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 COLUMBUS

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COLUMBUS

tion of Columbus, coupled with his physical disabili- ties, prevented him from interpreting these important indications otherwise than as confirmations of his vague theories and fatal visions. Instead of sending an exploring party across the isthmus to satisfy him- self of the truth of these reports, he accepted this tes- timony to tl'.e existence of a sea beyond, which he firmly believed to be the Indian Ocean, basing his con- fidence on a dream in which he had seen a strait he supposed to be the Strait of Malacca. As his crews were exasperated by the hardships and deceptions, his ships worm-eaten, and he himself emaciated, he turned back towards Haiti with what he thought to be

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the tidings of a near approach to the Asiatic continent. It had been a disastrous voyage; violent storms con- tinuously harassed the little squadron, two ships had been lost, and the treasure obtained far from com- pensated for the toil and suffering endured. This was all the more exasperating when it became evident that a much richer reward could be obtained by penetrating inland, to which, however, Columbus would not or perhaps could not consent.

On 23 June, 1503, Columbus and his men, crowded on two almost sinking caravels, finally landed on the inhospitable coast of Jamaica. After dismantling his useless craft, and using the material for temporary shelter, he sent a boat to Haiti to ask for assistance and to dispatch thence to Spain a vessel with a pitiful letter giving a fantastic account of his sufferings which in it.self gave evidence of an over-excited and disordered mind.

Ovando to whom Columbus's request for help was delivered at Jaragua (Haiti) cannot be acquitted of unjustifiable delay in sending assistance to the .ship- wrecked and forsaken admiral. There is no founda- tion for assuming that ho acted under the orders or in accordance with the wLshesof the sovereigns, ('olum-

bus had become useless, the colonists in Haiti would not tolerate his presence there. The only practical course was to take him back to Spain directly and re- move him forever from the lands the discovery of which had made him immortal. In spite of his many sufferings, Columbus was not utterly helpless. His greatest trouble came from the mutinous spirit of his men who roamed about, plundering and maltreating the natives, who, in consequence, became hostile and refused to furnish supplies. An eclipse of the moon predicted by Columbus finally brought them to terms and thus prevented starvation. Ovando, though in- formed of the admiral's critical condition, did nothing for his relief except to permit Columbus's representa- tive in Haiti to fit out a caravel with stores at the ad- miral's expense and send it to Jamaica; but even this tardy relief did not reach Columbus until June, 1504. He also permitted Mendez, who had been the chief messenger of Columbus to Haiti, to take passage for Spain, where he was to inform the sovereigns of the ad- miral's forlorn condition. There seems to be no ex- cuse for the conduct of Ovando on this occasion. The relief expedition finally organized in Haiti, after a tedious and somewhat dangerous voyage, landed the admiral and his companions in Spain, 7 November, 1504.

A few weeks later Queen Isabella died, and grave difficulties beset the king. Columbus, now in very feeble health, remained at Seville until May, 1.505, when he was at last able to attend court at Valladolid. His reception by the king was decorous, but without warmth. His importunities to be restored to his posi- tion as governor were put off with future promises of redress, but no immediate steps were taken. The story of the utter destitution in which the admiral is said to have died is one of the many legends with which his biography has been distorted. Columbus is said to have been buried at Valladolid. His son Diego is au- thority for the statement thathis remains were buried in the Carthusian Convent of Las Cuevas, Seville, within three years after his death. According to the records of the convent, the remains were given up for trans- portation to Haiti in 1536, though other documents place this event in 1537. It is conjectured, however, that the removal did not take place till 1541, when the cathedral of Santo Domingo was completed, though there are no records of this entombment. When, in 1795, Haiti passed under French control, Spanish au- thorities removed the supposed remains of Columbus to Havana. On the occupation of Cuba by the United States they were once more removed to Seville (1898).

Columbus was unquestionably a man of genius. He was a bold, skilful navigator, better acquainted with the principles of cosmography and astronomy than the average skipper of his time, a man of original ideas, fertile in his plans, and persistent in carrying them into execution. The impression he made on those with whom he came in contact even in the days of his poverty, such as Fray Juan Perez, the treasurer Luis de Santangel, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, and Queen Isabella herself, shows that he had great powers of persuasion and was possessed of personal magnetism. His success in overcoming the obstacles to his expedi- tions and surmounting the difficulties of his voyages exhibit him as a man of imusiial resources and of un- flinching determination. Cohmibus was also of a deeply religious nature. Whatever influence scientific theories and the ambition for fame and wealth may have had over him, in advocating his enterprise he never failed to insist on the conversion of the pagan peoples that he would discover as one of the primary objects of his undertaking. Even when clouds had settled over his career, after his return as a prisoner from the lands he had iliscovered. he was ready to de- vote all his possessions and the remaining years of his life to set sail again for the purpose of rescuing Christ's •Sepulchre from the hands of the infidel.