Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/202

174 the West Indian slave trade. He founded the mining camp of San Tomaso in the gold country ; and on 24th April 1-494, having nominated a council of regency under his brother Diego, and appointed Pedro de Margarite his captain-general, he put again to sea. After following the southern shore of Cuba for some days, he steered south wards, and discovered the island of Jamaica, which he named Santiago. He then resumed his exploration of the Cuban coast, thread his way through a labyrinth of islets supposed to be the Morant Keys, which he named the Garden of the Queen; and after coasting westwards for many clays, he became convinced that he had discovered con tinuous land, and caused Perez de Luna, the notary, to draw up a document attesting his discovery (12th June 1494), which was afterwards taken round and signed, in presence of four witnesses, by the masters, mariners, and seamen of his three caravels, the &quot; Nina,&quot; the &quot; Cardera, &quot; and the &quot;San Juan.&quot; He then stood to the south-east, and sighted the island of Evangelita; and after many days of difficulties and anxieties, he touched at and named the island La Mona. Thence he had intended to sail east wards, and complete the survey of the Caribbean Archi pelago. But he was exhausted by the terrible tear and wear of mind and body he had undergone (he says himself that on this expedition he was three and thirty days almost without any sleep), and on the day following his departure from La Mona, he fell into a lethargy, that deprived him of sense and memory, and had well nigh proved fatal to life. At last, on 29th September, the little fleet dropped anchor off Isabella, and in his new city the great Admiral lay sick for five months. The colony was in a sad plight. Every one was discon tented, and many were sick, for the climate was unhealthy and there was nothing to eat. Margarite and Buil had quitted Hispaniola for Spain ; but ere his departure, the former, in his capacity of captain-general, had done much to outrage and alienate the Indians. The strongest measures were necessary to undo this mischief ; and backed by his brother Bartholomew, a bold and skilful mariner, and a soldier of courage and resource, who had been with Diaz in his voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus proceeded to reduce the natives under Spanish sway. Alonso de Ojeda succeeded by a brilliant coup de main in capturing the cacique Caonabo, and the rest submitted. Five ship-loads of Indians were sent off to Seville (24th June 1495) to be sold as slaves; and a tribute was im posed upon their fellows, which must be looked upon as the origin of that system of repartimientos or encomiendas which was afterwards to work such cruel mischief among the conquered. But the tide of court favour seemed to have turned against Columbus. In October 1495 Juan Aguado arrived at Isabella, with an open commission from their Catholic majesties, to inquire into the circumstances of his rule ; and much contest and recrimination followed. Columbus -found that there was no time to be lost in returning .home ; he appointed his brother Bartholomew &quot;adelantado&quot; of the island; and on 10th March 1496 he quitted Hispaniola in the &quot;Nina.&quot; The vessel, after a protracted and perilous voyage, reached Cadiz on llth June 1496. The Admiral landed in great dejection, wear ing the costume of a Franciscan. Reassured, however, by the reception of his sovereigns, he asked at once for eight ships more, two to be sent to the colony with supplies, and six to be put under his orders for new discoveries. The request was not immediately granted, as the Spanish exchequer was not then well supplied. But principally owing to the interest of the queen, an agreement was come to similar to that of 1492, which was now confirmed. By this royal patent, moreover, a tract of land in Hispaniola, of 50 leagues by 20, was mi.de over to him. He was offered a dukedom or a marquisate at his pleasure ; for three years he was to receive an eighth of the gross and a tenth of the net profits on each voyage ; the right of creating a mayorazgo or perpetual entail of titles and estates was granted him ; and on 24th June his two sons were received into Isabella s service as pages. Meanwhile, however, tho preparing of the fleet proceeded slowly; and it was not till the-30th May 1498 that he and his six ships set sail.

From San Lucar he steered for Gomora, in the Canaries, and thence dispatched throe of his ships to San Domingo. He next proceeded to the Cape Verd Islands, which he quitted on 4th July. On the 31st of the same month, being greatly in need of water, and fearing that no land lay westwards as they had hoped, Columbus had turned his ship s head north, when Alonso Perez, a mariner of Huelva, saw land about 15 leagues to the south-west. It was crowned with three hill-tops, and so when the sailors had sung the Salve Regina, the Admiral named it Trinidad, which name it yet bears. On Wednesday, 1st August, he beheld for the first time in the mainland of South America the continent he had sought so long. It seemed to him but an insignificant island, and he called it Zeta. Sailing westwards, next day he saw the Gulf of Paria, which was named by him the Golfo de la Balena, and was borne into it at immense risk on the ridge of waters formed by the meeting with the sea of the great rivers that empty themselves, all swollen with rain, into the ocean. For many days he coasted the continent, esteeming as islands the several projections he saw, and naming them accordingly ; nor was it until he had looked on and con sidered the immense volume of fresh water poured oiit through the embouchures of the river now called the Orinoco, that he concluded that the so-called archipelago must be in very deed a great continent. Unfortunately at this time he was suffering intolerably from gout and ophthalmia ; his ships were crazy ; and ho was anxious to inspect the infant colony whence he had been absent so long. And so, after touching at and naming the island of Margarita, he bore away to the north-east, and on 30th August the fleet dropped anchor off Isabella. He found that affairs had not prospered well in his absence. By the vigour and activity of the adelantado, the whole island had been reduced under Spanish sway, but at the expense of the colonists. Under the leadership of a certain Roldan, a bold and unprincipled adventurer, they had risen in revolt, and Columbus had to compro mise matters in order to restore peace. Roldan retained his office ; such of his followers as chose to remain in the island were gratified with repartimientos of land and labour ; and some fifteen, choosing to return to Spain, were enriched with a number of slaves, and sent home in two ships which sailed in the early part of October 1499. Five ship-loads of Indians had been deported to Spain some little time befors. On the arrival of these living cargoes at Seville, the queen, the stanch and steady friend of Columbus, was moved with compassion and indignation. No one, she declared, had authorized him to dispose of her vassals in any such manner ; and proclamations at Seville, Granada, and other chief places ordered (20th June 1499) the instant liberation and return of all the last gang of Indians, In addition to this the ex-colonists had become incensed against Columbus and his brothers. They were wont to parade their grievances in the very court-yards of the Alhambra, to surround the king when he came forth with complaints and reclamations, to insult the discoverer s young sons with shouts and jeers. There was no doubt that the colony itself, whatever the cause, had not pros pered so well as might have been desired. And, on the whole, it is not surprising that Ferdinand, whose sup port to Columbus had never been very hearty, should 