented. Provision was made for the annual payment of thirty thousand maravedís for the support of a preceptor of grammar. And because of the heavy expenses of living, the emperor permitted the salaries of New World officials to be increased. The tribunals were likewise reorganized to fit the emergency and facilitate business. Directions were issued how gold chains should be made and dye-woods cut. It seemed to the emperor necessary in 1526 to issue orders facilitating the arrest of dishonest mercantile agents in the Indies, and to send Padre de Bobadilla, a provincial of the order of La Merced, to look after the baptism of the Indians. And as to the question of negroes, vexatious from the beginning, the emperor in 1523 revoked for a time the permission given in 1511 to send negroes as slaves to the Indies; and it was again ordered in 1526 that Indian slaves then in Spain should be returned to their country and treated as vassals.[V-14]

CHAPTER VI.
THE GOVERNMENTS OF NUEVA ANDALUCÍA AND CASTILLA DEL ORO.
1506-1510.

Tierra Firme Thrown open to Colonization—Rival Applications—Alonso de Ojeda Appointed Governor of Nueva Andalucía, and Diego de Nicuesa of Castilla del Oro—Hostile Attitudes of the Rivals at Santo Domingo—Ojeda Embarks for Cartagena—Builds the Fortress of San Sebastian—Failure and Death—Nicuesa Sails for Veragua—Parts Company with his Fleet—His Vessel is Wrecked—Passes Veragua—Confined with his Starving Crew on an Island—Succor—Failure at Veragua—Attempts Settlement at Nombre de Dios—Loss of Ship Sent to Española for Relief—Horrible Sufferings—Bibliographical Notices of Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera—Character of the Early Chroniclers for Veracity.

The voyages of Bastidas and Columbus completed the discovery of a continuous coast line from the gulf of Paria to Cape Honduras. In 1506 Juan Diaz de Solis, a native of Lebrija, and Vicente Yañez Pinzon took up the line of discovery at the island of Guanaja, where the admiral had first touched, and proceeding in the opposite direction sailed along the coast of Honduras to the westward, surveyed the gulf of Honduras and discovered Amatique Bay, but passed by without perceiving the Golfo Dulce which lies hidden from the sea. The object still was to find the much-desired passage by water to the westward. Continuing northerly along Yucatan, and finding the coast trending east rather than west, they abandoned the undertaking and returned to Spain. Meanwhile Juan Ponce de Leon was enriching himself by the pacification 290 of Puerto Rico, preparatory to invading the mainland to the northward in search of the fountain of youth; in which sapient attempt he lost his money, and not long afterward his life, unfortunately never finding the liquid immortality that bubbled somewhere in the jungles of Florida.

And now ten years had elapsed since Cabot and Columbus first saw the western continent, the former in 1497, the latter in 1498, and although several attempts had been made, as yet there was no European settlement on any part of it. It was not that the thirst for western spoils was by any means assuaged; but Ferdinand was busy, and the experiences of Ojeda and Columbus on the mainland were not encouraging to the most chivalrous cupidity. Returned, however, from his Neapolitan wars in 1507, his disaffected nobles somewhat quieted, and the disputes attending Isabella's succession allayed, the king began to look about him. By the queen's testament he inherited one half the revenues of the Castilian colonies. And the king wanted money. It is a royal weakness. Then he remembered what Columbus had reported of the rich coast of Veragua; and although the licenses hitherto granted for private voyages had not proved very lucrative, and expenditures at Santo Domingo were too near receipts to be satisfactory, no better way seemed feasible than to throw open to colonization the mainland, or tierra firme, as the discovered portion of the continent now began to be called.[VI-1] 291 Further than this, Ferdinand was well aware that if he would retain his western possessions he must occupy them; for stimulated by the success of Portugal and 292 Spain, France, England, Holland, and Sweden had all awakened to oceanic enterprise. He had before this commissioned Ojeda to watch the inroads of the English at the north, and directed Pinzon to have an eye on the Portuguese and the pope's partition line at the south; now he was resolved to break the territory into kingdoms and provinces, and apportion them for government to such of his subjects as were able and willing to colonize at their own cost.

OJEDA AND NICUESA.

When the intention of the king was known, two dashing cavaliers appeared and asked for the government of the rich coast of the Tierra Firme. One was Diego de Nicuesa, a native of Baeza, well-born and an accomplished courtier, having been reared by Enrique Enriquez, chief steward and uncle of the king. He came to the Indies first with Ovando. The other was Alonso de Ojeda, then in Santo Domingo, and already famous in New World annals, making his first appearance there with Columbus in his second voyage, and having already achieved two notable voyages to Paria, or the Pearl Coast, one in 1499 with Juan de la Cosa and Amerigo Vespucci, and one in 1502, with García de Ocampo and Juan de Vergara. The last had been made in four ships, and for the purpose of colonizing; instead of which disputes arose, and the fiery commander was seized and carried in shackles to Española. There he was tried, 293 and a decision rendered against him, which however was overruled on appeal to the Council of the Indies; but he came out of his difficulties stripped of all his possessions.

The candidates were much alike, each being a fair type of the Spanish cavalier. Both were small in stature, though none the less men of prowess. Symmetrical in form, muscular, active, and skilful in the use of weapons, they delighted in tilting matches, feats of horsemanship, and in all those pastimes which characterized Spanish chivalry at the close of the Mahometan wars. The school in which Ojeda had studied experience, as page to the duke of Medina Celi, who appeared in the Moorish wars at the head of a brilliant retinue, was in no wise inferior to that of his rival. Their accomplishments were varied, though not specially in the direction of colonizing new countries. Not only was Nicuesa a fine musician, playing well the guitar, and having some knowledge of ballad literature, but he could make his horse prance in perfect time to a musical instrument. As for Ojeda, there was little, in his own opinion, he could not do. The more of recklessness and folly in the exploit the better he could perform it. Once at Seville, while Isabella was in the cathedral tower, out from which ran a beam, at a height so great that from it men on the ground looked like pygmies, to show the queen of what metal he was made, he mounted this beam, balanced himself, then tripped lightly as a rope-dancer to the end of it, wheeled, and lifting one foot poised himself on the other at this fearfully dizzy height, where almost a breath would dash him to destruction; then, returning, he stopped at the wall and placing one foot against it threw an orange to the top of the tower.

With such distinguished ability on either side, it was difficult to determine between them. Who so suitable to baffle miasma, poisonous reptiles, and wild beasts while dressing the institutions of Spain 294 for the wilderness of America, as the graceful and witty Nicuesa! What a glorious missionary Ojeda would make! So moderate, so wise, so gentle, so just, both! Nicuesa had money, a necessary commodity to him who would colonize at his own cost. But then Ojeda had influence; for Fonseca was his friend, and an inquisitor his cousin. Yet Nicuesa was not without advocates at court; money alone was a powerful argument. When, finally, the veteran pilot, Juan de la Cosa, threw his experience and earnings upon the side of Ojeda, to whom he was devotedly attached, and offered himself to embark in the adventure, the king concluded to let them both go; and then it was that he divided Tierra Firme between them, making the gulf of Urabá[VI-2] the dividing point. The eastern or South American portion was called Nueva Andalucía, and of this Alonso de Ojeda was appointed governor; the western division, extending from the gulf of Urabá, or Darien, to Cape Gracias á Dios, was named by the king Castilla del Oro,[VI-3] or Golden Castile, and the command given to 295 Diego de Nicuesa. The island of Jamaica, whence they expected to draw their supplies, was to be held in common by the two governors. Were it not so much more delightful to bargain with new suitors who have money, than to reward old servants who have none, a fine sense of decency might have prompted the monarch to give Castilla del Oro to the adelantado, Bartolomé Colon, who had assisted in discovering, and in an attempt to colonize the country, and who had little to show for his many and valuable services to Spain. But Diego Colon was determined they should not have Jamaica, and so sent thither Juan de Esquivel, as we have seen, to hold it for the governor of Santo Domingo.

MAINLAND DIVISIONS.

The mainland governors were each appointed for four years, during which time supplies were free from duties. Their outfit, with four hundred settlers and two hundred miners each, might be obtained from Santo Domingo. They were given the exclusive right to work for ten years all mines discovered by them on paying into the royal treasury for the first year one tenth of the proceeds, the second year one 296 ninth, the third one eighth, the fourth one seventh, the fifth one sixth, and for the remaining five years one fifth. The king conditioned, moreover, that each governor should build two forts for the protection of the colonists, to whom the lands in the vicinity of which were to belong.

It so happened that the doughty little governors met at Santo Domingo, while making their final preparations. Swelling with new dignities, active and mettlesome, each desirous of obtaining as many recruits as possible, it was not long before they came into collision. First they quarrelled about Jamaica; as a supplement to which Ojeda stoutly swore that should he there encounter Juan de Esquivel, his head should pay the penalty. Then their partition line became a bone of contention, both claiming the Indian province of Darien.[VI-4] The geography of the coast was at that time but little known; their dominions toward the south were limitless, and for aught they knew larger than Spain. Although both the commanders were small corporally, in feeling they were large, and required much room. The breach thus opened was in no wise lessened by the superior success of Nicuesa, who with a deeper purse, and a government famous for its wealth, drew off recruits from his less fortunate rival. Five large caravels and two brigantines, flying the flag of Castilla del Oro, rode in the harbor. All were well equipped and liberally provisioned; and already Nicuesa mustered nearly eight hundred men and six horses, while Ojeda at his best could muster but three hundred men in two small ships and two brigantines.[VI-5]

297

THE RIVAL GOVERNORS.

Nettled at every turn he made about the little town, Ojeda, who was a better swordsman than logician, at length proposed to settle all scores by single combat. "Agreed," replied Nicuesa, who was equally brave yet less passionate, "but for what shall we fight? Match me with five thousand castellanos, and I am your man." Finally old Juan de la Cosa interfered to prevent bloodshed; the river Darien, or Atrato, was made the dividing line, and measures were taken to hasten departure before the fire of hot Ojeda should blaze out again.

But Ojeda was not without his little triumphs. There dwelt at this time at the capital of the Indies a lawyer, known as the Bachiller[VI-6] Martin Fernandez de Enciso, who during a successful practice of many years had accumulated some two thousand castellanos. Tempted by the offer of being made alcalde mayor[VI-7] 298 of the new government, he was induced by the impetuous Ojeda to embark his entire fortune in the adventure. It was arranged that the bachiller should remain at Santo Domingo for some time after the departure of Ojeda, in order to obtain further recruits and fit out another ship, and then follow the governor to Nueva Andalucía.

Of Ojeda's party was Francisco Pizarro; and flitting restlessly from one heterogeneous group to another, enviously watching preparations in which circumstances prevented their participating, were other dominant spirits waiting opportunity, notably Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, tied by debt to distasteful agriculture, and Hernan Cortés, fortunately forbidden to embark by illness.

Ojeda was the first to sail, embarking November 10, 1509. Nicuesa would have weighed anchor at the same time, but was prevented by his creditors; for his success in securing followers was attended by so copious a drain of purse that not only his money but his credit was gone.

Favorable winds wafted Ojeda quickly to Cartagena, where he landed and proclaimed in loud and vaunting tones his manifesto.[VI-8] A shower of poisoned darts was the reply; a mark of disrespect from his new subjects which set the governor's blood boiling. Breathing a short prayer to the virgin, Ojeda seized a lance, and charging the natives at the head of his followers scattered them in the forest, and rashly pursued 299 them. These were no effeminate islanders; the women fought side by side with the men, who were equal to those of Veragua, with the additional advantage of envenomed arrow-points, which, with the occasional shelter their forests afforded, made them more than a match for the Spaniards.[VI-9] This Ojeda had all to learn, and to pay dearly for the knowledge. Of seventy of his best and bravest who followed him four leagues inland but one returned. Even his staunch and veteran friend, Juan de la Cosa, after vainly attempting to dissuade his self-willed colleague from his purpose, placed himself by his side and died there. Ojeda fought like a tiger until his men were scattered and killed, and he was left wounded and alone in a marshy thicket, where several days after a fresh party from the ships found him half-dead. When warmed into life and returned to the harbor he saw entering it Nicuesa's fleet he hid himself, afraid to meet his rival in that plight. Told of this by Ojeda's men, as supplemental to their dismal tale, Nicuesa's anger was aroused at the unjust suspicion. "Tell your commander," he exclaimed, "that Diego de Nicuesa is a Christian cavalier who makes no war on a prostrate foe; that not only shall past feuds be buried, but he promises never to leave this spot until the deaths of Juan de la Cosa and his comrades are avenged." He was as good as his word. Landing four hundred men, he surprised an Indian village, put men, women, and children to the sword, and secured large booty.

NUEVA ANDALUCÍA.

After Nicuesa had departed on his way, Ojeda cast off from that ill-fated shore his ships, and brought them to the gulf of Urabá, where on its eastern side, near the entrance, he built a fortress, the beginning of his capital city, and called it San Sebastian[VI-10] 300 in honor of the arrow-martyred saint, whose protection he craved from the venomous darts of his subjects. From San Sebastian, Ojeda despatched to Santo Domingo one of his vessels with the gold and captives he had taken, at the same time urging Enciso to hasten his departure, and send supplies. Meanwhile Ojeda's temper, which was as sharp and fiery as Damascus steel, made little head-way against tangled marshes and poisoned arrows. Persisting in his high-handed policy, he could do nothing with the natives, food being as difficult to obtain as gold, and his ranks rapidly thinned.

While harassed by hunger and watching anxiously the coming of Enciso and the return of their ships, the colonists descried one day a strange sail. On reaching San Sebastian it proved to be a Genoese vessel which, while loading with bacon and cassava bread at Cape Tiburon, had been piratically seized by one Bernardo de Talavera and a gang of vagabonds from Santo Domingo, who escaped with their prize and had come to Nueva Andalucía to seek fortune under the wise and happy rule of Governor Ojeda. To buy the cargo was the work of a moment, for the pirates were very ready to sell; and, indeed, had they not been, the governor would have compelled them. The poison was in his blood, which was now hot with fever, and he was in no mood for ceremony. But the relief thus obtained was only 301 temporary. Day by day the food supply diminished. The colonists were reduced in number from three hundred to three score. And with bodily ailment came as usual mind-distempers, wranglings, ruin, and despair. Where now was the valiant Ojeda? Humiliated to the dust, as well before the savages as before the Spaniards.

DEATH OF OJEDA.

Yet he would not yield to fate without another effort, wasted and weak as he was. Giving Pijano command of the fortress, Ojeda took passage in the freebooter's ship and sailed for Santo Domingo. But his patroness, the virgin, had indeed deserted him. Shipwreck met him at Cuba, whence he crossed to Jamaica. Talavera and his gang, after the most extraordinary exertions, likewise reached Jamaica, but only to be seized by order of Diego Colon and hanged. Ojeda said nothing to Esquivel about striking off his head, but humbly took the kindly extended aid. Proceeding to Española in a caravel he found Enciso gone, and himself a bankrupt invalid. Pride, which seldom deserts a Spanish cavalier, gave way. Reduced to penury, broken-hearted, he died, begging as proof of his humility to be buried under the monastery portal, that all who entered should tread upon his grave. Farewell, daring, dashing, irrational Ojeda!

Let us now look after Nicuesa. When from the discomfited Ojeda the gallant governor of Castilla del Oro last parted, he coasted westward toward Veragua, where he purposed to plant his colony. The better to survey the seaboard, he took a small caravel, and ordered Lope de Olano, his lieutenant, to attend him with two brigantines, while the larger vessels kept farther from the shore. Thus they proceeded until reaching the Indian province of Cueba, where a port was discovered into which flowed a small stream called Pito. There they landed and said mass,[VI-11] and therefore named the place Misas. 302

Leaving there the largest ships in charge of a relative named Cueto, who was to receive word when to follow, Nicuesa pressed forward toward Veragua with a caravel carrying sixty men, Lope de Olano still attending in a brigantine with thirty men. A storm arising not long after, the latter took advantage of this and the darkness of the night to separate from him, impelled partly by a conviction that they were on the wrong course, partly by ambitious projects. After waiting two days in vain for his companion Nicuesa continued westward. In the search for Veragua he attempted to follow a chart drawn by Bartolomé Colon, though his pilots Diego de Ribero and Diego Martin, both of whom had been with Columbus, assured him that he had passed the place. The storm increasing, Nicuesa ran his vessel into the mouth of a large river; but when attempting to proceed after the storm he found himself caught in a trap, and his vessel on the bar amidst the breakers, the water having subsided. Unable to move the ship in either direction, its destruction was inevitable, and the men set about saving themselves. A rope was stretched to the shore at the cost of a life; and scarcely had the last person reached land when the vessel went to pieces.

CASTILLA DEL ORO.

Behold, then, the courtly Nicuesa, so lately the proud commander of a fleet, by this sudden freak of fortune cast upon an inhospitable shore, his whereabouts unknown to himself or to those in the ships, and his almost naked followers destitute of food, save one barrel of flour and a cask of oil flung them by the surly breakers! His mind was moreover ill at ease concerning Olano, whose reputation was none of the best, and who Nicuesa thought might have joined him had he been disposed. The ship's boat fortunately drifted ashore, and in it Nicuesa placed Diego de Ribero and three seamen, ordering them to keep him company along the shore, and render assistance in crossing streams and inlets. Already faint with 303 hunger, they began their march. But whither? Still westward, but not toward Veragua. Each weary footstep carried them farther and farther from their destination. It was not a pleasant journey feeling their way through tropical forests, with such impediments as tangled jungles, hot malarious mudbeds, craggy hills and treacherous streams to block their way. Some of the party had no shoes, some no hat; sharp stones cut their feet, thorny brambles tore their flesh, and their half-clad bodies were exposed alternately to burning sun and drenching rain. They were soon glad to get shell-fish and roots to eat with their leaves. One day an arrow from an overhanging height struck dead Nicuesa's page, but fortunately the savages retired without pressing their advantage. Nicuesa's dog, seeing murder in his hungry master's eye, took to his heels and was never afterward seen. Yet greater misfortunes awaited the Spaniards. After crossing an inlet in the boat one evening, they rested for the night, and in attempting to resume their march next morning found themselves upon an island. Calling for Ribero, he was missing. Nor was the boat anywhere to be seen. It could not be possible that he had left them to die on that circumscribed and barren spot. Loudly they called, searching every inlet, and sweeping the horizon with terror-lighted eyes. It was true; they were abandoned!

It is curious to witness the effect of despair on different minds, of the near approach of that hateful means for our final suppression. Some will fight the monster; others succumb, sinking into drivelling imbecility; others calmly abandon themselves to the inevitable, even the ludicrous aspect of the case coming home to some of them, looking grimly cheerful. As elsewhere, both fools and philosophers were found among Nicuesa's crew. Some prayed and confessed, with divers degrees of accompaniment, from low lamentation to frantic raving; some cursed; some nursed their horror in sullen silence. 304

I shall not attempt to describe Nicuesa's sufferings while on this island. Suffice it to say that on a scanty diet of roots and shell-fish with brackish water many died, while others wished themselves dead; for the former might rot in peace, but the latter yet living swarmed with impatient vermin. And there was little satisfaction in effort, when drinking only increased thirst, and eating but kept alive despondency. Truly it was a good thing, a grand thing to adventure life to capture wild lands and rule one's fellows!

Thus weeks passed. Then like a ray shot from the Redeemer's throne a sail was seen. Men wasted to the last extremity shook off death's grip and roused themselves, stretching their long lank necks, their bony chins and glazed eyes toward the approaching vessel, which soon came to anchor before the island. Ribero was not a villain after all. Satisfied that Veragua was behind them, but unable to convince Nicuesa, Ribero won over to his views the three boatmen, left the island during the night, retraced their course and reached Veragua. There they found the colonists, with Olano bearing rule, who on the information of Ribero could scarcely do less than send his governor succor.[VI-12]

Leaving here Nicuesa, let us inquire concerning the other portions of his scattered colony. Two months having elapsed since the departure of the governor from the port of Misas, and hearing nothing from any one, Cueto, in whose charge the fleet was left, became uneasy, and taking a small vessel, set out in search of his commander. The only tidings he could gain were from a letter found on an island, wrapped in a leaf and fastened to a stick, which informed 305 him that Nicuesa was well and still journeying westward. Returning to Misas, Cueto with the entire fleet sailed for Veragua; but so badly worm-eaten were the ships that he was obliged to come to anchor at the mouth of the River Chagre,[VI-13] which from the ravenous alligators that swarmed there was called by the Spaniards Lagartos. There portions of the cargoes were landed; and while attempts were made to repair the ships, one of the pilots, Pedro de Umbría, was sent in quest of the lost governor. Meanwhile Lope de Olano arrived.

WOES OF NICUESA.

Evidently the lieutenant did not in his heart desire his captain's return. For although in reciting to his comrades the circumstances of the storm, and the disappearance of the governor, with such variations as suited his purpose, with tears which would have done honor to the crocodiles thereabout, he made no effort to find Nicuesa. He affected to believe him dead. "And now, gentlemen," he said, "let no more mention be made of him if you would not kill me."

The fleet now proceeded to Belen, where the usual catalogue of disasters attends the disembarkation. Four men are drowned. The worm-eaten ships are dismantled, broken in pieces, and of the fragments huts are made on the site formerly occupied by Bartolomé Colon. Olano, after some opposition, is formally proclaimed lieutenant-governor. Raids follow; 306 but the quibian, grown wise by experience, retires with his people, and leaves the Spaniards to shift for themselves. There being nothing to steal, they starve. Disease and disaffection follow; Olano is not happy.

Wrathful, indeed, was Nicuesa on reaching Belen. Against Olano his indignation was extreme. He charged him with wilful desertion, with felonious destruction of the ships, and with gross mismanagement. He had ruined all. Branding him as a traitor he ordered his arrest; and when some feeble attempts were made by the others to mitigate the governor's displeasure, he broke forth on them. "It well becomes you," he exclaimed, "to ask pardon for him, when you should be begging mercy for yourselves!"

But of what use were oaths and bickerings? Of his gallant company half were dead, and the less fortunate remainder lived only to suffer yet awhile before following. Of all the men who came from Spain, proud Nicuesa lost the most, having most to lose. Of all New World woes, Nicuesa's woes were greatest; the half of what thus far has been words cannot tell, and the worst part is yet to come.

NOMBRE DE DIOS.

Now that the rich Veragua was reached, the Golden Castile of greedy anticipations, what then? The gold with which to load the ships was wanting; the ships with which to bear away that gold were almost all destroyed. The fertile soil was marshy, the spicy air malarious, the redundant vegetation yielded little food for man. Sallow-faced skeletons of men clamored their distress. Death was busy enough, so Olano's life was spared, though his badge of office was exchanged for fetters. Even foragers perished for want of food; every member of one band died from eating of a putrescent Indian. The governor grew peevish; his generous temper was soured by misfortune. The colonists complained of his harsh treatment and indifference to their sufferings. And they said to him: "The fates are against us here; let us abandon this 307 place." "Oh, very well!" snarled Nicuesa. Leaving Alonso Nuñez, with the dignified title of alcalde mayor, and a few men to harvest some grain planted by Olano, the colonists embarked in two brigantines and a caravel, built of fragments of the broken ships, to seek some healthier spot. After sailing eastward some twenty leagues, a Genoese sailor named Gregorio addressed the governor: "I well remember, when with the admiral in this vicinity we entered a fine port where we found food and water." After some search the place was found, the Portobello of Columbus, and an anchor dropped there by the admiral was seen protruding from the sand. Landing for food, the Spaniards were attacked and twenty killed; indeed, they could scarcely wield their weapons so weak were they. Faint and disheartened they continued their way about seven leagues farther, when approaching the shore Nicuesa cried out: "Paremos aquí en el nombre de Dios!" Here let us stop in God's name! They found anchorage, the place being the Puerto de Bastimentos of Columbus. The companions of Nicuesa, however, ready in their distress to seize on any auspice, took up the cry of their commander and applied the words Nombre de Dios[VI-14] to the harbor which they then entered, and which name to this day it bears.

Here another attempt was made to locate the government of Castilla del Oro. Disembarking, Nicuesa 308 took formal possession, erected a fortress, and began again his necessary though suicidal policy of foraging. The natives retired. The malarious atmosphere wrapped the strangers in disease and death. The caravel was sent back to Veragua, and Alonso Nuñez and the remnant of the colony brought away. The vessel was then sent to Española for supplies, but neither ship nor crew were ever afterward heard from. Meanwhile Nicuesa and the remnant of his luckless company made a brave stand, but all of no avail. Long since fate had decreed their destruction. It was not possible in their present condition to live. Reptiles as food became a luxury to them; the infected sunlight dried up their blood; despair paralyzed heart and brain; and to so dire extremity were they finally reduced that they were scarcely able to mount guard or bury their dead.[VI-15]

In my bibliographical notices thus far I have had occasion to make mention more particularly of original documents referring to individual episodes. I will now say a few words concerning the early chroniclers, Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, and Gomara, and of the later and more general writer, Herrera. On these, the corner-stones of early Spanish American annals, the fabrics of all who follow them must forever rest. 309

THE WRITINGS OF LAS CASAS.

The lives of Las Casas and Oviedo constitute in themselves no small portions of their respective histories. Both came to the New World, and each took an active and prominent part in many of the matters of which he wrote. They were nearly of an age; the former being born at Seville in 1474, and the latter at Madrid in 1478; but Oviedo did not come to America until 1514, being with Pedrarias Dávila when he went to govern Darien, while Las Casas took up his residence under Ovando at Española in 1502. Las Casas was an ecclesiastic whose life was devoted to befriending the Indians, and he did not leave America for the last time until 1547, after half a century of most humane service; Oviedo was a cavalier who sought to better his broken fortunes by obtaining through his influence at court the office of veedor de las fundiciones del oro de la Tierra Firme, supervisor of gold-melting for Tierra Firme, which office he held throughout his connection with the affairs of the continental Indies, until 1532. Both were influential men at court, Las Casas being quite intimate with young Charles, while Oviedo had been mozo de cámara, or page to Prince Juan. Both made frequent trips between Spain and America; Oviedo crossed the Atlantic twelve times, Las Casas even more.

Las Casas was as able an annalist as he was reformer. His greatest work, Historia de las Indias, was begun in his fifty-third year, and completed in 1561, five years before his death. It was extensively copied and used in manuscript, but was not printed until 1875-76. Though consisting of five volumes, it comprises but three decades, or books, and brings the history of the New World down only to 1520. It was the author's original intention to have continued his work through six decades, which would have brought it down to 1550, and hence have included his important experiences in Guatemala, Chiapas, and Mexico. Next to the general history of the Indies stands the Apologética Historia, comprising a description of the country and the customs of the people, and written to defend the natives against the accusation that they lacked system in their societies, not having reason to govern themselves. His first printed work was issued in Mexico in 1546; it was entitled Cancionero Spiritual, and was dedicated to Bishop Zumárraga. At Seville, in 1552, was published, in one volume 4to, Breve relacion de la destruccion de las Indias Occidentales, and other tracts of a similar nature; such as his Controversy with Sepúlveda; his Thirty Propositions; Remedies for the Reformation of Indies; Rules for Confessors; a treatise proving the sovereign empire and universal authority which the kings of Castile and Leon have over the Indies, etc. This collection was put in print in Latin, French, Italian, German, and Dutch, some of the translations appearing in several editions. The Controversy with Sepúlveda was issued separately. Juan Antonio Llorente printed at Paris in 1822 a Coleccion de las Obras del Obispo de Chiapa, 2 vols. 8vo, which was published the same year in French, under title of Œuvres de Don Barthélemi de las Casas. The collection comprises several of his less important works; the French translation is remarkably free, the author being at times quite lost sight of, and several new pieces of doubtful origin are added. As a writer, Las Casas is honest, earnest, and reliable, except where his enthusiasm gets the better of him. His learned opponent and arch-enemy, Sepúlveda, pronounces him most subtle, most vigilant, and most fluent, compared with whom the Ulysses of Homer was inert and stuttering. 310 He was not only a thorn in the flesh of evil-doers, but by his persistent and stinging effrontery he often exasperated mild and benevolent men. But whatever his enemies may say of him, and they are neither few nor silent, true it is that of all the men who came to the Indies he almost alone leaves the furnace with no smell of fire upon him.

GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO Y VALDÉS.

Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés was of the noble family of Oviedo in Asturias. In early childhood, before entering the service of Prince Juan, he was with the duke of Villa Hermosa. While watching the fall of Granada he met Columbus, and afterward witnessed his triumph at Barcelona. After the death of his young master in 1497, who in fact was of his own age, Oviedo went to Italy, where art and science were enlivened by war, serving under Frederico of Naples, and sometimes jewel-keeper to Queen Juana. Married at Madrid, in 1502, to the beautiful Margarita de Vergara, whom he lost in childbirth ten months after, he plunged into the excitement of war, serving as secretary to Córdoba in the French campaign. Marrying again, he hovered about the court until, in his thirty-sixth year, his dwindling fortunes sent him with Pedrarias to Darien, in the capacity before mentioned. His doings there will be told in the text of this history; suffice it to say here that most of his time there was spent in broils with the governor, beside which he had to endure the loss of his wife and child, imprisonment, and the dangerous wound of an assassin's knife. But, obtaining at last the appointment of Pedro de los Rios in place of Pedrarias, and for himself the governorship of Cartagena, which office, however, he never exercised, after three years' further residence in Tierra Firme, this time in Nicaragua, he returned to Spain in 1530, spent two years in arranging his notes, resigned his veeduría, and received the appointment of Cronista general de Indias. In the autumn of 1532 he went to Santo Domingo, and although appointed the following year alcalde of the fortress of Santo Domingo, the remainder of his life was passed chiefly in literary work. After an eventful life of seventy-nine years he died at Valladolid in 1557, while engaged in the preparation for the press of the unpublished portion of his history. Throughout the whole of his career Oviedo seems to have devoted every spare moment to writing. Even before he was appointed royal chronicler he was an indefatigable collector of material. He was well acquainted with the prominent persons of his time, and few expeditions were made without adding to his store. Want of discrimination in the use of authorities is more prominent in his writings than want of authorities. Of twelve literary efforts but one, beside those relating to America, found its way into print. He formed the plan of writing about the New World long before he first crossed the ocean, and actually began his history, according to José Amador de los Rios, before 1519, keeping open the general divisions for additions to the day of his death. After his return from the second voyage to Darien he wrote at the request of the king, and chiefly from memory, as his notes were at Santo Domingo, De la Natural Hystoria de las Indias, printed at Toledo in 1526. This work was republished by Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos, i., translated into Italian by Ramusio, Viaggi, iii., and garbled by Purchas in His Pilgrimes, iv. 5. This, it must be borne in mind, is totally distinct from the Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar Océano, por el Capitan Gonzalo 311 Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés, primer cronista del Nuevo Mundo, and which alone admits the author to the first rank as a historian. The General History was originally divided into three parts, containing in all fifty books. The first part, comprising nineteen books, with the preface and ten chapters of the fiftieth book—not 20, 21, or 22 books as different bibliographers state—was published during the author's life at Seville in 1535, under the title Historia General, etc., and republished at Salamanca in 1547 as Hystoria General. This rare issue contains in several places a few columns of additional matter which have not escaped my attention. An Italian version of the same parts was published by Ramusio in his Viaggi, iii.; the first ten books were translated into French and published as Histoire Naturelle, etc., Paris, 1556; the twentieth book, or the first of the second part, was published separately at Valladolid in 1557 as Libro XX., etc. Thirteen chapters of Book XLII., relating to Nicaragua, were published in French by Ternaux-Compans, Histoire du Nicaragua, in his second series of Voyages, iii., Paris, 1840. Finally, the fifty books complete were beautifully and accurately printed at Madrid in four folio volumes, with plates, by the Real Academia de la Historia in 1851-55. The editor, José Amador de los Rios, gives in an introduction the best notice of the life and writings of the author extant. Oviedo was not a learned man like Peter Martyr, and it is doubtful if a further insight into the books of the day would have made him any wiser; yet a man who could dictate the natural history of a new country without his notes cannot be called illiterate. He knew Latin and the modern languages; but his familiarity with Latin was not sufficient to prevent an unpleasant parade of it. Nor did he possess the genius or practical sagacity of Las Casas; yet his extraordinary opportunities were not wholly wasted, nor did life at court, political quarrels, or gold-gathering at any time wholly stifle his ambition to achieve the useful in letters. Oviedo was a fair example of the higher type of Spaniard of that day; he was intelligent, energetic, brave; but cold, unscrupulous, and cruel. And this is true, without going full length with Las Casas in his fiery fanaticism when he says:—"Oviedo should regret what he has written of the Indians; he has borne false witness against them; and has calumniated them in every way.... He should have inscribed on his title-page, 'This book was written by a conqueror, robber, and murderer of the Indians, whole populations of whom he consigned to the mines, where they perished'.... His work is as full of lies as of pages." To which sentiment I by no means subscribe. Probably no kind of work, however thoroughly and conscientiously done, is more open to criticism, is more certain to be criticised on every side, than contemporaneous history from facts for the first time gathered, and from many and conflicting witnesses. Ternaux-Compans says well:—"Oviedo n'est pas exempt des préjugés de son temps contre les Indiens, mais après tout, ce qu'il dit se rapproche plus de la vérité que les peintures fantastiques de l'évêque de Chiapa, qui veut retrouver l'âge d'or même chez les nations les plus féroces." Both of these authors, Las Casas and Oviedo, wrote in the heat of the engagement of the abnormal and ill-understood scenes passing under their immediate notice. What they wrote was certainly true to them; it is our business to analyze and sift, and make their records true to us. In the showy criticisms of these and a kindred class of authors we see generally something 312 brought in about style and arrangement. The latter is always bad, and the index worse than none; but critics should find something better to do than find fault with the words and their arrangement of these old fighting chroniclers. Of course their style is bad, abominable; but who cares for style in them? One wants only the facts. Their books are not made to be read, but to be used. Rios seems to entertain a proper appreciation of the matter when he writes:—"Mas ya fuera porque procurase dar á su lectura aquella diversidad, tantas veces por él apetecida, ya porque la misma fatiga é irregularidad con que recibia los datos, le impidiese someterlos á un plan maduro é inalterable; es lo cierto que la crítica de nuestros dias, al par que aprecia y agradece tan interesantes inquisiciones, echa de menos cierta cohesion y armonia en la exposicion de las costumbres de los indios, no hallando mayor enlace en la narracion de los descubrimientos y conquistas, que ni se refieren siempre en órden cronológico, ni guardan entre sí la conveniente relacion para que pueda comprenderse sin dificultad su influencia recíproca."

PETER MARTYR'S WORKS.

While the Protector of the Indians and the First Chronicler of the New World were thus gathering and recording historical data in the several parts of America, one of the most learned men of Europe, Pietro Martire d'Anghiera, or latinized Anglerius, commonly called Peter Martyr, was collecting similar facts in Spain, and recording them, copiously diluted with the philosophy of the day, in the form of ten-year epochs, constituting in the end a series of decades. The duchy of Milan was the early home of this chronicler, and 1457 the year of his birth. His family was of noble descent, and originally of Anghiera. Going to Rome in 1477 to finish his education, he became so conspicuous for learning and eloquence that ten years later the Spanish ambassador invited him to try his fortune at the court of the Spanish sovereigns. By them he was graciously received, especially by Isabella, who wished to occupy him in the instruction of the young nobles of Castile. The ardent Italian must have a taste of war, however, before settling into permanent sagedom; so he fought before Baza, and laid not down the sword till the city of the Alhambra fell. Then he became a priest, and turned toward pursuits more in keeping with his natural bent and erudition. He opened various schools of learning, which youth of quality made it the fashion to attend. Having risen into high consideration at court, in 1501 he was sent by the crown on missions to Venice and Cairo, in which he acquitted himself creditably, and wrote on his return the De Legatione Babylonicâ, an account of Lower Egypt in three books. On Ferdinand's death he was appointed by Jimenez ambassador to the Sultan Selim, but refused the honor on account of his age; and afterward he did not find Charles less inclined to acknowledge his merits. During the three years following his return from Egypt he was appointed prior of the cathedral of Granada, and by the pope apostolic prothonotary, and in 1518 he took his seat in the Council of the Indies. His life was one of rare industry, in which he gathered and disseminated much knowledge, and which gained him the respect of princes; his death occurred in 1526, in the 69th year of his age, and he was buried in his cathedral at Granada. Peter Martyr is the author of at least two great works, viewed historically. They are written in Latin, of anything but Ciceronian ring, for patristic is to the patrician Latin as the 'Frenche of Stratford atte 313 Bowe' is to the French of Paris. Of these his two notable works the chief is De Orbe Novo, an account of the New World and its wonders, in eight decades, or books. The first, and the first three, of these decades were published at different times during the author's life, but the eight decades complete did not appear before 1530, when they were printed at Alcalá under the title De Orbe Novo Petri Martyris ab Angleria Mediolanensis Protonotarii Cæsaris senatoris decades. Three of the decades translated into English by R. Eden were printed in 1555, and reprinted in 1577, with another decade added by R. Willes. The best complete edition of the eight decades, in their original Latin, next appeared in Paris, published by R. Hakluyt, 1587. Indeed, beside the edition of 1530, this is the only complete original edition of the De Orbe Novo. In 1612 appeared the work entire in English, the result of the 'Industrie and painefull Trauaile of M. Lok Gent.' This has been included in a supplement to Hakluyt's Voyages, London, 1812. Beside these important editions, partial translations, extracts, and compilations have appeared at various times and in various languages. In 1534, at Venice, in Italian, were published, in three several parts, summaries of the history of the Indies taken from Peter Martyr, Oviedo, and others. The other of the two works alluded to is a collection of Peter Martyr's letters, in Latin, which brim with notices of contemporary events, and run from 1488 to his death. Two editions of these collected letters were published, the first at Alcalá in 1530, the second at Amsterdam, by the Elzevirs, in 1670. The title runs thus—Opus Epistolarum Petri Martyris Anglerii Mediolanensis, etc.; a translation of the letters has never been published. So confused, misdated, and interposed are the epistles that Hallam expressed his disbelief in any connection whatever between actual and ostensible dates and service. But the De Orbe Novo may be regarded equal in authority to the relations of the eye-witnesses Las Casas and Oviedo. Peter Martyr was the first of the chroniclers to write and to publish on the New World, his decades beginning to appear about the time Oviedo first went to the Indies. Immediately Columbus set foot on shore, on his return from the first voyage, the eloquent and philosophic scholar began to question him and those who came with him, and to write, and he never ceased writing until death stopped him. There was so much for a man of his mind to think and talk about. For a time after this marvellous discovery the learned and intelligently curious lived in a ferment concerning it. It was to some extent the revolutionizing of science and philosophy. The lines of tradition were snapped; the cosmos had lost its continuity. Peter Martyr, a grave man of broad and deep capabilities; well situated for procuring information, meeting daily, many of them at his own table, those who had returned from the Indies—discoverers, conquerors, explorers, sailors, priests, and cavaliers—having access to the official letters, diaries, charts, and relations of these men, his account, I say, should be as reliable and as valuable as that of one who had actually mingled in the scenes described. In some respects it should be more so, able as he was to see with a hundred eyes instead of two, and to determine disputes more coolly and equitably. It is true his, records are marred by the haste with which they were written, and by the admitted lack of correction or revision by the author; order and method are nowhere present; mistakes and contradictions are frequent. But 314 we have the raw material, which is far better than any elaboration. Las Casas was the first of the chroniclers to visit the Indies, and the last of the three thus far named to begin to write and publish history, which was in 1552. Oviedo began to write at about the date the history of Las Casas terminates. It was four years after the death of Peter Martyr that Oviedo was appointed official chronicler of the New World. The general relations of the three historians were antagonistic; from which their writings may all the better be brought to harmonize with truth. Of the hundreds who have made their criticisms on the writings of Peter Martyr I will mention but two. Says Las Casas, Hist. Ind., i. 32: "De los cuales cerca destas primeras cosas á ninguno se debe dar más fe que á Pedro Martir;" and Muñoz remarks, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, xiii.: "Merece indulgencia por el candor con que lo confiesa todo, por su ningun afan en publicar sus borrones, y principalmente porque tal qual es la obra de las décadas contiene muchísimas especies que no se hallan en otra parte alguna, y estas escritas con la conveniente libertad por un autor coetáneo, grave, culto, bien instruido de los hechos, y de probidad conocida."

GOMARA AND HERRERA.

Of much less importance than the preceding are the writings of Francisco Lopez Gomara, particularly his history of the Indies, which is an imitation rather than a genuine original, and of which too much has been made, notwithstanding Muñoz pronounces it the first history worthy the name. Although Icazbalceta, a high authority on the subject, gives the name Gómara, or Gómora, with the accent on the first syllable as the Peninsular pronunciation, with the remark that it is commonly called Gomára in Mexico, I have not thought best to depart from an almost universal usage. Bustamante goes out of his way to signify an accent where it would naturally fall, writing Gomára. Born in Seville in 1510, of an illustrious family—it seems exceptional to find any man of note in Spain whose family was not illustrious—and educated at the university of Alcalá, he became a doctor of both civil and canonical law, and filled for a time the chair of rhetoric. From the military life designed for him by his parents he was driven by literary tastes into the priesthood; and in 1540, upon the return of Cortés from his last visit to Mexico, he became chaplain and secretary to the marquis. From this some have inferred and erroneously stated that he spent four years in America prior to publishing his history. At Saragossa in 1552-3 appeared his La Historia General de las Indias, in two folio parts, the first general, and dealing chiefly with Peru, the other devoted to Mexico. The book was popular; and in 1553 from Medina del Campo issued another folio edition; and another from Saragossa the year following, with this difference as to the last, however, that its second part was treated as a separate work and entitled Cronica de la nueua España con la conquista de Mexico, y otras cosas notables: hechas por el Valoroso Hernando Cortes, while the first part appropriated the original title of Historia General, etc. Then appeared an edition at Antwerp, 1554, and one in which the date, 1552, is evidently spurious. The author seems to have handled government affairs too roughly; for in 1553 we find the book suppressed by royal decree, which, however, was not fully enforced, and was revoked in 1729. Barcia printed a mutilation of the two works in his Hist. Prim., ii., in 1749, and the two were again published, in a correct form, in Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, xxii., Madrid, 1852. A somewhat singular case occurred in Mexico in 1826, 315 when was issued, in 2 volumes 8vo, Historia de las Conquistas de Hernando Cortés, escrita en Español por Francisco Lopez de Gomára, traducida al Mexicano y aprobada por verdadera por D. Juan Bautista de San Anton Muñon Chimalpain Quauhtlehuanitzin, Indio Mexicano. Publílcala para instruccion de la juventud nacional, con varias notas y adiciones, Carlos María de Bustamante, which being interpreted, at best is confused. It says that the work, written in Spanish by Gomara, was translated into the Mexican language, and there leaves it. On turning over the leaves we find the book printed in Spanish, and not in Nahuatl, as we were led to suppose. Nor does a lengthy preface by Bustamante make the matter clear in every respect. Turning to other sources, and by comparing all information, we finally learn that Bustamante and others once believed in the existence, somewhere, of a history of Mexico, by the learned and noble native Chimalpain. Probably it lay hidden in some one of the libraries or government offices about Mexico. Boturini spoke of various historical manuscripts written by Domingo de San Anton Muñon Chimalpain, some in Castilian, and some in Nahuatl. Note, in passing, the difference in the name, here Domingo, and in the title Juan Bautista. Clavigero, Leon Pinelo, Beristain, and Antonio de Leon y Gama also vaguely mentioned some work or works by Chimalpain. Bustamante claimed, at first, to have found the Mexican history of Chimalpain in manuscript, and obtained contributions of money from various sources to enable him to print a translation of it, with notes. But before the translation was fairly issued in Spanish, the editor was obliged to confess himself mistaken as to its being an original work; it was only Gomara rendered into Mexican by the learned Indian, and now translated back again into Spanish by Bustamante, the text much marred by the double transformation, but enriched by notes from both editors. There are men so uncharitable as to say that Don Carlos María Bustamante never found Chimalpain's translation, because Chimalpain never made one. I do not know. Any one of three or four ways was possible. Bustamante may have found the alleged translation of Chimalpain, and while translating into Spanish what he believed an original work, may have discovered it to be Gomara; it may have been then in type or printed, or too far advanced to stop; or it may be Bustamante, having received the money, felt bound to go on with the work, and concluded to trust to his own and Chimalpain's notes to satisfy those concerned and the public; or Bustamante may have perpetrated a deliberate fraud. This last, although he is openly accused of it by his countrymen high in authority, I can scarcely believe to be the true solution of the mystery, and rather lean to the first possibility; but I must say that Bustamante committed a serious mistake in not admitting this frankly, if true. Gomara's history was translated into Italian, and published at Rome, one edition, 4to, in 1555, and one in 1556; and at Venice, one in 8vo, 1565, one in 4to, 1566, and in 8vo again, in 1576. In French, at Paris, six editions in 8vo, 1569, 1578, 1580, 1584, 1587, and 1597, the last five reprints of the first, except slight augmentations in the last three. London furnished an English translation by Henry Bynneman, in 4to, in 1578. The prologue warns all persons against translating the book into Latin, as he was engaged thereat himself; but his Latin version never appeared. Gomara wrote well. His style is better than that of any predecessor; but while his opportunities were 316 great, for he had culture, leisure, and access to the knowledge and material of Cortés, it is painfully apparent that his desire was greater to please the master than to present a plain unvarnished tale.

And now, after a century of writing and discussions, comes Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas as royal historiographer to gather, arrange, and embody in one general history all knowledge available at that time. It was a work needing attention; for if it were further postponed much information then obtainable would be lost. He was born in Cuéllar in 1549, and although the father bore the name of Tordesillas and the mother of Herrera, for the sake of euphony, distinction, or other unknown vagary, the son took the name of his mother, a thing not unusual then or now in Spain. At an early age we find him in Italy holding the position of secretary to Vespasiano Gonzaga, viceroy of Naples, upon whose death Herrera was so well recommended to Philip II. that, in 1596, he was made chief historiographer for the Indies. Honored also with the title of historiographer of Castile and Leon, he fulfilled the duties of both offices through portions of the reigns of the three Philips, II., III., and IV. He was likewise nominated for the first vacant place among the secretaries of state, but died before that vacancy occurred, in the 76th year of his age. As an historian Herrera has made a respectable place for himself, but his reputation rests principally, though not wholly, for he wrote much, on his Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme del Mar oceano ecrita por Antonio de Herrera coronista mayor de sv M:^d d las Indias y sv coronista de Castilla, 4 vols. folio, Madrid, 1601-15. On the elaborately engraved title-page of the first volume is added, En quatro Decadas desde el Año de 1492 hasta el de 1531, which refers only to the first two volumes, as the whole four volumes consist of 8 decades, comprising general events to 1554. The first two volumes were printed in 1601, and reprinted at Valladolid in 1606; the second two volumes appeared in 1615. The work was freely translated; the first decade appearing in French, at Paris, in 1659, and with the second decade the year following, the remaining decades in 1671. A most vile translation into English was made by John Stevens and published in London, in 6 volumes, the first two in 1725 and the last four in 1726, new editions of which appeared in 1740 and 1743. There were two reprints in Spanish; one in Antwerp, in 1728, by Verdussen, without maps and otherwise faulty; and one in Madrid, 1728-30, with notes, corrections, and index by Barcia, and therefore better than the first edition, in fact the best extant. At the end of the second volume of the first edition, and as a prefix to the first volume of the Barcia edition, should appear the Description de las Indias Occidentales, with maps, translations of which were made in Latin, Dutch, and French. An attempt was made to carry on Herrera's history, and it was continued for three decades, from 1555 to 1584, by Pedro Fernandez del Pulgar, the chronicler who succeeded Solis, but it was not deemed of sufficient importance to print. The original manuscript is in the Royal Library at Madrid. Herrera was quite a voluminous writer, being author of a general history during the reign of Philip II.; of a history of Scotland and England during the life of Mary Stuart; of Portugal, and the conquest of the Azores; of France from 1585 to 1594, and of moral and political tracts, and historical, political, and ecclesiastical translations. But though all his works were highly 317 prized for their erudition, none attained the celebrity of his History of the Indies. Even to-day he may be called chief among historians of Spanish-American affairs; not for his style, bald, and accurately prolix; nor for his method, slavishly chronological, and miserably failing in the attempt to do several things at once; but because of his massed material. His position as state historiographer gave him, of course, access to everything, and he made use of his opportunity to an extent then exceptional. At a later period in the art of history-writing his work must have been regarded as crude even for early times. But from one who lived when piety and patriotism were ranked as the highest virtues, higher than truth, integrity, or humanity, the more searching philosophy cannot be expected. Beside the faults of style and arrangement there are evidences everywhere of inexperience and incompetent assistance. Now that we have before us many of the sources of Herrera's material we can see that his notes were badly extracted, and compiled in a bungling manner; so much so that in addition to the ordinary errors, from which to some extent the most carefully executed work cannot be expected to be wholly free, there are many and serious discrepancies and contradictions for which there is no excuse, the cause being simply carelessness. Yet, for all that, Herrera's is not only the most complete, but one of the most reliable of the New World chronicles, and for this the writer merits the gratitude not alone of his countrymen but of the world.

COMMENTARY ON THE EARLY CHRONICLERS.

Before closing this note, I will give clearly my opinion regarding the credibility of the early chroniclers, including in that category for the present purpose all the early writers, conquerors as well as historians, such as Columbus and Cortés, Bernal Diaz, Solis, Torquemada, Boturini, and the Anonymous Conqueror; for I have been assailed by those who, to gain cheap notoriety in refuting them, have attributed to me doctrines which I have nowhere expressed or held. They who cannot build for themselves seem to think it gravely incumbent on them to demolish any structure another may rear, and with one scurrile sweep they would wipe out the work of twenty years. They are correct enough to this extent, that, if ever a building is found so frail as to fall under their attacks, it does not deserve to stand. Hence we find it the fashion in certain quarters, under cover of criticism, to repudiate the early writings, in so far at least as they interfere with cherished theory or dogmatic opinion. Spain had lately emerged from the Moorish wars with great glory, they say, and Spaniards in the New World, so long as it remained with them to tell the story, would not be in the least behind their brethren at home in this new field of fiery exploits. Hence, for their accounts, naked barbarians were gorgeously apparelled, and surrounded by stately pageantry; art, science, and literature wholly mythical were given them, and cities equal, at least, to the average of civilization were built. Instance the Tenochtitlan, the Tezcuco, the Tlacopan of Cortés and his contemporaries, which must have been pure fictions. Else where are the vestiges of the walls and gardens and palaces? There are no ruins of splendid cities, they continue with the effrontery of ignorance, no remains of aqueducts, stone carvings, and tumuli. There are some fine ruins in Central America and Yucatan, they admit, displaying no mean advancement in architectural art; but they must have been 318 the work of Egyptians, or Phœnicians, or some other foreigners, because they resemble the ruins standing among those nations, and because no aboriginal people capable of such performance exist in America to-day. There was no human sacrifice in Mexico, because bigoted ecclesiastics in those days were apt to invest with religious significance every hieroglyph, statue, and consecrated stone. One, more virulent than the rest, himself of Indian origin and apparently jealous lest other aboriginals should outshine his Cherokee ancestry, and knowing little either of the Mexicans or their conquerors, denies the existence of a Nahua or Maya civilization and denounces every one who differs in opinion with him, on the ground that all American societies of which he knew aught were formed on one skeleton, a most earthy, red, and ignoble one, and that the conquerors, not understanding this social structure, could not correctly describe it, and therefore their statements are not to be relied on.

I can only say that I have studied these chronicles some score of years, that I have studied the monumental and literary remains of the nations conquered, that, apart from the modern writings of both those who believe and those who disbelieve, I have instituted comparisons and weighed evidence with no more desire to reach one conclusion than another, except always to arrive at the right one; and that in my own mind I am well enough satisfied as to about the measure of truth that should be accorded the respective writers of early New World annals. Others, my assistants and friends, equally earnest and unbiassed, equally desirous of reaching only the truth, and for whose convictions I entertain the highest respect, have devoted many years to the same research and with similar results. It is not my purpose, nor has it ever been, to appear as the champion of the sixteenth-century chroniclers. It is not my province to champion anything. It is a matter of profound indifference to me what these or those are proven to be, whether angels of light or devils of darkness; it is a matter of lively apprehension with me that I should estimate men and nations at their value, and deduce only truth from statements fair or false. While I entertain a distinct conception of the status of the Aztecs and Quichés relatively to other nations of the globe, I have no theory concerning the origin of the Americans, or the origin of their civilization—except that it seems to me indigenous rather than exotic; nor should I deem it wise in me to husband a doctrine on this or any other palpably unprovable proposition.

I am not prepared by any means to accept as truth all that has been said by priest and soldier. No one is readier than I to admit their frequent attempted deceptions. Navigators the world over have been notoriously untrue in regard to their discoveries, giving strange lands strange sights, stocking barren shores with boundless wealth in pearls, and gems, and precious metals, peopling the ocean with monsters, and placing islands, straits, continents, and seas wherever the gaping savans at home would have them. Many of these stories are false on their very face, being contrary to nature and to reason. Some of them are unintentional falsehoods, the off-float from imaginations warped by education, and now morbidly excited under new conditions. By bodily suffering and perils the mind was now and then reduced to the border of insanity; at which times the miracles, the visions, and the supernatural interpositions they record were real to them. But the 319 best of the early writers wilfully lied in some things, and held it serving God to do so.

WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE.

Although the temptation and tendency was to exaggerate, to make the New World conquest equal or superior to any Old World achievement; although assertions were at the first not open to contradiction, and the sailors and soldiers of those times, returned from foreign parts, were no more celebrated for telling the truth than those of our own day, yet in the main and as a whole the writings of the Spaniards earliest in America are unquestionably true. Most of the several phases of error and misstatement are easily enough detected, the events described being either impossible or opposed to preponderant and superior evidence. For example, when Las Casas, who was conscientious and in the main correct, asserts that Manicaotex opposed Columbus at the head of 100,000 warriors in Española, we may safely put it down as exaggeration simply from our general knowledge, gained from other sources, of the aboriginal population of these islands and the adjoining continent. Here was a multitude of witnesses, European and American, whose verbal or written statements were usually subordinate to substantial facts, unknown to each other, and giving their evidence at widely different times and places. Often the conquerors fell out and fought each other to the death, writing to Spain lengthy epistles of vindication and vilification, many of which have been preserved; so that where one extolled himself and his achievements, there were a dozen to pull him down. Thus from a mass of contradictory statements, on either side of which the less penetrating are apt to linger, to the patient and laborious investigator unfold the clearest truths. He who habitually practises deceit is sure somewhere to expose himself; and the taking of evidence does not proceed far before the examiner can tell the witness more than he himself knows or remembers of the scenes through which he has passed. The native witnesses, living at the time of the Conquest and subsequently, were likewise naturally inclined unduly to magnify the glories of their ancestors and of their nation; yet to verify their statements they point to the monuments and material remains then and now existing, to manuscripts, huge piles of which it was the infamous boast of the fanatical conquerors to have burned, but of which enough have been preserved to authenticate all the more important parts of their stories; they also refer to tradition, which is worth as much, and no more, than that of other nations.

Blank assertions similar to those advanced against the New World chroniclers might with equal reason and effect be brought forward to overthrow the early records of any nation. Christ and Confucius may be denied, Homer and Shakespeare, but that does not prove they never lived. That Columbus made his seamen swear that no doubt Cuba was Zipangu, does not prove that there was in those days no Japan. Because Drake's chaplain chose to tell the most monstrous and wilful falsehoods respecting the climate, metals, and inhabitants of California; because Cook, Meares, and Vancouver sailed by the mouth of the Columbia, superciliously scourging those who had spoken of it, this does not prove the non-existence of Marin County, or of the River of the West. In such ways as these neither the truth of the one statement nor the falsity of the other is established. But, as I have observed, before us is abundant evidence, palpable and incontestable, 320 that the early writings on America are for the most part true; and if, in the following pages, it does not clearly appear which are true and which false, then has the author signally failed in his effort. I do not in the least fear the overthrow of the general veracity of these writers until there come against them enemies more powerful with more powerful weapons than any that have yet appeared. How senselessly speculative their reasonings! Because the natives of the present day cannot tell who or whence were the authors of the carvings, or the builders of the structures upon whose ruins they have gazed since childhood, these works must forsooth have been done by foreign visitors. Europeans now and then may have found their way to America, but I find no evidence of such visits before the time of Columbus except by the Northmen; no one knows of such, nor can know until more light appears. The material relics, I fancy, will always prove a stumbling-block to those who would reject American aboriginal civilization.

That different conquerors, teachers, and travellers of various creeds and nationalities, in various pursuits, in different lands and at various times, together with native testimony, hieroglyphic writings, and traditions, to say nothing of carvings in stone and other monumental remains, should all combine, with satanic inspiration, to perpetrate upon the world one grand and overwhelming fraud is so preposterously ridiculous that the marvel is how there could be found, outside the walls of a lunatic asylum, a single individual with cool impudence enough to ask men to believe it. And yet there are several such, and they find believers. So charmed by the sound of their own voice are these captious cavillers, that they apparently do not deem it possible for such things to exist in this enlightened age as pedantic ignorance and literary fanaticism, of which they are bright examples. They do not seem to know that the petty and puerile theories which they would pass upon the simple as startling conceptions, original with themselves, are as old as the knowledge of the continent. They do not consider that before taking the first step toward proving origin, migration, or kinship by analogy, they must first dispose of the universal relationship of man, the oneness of human nature, human needs, and human aspirations, and then show how men first came upon this earth, and which was land and which water then and since. But those who thus array themselves against American aboriginal civilization and the early Spanish writers on the New World do not pretend to offer counter evidence, or to refute with reason; they rely chiefly on flat contradiction. I have yet to find among them all any approach to reasonable propositions or logical argument. They have nothing on which to base argument, neither fact nor plausible supposition. Their hypotheses are as chimerical as their deductions are false. They would have the world exercise a far more irrational credulity in accepting their hollow negations, than in believing every word of the most mendacious chronicler. And when they come to deny the presence of a native civilization upon the Mexican table-land, they betray lamentable ignorance both of the facts of history and of the nature of civilization. 321

CHAPTER VII.
SETTLEMENT OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIEN.
1510-1511.

Francisco Pizarro Abandons San Sebastian—Meets Enciso at Cartagena—He and his Crew Look like Pirates—They are Taken back to San Sebastian—Vasco Nuñez de Balboa—Boards Enciso's Ship in a Cask—Arrives at San Sebastian—The Spaniards Cross to Darien—The River and the Name—Cemaco, Cacique of Darien, Defeated—Founding of the Metropolitan City—Presto, Change! The Hombre del Casco Up, the Bachiller Down—Vasco Nuñez, Alcalde—Nature of the Office—Regidor—Colmenares, in Search of Nicuesa, Arrives at Antigua—He Finds Him in a Pitiable Plight—Antigua Makes Overtures to Nicuesa—Then Rejects Him—And Finally Drives Him Forth to Die—Sad End of Nicuesa.

When Alonso de Ojeda left San Sebastian for Española, he stipulated with Francisco Pizarro, who for the time was commissioned governor, that should neither he himself return, nor the bachiller Enciso arrive within fifty days, the colonists might abandon the post and seek safety or adventure in other parts.

And now the fifty days had passed; wearily and hungrily they had come and gone, with misery an ever present guest; and no one having come, they dismantled the fortress, placed on board the two small brigantines left them the gold they had secured—trust Francisco Pizarro for scenting gold, and getting it—and made ready to embark for Santo Domingo. But though only seventy remained, the vessels could not carry them all; and it was agreed that they should wait awhile, until death reduced their number to the capacity of the boats. 322

Nor had they long to wait; nor would their grim attendant let them put to sea without him. He had been so long domiciled with them, and had become so useful in settling disputes, adjusting accounts, and the like, that he was one of them, and one, indeed, with all the companies which attempted colonization on these pestilential shores. As they coasted eastward in search of food before steering across for Española, a squall struck the vessels, overturning one of them and sending all on board to swift destruction. Entering with the other the harbor of Cartagena, Pizarro found there the tardy Enciso hunting his colony.

Now the bachiller, beside possessing great learning, was a man of experience, all the way from Spain; a man of keen intelligence and practical sagacity, his wits sharpened by the narrow-minded legal bigotry of a sixteenth-century Spanish lawyer. He must be of exceedingly ready wit who could deceive the bachiller. It was scarcely to be expected a man of his kidney should credit the stories of Ojeda's visit to Santo Domingo, of the deputy governorship, and of the late disaster; though honest Pizarro on this occasion told only the truth, and his companions vouched for it with all the feeble force of their high-keyed husky voices. If Ojeda had gone to Santo Domingo more than fifty or seventy days before, would not the bachiller have seen him there? Indeed, to a less erudite judge than Enciso, a band of robbers on the high seas, with an abundance of gold and no bread, would call up suspicions rather of foul play than honest adventure. And back they must go. The functions of high judge should begin here and now. Was not this Nueva Andalucía? With the horrors of San Sebastian still fresh in their minds, the thought of returning there was repugnant in the extreme, and the poor wretches begged the lawyer to let them go to Española, or join Nicuesa. No. Enciso had staked his whole earthly possessions 323 on the delightful prospect of domination, and these should not escape him. They were just the clay for his fashioning; men for whom the law was made. Whipping out his commission, which at once deposed Pizarro, the bachiller drove them back into their boat, and all embarked for San Sebastian. But scarcely had they turned the Punta de Caribana,[VII-1] when the bachiller's well-stored ship struck upon rocks and broke in pieces, those on board barely escaping with their lives. Thus the worthy bachiller was beggared; the savings from life-long pettifoggings were swept away within the hour. Still his original stock in trade, egotism and arrogance, was left unimpaired.

NUEVA ANDALUCÍA

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ADMINISTRATION OF ENCISO.

Making their way along the shore to San Sebastian, the Spaniards found their fort demolished and their houses, some thirty in number, burned. In a feeble way they began to forage again, but even Enciso saw that it was useless. The absence of food, the poisoned arrows, and the poisoned air were too much for the bravest long to contend with. "Let us leave this accursed spot," they all cried. "Whither 324 would you go?" demanded the lawyer. One of them said:—"Once when I coasted this gulf with Rodrigo de Bastidas, along the western shore we found the country fertile and rich in gold. Provisions were abundant; and the natives, though warlike, used no poisoned arrows. Through this land of which I speak flows a river called by the natives Darien."

VASCO NUÑEZ DE BALBOA.

All eyes were turned upon the speaker. It was the hombre del casco, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, a fine specimen of the Spanish cavalier, at that time about thirty-five years of age. He was taller than Ojeda, though perhaps not stronger; there was not about him the assurance of breeding and position that Nicuesa bore; nor were there present in his features those marks of greed and brutality plainly discernible in the face of Francisco Pizarro, who stood not far from him. Strong and comely in every part, apparently, of body and mind, one to be observed with intuitive respect in a society of this kind, one to be approached with ease, but with due care; frank and manly, with a firm and winning eye and manner, yet there was about him noticeable something between shyness and reticence. Indeed, the standing of this person, since his sudden and altogether informal appearing as one of the present company had been somewhat dubious, and he seemed to regard it good taste to hold himself rather in the background. For all this there was that innate superiority about him over every one present, not excepting the erudite judge or the subsequently cunning conqueror of Peru, that could not always remain concealed, particularly amid constantly recurring vital issues.

Of the invariable poor but noble family, a native of Jerez de los Caballeros, Vasco Nuñez was reared in the service of Pedro Puertocarrero, the deaf lord of Moguer. Drawn with the crowd to the New World, upon the abrupt termination of the voyage of Bastidas, he obtained a repartimiento of Indians, and applied himself to agriculture at Salvatierra, 325 a town of Española. Becoming embarrassed by debts, and disgusted with the plodding life of a farmer, he determined to try fortune in the new colony of Alonso de Ojeda. But how to escape his creditors was the question. Debtors were prohibited by edict from leaving the island. The town of Santo Domingo at this time swarmed with insolvent adventurers anxious to engage in new adventure, and the strictest watch was kept on them by the authorities. An armed escort accompanied every departure until well out at sea, to bring back discovered stowaways. For all this Vasco Nuñez determined to sail with Enciso. Now mark the budding of genius! Taking a large cask, such as was used in shipping stores, he ensconced himself therein, and caused it to be headed up, placed upon a wagon, and driven from his farm to the landing, where it was placed with the other stores, and finally carried on board the ship. The vessel put to sea; the tender returned to port; to the creditors was left the farm of Vasco Nuñez, while the late owner was forever safe beyond their reach.[VII-2]

When, like Aphrodite from her circling shell, the serio-comic face of the bankrupt farmer appeared emerging from the provision cask, the bachiller was disposed to treat the matter magisterially, and threatened to land the refugee from justice on the first deserted island. But as the learned judge could not be held accountable as a party to the fraud, and as he thereby gained a valuable recruit, his judicial sensitiveness was finally mollified, and he assigned to the stowaway the ordinary duties of a soldier. Nevertheless the mildly murderous threat of the lawyer was not lost upon the farmer.

Into the hearts of the desponding colonists at San Sebastian the words of Vasco Nuñez infused new life. No time was lost in making ready; and crossing the gulf, they found the country and river as he 326 had said. Near this river of Darien,[VII-3] for so the Atrato and country thereabout was then called, stood the village of the cacique, Cemaco, a brave and upright ruler.

BATTLE OF ANTIGUA.

Enciso, who is no less valiant than wise and conscientious, determines to make this place judicially his own. Cemaco, who believes himself the legal owner, objects. Whereupon is invoked that admirable provision, the ultimate appeal; and the man of the long robe and the man of no robe at all, each after his fashion, prepare for war. Sending his women and children up the river, Cemaco posts himself with five hundred warriors before the village. Enciso, in whose person are united the combined essences of Christendom, civil, ecclesiastical, and military, concentrates all his forces, human and divine, to hurl upon the presumptuous savage. First, as is his wont in legal battles, to every soldier he administers the oath that he will not flinch before the enemy; then he invokes the powers above to aid him in the approaching contest, vowing that if victory shall be his and the town shall fall into his hands he will name it in honor of the virgin and build and dedicate a church within the town in honor of her sacred image, Antigua of Seville. Moreover, he promises that he will make a pilgrimage to her holy shrine if she will give him the victory over Cemaco; and with 327 these preparations the battle begins. The half-starved Spaniards fight like fiends. Cemaco for a time maintains his position with firmness; but the awe-inspiring appearance of the strangers, their ship, their shining armor, their beards, the whiteness of their skin, the wonderful sharpness of their weapons, and the solemn thunder and smoke of their fire-arms soon scatter to the forest his terror-smitten people. To the unbounded joy of the conquerors the town is found rich in gold and cotton, and the adjacent fields afford abundance of provisions.

This is something like reward for toilsome missionary labors. Along the river banks, secreted in caves, are found golden ornaments to the value of ten thousand castellanos.[VII-4] The virgin's share and the king's share are set aside, and the remainder of the spoils divided among the band. Thus Cemaco's village becomes the seat of government in Tierra Firme; and to it, as the lawyer promised the virgin, is given the name of Santa María de la Antigua del Darien.[VII-5]

In good truth fortune had at length smiled upon the colonists. Captives taken in the skirmishes which followed the pitched battle were made to gather gold and work in the fields. The bachiller began a rigorous rule with a full sense of the responsibilities resting upon him as representative of the crown of Spain and of his own importance before his soldiers, and as a hero in the great work of pacification. This view of his own merits appeared to him by no means diminished after his recent success. Though small in 328 number, this colony should be mighty in law. Poor Ojeda! How happy he might have been in the position now occupied by this mummified bundle of quiddities.

Settling themselves in Cemaco's houses, the Spaniards began to look about. First in order after his lawless raid, in the eyes of Enciso, was law. The bachiller, as we have ere this surmised, was one of those super-wise and self-opinioned men who to achieve a fall have only to attain a height. Very little law was here needed, very little government; but Enciso was a lawyer and a ruler, and little of it would not suffice him. His first edict was the prohibition of private traffic with the natives. This measure, though strictly legal, could scarcely be called politic. The hundred or so ragged piratical wretches cast on this rich and feebly defended shore wanted few decrees; and the fewer laws their ruler made for them the fewer would be broken. But, necessary or not, the alcalde mayor must issue orders, else he is no alcalde mayor. Hence other regulations followed, equally unpopular, until the colonists began to consider how best they might make a plug which should stop this great running to waste of law. Though convinced that Enciso was planning to get the gold as well as the government all into his own hands, and employ the colonists as tools wherewith to mine, and hold the savages in check, so inbred is Spanish loyalty, that even the reckless members of this crude commonwealth hesitated before committing any overt act which might forever outlaw them from their country. Better employ his own weapon against the bachiller, for law is safer than hemp for hanging even lawyers.

VASCO NUÑEZ ASSUMES COMMAND.

There was about Vasco Nuñez a plain directness of thought and purpose the very opposite of those engendered of the law's entanglements. Ever since his fortunate suggestion to cross from San Sebastian to Darien he had been regarded as the savior of the 329 colony; and now he thought he saw open a way of deliverance from their present trouble, and so he told them. "The gulf of Urabá," said he, "separates Nueva Andalucía from Castilla del Oro. While on the eastern side we belonged to the government of Alonso de Ojeda; now that we are on the western, we are subject only to Diego de Nicuesa." Before this simple logic the bachiller was dumfoundered. Of what value was legal lore that could be so easily overturned by an illiterate adventurer? In vain he feebly argued that wherever was Ojeda's colony, Ojeda's deputy was master. The people were against him; and the opinion of the people concerning him was expressed by Vasco Nuñez when some time afterward he wrote the king regarding persons of that cloth in infant settlements: "Most powerful sire," he said, "there is one great favor that I pray your royal highness to do me, since it is of great importance to your service. It is for your royal highness to issue an order that no bachiller of laws, or of anything unless it be of medicine, shall come to these parts of Tierra Firme, under a heavy penalty that your highness shall fix; because no bachiller ever comes hither who is not a devil, and they all live like devils, and not only are they themselves bad, but they make others bad, having always contrivances to bring about litigations and villainies. This is very important to your highness' service in this a new country."[VII-6] 330

So the lawyer was deposed, and the cavalier elevated. Enciso gracelessly yielded his clear authority; and after much wrangling among the ill-assorted fraternity, a municipality was decided upon, and two alcaldes[VII-7] were chosen, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and Martin Zamudio. The office of regidor[VII-8] fell among others to one Valdivia. Subsequently additional officials were chosen.

Government without law, however, proved no less ineffectual than law without government. Disaffections and altercations continued. In the administration of justice, Balboa was accused of favoring his friends and frowning upon his enemies. Some repented having crossed the gulf; some desired the restoration of Enciso; some suggested that as they were now within the jurisdiction of Nicuesa, it was his right to rule, or to name their ruler.

COLMENARES COMES.

While these strifes were raging, the inhabitants of Antigua were startled one day by the report of a gun coming from the direction of San Sebastian. Thinking perhaps Ojeda had returned, or sent supplies, they built fires on the adjacent heights in order to attract attention. Presently two ships approached, and 331 anchored before the town. They proved to be vessels belonging to Nicuesa, freighted at Española with supplies for the colony of Castilla del Oro, and commanded by Rodrigo Enriquez de Colmenares. Thrown by stress of weather upon the coast of Santa Marta,[VII-9] he had there lost a number of his men; after which he entered the gulf of Urabá, hoping to find information of Nicuesa.

A quick observer and a faithful officer, Colmenares soon understood the position of affairs, and took prompt measures to secure to his governor such advantages as might accrue from profitless contentions. By a judicious distribution of articles greatly needed by the colonists, attended by wise counsels, he gained their confidence, and partly healed their feuds; so that before sailing he prevailed on them to send two ambassadors to treat with Nicuesa concerning the affairs of their settlement. The two envoys chosen were Diego de Albites, and an aspiring lawyer, hitherto overshadowed by the august presence of Enciso, called the bachiller Diego del Corral, and they were directed to accompany the ships of Colmenares in the brigantine belonging to the settlement of Antigua.

It was about the middle of November, 1510, when Colmenares entered the gulf of Urabá. Unable to gather any tidings of Nicuesa, he continued his voyage westward, searching the inlets along the coast. He would nevertheless have passed Nombre de Dios had he not seen some of Nicuesa's men in their boat, at one of the islands, seeking food. The wildest joy greeted the new arrival. It was to the colony of Castilla del Oro as a reprieve from death. Gazing sadly on the sallow faces and emaciated forms before them, the miserable wreck of Nicuesa's gallant company now reduced to sixty souls, listening to their tales of wretchedness, tears of honest sympathy fell from the eyes of the hardy sailors. 332 With difficulty could be recognized in the leader of the hapless troop the once gay and courtly Nicuesa. Colmenares gave the sufferers food and comforted them. He told Nicuesa of Ojeda's failure, of the settlement at Antigua, and how Enciso and his company, having found a spot rich in gold and well provisioned, had fallen to quarrelling among themselves about the government, and had finally sent messengers to him, the rightful ruler, for the healing of their disputes.

To Nicuesa these words were as fresh oil in an expiring lamp. But in his enfeebled state, the sudden change from blank despair to brilliant hope played havoc with his discretion. After brief thanksgiving for deliverance, his mind became excited by dreams of boundless wealth and empire. He ordered a feast, at which he presided with insensate levity. Toward the ambassadors from the gulf he assumed a haughty arrogance, claiming supreme authority relative to all matters at Antigua, and stoutly swearing that the gold taken from his subjects of Darien should be disgorged.

Colmenares had marked the effect of Nicuesa's altered temper on his followers. He saw that disaffection was rife, and that the governor held control by a feeble thread. Showing Nicuesa the madness of his course, he explained the importance of attaching the remnant of Ojeda's colony to his own, and pointed out their strength and his weakness; he received in reply only insolent rebukes.

Meanwhile the ambassadors Albites and Corral, men whose wits were about them, were not pleased with this foretaste of Nicuesa's rule; nor did intercourse with Nicuesa's men tend in any wise to diminish their unfavorable impressions. One night they visited Lope de Olano, who for his sins was chained to a rock and made to grind corn. "Behold my condition," he exclaimed. "I have ever served my governor faithfully. I saved him from perishing, when I 333 had but to delay his rescue to become myself the governor. This is my reward. You men of Antigua may draw your own conclusions." By others the ambassadors were informed that the chief officers of the new government were already selected: Vasco Nuñez was to be stripped of all authority, and Zamudio, as a relative of Olano, could scarcely hope to fare better. Those who had trafficked with the natives were to be severely punished. It was enough. Stealing away, they hastened back to Antigua. "A pretty mess you have made of it, with your infernal bickerings," they said to the assembled confederates. "Nicuesa will give you more of law than Enciso, and more of arbitrary rule than Vasco Nuñez and Zamudio ten times over." A few days after a messenger, one Juan de Caicedo, arrived from Nicuesa, and informed them, for their further comfort, that the governor was detained at one of the islands capturing natives, but would be with them shortly. Perceiving that his tidings were not hailed with transports of joy, and being himself embittered against Nicuesa, as were indeed almost all his followers, Caicedo swung round upon his bearings and laughed at them. "Silly señores! free and rich, you call in a cormorant to swallow your substance and yourselves." And now, as usual when folly comes home, curses flowed freely on themselves and others. The prospect of losing their gold touched them. What should they do?

Once more Vasco Nuñez offers a pertinent suggestion. "You were dissatisfied with Enciso, and questioned many of my acts. Now you fear a governor possessing all the bad qualities of your former rulers, with, perhaps, few of their redeeming traits. If calling Nicuesa was an error, is not receiving him a greater one?" Struck by the suggestion, the colonists drop their differences and unite as one man against Nicuesa, each taking a solemn oath never to serve under him. Sentries are then stationed to give notice of his approach, and measures taken to prevent his 334 landing. After eight days pleasantly passed kidnapping among the islands, the ill-fated governor enters the harbor and comes to anchor, little dreaming of the reception that awaits him. On shore before the town he observes a company of armed men, assembled, as he supposes, to give him welcome. As he prepares to disembark, the public procurator[VII-10] advances and, to his astonishment, in a loud voice warns him on pain of death not to place foot on shore, but instantly to abandon these parts and return no more.

The colony at Antigua was at this time comparatively strong and well-conditioned; Nicuesa's followers were few, weak, and disaffected. For him to enforce authority was not possible. His mind had dwelt fondly of late on his rising fortunes, and this hostile reception was a terrible disappointment, for it was the last earthly resource. To return to the broken camp at Nombre de Dios would be to enter again the jaws of death; if he could not remain here, he certainly could not depart.

ILL-TREATMENT OF NICUESA.

Recovering in a measure, as from a heavy blow, the governor requested permission to land, promising solemnly to enter into any stipulations concerning the government which the colonists should deem just. His proposals were drowned by the shouts of the rabble; and he was warned, as he valued his life, to approach no nearer the shore. Nicuesa continued his expostulations till nightfall, when he retired with his ship a little farther from land. Returning next morning, he renewed his importunities. A change had apparently taken place in the minds of the people, for he was now permitted to land with his page. Balboa received the governor courteously, co

The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530

HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Vol. I. 1501-1530.

PREFACE.

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

AUTHORITIES QUOTED IN THE HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. SPAIN AND CIVILIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Summary of Geographical Knowledge and Discovery from the Earliest Records to the Year 1540.

CHAPTER II. COLUMBUS AND HIS DISCOVERY. 1492-1500.

CHAPTER III. DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

CHAPTER IV. COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA. 1502-1506.

CHAPTER V. ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES. 1492-1526.

CHAPTER VI. THE GOVERNMENTS OF NUEVA ANDALUCÍA AND CASTILLA DEL ORO. 1506-1510.

CHAPTER VII. SETTLEMENT OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIEN. 1510-1511.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

Vol. I. 1501-1530.

AUTHORITIES QUOTED
IN THE
HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
SPAIN AND CIVILIZATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER II.
COLUMBUS AND HIS DISCOVERY.
1492-1500.

CHAPTER III.
DISCOVERY OF DARIEN.

CHAPTER IV.
COLUMBUS ON THE COASTS OF HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, AND COSTA RICA.
1502-1506.

CHAPTER V.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES.
1492-1526.

CHAPTER VI.
THE GOVERNMENTS OF NUEVA ANDALUCÍA AND CASTILLA DEL ORO.
1506-1510.

CHAPTER VII.
SETTLEMENT OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA ANTIGUA DEL DARIEN.
1510-1511.