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 IL.A.3yC.A.KTIJSrE. 
 
 /^ 
 
 CHIMSTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 TKANSI.ATE1) INTO ENGLISH 
 
 IJv I. R()SS-\VE'l"HKRMAN. 
 
 
 SUTHERLANDS. 
 
 1887. 
 
I 
 
 \ 
 
 c 
 
 Entered according to the Act of the rarhainent of Canada, in the year oi 
 tliousriiul ci_<;ht huiulnul and eij,'lity-seven, by D, Sutiikkland, in tl 
 oftJC(; of the Minister or AgiicuUure. 
 
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 CIIRIST()Fllh:R COLUMBUS. 
 
 I 
 
 -♦♦-•- 
 
 I. 
 
 The hand of God is not evident in the details of human 
 fiairs ; it is revealed in them as a whole. No sensible man 
 as ever denied that the great events which make up the 
 igtorical life of humanity are secretly bound together, and 
 ^ranged in order by an invisible thread, suspended from the 
 11-powerful hand of the Sovereign Ruler of worlds, in order that 
 i|ey may work together for a purposed end. How can He, 
 'ho has given light to the eye, be blind ? How can He, who 
 
 n the yenr on*s given thought to His c-eature, be Himself unthinking? 
 
 KLANi), ill tii.^he ancients called this hidden design, this absolute and 
 Resistible working of God in human affairs. Destiny or Fatality ; 
 de moderns call it Providence, a more intelligent, more 
 aligious, and more paternal name. 
 
 \ In studying the history of humanity, it is impossible not to 
 
 dbognise, above and below the free action of man, the supreme 
 
 Ltd transparent action of Providence. This operation of 
 
 Providence, on the whole and on the mass, does not in any- 
 
 hang deprive our acts of liberty, in which alone consists the 
 
 norality of individuals and nations ; she apparently allows them 
 
 a move, to act, to go astray with a complete latitude of 
 
 jurpose, and of choice of good or evil in a certain sphere of 
 
 ittion and with a certain logical consequence of punishments 
 
 incurred or rewards merited ; but the grand general results of 
 
 these acts of individuals or nations belong to her and to her 
 
 done — she seems to reserve them for herself, independently of 
 
 111, for divine ends, of which we are ignorant and which she 
 
 olily allows us to see dimly when they are on the point of 
 
 attainment. Good and evil are our possession and our concern ; 
 
 but Providence makes sport of our perversities as of our virtues, 
 
 drawing from this good and evil, with the tame infallible 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
CHRISTOIMIKK COLUMHUS. 
 
 wisdom, the accomplishment of her desi^jn for humanity. 'I'fc>o, M 
 hidden but divine instrument of this Providence, when senis 
 deigns to make use of man for the prep ition or complcli0st to| 
 of a portion of her plans, is insi)iration. Inspiration is tru!)\^er 
 mystery of mankind, the source of which it is diHlcult to frir.edc 
 in man himself. reccej 
 
 It seems to come from a higher and more distant origin, anid th< 
 for this reason, we have also given to it a mysterious nanturopei 
 which is not well defined in any language : Oenius. The bir Whef 
 of a man of Genius is the work of Providence. Genius isirminf 
 gift. It is not ac(iuircd by work, it is not even attainable preads| 
 virtue ; it either is or is not, without it being possible for t^lcsar 
 very man who possesses it to give an account of its nature f Scot 
 of its possession. To this genius Providence sends inspiratioinden 
 Inspiration is to genius what the magnet is to metal. Sl|ia. 
 draws it, independently of all consciousness and will, to somiWhe 
 thing fatal and unknown, like the pole. Genius follows tljd the 
 inspiration that leads it on, and a moral or a material world ije irre 
 revealed, liehold Christopher Columbus, and the discovery «jd ini 
 America ! |e am 
 
 II. ¥»™ ' 
 
 itwee 
 Columbus asi)ired in thought to the completion of the globliebanc 
 which seemed to him to lack one of its halves. It was tliiity c 
 want of harmony in terrestrial geography that troubled hin I So ' 
 This want was ecjuully an inspiration of his time. There aimonan 
 ideas tliat float in the air like intellectual miasmas and whicflies o 
 thousands of men seem to breathe at the same momendiiity i 
 Every time that Providence prepares the world, unknown l | So v 
 itself, for some religious, moral, or political transformation, v] 
 can almost invariably observe this same phenomenon ; 
 aspiration and tendency, more or less complete, towards tl 
 unity of the globe by concjuest, by language, by religioi 
 proselytism, by navigation, by geographical discovery, or I 
 the multiplication of the relations of peoples amongst thei 
 selves, by means of the bringing nearer and the contact 
 these peoples, whom ways of communication, their needs ar 
 trade bind together in a single nation. This tendency towan 
 the unity of the globe, at certain epochs, is one of the mo**|lll. 
 clearly visible providential facts in the conclusions of history. | Or 
 
, CMKISTOIMIER COLUMIJUS. 
 
 5 
 
 umanity. 'f'So, when the great eastern rivih'zati'on of India and F'-gypt 
 ice, when .sfms cxliauslcd by age, and (lod wishes to call Asia and the 
 or complctiest to a younger, brisker, and more active civihzation, Alex- 
 ation is trulju^er goes forth, without knowing why, from the valleys of 
 irticult to fi;ili(;edonia, drawing to himself the eyes and tlie auxiliaries of 
 feece, and the known world becomes one under the terror 
 nt origin, anid the glory of his name, from the Indus to the extremity of 
 Uerious nanturope. 
 Js. The bir When He wishes to prepare a vast audience for the trans- 
 
 Oenius isirming word of Christianity in the ICast and in the West, He 
 attainable preads the language, the dominion, the arms of Rome and 
 issible for t'lusar from the shores of the Persian (Uilf to the mountains 
 f its nature t Scotland, uniting under one mind and in one common de- 
 ds inspiratio|ndence Italy, (iaul, Cireat Britain, Sicily, Greece, Africa and 
 > metal. sAia. 
 
 will, to somTwhen He wishes, some centuries later, to snatch Arabia, Persia 
 
 s follows thid their dependencies from barbarism, and to make prevalent 
 
 erial world l|ie irresistible dogma of the unity of God over the idolatries 
 
 13 discovery «|nd indifference of these remote or corrupt parts of the world, 
 
 te arms Mahomet with the Goran and the sword ; He permits 
 
 slam to conquer, in two centuries, all the space comprised 
 
 jetween the Oxus and the Jagus, between Thibet and Mount 
 
 of the glohtjebanon, between Mount Atlas and Mount Taurus. A great 
 
 It was tluiiity of empire foreshadows a great unity of thought, 
 oubled hill i So with Charlemagne and the West, where his universal 
 
 There ait^onarchy prepares, on both sides of the Alps, from the con- 
 5 and whic^es of Scythia and Germany, the vast territory where Christi- 
 le momenaiiity is to receive and baptise the barbarians, 
 unknown i i So with the French revolution, that reform of the western world 
 >rmation, \\]jL the light of reason, when Napoleon, as enterprising as Alex- 
 >menon ; r^Jrider, marches his victorious armies over the subject continent, 
 towards tl ^tablishes for a moment the grand unity of France, and, thinking 
 by religioi mere to found his empire, in reality only sows the phrases, the 
 very, or I Keas, and the institutions of the revolution. So in our own 
 ongst thei flays, no longer in the shape of conquest, but in the form of 
 ! contact intellectual, commercial and pacific communication between 
 ,11 the continents and all the peoples of the globe, it is science 
 at becomes the universal conqueror to the profit and glory of 
 )f the mo^U. 
 o( history. % On this occasion Providence seems to have commissioned 
 
 r needs ar 
 ncy towar( ^ 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 the genius of industry and discovery to prepare for her the mi***'' " 
 perfect unity of the terrestrial globe that has ever bound ^^ . 
 gether time, space and mankind in a closer, more comp.**/fj 
 and better assimilated whole. ' . 
 
 Navigation, printing, the discovery of steam, that econoni^'"*^ 
 cal and irresistible propeller, which launches man, his armi(f^^ " 
 and his merchandise, ar. far and as swiftly as his thougiu ; t^"^'*^ 
 construction of railroads, which remove mountains by pierciif^^ ^ 
 them, and which level the whole earth ; thediscovery of the eU ^ 
 trie telegraph, which gives to communications between the tw "''^"'1 
 hemispheres, the instantaneousness of lightning ; the discovci4'.'-*'Y 
 of balloons, which still wait for a rudder, but which will sool'" "' 
 open to navigation an element that is more universal and ler*^^^^^^ 
 dangerous than the ocean ; all these nearly contemporaneoi j.'^V' 
 revelations of Providence through the inspiration of industrifl'f|"^ 
 genius, are means of binding the globe together, of concentray^' 
 ing and contracting it within itself; means of drawing mcPJp^^ 
 together and making them more alike. These instruments aij ^^\ 
 so active and so evident, that it is impossible not to see in theiTP ^ 1 
 a final intention of Providence, a crowning effort towards thj^^^.l 
 unknown, and not to conclude that God is premeditating, f^>y ,11/ 
 us and for our descendants, some design which is till concealcl ^ 
 from our short vision, a design for the accomplishment of whic^^*^^ 
 He takes His measures, in urging forward the world towards th"^'^® ' 
 most powerful of unities, the unity of thought, which foretell 
 some great unity of action in the future. 
 
 In this way the mind of the fifteenth century was preparct 
 for some strange manifestation, either human or divine, whei 
 the great man, whose history we are about to relate, wa 
 born. There was an expectation of something : for the mine 
 of man has its presentiments.. They are the vague prediction 
 of realities which are drawing near. 
 
 HI. 
 
 pos 
 atut 
 
 In the spring of the year 1 47 1 , at mid-day, under a burning sur, 
 that baked the roads in Andalusia, on a hill about half a mile 
 from the little seaport of Palos, two strangers who were travelling 
 on foot, their shoes worn out by walking, their clothes, which 
 showed the remains of some degree of wealth, soiled by dust 
 
CHRIHTOPHKR COLITMRUS. 
 
 for her the m<*''' foreheads bathed in perspiration, stopped and sat down 
 
 ever bound ^^'^^ ^^^ shadow of the outer porch of a little monastery, 
 
 more comp.'Jl*'*^^ Saint Mary of Rabida. 
 
 Their ap[)earance and their weariness alone begged for hos 
 
 that econotil'il'ty. The Franciscan monasteries were, at that time, the 
 i«in, his armi(Jps ^^* those foot travellers whom poverty forbade to approach 
 is thought ; t^hcr places of shelter. The group formed by the two stran- 
 ins by piercirf rs attracted the attention of the monks, 
 ^ery of the elt ^^"^' ^^ them was a man who had scarcely reached the prime 
 2tween the t\4 ''f^» ^^^'» ^^^^ ^^">''» of fine carriage, with a noble brow, an 
 
 the discovcii**-'" ^countenance, a thoughtful look, a sweet and kindly mouth, 
 hich will soof '" '^^'^ '^8^^ brown in early youth, was prematurely tinged 
 vcrsal and leif^^^^ ^^^ temples by those v/hite locks which are hastened by 
 itemporaneoi#*'*-^y ^"^ misfortune. His brow was lofty ; his complexion, 
 ^ o( industri.f •t3'"''^^ly ruddy, was pale from study and bronzed by the sun 
 of concentraV^^ '^^ *®** ^^^ sound of his voice was manly, sonorous and 
 drawing mcF"^'^'^^''"*^ *^ '^® tones of one who was wont to give utterance 
 struments ai*# gi^t^at thoughts. Nothing frivolous or careless was visible m 
 to see in thei^^ slightest gestures ; he seemed to respect himself without 
 t towards ihiesumption, or to observe in his actions the reserve of a pious 
 meditating, fo^^" '" ^ church, as if he had been in the presence of God. 
 till concealc'l ^ '^^ other was a child eight or ten years old. His features, 
 nent of whic'f ore feminine, but already accentuated by the hardships of life, 
 d towards thio''® ^^^^ ^ likeness to that of the first stranger, that it was 
 fiich foretell frpo^^'^^'^^ "ot to see in him either a son or a brother of the 
 ature man. 
 
 k'as prepare(l IV. 
 
 relate wi I. '^'^^^^ ^^o strangers were Christopher Columbus and his son 
 for the'min x^^^^" ^^^ monks, moved to curiosity and pity by the noble 
 • prediction t^^ ^^ ^^^ father and by the grace of the child, which were in 
 "Contrast to the poverty of their dress, invited them inside the 
 
 onastery to offer them the shade, bread and rest which are 
 
 e right of pilgrims. 
 
 Whilst Columbus and his son were refreshing and strengthen- 
 burnine sur t^^ themselves with the water, the bread, and the olives of their 
 half a mil r°^^^' table, the monks went to inform the Prior of the arrival 
 e travellij ^^ ^^^ ^^° travellers, and of the strange interest attaching to 
 thes whi( 1 ^^^^^^ distinguished appearance, which so strikingly contrasted 
 id by dust ^^^^ ^^^'' poverty. 
 
8 CHRISTolMir.K COLUMHUS. 
 
 The Prior came down to talk to them. This superior ^ ^e ill 
 the monasctry of Rabida was Ju.iu IYt<«s de Marchenna, a fo/, nnf 
 mer confessor to (^uecn Isabella, who at that time shared wijt mi 
 Ferdinand the throne of Spain. $ a «i 
 
 A holy man, fond of knowledge and meditation, ho had prt|roM(| 
 fcrred the shelter of his rloister to the honours and intrigues «|ianc| 
 the court, but by this very retirement he had retained the dci|<)rc i| 
 respect of the court as well as great inlluence over the mind (d^platl 
 the (^ueen. Providence, no less than ( hance, had directed tlifp, wll 
 footsteps of Columbus, if she had indeed the intention of opci ■new 
 ing to him, by a trusty though invisible hand, the doors of th| sou^i 
 Privy Council and the car and heart of the Sovereigns. 
 
 V. 
 
 I 
 
 \m 
 
 The Prior welcomed the strangers, caressed the chdd, aniL^^ ^\l 
 en(piired kindly into the circumstances which compelled thcii^^jiy^j 
 to travel the devious roads of Spain on foot and to borrc .^ry, 
 shelter from the lowly roof of a poor and isolated monastery |^\^^. h 
 Columbus related his obscure life-history and unrolled his gre;it| ^y^.i 
 ide;iL. before th*i listening monk. 'I'hat life and those ideuAjch I 
 were but a hope and a conviction. What was afterwards knowiyl^^ ih 
 about them is at, follows : \Viie 
 
 VI. Aool: 
 
 ^ent 
 
 Christopher Columbus was the eldest son of a wool-carder o*|iuUii 
 Genoa, to-day a very humble calling, at that time a liberal ancjn-o 
 almost noble profession. ^ed 
 
 In those industrial and commercial Italian republics, th j^irbo 
 artisans, proud of re-discovering or evolving industries, formeda gort 
 corporations ennobled by their art and of importance in thcfiipni 1 
 State. nacic( 
 
 He was born in 1436. He had two brothers, Bartholomew a^d « 
 and Diego, whom he sent for later on to share his labours, his ^q ih^ 
 glory and his misfortunes ; he also had a sister younger than J^ing 
 his brothers ; she married a Genoese workman, and her obscu- ^[c 
 rity kept her for a long time removed from the splendour and T H 
 adversity of her brothers. 
 
 Our instincts are formed by the first sights that nature offers 
 to our senses in the place where we are born, particularly when 
 
CHRISTOPirF.R COI.l'MIUfS. 
 
 9 
 
 • his superior ^e sights arc majestic nnd boundless as the momUains, the 
 irchcnna, a fo^^ -md the sea. Our imagination is the feeble imitation and 
 '»« shared w\f mirror of the first scenes that strike us. When Columbus 
 I .1 ( hild, his eyes first rested on the sky and sea of (lenoa. 
 "^n, he h.id prffro-iomy and navigation early drew his thoughts to these two 
 »d intrigues nances lying oj)en to ha view. He filled them with his fancy 
 ained the det'lore n«'w storking them with their continents and isles. Con- 
 cr the mind (|[iplative, silent, inclinetl to piety from his earliest years, he 
 ■d directed tlup, while still a < iiild, borue by his genius into space, not only 
 fntion of opci ticw discovery, but to a deeper adoration. For that which 
 e doors of tlig sought beneath all in the divine handiwork was God. 
 •eigns. I - 
 
 VII. 
 
 , .. , nflis father, a man of intelligence and well-to-do in his profes- 
 ll'. 1* i'"''|"» ^^^^ '^^^ oppose the disposition which showed itself in the 
 n 1 ^t h '^""^'^'ows tastes of his son. lie sent him to I*avia to stu('y geo- 
 i ^^^^^^ .^xy^ geography, astronomy, astrology, the chimerical science 
 
 n V^'l'^^^*"'''yfthe time, and navigation. His mind ([uickly passed the limits 
 I .! ^'^ ^'^'-'•''i riiese then imi)erfect sciences. His was one of those souls 
 ..« ?^? ^^''^i^ich always go beyond the mark where ordinary men stoi) 
 «'ards know.^h the cry : enough ! 
 
 "When he was foui' en, he knew ill that was taught in the 
 ools, and returned to his family at (lenoa. His father's 
 entary and unintellectual profession, could not confine his 
 uUies. For several years he sailed on trading vessels, on 
 n-of-war, on voyages of adventure, which Genoese houses 
 ed out on the Mediterranean to dispute its waters and its 
 bours with the Spaniards, with the Arabs and Mahometans, 
 ort of perpetual crusade where trade, war and religion made, 
 m these sea affairs of the Italian republics, a school of com- 
 rce, of gain, heroism and sanctity. At once soldier, scholar 
 d sailor, he embarked on the vessels which his country lent 
 the Duke of Anjoi to conquer Naples, on the fleet which the 
 unger than Hjng of Naples sent to attack Tunis, and on the sciuadrons with 
 her obscu- ^[ch Genoa fought Spain. 
 
 Jndour and ^ He raised himself, it is said, to the command of obscure naval 
 
 eatpeditions in the military marine of his country. Hut history 
 
 Jure offers ^ses sight of him in these beginnings of his life. His destiny 
 
 larly wlien ^jfas not there ; he felt himself confined in these narrow seas and 
 
 3ol-carder or 
 I liberal aiu 
 
 Publics, th"v 
 ries, forme * 
 ance in thei 
 
 artholomew 
 labours, his 
 
lO 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 in these narrow enterprises. His imagination was greater thif, 
 his country. He meditated a conquest for humanity at la^jce' 
 and not for a small republic in Liguria. ihe 
 
 Itanl 
 VIII. Inci' 
 
 . WhI 
 
 In the intervals between these expeditions, Christopl^^gr 
 Col'-imbus found, in the study of his art, at once the satis fact i>|eg( 
 of his passion for geography and navigation, and his mod|^ gai' 
 livelihood. He designed, engraved and sold his marine chart] 
 this small trade was hardly sufficient for his existence, he rath 
 looked to it for the advancement of science than for gain. H 
 mind and intellect, continually fixed on the stars and the oceai 
 prosecuted in idea an end foreseen by himself alone. 
 
 A shipwreck, following a naval engagement, and the burninjon 
 of a galley that he commanded in the Bay of Lisbon, fixed li 
 house in Portugal. He threw himself into the sea to esca[ 
 the flames, seized an oar with one hand, and, swimming t 
 wards the shore with the her, reached the beacn. Portugal 
 absorbed at that tirnx- by .he passion of maritime discovery 
 was a place of residence which suited with his inclinations. 11 
 hoped that he would find there, both opportunity and meanfy^m 
 of putting to sea at his pkasure ; he found in reality only tlii|ig w 
 ill-paid and sedentary occupation of a geographer, obscurity aii^hd 
 love. Going daily to the services at u convent church in Listl 
 bon, he conceived an attachment for a young ^ecluse, whos 
 beauty had struck him. She was the daughter of an Italiai 
 nobleman in the Portuguese service. Her father, when settim 
 out on a distant naval expedition, had entrusted her to the nuiv 
 of this convent. Attracted on her side by the thoughtful anc 
 majestic beauty of the young stranger, whom she saw regular!) 
 at the daily services of the church, she returned the love witl 
 which she had inspired him. As they were both in a foreigi: 
 country without relations or money, there was nothing to oppose 
 the inclination which they felt towards each other ; tney were 
 married, trusting to Providence and hard work, the sole dowr) 
 of Philippa and her lover. For the supp-^rt of his mother-in 
 law, his wife and himself, he continued the manufacture of maps 
 and globes which, on account of their perfection, were much 
 sought for by Portuguese sailors. The papers of his father-in 
 
 Lnc 
 ;an| 
 'hi 
 :eni 
 )k( 
 
 o 
 
 h 
 s, 
 
 SS( 
 
 nt] 
 ibi 
 
 m 
 
 on 
 
 n 
 
 TV 
 
 dii 
 
 o 
 
 tb 
 
 r 
 ,bl 
 ilo 
 U! 
 
 I 
 
 J* 
 
 
 t umkm 
 
IS. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 II 
 
 was greater thr, which were given to him by his wife, and his correspon- 
 
 lumanity at la«0ce with Joscanelli, the famous Florentine geographer, fur- 
 
 jiied him, it is said, with precise knowledge concerning the 
 
 Itant Indian Ocean, and the means of correcting the first 
 
 ihciples of navigation, at that time confused and fabulous. 
 
 n While entirely wrapped up in his domestic happiness and 
 
 ' th Y'^^l'^P 'SOgraphical studies, his first son was born, whom he called 
 
 and p Hbgo after his brother. His circle of friends consisted wholly 
 
 s m ^'^ "'jodi; sailors returning from distant expeditions, or dreaming of 
 
 anne cnartift^nQyyi, countries and of routes not yet traced upon the 
 
 an. 
 
 he workshop where he fashioned his maps and globes was 
 
 entre of ideas, of conjectures and projects that constantly 
 
 J , . j|L)ke to his imagination of some great discovery not yet made 
 
 ichr.« ^i:. T!"i°" ^^^ globe. His wife, the daughter and sister of sailors, 
 
 o shared in these enthusiasms. As he outlined his globes 
 
 itence, he rath 
 
 1 tot gain. }{ 
 
 ' and the ocea 
 
 lone. 
 
 nd tl 
 
 isbon, fixed hj 
 
 a to escajAh his fingers and marked his maps with islands and contin 
 ch^^'^p^'"^ ™s, a mighty void in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean im- 
 • " ,, ^'"PMBSsed Columbus. At that spot the earth seemed to lack the 
 disco ven^Ainterpoise of a continent. Rumours, vague, marvelous and 
 ible, spoke to sailors' imaginations, of shores dimly visible 
 m the summits of the Azores ; of islands, motionless or float- 
 which appeared in clear weather, only to disappear or to 
 hdraw into the distance, when rash pilots tried to approach 
 m. A Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, who was then looked 
 on as an inventor of fables, but whose truthfulness has since 
 n acknowledged by time, narrated to the western world the 
 c— .rvels 01 the continents, kingdoms and civilization of Tartary, 
 r to the nuH'Mdia and China, which were supposed to extend to where the 
 oughtful an( mo Americas lie in reality. Columbus himself hoped to find, 
 the extremity of the Atlantic, those lands of gold, pearls and 
 rrh, from which Solomon drew his riches, that Ophyr of the 
 ble since hidden in the cloud land of the distant and the mar- 
 lous. It was not a new, but a lost continent, for which he 
 ught. The attraction of the false led him to the true. 
 Following Ptolemy and the Arabian geographers, he sup- 
 sed, in his calculations, that the earth was a globe of wiiich 
 e could make the circuit. He thought this globe to be 
 aller than it is by some thousands of miles. He conse- 
 ently imagined that the extent of sea to be traversed in 
 
 clinations. H 
 
 ty and mean 
 
 eality only th. 
 
 obscurity an 
 
 church in Li,^ 
 
 ecluse, whos 
 
 of an Italiai 
 
 when settini 
 
 saw regular]] 
 he love with 
 i in a foreigr 
 ng to oppose .1 
 ; tney wer( 
 - sole down 
 s mother-in 
 :ure of maps 
 were mu( li 
 lis father-ill 
 
12 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 ii 
 
 order to reach these unknown parts of India, was less grittn 
 than sailors thought it, li*l 
 
 The existence or these countries seemed to him to ift^H 
 confirmed by the strange testimony of the captains who h^^ 
 advanced the furthest beyond the Azores. Some had set4p'^ 
 floating or the waves, branches of trees unknown in the wcttio 
 others pieces of carved wood, which had not been worked wii^ 
 iron tools ; some, enormous firs, a single trunk hollowed int(>W^^' 
 canoe, which could carry eighty rowers ; others, gigantic reed^t^^ 
 some, lastly, corpses of men, white or copper coloured, whc^"^ 
 features resembled in nothing the Western, Asiatic, or Afric. 'It 
 races. ttem] 
 
 All these floating indications, from time to time, in the wal - 
 of ocean storms, and I know not what vague instinct th;-ii 
 always precedes the reality, as the shadow goes before tl ' rr. J 
 body when one has the sun behind him, foretold wonders t^ 
 the common herd, and proved to Columbus the existence i5 i' 
 lands beyond the shores marked out by the hand of geographcj? 
 on the charts of the world. j' , * 
 
 Only he was convinced that these lands were but a prolongij? • 
 tion of Asia, filling more than a third of the circumference c^' 
 the globe. The extent of that circumference, then unknown t^ 
 philosophers and geometricians, left to conjecture the extent c 
 ocean that had to be crossed to reach this imaginary Asia. 
 
 Some thought it incommensurable ; others imagined it to b 
 a kind of deep and boundless ether, in which sailors lose thei 
 way like u'ronauts to-day in the wastes of the firmament. Tb, 
 greater number, ignorant of the laws of gravitation and attrac 
 tion, which draw bodies towards the centre, and yet alread; 
 admitting the rotundity of the globe, believed that ships oi 
 men, carried by chance to the Antipodes, would break loos(| 
 from their attachment, to fail into the abysses of space. 
 
 The laws which govern the level and the movements of the 
 ocean were equally unknown to them. They thought of the \ 
 sea, beyond a certain horizon, defined by islands alreadj 
 discovered, as a sort of liquid chaos, the enormous waves o 
 which rose into inaccessible mountains, hollowed into bottom 
 less whirlpools, rushed down from heaven in impassable cata 
 racii, which sucked in and swallowed up the vessels rasl 
 em igh to approach them. The better instructed, while ad 
 
 sec 
 op 
 C( 
 
 or< 
 
 ta 
 
 y ' 
 
 ea 
 on 
 
 nl 
 e^ 
 
 
 
 u 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 i 
 
 .m 
 
s. 
 
 CHRlSTorHKR CULUMHUS. 
 
 13 
 
 ^> was less gritting the laws of gravitation anH n rertain level for expanses 
 li(iuid, thought that the rounded form of the earth gave the 
 ' to him to :win an incline towards the Antipodes, which would carry 
 iptains who luips towards nameless shores, but which would never allow 
 Some had secfni to re-climb this slope to return to Europe. From these 
 ^n in the wcU'ious prejudices respecting the nature, the form, the extent, 
 t-en worked wiHi the acclivities and declivities of the ocean, there was 
 hollowed intf>inied a wide-spread and mysterious terror, which a man of 
 I gigantic reedifestigating genius could alone approach in thought, and one 
 coloured, whnijniore than human audacity alone sail out to meet, 
 latic, or Afric; ,It was the struggle of a human soul against an element ; to 
 
 tiempt it, it needed more than man. 
 lie, in the wal I 
 
 le instinct th:| IX. 
 
 oes before tl v 
 
 old wonders • ♦ ^^^ unconquerable attraction which this enterprise had for 
 'le existence ^^ P°°^ geographer was the real tie which kept Columbus for 
 of '^eogranh^^^ many yeftts at Lisbon, as if in the country of his dreams. 
 li was the moment when Portugal, under the government of 
 J"t a prolonm^^" ^^'* ^*^ enlightened and enterprising prince, gave herself 
 rcumference ft' ^" ^ spirit of colonisation, trade, and adventure, to a 
 -n unknown (#<^^ession of naval attemps to bind Europe to Asia, and when 
 s the extent r 1^^^^ ^e Gama, the Portuguese colonist, was on tne point of 
 lary Asia ascovering the sea route to India by the Cape of Good 
 
 'gined it to btf °P^' 
 
 ilors lose the 1 Col^^'iibus, convmced that he would find a more open and 
 lament. TbW^^^ direct route by sailing straight before him to the west, 
 on and'attnc J^*^^"^^' ^^^^^ ^^"S solicitation, an audience of the King, to 
 3 yet alrea'd'l^y ^^^ plans of discovery before him, and to ask him for the 
 that shins 1 *^^"^ ^^ ^^^^^ accomplishment to the advantage of his king- 
 
 f break loose 1°'^^' ^°^^^ ^^ P^°^^ ^"^ SW- . * 
 
 pace. 1 ^^^ ^i"g listened to him with interest. The faith of this 
 
 tnents of th l^^'iown man in his hopes did not appear to him sufficiently 
 evoid of foundation to be relegated to the rank of chimeras, 
 lolumbus, besides his natural eloquence, possessed the elo- 
 uence of conviction. The King was sufficiently impressed to 
 ommission a council, consisting of scholars and pohticians, to 
 xamine the proposal of the Genoese sailor, and to report to 
 im on the probabilities of his enterprise. This council, which 
 eluded the King's confessor and some geographers whose in- 
 
 ought of the 
 Lnds already 
 >us waves 
 nto bottom 
 issable cata 
 vessels rasi 
 i, while ad 
 
 ^ 
 
ti 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 1 
 
 
 fluence was great at court, in proportion to the smallnes^a. 
 
 their difference from common prejudice, declared the ideas dii^ 
 
 Columbus to be chimerical, and contrary to all the laws of ]) to 
 
 sics and religion. i 1>1 
 
 A second examining council, to which Columbus appealne, 
 
 with the King's permission, gave a decision more unfavouraicold 
 
 than the first. Nevertheless, by a piece of perfidy unknowi 
 
 the King, his counsellors imparted these plans to a certain c 
 
 tain, and secretly despatched a vessel without the knowledThel 
 
 of Columbus to attempt the route to Asia which he had iiiii sci' 
 
 cated. This ship, having penetrated some days' sail beyor. pre 
 
 the Azores, returned, terrified by the void and the immensi; sei 
 
 of space, half seen, and confirmed the council in its contenisiest 
 
 for the conjectures of Columbus. ciety| 
 
 lich 
 
 X. His 
 
 ^ -d tul 
 
 While vainly soliciting the Portuguese Court, the unfortunaQ^jief 
 
 Columbus had lost his wife, at once his love and consolatio fjystl 
 
 and the hopeful inspiration of his dreams. His means of liv^ i\iq\ 
 
 lihood, neglected for prospects of discovery, were at a low eblgja w 
 
 his creditors were eager for the fruits of his labour, they seize jje 
 
 his globes and charts, and even threatened his liberty. ManQU^ tl 
 
 years had thus been lost in waiting ; he was approaching mi(\^ei 
 
 die life ; his son was growing up ; the extremes of misery wer,|^er! 
 
 the only patrimony he saw before him, instead of the worl(^ev 
 
 he had outlined for himself. dll ol 
 
 He stole av/ay by night from Lisbon, on foot, without othe^t b' 
 
 resources than hospitality by the way, now leading his soifthe 
 
 Diego by the hand, now carrying him on his strong shoulders g^m 
 
 ' he entered Spain, decided to offer to Ferdinand and Isabella[oiis 
 
 who were then on the throne, that continent which Portugafeip, 
 
 had refused. n in 
 
 It was in the prosecution of this long pilgrimage to the ever -Ju 
 
 shifting seat of the Spanish court, that he had reached the doori^cJ 
 
 of the monastery of Rabida, near Palos. He proposed to gc^a 
 
 first to the little town of Huerta, in Andalusia, where a brotheij^orl 
 
 of his wife was living, to leave his son Diego in the hands opurj 
 
 this brother-in-law, and to face alone the delays, the hazardscoui 
 
 and perhaps the incredulity of the court of Ferdinand and Isa-and 
 
us. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 IS 
 
 * the smallnesia. It is said that before going to Spain, he had thought it 
 -lared the ideasdiity, as an Itahan and a Genoese, first to offer his discov- 
 ^1 the laws of p to Genoa, as his native country, and to the Venetian Sen- 
 
 ; but these two republics, taken up by ambitions nearer 
 )lumbus appealne, and by more pressing rivalries, answered his solicitations 
 lore unfavoura'coidness and refusal, 
 rndy unknowr yt 
 
 5 to a certain c ^^' 
 
 \ V^? ^"°^^^(The Prior of the monastery of Rabida was better versed in 
 " ,"^.had inti sciences relating to navigation than pertained to a man of 
 ays sail beyor, profession. His monastery, which commanded a view of 
 i the immensi; sea, and was near the small harbour of Palos, one of the 
 m Its conten^siest in Andalusia, had thrown the monk constantly into the 
 
 ciety of the navigators and shipowners of this little town, 
 
 lich was entirely given up to sea affairs. 
 
 His studies, whilst he resided at the capital, and the court, 
 the unf ^ turned in the direction of the natural sciences and the 
 
 id con I "^'^ol>l6"is that were exercising men's minds. He was moved 
 J mean^ f5-° ^^^^ ^^ P^^^' ^"^' ^°°" afterward, when talking to Columbus 
 ^ _^ „ ,^ ,h the subjects of the day, by conviction and enthusiasm for a 
 e at a low pI^ i i.i- • !•• 
 
 yj. .1 .'^^an who seemed to him so superior to his circumstances. 
 
 ibert ^^ m'^*^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^"^ °^ *^^ emissaries of God, who are driven 
 Droa h' "om the thresholds of princes and cities, to which they bring 
 Q^ . ^"^ "^^ tiieir needy hands the invisible treasures of truth. Religion 
 I of th^^^ ^^'^tt4erstood genius, which is also a revelation demanding its 
 
 tne worl(Qjie,^gj.s jij^g ^j^g other. The monk felt himself drawn to be 
 
 with f 1, '^^ °^ these worshippers who share in the revelations of genius, 
 
 idin h' ° 'o* by discovery, but by faith. Providence generally sends one 
 
 h M ^^^ these believers to eminent men, to keep them from discour- 
 and f^^^f^g^i^snt in the face of the incredulity, harshness or persecu- 
 
 • , p^^^^'^ons of the crowd : theirs is the most sublime form of friend- 
 
 "ortugajjip^ these friends of truth misunderstood, and confidants of 
 , . , O impracticable future. 
 
 h H fh ^^^^ "Juan Peres, in the depths of his solitude, felt himself predes- 
 
 tne dooriB^d by heaven to introduce Columbus to the favour of Isa- 
 
 posed to gO)eila, and to become the apostle of his great design in the 
 
 [h \ ^^^^^^^^^' What he appreciated in Columbus was not only his 
 
 e nands ojpi^pose, it was himself, it was his elegance, disposition and 
 
 nH ^^^'^^^^^rage ; modesty, seriousness and eloquence ; piety, virtue 
 
 and Isa-aip sweetness ; grace, patience, and misfortune nobly borne, 
 
 € 
 
1 
 
 l6 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMIJUS. 
 
 that revealed in this stranger one of those natures niarkcry tl 
 a thousand perfections, with the divine seal, which f()ri)m tl( 
 to pass l)y, and compels us to admire the uni([ue man. i 
 
 After their first conversation, the monk not only yicUh k h\ 
 conviction to his guest, he gave him his heart, and, whal thj 
 rarer thing, he never witlidrew it from him. Columbus hen J 
 friend. aenf 
 
 XII. dlyl 
 
 dedl 
 
 Juan Peres induced Columbus to accept a shelter for shis 
 days, or at least a resting place for himself and his child, irepoi 
 humble monastery. During this short stay, the Prior tolry ol 
 friends in the town, who lived near Palos, of the arrivalm e 
 adventures of the guest who was visiting him. He invited timb 
 to the monastery to talk to the stranger about his conjertitver. 
 intentions and plans, in order to find out if his theories agnatic 
 with the ideas which the sailors of Palos had formed from oiaci 
 rience. An eminent man, who was a friend of the Prior, his 
 Fernandez, and Pierre de Velasco, an experienced navipighti 
 living at Palos, came, on the monk's invitation, to pass se^ 
 evenings at the monastery ; they listened to Columbus, 
 their eyes opened by his conversation, and entered intrjolur 
 ideas with all the warmth of upright minds and simple he:he ( 
 forming that first reunion where all new faiths are born iiiid, ^ 
 firm trust of a few proselytes, in the shadow of intimacy, n, ani 
 tery and solitude. Every great truth begins as a secret betms fo 
 friends before bursting full-voiced on the world. These ch i: 
 friends, whom Columbus had won over to his convictionsion 
 the cell of a poor monk, were perhaps dearer to him thanrcd. 
 enthusiasm and applause of all Spain, when success had corhe 
 crated his forecasts. The former believed on the assurancld t 
 his word, the latter were to believe only on the witness ofl Iss 
 consummated discoveries. pos 
 
 XIII. «J"^ 
 
 l88Ul 
 
 The monk, confirmed in his impressions through the tes'^WIs 
 of his ideas by the learning of Dr. Fernandez, and the exi*^ 
 ence of Velasco, the sailor, became, together with these 1*** ^ 
 warmly interested in his guest. "^ 
 
 He persuaded him to leave his son under his care in ^^ 
 monastery of Rabida, and to go to the court to offer his 
 
nvs. 
 
 CHRISTOI'HKR COLUMIjUS. 
 
 17 
 
 natures markcry to Ferdinand and Isabella, soliciting from these sover- 
 
 ^I» vvhich forhid the necessary assistance for the accompiishinent of his 
 
 nK^ue wan. j. Chance rendered an introduction from the humble 
 
 JOt only yicldoit both natural and powerful at the Spanish court. He had 
 
 loart, and, wlial there for a considerable time, holding the ear of the 
 
 Columbus hen as keeper of her conscience, and, since his taste for re- 
 
 aent had withdrawn him from the Palace, he had maintained 
 
 dly relations with the new confessor whom he had recom- 
 
 ded to the Queen. 
 
 a shelter for shis confessor, the controller of the consciences of kings at 
 
 nd his child, irepoclj, was Fernando de Talavera, the superior of the mon- 
 
 , the Prior tolry of the Prado, a worthy, influential, and upright man, to 
 
 ot the arrivalm every door in the Palace was open. Juan Peres handed 
 
 He mvited timbus a warm letter of recommendation for Fernando de 
 
 »ut his conjertuvera. He supplied him with a suitable outfit for his pre- 
 
 his theories ai^ation at court, a mule, a guide, a purse of sequins, and, 
 
 lormed from ^racing him at the gate of the monastery, commended him 
 
 J of the Prior, his project to the God who inspires men with great 
 
 ;rienced navJLights. 
 
 on, to pass se^ XIV. 
 
 to Columbus, 
 
 I entered intrJolumbus set out for Cordova, which was then the residence 
 md simple hc:he court, filled with gratitude to his first and generous 
 is are born iiiid, who never lost sight of him or withdrew his interest in 
 of mtimacy, n, and to whom he afterwards invariably ascribed the origin 
 s a secret betvjis fortune. He went forward with that confidence of success 
 orld. These ch is the illusion, but also the guiding star of genius. The 
 us convictionsion was soon to be dissipated, and the star soon to be ob- 
 r to him than red. 
 
 ■iccess had cofhe moment when the Genoese adventurer came to offer a 
 the assurancld to the crown of Spain seemed badly chosen ; Ferdinand 
 le witness ofl Isabella, far from thinking of the conquest of problemati- 
 possessions beyond unknown seas, were occupied in the re- 
 iquest of their own kingdom from the Spanish Moors. These 
 issulman conquerors of the Peninsula, after a long and pros- 
 rough the tes'OBs possession, saw themselves deprived one by one of the 
 , and the exiWWl and provinces, of which they now only held the moun- 
 with these A* and valleys surrounding Grenada, the capital and marvel 
 their empire. Ferdinand and Isabella employed all their 
 his care in ^W"* ^^^ their efforts, and all the resources of their two united 
 to offer his ii 
 
i8 
 
 CHKISTOl'IIKR COLUMHUS. 
 
 
 kingdoms to wrest this citadel of Spain from the Nig 
 United by a marriage of policy, which love had consul p 
 and a common glory rendered illustrious, one had broiini 
 dowry the kingdom of Arragon, the other the kingdom (,lu 
 tile, to this community of crowns. But, although the Kiige 
 Queen had thus blended their separate provinces in one i 
 try, they nevertheless retained a distinct and independcijh 
 over their heieditary kingdoms. They had their separate tl 
 isters and council for the special interests of their fornufo 
 sonal subjects. le 
 
 These councils were only united in a single governnicii 
 behalf of the patriotic interests common to the two crd 
 and to the King and Queen. Nature seemed to have en at 
 these two sovereigns with forms, qualities, and perfectiloi 
 body and mind, difterent, but nearly equal, as if to rendtci 
 feet in the two the reign of prestige, conquest, civilizatioj, 
 prosperity, for which she destined them. Ferdinand, lii 
 what older than Isabella, was an accomplished soldier j, 
 consummate politician. Before the age when a man leato 
 sad experience to know his fellows, he divined them. His 
 faults were a certain incredulity and coldness which arisi j 
 distrust, and which shut the heart to enthusiasm and genech 
 But these two virtues, which he lacked in some degrceev 
 supplied in his councils by the gentleness of soul and ovve 
 ing heart and genius of Isabella. Young, beautiful, tb 
 mired of all, adored by him, learned, pious without superria 
 eloquent, full of fire for great deeds, attracted by grealls 
 hopeful of great ideas, she impressed on the heart and tb i 
 icy of Ferdinand the heroism which springs from the so I 
 the marvellous which is born of the imagination. She in 
 he executed ; the one found her recompense in her hus 
 renown, the other his glory in his wife's admiration and Kej 
 
 This double reign, which was to become almost fabulmg 
 Spain, but waited, to be ever immortalized among all )h 
 the arrival of this poor stranger who came to beg admittale 
 the palace at Cordova, bearing the letter of a lowly nn c 
 his hand. h 
 
 XV. 
 
 This letter, which the Queen's confessor read with scei c 
 and prejudice, only opened to Columbus a long v^c« 
 anticipation, discouragement, and audiences refused. 
 
MIUJS. 
 
 CHRISTOrilKK COLUMIJUS. 
 
 19 
 
 lin from the ^t only in retirement and leisure that men have ears for 
 ove had consol projects. In the ferment of business and of courts, they 
 3, one had broii neither the lime or the f;ood-will. 
 
 r the kingdom (•lonibus was repulsed at every door, because he was a 
 ilthough the Kii^r, says the historian Ovicdo, the contemporary of that 
 :)rovinces in one rnan, because he was poorly clad, and because he 
 and independcijht to courtiers and ministers no other recommendation 
 iad their sejjarauthe letter of a solitary Franciscan monk, who had been 
 ts of their forme forgotten at court. 
 
 le King and Queen did not even hear of him; Isabella's 
 single governintiiBor, either from contempt or indifference, com|)letely 
 n to the two er(J the hop^ which Juan Peres had placed in hirn. (Jolum- 
 jmed to have en at steadfast as certainly that awaits its time, remained at 
 ies, and perfectilova, in order to watch upon the spot for a more favourable 
 al, as if to rencl»ent. When, in long waiting, he had exhausted the small 
 iquest, civilizati(i5, which his friend, the Prior of Rabida, had given him, 
 m. Ferdinand, ijned a wrotched living by his small trade in globes and 
 nplished soldiery playing with the representations of a world which he 
 when a man leato conquer. 
 
 vined them. Hiii rough and uncomplaining existence during these many 
 dness which arisi allows us, in the depths of his obscurity, but a glimpse of 
 usiasm and genechedness, hard work, and hopes deceived, 
 in some degrecevertheless, young and tender of iicart, he loved and was 
 ;s of soul and ovvcd during these years of trial ; for a second son, Ferdinand, 
 mg, beautiful, t born about this time of a mysterious love affair, which 
 us without superriage never consecrated, and the memory of which he 
 ;tracted by grealU in his will in touching words of remorse. This illegiti- 
 the heart and tfe son he brought up with as much tenderness as his other 
 ngs from the so Diego. 
 
 ination. She in XVI. 
 
 ense in her hus 
 
 idmiralion and I'.eanwhile, his refinement and dignified presence showed 
 ne almost fabuliugh the disguise of his humble calling. The distinguished 
 zed among all )le, with whom he was occasionally brought in contact by 
 e to beg admittdealings in scientific instruments, received from his person 
 er of a lowly mi conversation an impression of astonishment and charm, 
 '.h, like the lightning flash, blazes forth from mean surround- 
 the greatness of a destiny. These business transactions 
 )r read with scei conversations imperceptibly gained him friends, whose 
 ibus a long v^W have been preserved by history to share the gratitude of 
 ces refused. 
 
II 
 
 ! 
 
 30 
 
 CHKISTOPHKK COLUMMUS. 
 
 ( 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 I) I > 
 
 the future world ; it mentions Alonzo dc (}uintanilla, ( 
 trollcr of the (V.ieen's Finances; (Icraldini, tutor of th< 
 princes, her sons ; Antonio (leraldini, Papal Nuncio 
 court of Ferdinand ; and, last, Mendoza, Cardinal Ar( li 
 of Toledo, a man of such influence that he was called iUj 
 King of Spain. 
 
 xvir. 
 
 •n 
 
 The Archbishop of Toledo, frightened at first In 
 geographical innovations which seemed, erroneously, to 
 diet the concei)tions of the celestial medianism contaid 
 the Bible, was soon reassured by the sincere and reniaie 
 piety of Columbus. He ceased to fear a blasphemy u e, 
 which exalted the works and the wisdom of (Jod. Atil 
 by the system and charmed by the man, he obtained le 
 prott?g6 an audience of his sovereigns. Columbus, after t\v( d 
 of waiting, appeared at this audience with the modesty k 
 unassuming stranger, but with the confidence of a tributarri 
 brings to his masters more than they can give to him. d 
 
 " In thinking of what I was," he himself wrote later, "'« 
 abashed by humility; but, reflecting on what I brought, is 
 myself the ecpial of kings ; I was no longer myself, I wac 
 instrument of God, chosen and marked out for the accomo 
 ment of a great design." e( 
 
 le 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 c] 
 
 Ferdinand listened to Columbus with seriousness, Is;* 
 with enthusiasm. From his first look and from his first aci* 
 she conceived for this messenger of God an admiration r 
 amounted to fiinaticism, and an attraction which touched ' 
 tenderness. Nature had endowed Columbus with the per^' 
 charms that captivate the eye, as well as with the elo(ji^ 
 that persuades the mind. One would have said that sh?' 
 signed him to have a queen for his first apostle, and tlia 
 truths with which he was to enrich his age were to be wclo 
 and cherished in a woman's heart. Isabella was this w(^ 
 her faithfulness to Columbus neither failed before the inc* 
 ence of her court, oi before his enemies, or his misforl 
 She believed in him from the first day, she was his proselyj 
 
 
 
 the throne and his friend till death. 
 
MFurs. 
 
 CllKlSTUl'llKK COLUMIJUS. 
 
 31 
 
 dc Quintanilla, 
 lini, tutor of tlu 
 Papal Nuncio 
 L. Cardinal An 
 
 nand, after hearing Columbus, appointed an examining 
 il to tiicet at Salamanca, under the presidency of Fernando 
 iavcrn, I'lior of the Prado This council was composed of 
 
 he was called iIr'®*" ^'**-* ^^^^ kingdoms who were best versed in the sacred 
 
 rofane sciences. It met in this literary capital of Spr.in, 
 
 '. I)(MTiiniran monastery, where Columbus was a guest. 
 
 •riests and monks were at that time the arbiters of every- 
 
 fied at first by in Spain. Civilization had its being in the sanctuary. 
 
 erroneously, to - > were only monarchs of their actions, their thoughts be- 
 
 cchanism contai d to the P()|)e. The Infjuisition, that sacerdotal police, 
 
 incere and reiu.ued, reaciied and struck, even undor the shadow of the 
 
 a blasphemy iiiCt all that incurred the taint of heresy. The King had 
 
 )m of God. Atil to this council professors of astronomy, geography and 
 
 n, he obtained le sciences taught at Salamanca. This auditory did not 
 
 )lumbus, after l\v( date Columbus; he hoped to be judged by his peers, he 
 
 /ith the modestyidged only by those who despised him. The first time he 
 
 ence of a tributarred in the great hall of the monastery, the monks and pre- 
 
 i give to him. d men of science, convinced beforehand that every theory 
 
 elf wrote later, "^cnt beyond their knowledge or routine was but the dream 
 
 what I brought, iscased or presumptuous mind, only saw in this obscure 
 
 nger myself, I wacr an adventurer seeking a fortune from his chimeras. No 
 
 )ut for the accomondescendcd to listen to him, with the exception of two 
 
 ee monks from the monastery of St. Etienne of Salamanca, 
 
 le men and without authority, who gave themselves up in 
 
 cloister to studies which were scorned by the superior 
 
 jg.. The other examiners overwhelmed Columbus by quo- 
 
 ,^(,jl from the ]iil)le, the prophets, the psalms, the gospels and 
 
 an admiration \^^^^ ^^ ^he church that pulverized beforehand, by texts 
 
 n which touched "dmittcd of no discussion, the theory of the globe and 
 
 cibus with the pcr^*^^^^ •^"^^^ impious existence of the antipodes. Lactance, 
 
 s with the elo(|iJ^^^^^'^^' ^''^^ ^'°'''"^^'y ^'^P'*^^"^^ ^'^ P^^^^^^*^ ^" ^^'*^ ^'^^P®^' 
 lave said that shi^^^S^ which was brought forward against Columbus, 
 apostle and tlia tthere anything so absurd," Lactance had said, " as the 
 J were to be wclo^*^ there are antipodes who have their feet opposite to 
 ^pIU wnc fVii'c «,/-Tt**n who walk with their heels in the air and their heads 
 ed before the inr^°"""' ^ P^^^ ^^ ^"® world where everythmg is upside 
 s or his misfort ^^^^ '^^' ^^^^^ g^ow with their roots in the air and their 
 
 e'was his prosely'*^ ^" \^*^ earth." 
 
 Aiigustine had gone even further, for he had called the 
 
 O^lef in the antipodes an iniquity : 
 
 seriousness, 
 from his first 
 
 1 
 
33 
 
 CHRISTOPMI.K COLUMBUS. 
 
 •' For," said he, •• that would he to suppoHC there are 
 that (h) not descend from Adam ; hut the Bible says 
 men «1( .< end honi one and the »ame parent." ^ 
 
 Other learned doctors, taking a poetical mctapli< j 
 system of the world, <pioled to the geographer this veric 
 psahn where it says, (i(><l stretched the heaven over tlj 
 like a lent, whence it followed, according to them, that t{ 
 must be flat. 
 
 It was in vain that Columbus answered his interrogate 
 a piety which did not refuse to take into account the ^ 
 nature ; it was in vain that, respectfully following them i^ 
 logical ground, he showed iiimself to be more religious j 
 orthodox than ll»ey, because he was more enthusiastic .^ 
 works of CfOd. The thunders and lightning of his ch ^ 
 impassioned by truth, were lost on the wilful darkness . 
 stubborn minds. Only a few monks seemed stirred b j 
 or shaken by conviction at his voice. Diego de Deza, j 
 of the Dominican order and a man in advance of his tn, 
 afterwards became Archbishop of Toledo, generously v 
 to combal the prejudices of the council and to lend the j 
 of his word and authority to Columbus. This unexpe( ^ 
 could not overcome the indifference or obstinacy of the ^ 
 ers. The conferences were renewed, without leading ^ 
 conclusion. They finally flagged, harassing the truth !))., 
 lays that are the last refuge of error. They were inl( , 
 by a fresh war which Ferdinand and Isabella waged aga. 
 Moors of Grenada. Columbus, put off, saddened, scon 
 dismissed, sustained only by the favour of Isabella and \^ 
 quest of Diego de Deza to his theory, i)itiably followed t,., 
 and the army from camp to camp and city to city, wattj 
 vain for an hour's attention, which the tumult of arms pr, 
 him from obtaining. Meanwhile the Queen, as constar^ 
 secret fav( ur which she bore him as fortune was uiiq 
 continued to have good hope of this unappreciated geij 
 to extend him her protection. She had a house or u^ 
 served for Columbus at all the halting places of the cou 
 treasurer was charged to entertain the learned foreignct 
 an importunate guest who begs assistance, but as a distir^ 
 visitor who honours the kingdom and whose services n 
 wish to retain. 
 
.UMHUS. 
 
 CHRISToriIEK LOI.UMIJUS. 
 
 '^S 
 
 XIX. 
 
 idppoHC there arc 
 It ttie Hible ntxy , 
 
 )arcnt. tvenil yearn pasurd l)y, during which the King of Portugal, 
 
 pociual inctaph. jjjj ^f Kngland and the King of France, having heard 
 igr.iplK'i^ this ver^ij ^^^^■^J. ambassadors of this wonderful nian, who held out 
 \c heaven over Up ^j^^ proji^i^^. ,,f ^ new world, had tempting proposals 
 iig to them, that n^^ Columbus to enter their service. 
 
 . ) tender gratitude which he had vowed to Isabella, and 
 
 red his "itt-'"<>K«^t y^ ^l^j^.j^ |j^^ j^^^^^. ij^-mrice Knri«|ues of Cordova, who was 
 
 other of his second son Ferdinand, caused him to reject 
 offers, and kept him in the suite of the court. He re- 
 I All empire for the young (^ueen in return for her kind- 
 9 him. He was present at the siege and ("onciuest of 
 da; he saw Hoabdil restore to lerdinand and Isabella 
 jyi of that capital, the palaces of the Abencerages and the 
 le of the Alhambra. He was in the train of the S|)anish 
 
 ito account the 
 f following them 
 )e more religious 
 more enthusiastK 
 ghtning of his el< 
 : wilful darknes: 
 seemed stirred 1 
 
 Diego de Ue/a, ,jgj^g ^j jl^gj^ triumphal entry into this last refuge of Is- 
 
 advance of his iiijj^ jl^ g^^^ beyond these ramparts and these valleys of 
 M J^^"^'^^^^ y ^^jda other triumphal entries into vaster possesssioLS. To 
 
 ^"^ru^^ ^ ^^ ieemed little in comparison with his dreams, 
 
 s. Ihis unexpccg pgj^j,^, which followed this concjuest, in 1492, led to a 
 •obstinacy of the ^ meeting at Seville of the examiners of his plans, who 
 , without leadm^^jQ gjyg ^j^^jj. opinion to the crown. This opinion, vainly 
 issing the truth h)>^^ as at Salamanca, by Diego de De/a, was to reject the 
 Ihey were »nt(^ ^l^g Genoese adventurer, if not as impious, at least as 
 sabella waged ag;i,j|0,^]^ j.„^ as comi)romising the dignity of the Spanish 
 ff, saddened, scon ^^fiich could not authorize an enterprise on such a weak 
 r of Isabella and ^^^n. 
 )itiably followed tf^y^and, intluenced, however, by Isabella, softened the 
 
 city to city, watiji^gg yf jj^i^ resolution of the council in communicating it 
 tumult of arms PMumbus, whom he led to hope that, as soon as he obtained 
 2ueen, as constaryji possession of Spain by the final expulsion of the Moors, 
 ; fortune was uiiquj^ would help, with ships and subsidies, that expedition 
 unappreciated gcicovery and conquest of which he had spoken to him for 
 had a house or amy years. 
 
 places of the cou XX. 
 
 learned foreign ci 
 
 ice but as a distii^tte waiting, without much hope, the ever-postponed ful- 
 
 whose services 11°^ ©^ ^he King's promises and of the more sincere desires 
 
 •aliella, Columbus tried to persuade two great Spanish 
 
•If 
 
 1'^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ ■ 
 
 m 
 
 
 a 
 
 , 
 
 
 li 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 '-"^ffflBHi 
 
 
 24 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 •1) 
 
 noblemen, the dukes of Medina-Sidonia and Medina? 
 undertake the enterprise at their own expense, lioth < 
 possessed ships and harbours on the Spanish coast. 'IT 
 at first pleased by these prospects of glory and mariti 
 sessions for their houses, but they afterwards abandon > 
 from incredulity or indifference. 
 
 Envy was raging against Columbus even before he j 
 served it by success ; it persecuted him, as if by antic 
 and instinct, even in his expectations, for it disputed 
 session of what it called his chimeras. 
 
 With tears he again abandoned his endeavours. T 
 ness of the ministers in granting him a hearing, the c 
 of the monks in rejecting his ideas as scientific saeriki 
 empty promises and eternal postponements of the coun 
 him, after six years of anguish, into such a state of disc 
 ment that he finally relinquished all fresh solicitation i 
 Spanish sovereigns, and resolved to go to France and 01 
 empire to the King, from whom he had received soni, 
 tures. 
 
 Kuined in fortune, depressed in hope, worn out by \x\ 
 and heartbroken by the i^ecessity of tearing himself awcti 
 the love which bound him to Beatrice, he again left Cd 
 on foot, if not with prospects for the future, at least ta 
 the moiidstery of Rabida, to find his faithful friend, Juane 
 He intended to take away his son Diego, whom he I13 
 there, to bring him back to Cordova and confide him,c 
 his departure for France, to the charge of Beatrice, the 1 
 of his natural son, Ferdinand. The two brothers, thus b 
 up in the care and love of the same woman, would fcs 
 each other the brotherly affection which was the only ] 
 tance that he had to leave them. 
 
 XXI. i 
 
 Tears flowed from, the eyes of the Prior, Juan Peres, vk 
 saw his friend knocking at the door of the monastery, c£ 
 still more miserably clad than on the first occasion, suffil 
 attesting, by his threadbare clothes and the sadness of h? 
 the scepticism of men and the ruin of his hopes. But* 
 dence had hidden anew the spring of fortune for Colunl 
 
.UMIiUS. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 as 
 
 onia and Medinajart of friendship. The faith of the poor monk in the 
 
 expense. ^^<^th »ind future of his protege's discoveries, instead of depress- 
 
 panish coast. Tltitated him, and charitably lent him strength in the face 
 
 giory and mariti misfortunes. He greeted his guest, lamented and con- 
 
 erwards abandon- tvith him ; but, quickly calling up all his energy and 
 
 ity, he sent to the palace for Dr. Fernandez, the former 
 s even before he ant of the secret of ColumI)us, for Alonzo Pinzon, a rich 
 nm, as if by antictor of the seaport, and Sebastian Rodriguez of Lepi, an 
 , for It disputed iplished pilot. 
 
 J ideas of Columbus, unrolled afresh before this little 
 endeavours. Tliil of friends, made the hearers more and more enthusi- 
 a hearing, the ob They besought him to remain and again tempt fortune, 
 s scientific sacrilcing for Spain, although ungrateful and incredulous, the 
 ments of the courof an enterprise unique in history. Pinzon promised to 
 ich a state of disc in the equipment of the immortal flotilla with his vessels 
 fresh solicitation is wealth, as soon as the Government had consented to 
 ) to France and orize it. Juan Peres wrote no longer to the Queen's con- 
 had received som, but to the Queen herself, to interest her conscience as 
 
 as her glory in an enterprise w^ich would lead whole 
 3e, worn out by ms from idolatry to the true faith. He made earth and 
 taring himself awan speak for him, finding warmth and persuasion in his 
 e, he again left Cdh for the greatness of his country and in his friendship, 
 future, at least tcnbus refusing, in his discouragement, to be the bearer of 
 ithful friend, Juanetter to a court the delays and neglect of which he had so 
 >iego, whom he liy felt, the pilot Rodriguez himself undertook the com- 
 and confide him.on to carry it to Grenada, where the court was then stay- 
 of Beatrice, the i He left, accompanied by the good wishes and prayers of 
 o brothers, thus bionastery and of the friends of Columbus at Palos. The 
 woman, would fcsenth day after his departure he was seen returning in 
 ch was the only ph to the monastery. The Queen had read the letter of 
 
 Peres, the perusal of which had revived all her prepos- 
 
 DHS in favour of the Genoese. She immediately com- 
 
 led the venerable Prior to come to the court, and sent 
 
 to Columbus to wait at the Monastery of Rabida for the 
 
 or, Juan Peres, vk's return and the resolution of the Council. 
 
 the monastery, c^n Peres, intoxicated by his friend's success, had his mule 
 
 St occasion, suffiled without an hour's delay and set out the same night, 
 
 the sadness of h?, across the country, infested as it was by the Moors. 
 
 his hopes. Buteit that heaven protected, in his person, the great design 
 
 Qrtune for Colunh he held in trust in the person of his friend. He reached 
 
i'l 
 
 li 
 
 i 
 
 . '1 
 '- III 
 
 II 
 
 26 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 (I 
 
 his destination, and the doors of the palace opened at I 
 He saw the Queen, rekindling in her, by the fervency 
 conviction, the faith and interest which, of her own ao 
 had conceived for this great work. The Marchioness < 
 Isabella's favourite, became, from piety and enthusiast 
 on behalf of the protege of the saintly monk. T 
 womanly hearts, excited in favour of the projects of a 
 turer by a monk's eloquence, triumphed over the opp 
 the court. 
 
 Isabella sent Columbus a sum of money, taken 
 private treasure, to enable him to buy a mule and clo 
 that he might immediately come to the court. Juai 
 who remained with the Queen to support his friend 
 and deed, sent this good news and monet,'\ry assist 
 Rabida by a messenger, who gave the letter and the ar 
 Dr. Fernandez, of Palos, to be transmitted to Columbi 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Columbus, having bought a mule and taken a servan! 
 ed Granada, and was admitted to discuss his plans a 
 ditions with Ferdinand's ministers. 
 
 " An obscure and unknown man," writes an eye-i 
 " was then seen following the court, confounded by th 
 ters of the two crowns with the crowd of importunate i 
 ers, feeding his imagination in the corners of antecham 
 the pretentious project of discovering a world. Seric 
 and downcast in the midst of the public joy, he se 
 witness with indifference the completion of this cone 
 Grenada which filled a people and two courts with pri( 
 man was Christopher Columbus." 
 
 On this occasion the impediments came from Col 
 sure of the existence of the continent which he ofFerei 
 he wished, out of respect for the very greatness of 
 which he was about to make to the world and to his sov 
 to stipulate for himself and his descendants conditions 
 not of himself, but of his work. 
 
 In lacking legitimate pride, he would have thought 
 as lacking in faith in God and falling short in the digni 
 mission. 
 
>LUMBUS. 
 
 CHKISTOPMEK COLUMBUS. 
 
 27 
 
 palace opened at 1, alone and neglected, he negotiated as the ruler of pos. 
 by the fervency o^ which he yet saw only in his dreams, 
 ch, of her own acimendicanl," said Fernandez de Talevera, the pr^^sident 
 I he Marchioness ^council, "makes the conditicns of a king with kings." 
 ety and enthusiaacted the title and privileges of admiral, the power and 
 aintly monk. Tl-s of viceroy of all the lands which he should add to 
 the projects of ajy his discoveries and perpetual tithe, for himself and his 
 hed over the oppcdants, of all the revenues of these possessions. 
 
 igular demands for an adventurer," cried his opponents 
 f money, taken fcouncil, " which would confer on him in advance the 
 ly a mule and clotnd of a fleet and the possession of a vice-royalty without 
 ) the court. Juaif he succeeded in his enterprise, and which do not tie 
 Lipport his friend lanything if he fails, since his present poverty has nothing 
 d monetary assist.'* 
 
 e letter and the aiirst men were astonished by these requirements, they 
 tnitted to Columbiby becoming indignant ; he was offered conditions less 
 
 jsome for the crown. From the depths of his poverty 
 
 )thingness he refused all. Wearied, but not conquered by 
 
 m years of trial, from the day when he grasped his idea 
 
 ind takeri a servanainly offered it to the great powers of the world, he 
 
 liscuss his plans a have blushed to abate in anything the price of the gift 
 
 God had made him. 
 I, writes an eye-\ respectfully withdrew from the conferences with Ferdi- 
 confounded by thj commissioners and, remounting the mule which the 
 i of importunate p had given him, he again took, alone and destitute, the 
 rners of antechamo Cordova from whence he intended to go into France, 
 ig a world. Seric 
 
 public joy he se XXIII. 
 
 etion of this cone 
 
 ^o courts with pri(bella, on learning her prot^g^'s departure, had, as it were, 
 
 jentiment of the great things which were leaving her for 
 s came from Colwith this man of destiny. She was indignant with the 
 t which he offereciissioners who, she cried, had haggled with God over the 
 ery greatness of of an empire, and more than all, over the price of 
 •rid and to his sov»ns of souls left in idolatry by their fault. The Marchion- 
 idants conditions e Maya, and Quintanilla, the Comptroller of the Queen's 
 
 ices, shared in and added poignancy to her remorse. 
 lid have thought elCing, more cool and calculating, hesitated ; at a moment 
 short in the dignit; thfe treasury was depleted the expense of the enterprise 
 
 him back. 
 
ifll 
 
 u 
 
 ' 
 
 38 
 
 CHRISTOI»HKR COLUMBUS. 
 
 " Well, then," cried Isabella, in a transport of 
 enthusiasm ; " I take the enterprise upon myself aloi 
 personal crov/n of Castile. I will put my jewels and 
 in pawn to provide for the expense of the equipment.' 
 
 The woman's impulse triumphed over the King's 
 and, by a calculation more sublime than his, acquire 
 treasure in riches and territory for the two kingdoii 
 disinterestedness inspired by enthusiasm is the true 
 of great souls, and the true wisdom of great politician: 
 
 The fugitive was quickly followed ; the messenger, w 
 Queen sent to recall him, came up with him some m: 
 Granada, on the bridge of Pinos, a famous defile 
 rocks, where Moors and Christians had often ming 
 blood in the waters of a torrent that separated 
 races. 
 
 Columbus, much affected, returned to throw hii 
 Isabella's feet. She obtained from King Ferdinand, 
 tears, the ratification of the conditions exacted by Cc 
 In serving the forsaken cause of this great man, she 
 she was serving the cause of God himself, whose na 
 unknown to that portion of the human race which 
 going to subdue to the faith. She saw the celestial k 
 in the acquisitions which her favourite was about to i 
 her empire ; wiiile Ferdinand saw in them his terrestria, 
 As the soldier of Christianity in Spain and conqueror 
 Moors, all the faithful whom he added to the belief o' 
 were added to the number of his subjects by the Po. 
 millions of men whom he was going to gather to Chr, 
 through the discoveries of this adventurer were given' 
 beforehand in full possession by the bulls of the court of 
 Every man who was not a Christian was, in his eyes, ri, 
 a slave ; every portion of humanity that was not marki 
 the seal of Christ was not marked with the seal of m 
 Rome gave them away, or bartered them in the name 
 spiritual sovereignty on earth and in heaven. 
 
 Ferdinand was credulous enough, and at the sam 
 politic enough to accept them. 
 
 The treaty between Ferdinand, Isabella, and thi 
 Genoese adventurer, who had arrived on foot at their 
 some years before, having no shelter but hospitality, 
 
I 
 
 )LUMBUS. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLITMliUS. 
 
 29 
 
 a transport of * monastery, was signed in the plain of Granada on 
 
 iiI)on myself aloi .^P"^»/'^^^^- , ,, , , , 
 
 Lit my jewels and ^^ ^^^^ °" herself alone, for the account of her 
 of the equipment '* JtWiK^o"i> ^^1 the expenses of the expedition. It was 
 over the Kin"'s ( ^* ^'"^ ^'^° ^'^^ ^^^^ ^° believe should risk the most 
 than his acqiiire^'^'P"^^ ' ^' ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^' ^^^ S^^''^ *^^ reward of 
 the two'kingdon^^®*^^^^ ^^ attached to her name before all others, 
 jiasm is the true ^^^' ^^^ assigned the little harbour of Palos, in 
 of great politician'^*' ^^ ^ centre of organisation for the expedition, and 
 
 • fh,» mf.cc*^nrror ,,/oint of dcpartufe for his squadron. The idea con- 
 , lilt, messenger, \v ^, ' r t^ i • ■, -n ^ % -r 1^ 
 
 vith him some m * '^ monastery of Rabida, near Palos, by Juan Peres 
 
 a famous defile ^'^^^'^s ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ meeting with Columbus, returned 
 i had' often mini?'**^® whence it had started. The Prior of this monastery 
 
 that separated ^* *^ preside over the preparations and to see, from his 
 
 ;e, the first sail of his friend spread itself to that 
 
 led to throw hii^ world which they had seen together with the eye of 
 
 King Ferdinand:"^ °^ ^^^'^• 
 ins exacted by Cc XXIV. 
 
 himself whose n -rous unforeseen and apparently insurmountable obstacles 
 
 imor, ».'o^« „.u.vi' 5od in the way of Isabella's favours and the accomplish- 
 aiuan race wnicii i-, j- j> • -kit ^' • ^l 1 
 
 saw the celestial i.Ferdmands promises. Money was wanting m the royal 
 ite was about to * vessels employed on more urgent expeditions were 
 them his terrestri *^* Spanish ports ; sailors refused to enter into any 
 n and conr uer ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^°"S ^^^ mysterious voyage, or deserted 
 d to the belief ^'^ ^ ^^ ^^^^ recruited. 
 
 ibiects bv th P ^^^^^^^^ towns, constrained by commands of the court 
 to gather t Ch^^ *^^ ships, hesitated to obey and unrigged the vessels 
 iturer we * ^ general opinion, were condemned to certain loss, 
 alls of th t i^*^^^*y» terror, envy, derision, avarice and even revolt 
 
 in h* ^^ ^. hundred times, in the hands of Columbus and of the 
 . * ^^^' !')f the court themselves, the material means of execution 
 
 •.4.U *!, 1 "l^'' sabella's favour had placed at his disposal. It seemed 
 
 itn the seal of m i. 1 • ■ ^ \^ ^ • • • .. ^v • c 
 
 ital genius, persistently striving against the genius of 
 
 "^unity, wished to separate forever these two worlds, 
 
 , he dreams of a man, who stood alone, wished to unite. 
 
 e sanit^^^g managed everything from his retreat at the mon- 
 
 .f Rabida, where his friend, Prior Juan Peres, had again 
 
 seal 
 them in th.« 
 leaven. 
 and at 
 
 [sabella and thi^j^ hospitality, 
 on toot at their ^^^ ^^^ intervention and influence of this lowly monk, 
 • but hospitality, ^ 
 
i( 
 
 ; ( 
 
 I- 
 J' 
 
 iP 
 
 I 
 
 30 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 the appointed expedition would have again failed d 
 all the orders of the court were either powerless or 
 The mcnk had recourse to his friends at Palos ; tlu 
 his word, his entreaties and advice. 
 
 Three brothers, rich mariners of Palos, the Ti 
 themselves at last penetrated by the conviction and 
 inspired the friend of Columbus. They thought they 
 voice of God in that of this aged recluse. They 
 joined the enterprise, furnishing the money, ecjuij 
 ships, then called caravelles, engaging sailors from 
 ports of Palos and Moguer, and, in order at the s:ii 
 instigate, and give an example of confidence to th( 
 two of the three brothers, Martin Alonzo Pinzon an 
 Yan6s Pinzon resolved to embark and themselves 
 mand of their vessels. 
 
 Thanks to this generous assistance of the Pin/ 
 vessels, or rather three barks, the Santa Maria, the 
 the Nina, were ready to go to sea on Friday, the 31 
 1492. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 At daybreak Columbus, accompanied to the beai 
 Prior and the monks of Rabida who blessed his \l 
 the sea, embraced his son whom he left in the carl 
 Peres and boarded the largest of his ships, the S.il 
 He hoisted his pennant as admiral of an unknown c 
 as viceroy of an undiscovered country. The people 
 two ports and the coast flocked in numberless cro« 
 beach to be present at the departure, which popular 
 thought to be without return. It was a mourning f 
 rather than a God speed for a happy voyage ; there 
 of sadness than of hope, more tears than acclamation 
 
 The mothers, wives and sisters of the sailors cu 
 whisper this unlucky stranger who with his charmed ' 
 beguiled the Queen's mind, and was taking in his 
 lives of so many men on the responsibility of a dre 
 umbus, followed unwillingly like all men who lead 
 across the line of their prejudices, entered the unknc 
 sound of murmurings and maledictions. It is the 
 things human. All that outruns humanity, even wb 
 
:oLUMnus. 
 
 CHRISTorilKK COLUMBUS. 
 
 31 
 
 five again failed ddo Tts stock, be it a truth or be it a new world, makes 
 ther powerless or cur in complaint. Man is like the ocean, he has a 
 nds at Palos ; thiiy to motion and a natural gravitation towards re[)ose. 
 
 :se two contrary tendencies is born the equilibrium of 
 of Palos, the Pir;e : woe to him who destroys it ! 
 e conviction and li 
 rhey thought they XXVI. 
 
 recluse. They 
 
 the money, ecjuij ippcarance of this flotilla, scarcely equal to a fishing or 
 ging sailors from expedition, was in fitting contrast, in the eyes and 
 n order at the saif the people, with the great destiny and the perils which 
 
 confidence to thtshly went to meet. Of the three barks, that alone was 
 Alonzo Pinzon an which Columbus commanded. It was a small and 
 c and themselves Duilt trading vessel, already old and strained by the 
 
 eas. The other two were undecked : a wave would 
 ance of the Pinzen enough to swamp them. But the stern and prow 
 Santa Maria, the barks, very high above the water like the ancient gal- 
 L on Friday, the 3id two halfdecks, the cavity of which gave shelter to the 
 
 n rough weather, and prevented the weight of any wave 
 ght ship from sinking the vessel. These barks were 
 'ith two masts, one amidships, the other at the stern, 
 ^anied to the beajt of these masts carried one large square sail ; the sec- 
 who blessed his \trianguJar lateen sail. Long oars, used but rarely and 
 he left in the carfficulty, fitted in calm weather to the low bulwarks amid- 
 his ships, the Sai.nd could, when necessary, give the ship some headway. 
 i of an unknown (On these three barks, of unequal size, that Columbus 
 ntry. The peoplethe hundred and twenty men, who made up his crews, 
 n numberless cro\u 
 
 re, which popular vas the only one to embark with a calm face, a look of 
 was a mourning pce, and a resolute heart. For the past eighteen years, 
 >py voyage; there jectures had taken the shape of certainty in his mind. 
 ; than acclamationgh on this day he had passed more than half his life, and 
 of the sailors citering his fifty-seventh ye^r, he looked upon the years 
 with his charmed 1 him as nothing ; in his eyes all his life was to come ; he 
 was taking in liishin him the youth of hope, and the future of immortality, 
 msibility of a drcP take possession of these worlds towards which he set 
 lU men who lead^Si he wrote and published, when boarding his ship, a for- 
 entered the unknc^ount of all the phases of mind and fortune that he had 
 ctions. It is the^nccd in the conception and execution of his design ; he 
 umanity, even wht^^c enumeration of all the titles, honours and commands. 
 
II 
 
 Ih 
 
 i I 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 u 
 
 ia 
 
 CHKISTOI'UKK COIAIMHUS. 
 
 with which he had just been invested by his sovcrci 
 future [)ossessions, invoking Christ and mankind to si' 
 faith and bear witness to his constancy. 
 
 " It is for that," he said, in closing this proclamali' 
 old and the new world, " that I condemn myself to 
 ness during this voyage, and until I have accompli^ 
 things." 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 A favourable breeze, blowing off the coast of Euro;' 
 him gently to the Canaries, the last halting place 
 sailors. While giving thanks to God for these ome ' 
 assisted in calming his crew, he would have prefci' 
 carried forward by a full gale of wind, beyond the ki* 
 frequented latitudes. He had good reason to fear," 
 sight of the distant coasts of Spain should, by the ui J 
 able attraction's of one's country, call back the eyes a:f 
 of his irresolute and timid sailors, who still hesitatci 
 went on board. In enterprises of great moment menj 
 be given time for reflection, or opportunities to dr' 
 Columbus knew it. He longed to pass the limit'^ 
 travelled sea, and to hold himself alone, in the secj 
 course and of his charts and compass, the possibility i 
 His impatience to lose sight of the shores of the old ? 
 was only too well-founded. One of his ships, the 1^ 
 rudder of which was broken, and which was making* 
 the hold, compelled him to touch at the Canaries, i :' 
 himself, to change this vessel for another. He lost al 
 weeks in these ports, without being able to find a shij 
 for his long voyage. He was obliged to satisfy hin? 
 simply repairing the Pinta and giving another set of sa 
 Nina, his third convoy, a heavy and slow bark that de 
 progress. He renewed his supply of water and pr 
 His small undecked ships allowed him to carry foo' 
 hundred and twenty men for a certain number of day: 
 
 After leaving the Canaries, the appearance of the v' 
 Teneriffe, an eruption of which lit up the sky anc 
 fleeted in the sea, struck terror to the souls of hi;' 
 They thought they saw the flaming sword of the ui 
 drove the first man from Eden, prohibiting the chi 
 
:)LUMMUS. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 5| 
 
 :ed by his sovcrciL 
 
 md mankind to s\^^ entry to forbidden lands and seas. The admiral 
 ^cy. m ihip to ship to dispel this vulgar panic, and ;o 
 
 ig this proclam;ili*ci«ntifically to these ignorant men the physical laws 
 idemn myself to )hcnomenon. But the disappearance of the peak of 
 
 I have accomplh'* ^^^^ ii sank beneath the horizon, impressed them 
 
 leep a sadness as its crater had ins|)ired them with fear. 
 
 >r them the last milestone and the last lighthouse of 
 
 World. In losing sight of it, they thought they had 
 
 :he coast of Kuroi^^H^ landmarks of their course across an incomtnensur- 
 
 st halting place ^^ They felt themselves, as it were, detached from 
 
 )d for these ome* *°^ sailing in the ether of another planet. General 
 
 ould have prefer®** ®^ mind and body took hold of them. They were 
 
 id beyond the kii^^'** ^^° '^^^^ ^°^' ^^^" ^^^^^ tomb. The admiral 
 
 d reason to fear"*™^^^^ them around him on his ship, raised their 
 
 should by the ui^ *^* energy of his own, and abandoning himself, as 
 
 II back the eves a^ ®^ ^^^ unknown, to the eloquent inspiration of his 
 who still hesitateJ^*^^^^' ^^ ^^ ^^ '^^^ already lived in them, the lands, 
 reat moment men *°^ '®*^' '^^ kingdoms and riches, the vegetation and 
 Dportunities to dr*'®» *^^ mines of gold, the shores sanded with pearls, 
 o nass the limit^"^"^^ glittering with precious stones, the plains 
 alone in the sec:^ ^**^ spices that grew ready to his hand on the 
 'S the' Dossibilitv i^® ^^ ^^^^ expanse, each wave of which carried their 
 shores of the old f"^" ^^^^« "?^^^^^«, ^"^ J^L' -^l'''*. T^^'? pictures, 
 f his shins the 1*^ fascmatmg colours of their leader s rich imagina- 
 hich was makin"®''**^^^^ ^^^ ^^'^^."^ ^^^^^ drooping hearts ; while the 
 it the Canaries l^^* blowing steadily and gently from the east, seemed 
 Dther He lost 'al '^® impatience of the sailors. The distance alone could 
 
 „Ki^ 1^ A^^ „ 1 • rth frighten them. Columbus, to spare them a portion 
 
 able to nnd a shii ** u- u u ^ J- lu j j .. j 
 
 ed tn s t* f h' ?*^® across which he was leading them, deducted every 
 
 th ' t f •* ^** calculation of nautical miles a part of the distance 
 *i v» I- fK f ^ ^» ^^^ ^° deceived the imagination of his commanders 
 Slow DaiK tnai ae^j^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ journey. He secretly noted the true log 
 o vya er an I'^igjf ^lone, so that he also might alone have the know- 
 nim to carry too. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ billows he had crossed and the reckonings 
 in number ot daj^^j^j^^^ ^^ j^^^p ^^^^^^ ^^^^ j^.^ ^.^^^^ ^j^^ ^^^^^^ -^^ 
 
 pearance ot the v'^^^ ^^ ^^^ steady breeze and the peaceful oscillation 
 ; up the sky anc thought they were slowly floating on in the further 
 ) the souls of hii^ ^^^^ 
 
 ; sword of the ui *^ 
 
 ohibiting the chi ^ 
 
'fihil! 
 
 ClIKlSTurilKK LOIAJMIIUS. 
 
 xxviir. 
 
 He would have wished equally to conceal fror 
 phenomenon tlwit, two hundred leagues trotn '[\:\ 
 founded his own knovvledgtr ; this was the v iriation 
 nctic needle in the compass, their last and, accord 
 inlidlihle guide, which itself wavered on the thrcslio 
 travelled liemispnete. l^'or some days he kept i 
 doubt to hiniselt ; but his pilots, as observant of l 
 as he, soon pirc^ ived these variations. Seized by i 
 tonisfunent, but less firm than their leader in the 
 resolution to set nature herself at deriance, they l 
 very el'Mnents were troubled or changed their laws 
 der land of infinite space. 
 
 The vertigo, which they supposed in nature, passe 
 souls. Pale from fear they told each other their do 
 doning the ships to the hazards of the winds and 
 only guides that remained to tiiem in the future. 1 
 tion disheartencil all the .sailors. 
 
 Columbus, who sought in vain to explain to hiinsi 
 tery, foi the reason of which the science of to- day 
 had recourse to that powerful imagination, his 
 compass of the mind. He invented an cxplan;iii| 
 deed, but specious for uncultivated minds, to a( i 
 variations of the magnetic needle, lie attribute 
 stars circling tound the pole, the movements of > 
 firmament the needle alleinattly followed by atlr.i 
 explanation, being in conformity with the astroloj;!' 
 of the time, satisfied the pilots, and their creduiiy 
 faith of the sailors. The sight of a heron and < 
 bird, which, on the following day, came hoverim 
 masts of the flotilla, efiected for tlieir senses what. 
 explanation had effected for their minds. These 
 tants of the earth could not exist on an ocean \j 
 plants and fresh water. They seemed to them tw(| 
 prove the truth of the visions of Columbus beforui 
 witness of their eyes. They saded with more coiUj 
 assurance of a bird. The mild, equal, and geni;il| 
 of this part of the ocean, the clearness of the sk\ 
 rency of the waves, the play of the dolphins roiil 
 
oI.lIMhUS. 
 
 C'HRfSTOPHF.R COLUMBUS. 
 
 31 
 
 mA of the air, the perfumes wluch the billows hrint{ 
 
 tr Atid seem to exhale from their fo.im, the brighter 
 
 lo coiicc.il froi 'tht < onstellations and stars in the night, all seemed, in 
 
 •nmics from 'I itudcs, to till the senses with repose and the soul with 
 
 ivas the viriati' j^. Tlicy hrealhed the promise of the still invisible 
 
 last anil, act oi Xhey recalled the bright days, the well-known stars, 
 
 d (»n lint ihicslr qqu^ sprmg twilights of Andalusia. 
 
 (lays he kept I nightingale," wrote Columbus, " was alone wanting." 
 
 observant of 
 )ns. Seized by ; 
 cir leader in ili 
 
 defiance, thc\ i 
 anged their law;, 
 
 1 1 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 •a had begun to bear its |)resages. Unknown plants 
 y floated on the waves. Some, say the historians of 
 voyage, were marine plants that only grow in the shab 
 1 ■ nature uassc''* ^^^^ ^^^ shore ; others, rock-growing plants which 
 ^ I i\ .f th't-ir (1 ^ ™**s' hiwti torn from the rocks ; others again, of river 
 
 , .1 • , •„ .,,,1 some of them, newly detached from their roots, re- 
 ot the wmds aiil , , , • ^ r , i i- i 
 
 , f ...jre 1* verdure of their sa[) ; one of them b )rc a livmg crab, 
 
 hat had embarked on a tuft of grass. These plants 
 
 1 :^ ♦« M„-,cg things could not have passed many days on the water 
 to explam to nnnN? . o • . i j j 
 
 '■ « of to d i\^y*"fi> "•" ^^*^'"y withered, 
 science ' ^^ ^ species that does not alight on the waves, and 
 
 maguiation, nis . ^^ ^^^^ ^ crossed the sky. Whence did it 
 
 nted an cxplan:iii ,,•:, . • -» /^ 1 1 •.. / • i i r 
 
 1 ■ 1- t n( (, "'"CTe was It going ? Could its sleeping place be far 
 
 tea mm , Further on, the ocean changed in temperature and 
 
 lie. He altnbuttu ,. . ' • i .. • lu i 
 
 '^ . , dications of varying depths : in another place, it re- 
 
 s movements ol v^. .-'*'..• .' j i 'n 
 
 '-.' , . immense marine prairies, with weed-covered billows, 
 
 tollowe )y ■ ,g jjjjjYvn by the prow and lessened their headway ; 
 ^v\^",^'\^ ^^^^^'*'.7" ind morning, far off mists, such as those that hang 
 nd their credu^ty i j^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ assumed the forms of shores 
 of a heron ana <- ^^.^^ ^^^ ^j^^ horizon. The cry of land was on every 
 lay, came "<^^^'^|"'jiinbus neither wished excessively :o encourage, or to 
 their senses vvia .pgg ^i^^^ served his purposes in reviving the spirits of 
 ;ir minds. ^ '^^'^^ 'nions; but he did not think he was more than three 
 st on an ocean \\ ^jj^^ ^^^^^ Teneriffe, and, according to his conjectures, 
 :emed to them two q. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^j^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ .^^ ^^^^ 
 
 Columbus before t ^gj j^^^j^^^ ^^ 
 ed with more conti 
 
 equal, and genial XXX. 
 
 harness ot the ^ >> .j-^pl j^is conjectures to himself alone, being without 
 
 the QOlpnins r i jongg^ his companions, of courage strong enough to 
 
56 CHRisTornr.R coi.uMnus. 
 
 equal his in constancy, or reliable enmiKh to guard his secret 
 apprehensions. He had no conversation on this long voyage, 
 except with his own thoughts, the str.rs and Ood, whose conti- 
 dant lie felt himself to be. Almost without sleep, as he had 
 said in his proclamation of fircwcU to the ()ld world, he passed 
 his days in his cabin U thf stern, laarkin^ in characters known 
 lo hinjself only, the degucs, latiiudes and distances which he 
 thought he had crossed ; he passed his nights on the bridge, hy 
 the side of his pilots, studying the stars and watching the sea, 
 Almost constantly alone, like Moses leading the people of Clod 
 in the desert, impressing his companions by his thoughtful 
 gravity, now with rcsj)ect, now with mistrust, now with terror, 
 f that kept them apart from him ; isolation or remoteness which 
 / is almost invariably seen in men of thought, or resolution 
 superior to their fellows, whether it is Lhat these inspired men 
 ( of genius require more solitude and meditation for self com- 
 
 muning, or wliLilier ihe inferior men, whom they intimidate, do 
 not like to approach them, for fear of measuring themselves 
 with such high natures, and feeling their own littleness before 
 these moral grandeurs of creation. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Yet the land so often presaged showed itself only in the 
 mirages s'^en by the sailors ; each morning dissipated before the 
 prows of the vessel the fantastic horizons that the evening mist 
 had caused them to mistake for the shore. 
 
 They ever plunged forward as if in a boundless and bottom 
 less abyss. 
 
 Even the regularity and conrt-^noy of the east wind that 
 favoured their course, so that the^ had not to trim their sails 
 once during these man} days, was a cause of anxiety to them. 
 They began to believe that this wind prevailed the same forever 
 in this part of the great ocean that was the girdle of the globe, 
 and that, after bearing them so easily towards the west, it would 
 be an insurmountable obstacle to their return. How could 
 they ever come back through these contrary wind currents 
 except by tacking in this great expanse ? And if they were 
 obliged to beat back in never ending tacks to find the shores of 
 the old world, how would their supplies of water and provisions, 
 
CHRfSTorMfF.R COLUMBUS. 
 
 37 
 
 tlready half consumed, suffice for the long months ol their re- 
 turn voyage? What would »avc them from the horrible pros- 
 pert of death from thirst and hunger in their long nlruggle with 
 these winds that drove them from their harbours ? Many began 
 to lount the number of days and of rations unecjual to the days, 
 to murmur against the ever deceived ol)stinacy of ilu-ir chief, 
 and to reproach, in whispers, a perseverance in devotion that 
 sacrificed the lives of a hundretl and twenty men to the mad- 
 ness of one. 
 
 lUit every time that the murmuring was about to develop into 
 sedition, Providence seemed to send them mon* convincing and 
 unexpected presages to change theni into hopes. So, on the 
 aoth .September, these favourable winds, which were alarming 
 in their fixedness, changed and went round to the south-west. 
 The sailors hailed the change, although against their course, as 
 a sipn of life and mobility in the elements, which a <|uiver of 
 wind in their sails made Known to them. In the evening, small 
 birds of the weaker kinds, that make their nestr, in the shrubs 
 and orchards at home, hovered twittering round tiie masts. 
 Their d*;licate wings and joyous chirpings did not betray in 
 them any trace of weariness or fright, as is seen in flocks of 
 birds when carried by a gust of wind, in spite of themselves, 
 far out to sea. Their songs like those which the sailors used 
 to hear round their yoke-elm hedges, and in the myrtles, and 
 orange groves of Andalusia, recalled their country to them and 
 invited them to neighbouring shores. They recognised the 
 sparrows that always nest in the eaves. Thicker and greener 
 grasses on the surface of the waves reproduced fields and 
 meadows before the reaping of the grain. Vegetation hidden 
 beneath the water appeared before the land, charming the eyes 
 of the sailors wearied of the eternal azure of the sea. 
 
 But the grasses soon became so thick that they feared their 
 rudder and keel would be clogged by them and that they would 
 be held prisoners in these rushes of the ocean, like vessels in 
 the north sea by the ice. So each joy turned quickly into tears : 
 such terror has the unknown for the soul of man ! Columbus, 
 like a guide seeking his course among these mysteries of the 
 ocean, was obliged in appearance to understand what astonished 
 even him, and to invent an explanation for each surprise of his 
 sailors. 
 
 ^i 
 
38 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 't ■ 
 
 Mi' 
 
 The calms of the Equator threw them into consternation ; if 
 everything, even to the wind, died in these latitudes, what would 
 give the breeze to their sails and motion to their ships ? Sud- 
 denly, without wind, the sea began to swell ; they attributed it 
 to subterranean convulsions in its bed. 
 
 An immense whale appeared sleeping on the bosom of the 
 waves ; in imagination they saw monsters devouring the ships. 
 The undulation of the billows carried them into currents from 
 which they could not escape for lack of wind ; they fancied 
 they were approaching the cataracts of the sea, and that they 
 were about to be dragged into the abysses and reservoirs where 
 the deluge had emptied its worlds of waters. 
 
 They stood gloomily, in angry groups, at the foot of the masts; 
 they murmured together more openly ; they spoke of compel- 
 ling the pilots to put about, of throv* ing the admiral into the 
 sea, as a madman who only left his companions the choice be- 
 tween suicide and murder. Columbus, to whom their glances 
 and mutterings revealed these conspiracies, defied them by his 
 attitude or frustrated them by his confidence. 
 
 Nature came to his help with refreshing winds new-blowing 
 from the east, while she smoothed the sea beneath his prows. 
 Before the end of the day Alonzo Pinzon, who commanded the 
 Pinta, and who sailed near enough to the admiral to be able to 
 talk with him alongside, gave the first cry of " Land !" from the 
 summit of the poop. All the crews, taking up this cry of safety, 
 life and triumph, threw themselves on their knees on the decks 
 and burst forth with the hymn, " Glory lo God in heaven and 
 on the earth ! " This religious chant, the first hymn that 
 ascended to the Creator from the bosom of this young ocean, 
 rolled slowly over the waves ; when it had ceased, all climbed 
 to the masts, to the tops and to the l.ighest rigging of the ves- 
 sels to take possession with their own eyes of the shore dimly 
 seen by Pinzon to the south-west. Columbus alone doubted, 
 but he was too willing to believe, to contradict, alone, the 
 frenzy of his crews. 
 
 Although he only looked for the land of his expectation to- 
 ward the west, he allowed them to steer south during the whole 
 night, preferring to lose a portion of his progress to please his 
 
 I 
 
''I 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 39 
 
 companions than to lose the passing popularity due to their 
 illusion, which sunrise only too (juickly dissipated. The imagi- 
 nary land of Pinzon had vanished with the mists of night, and 
 the admiral resumed the course towards the west dictated by 
 his visions. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 The ocean had again smoothed its surface, where the sun 
 mirrored itself, cloudless and clear, as in another sky. The 
 caressing waves crowned the prow with fairy foam ; the dol- 
 phins, now more numerous, bounded in the wake ; the whole 
 sea seemed full of life ; the fishes flew, sprang up and fell back 
 upon the decks of the vessels. Everything in nature seemed 
 to join with Columbus to entice with returning ho[)e his sailors 
 who forgot the flight of time. On the first of October they 
 fancied they had only made six hundred leagues beyond the 
 latitudes frequented by their brethren ; the secret log of the 
 admiral indicated eight hundred miles. Yet all the signs of 
 land being near at hand increased about them, but there wai; 
 no land visible on the horizon. Fear again took possession of 
 their souls. Columbus himself, beneath his apparent calmness, 
 was troubled by some doubt ; he feared that he had passed 
 through the islands of an archipelago without seeing ihem, and 
 that leaving behind him the extreme point of Asia which he 
 sought for, he was nov; astray in a third ocean. The swiftest 
 of his barks, the Nina, which sailed as an advance guard, on 
 the yth October at length hoisted her flag of discovery and 
 fired a shot of triumph to proclaim land to the two other ves- 
 sels. On drawing near, they saw that the Nina had been de- 
 ceived by a cloud. 
 
 The wind, on bearing it into the air, bore away their short- 
 lived joy that turned to consternation. Nothing so wearies the 
 heart of man as these alternations of counterfeit joys and bitter 
 deceptions, which are the sarcasms of fortune. Censure of the 
 admiral was again seen openly in every face. It was no longer 
 only their hardships and dissensions that the crews imputed to 
 their leader, it was their lives sacrificed without hope. They 
 were running short of bread and water. 
 
 Columbus, confounded by the immensity of this expanse, the 
 limits of which he thought he was reaching at last, abandoned 
 
 
 iii 
 
40 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 in 
 
 III., 4 
 ■ 1 ' 
 
 the visionary course that he had traced upon his chart, and for 
 two days and two nights followed the flight of the birds, heavenly 
 pilots that Providence seemed to send to him at the moment 
 when human knowledge failed. He said to himself that the in- 
 stinct of these birds would not direct them all to that particular 
 point of the horizon if they did not see land there. But the 
 very birds seemed, in the eyes of the sailors, to have an under- 
 standing with the desert of the ocean and the deceitful stars, to 
 make sport of their vessels and their lives. At the e. J of the 
 third day, the pilots who had climbed the shrouds at the hour 
 when the setting sun most clearly reveals the horizon, saw it 
 plunge into the same waves from which it had risen in vain for 
 so many mornings. 
 
 They believed in the boundlessness of the waters. The de- 
 spair that weighed them down changed into sullen anger. Why 
 should they now use forbearance wirh a leader who had de- 
 ceived the court, and whose titles and authority, obtained un- 
 fairly from the confiding nature of his sovereigns, were about 
 to perish with his illusions ? 
 
 To follow him longer, was it not to associate in his crime ? 
 Did not obedience end where the world ended ? Was there 
 any other hope, if hope remained, than to turn their prows 
 towards Europe, to struggle by tacking against these winds, the 
 admiral's accomplices, and to chain him to the mast to be an 
 object for the curses of the dying if they must die, or to hand 
 him over to the vengeance of Spain if heaven ever permitted 
 them to see her harbours ? 
 
 These mutterings had become an outcry. The intrepid ad- 
 miral restrained them by the calmness of his face. He invoked 
 against the seditious an authority sacred to subjects, that of 
 their sovereigns with which he was invested. He even called 
 on heaven, now the judge between them and him. He did not 
 bend, he offered his life as pledge for his promises ; he asked 
 them only, in the tone of a prophet who sees what common men 
 see only through his mind, to postpone for three days their in- 
 credulity and their resolution to return. He made an oath, an 
 oath rash indeed, but politic, that if in the course of the third 
 day land was not visible on the horizon, he would give way to 
 their entreaties and take them back to Europe. The indications 
 that revealed the neighbourhood of islands or continents were 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 41 
 
 so clear in the admiral's eyes, that in begging these three days 
 from his mutinous crews he thought himself sure to lead them 
 to the goal. He tempted God in setting a period to his reve- 
 lation, but he had to manage men. The sailors, unwillingly, 
 granted him these three days, and God, who was his inspira- 
 tion, did not punish him for excessive hope. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 At sunrise, on the second day, newly uprooted rushes ap- 
 peared round the vessels. A plank wrought by an axe, a stick 
 artistically chiselled by some sharp instrument, a branch of 
 hawthorn in flower, and, lastly, a bird's nest hanging to a branch 
 broken off by the wind, filled with eggs on which the mother 
 was still sitting to the gentle rocking of the waves, floated in 
 accession on the water. The sailors took on board these 
 written, speaking, or living witnesses of a neighbouring land. 
 They were the voices of the coast confirming the word of 
 Columbus. Before looking on the land with their eyes, they 
 inferred its existence from these indications of life. 
 
 The mutinous fell oirthcir knees before the admiral, whom 
 they had insulted the day before : imploring him to pardon their 
 mistrust, and pouring forth a hymn of gratitude to God, who had 
 associated them with his triumph. 
 
 Night fell on these songs of the Church that hailed a New 
 World. The admiral ordered them to clew up the sails, to 
 heav/» the lead before the ships, and to sail slowly, fearing the 
 sh?' o>.vs and rocks, and being convinced that the first streaks 
 c*" a;;vi'; would reveal land under the prows of the vessels. No 
 one si r on this momentous night. Impatience of mind had 
 taken away all need of sleep from their eyes. The pilots and 
 sailors, hanging to the masts, to the yards, to the shrouds, com- 
 peted with each other in position and vigilance to be the first 
 to sight the new hemisphere. A prize had been promised by 
 the admiral to the man who should be the first to cry. Land ! 
 if land really seen should verify his discovery. Providence, 
 however, reserved for Columbus himself this first look, which he 
 had bought at the price of twenty years of his life and so much 
 constancy and danger. As he was walking alone at midnight 
 on the poop of his vessel, piercing the darkness with his eyes, 
 
 "I 
 
 J,;-,, 
 
 
 
4a 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 a glimmer of fire passed him, went out, and passed again before 
 his eyes, on a level with the waves. Fearing that he was deceived 
 by dizzini;ss, or l)y the phosphorescence of the sea, he called in 
 a whisper to a Spanish gentleman of Isabella's court, named 
 Guttierez in whom he had more faith than in his pilots. With 
 his hand he indicated tlie point of the horizon wherii he had 
 seen a fir,', and asked him if he did not perceive a light in that 
 quarter. Guttierez answered that he did, in fact, see a fleeting 
 gleam of light sparkle in that direction. Cokunbus, the further 
 to confirm his conviction, summoned Rodrigo Sanchez of 
 Segovia, another of his confidants. Sanciiez did not hesitate 
 anymore than Guttierez in reporting a brightness on the horizon. 
 But scarcely had this fire shown itself than it disappeared, to 
 reappear in successive emergiiigs from the ocean, whether it was 
 a flame of a hearth on a low beach, hidden and revealed by 
 turns by the undulating horizon of the great billows, or whether 
 it was the fioating lantern of a fishing canoe, alternately raised 
 on the crest and swallowed in the hollows of the wave.s. Thus 
 land and life appeared at the same time to Columbus and his 
 two friends in the form of fire, during the night of the nth to 
 the i2th of October, 1492. 
 
 Columbus, enjoining silence on Rodrigo and Guttierez, kept 
 the sight to himself, for fear of again giving fictitious joy and a 
 bitter deception to his crews. He lost sight of the gleam that 
 was now extinguished, but kept watch, Until two o'clock in the 
 morning, alone upon the bridge, in prayer, hoping and despair- 
 ing between the triumph and the retreat which the morrow was 
 to decide. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 He was plunged in the agony tliat precedes mighty revela- 
 tions of truth, as the final agony precedes the grnnd delivery of 
 the soul by death, when the report of a cannon, ringing across 
 the ocean some hundreds of fathoms before him, burst like the 
 roar of a world upon his ears, making him start and fall upon 
 his knees on the poop. It was the cry of Land ! hurled by 
 the cannon, the signal agreed with the Pinta, which sailed at 
 the head of the fleet to take soundings and show the way. At 
 this report, a universal cry of Land ! burst from all the yards 
 and rigging of the vessels. They furled the sails and waited 
 for the dawn. ' 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 43 
 
 The mystery of the ocean had spoken its first word in the 
 depths of the night ; the day was about to reveal it in its 
 entirety to their eyes. The sweetest and strangest perfumes 
 came in gusts to the ships, togetlier with the shadow of a coast 
 line, the sound of the waves upon the reefs and the wind 
 bl<nving from the land. 
 
 The fire seen by Columbus indicated the presence of man 
 and the first element of civilisation. Never did night seem 
 slower in unveiling the horizon ; for that horizon was for tiie 
 companions of Columbus and for himself a second creat'on of 
 God, 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 ' i 
 
 As the dawn spread upwards, the form of an island stood 
 out liitie by little from the sea. Its two extremities were lost 
 in the morning mist. Its low coast rose in an ami)hitheatre to 
 the summits of the hills, the dark verdure of which contrasted 
 with the limpid blue of the sky ; a few steps from the foam of 
 the waves that died away on the yellow sand, forests of 
 majestic trees, unknown to Europeans, stretched upward in 
 steps on the successive ledges of the island. Green coves and 
 luminou'j glades in the background let the eye half-fathom these 
 mysteries of solitude. They caught a glimpse of scattered 
 dwellings, which, from their round shape and roof« of dry 
 leaves, were like human bee-hives. 
 
 Smoke rose above the tree tops here and there. Groups of 
 men, women, and children, more astonished than frightened, 
 appeared half naked among the trees nearest the beach, ad- 
 vancing timidly and retiring by turns, while they manifested, by 
 their gestures and artless attitudes, as much fear as curiosity 
 and admiration at the sight of these ships and strangers, who 
 were brought to them in the night by the waves. 
 
 
 
 
 ^.^ 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Columbus, after a silent contemplation of this first shore, the 
 outpost of the land so often fashioned in his dreams and so 
 magnificently coloured in his imagination, found it even su- 
 perior to his conception. He burned with impatience to 
 imprint the first European foot-mark on this sand, . .nd to hoist 
 
 :;1 
 
44 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 <^ 
 
 
 (Itl: 
 
 there, in the sign of the cross and the flag of Spain, the standard 
 of God's and his sovereign's conquest achieved through the 
 instrumentality of his genius. Jiut he restrained, both in 
 himself and his crews this haste to land, wishin.q; to give to this 
 taking possession of a new world the solemnity of what was 
 perhaps the greatest deed ever accomplished by a seaman, and 
 to call, in the absence of men, God and the angels, the sea, 
 the earth and the heavens as witnesses to his triumph over the 
 unknown. He put on all the decorations of his rank as 
 admiral and as viceroy of the future Empires ; he displayed his 
 purple cloak, and, taking in his right hand the banner em- 
 broidered with a cross in which the monograms of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, interwoven like their kingdoms, were surmounted 
 by their crown, he entered his long boat and advanced towards 
 the beach, followed by the boats of his lieutenants, Alonzo and 
 Yanes Pinzon. On touching land, he fell on his knees to 
 consecrate, by an act of humility and adoration, the gift and 
 greatness ©f God in this new portion of his handiwork. He 
 kissed the sand, shedding tears as his forehead touched the 
 ground, tears of double meaning and twofold augury, that, for 
 the first time, moistened the clay of this hemisphere now visited 
 by men from ancient Europe ! Tears of joy for Columbus, 
 that overflowed from a proud heart in gratitude and piety! 
 Tears of mourning for that virgin earth, seeming to foreshadow 
 for it calamities, devastation and fire, steel, blood and death, 
 which these strangers brought to it, together with their pride, 
 knowledge, and dominion ! The man, indeed, shed tears ; for 
 the land there was the wailing to come. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 "Almighty and everlasting God," said Columbus, as he 
 raised his forehead from the dust, in a Latin prayer that has 
 been preserved for us by his companions : 
 
 ** O God, who, by the power of thy creating word, hast made 
 the firmament, the sea, and the land ! may thy name be every- 
 where blessed and glorified ! May thy majesty and universal 
 dominion be exalted from age to age, who hast permitted the 
 most humble of thy servants, in this division of thy kingdom 
 hidden from us till now, to make known and spread abroad thy 
 holy name," 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 45 
 
 He then christened this island San Salvador, from the name 
 of Christ. 
 
 His lieutenants, his pilots and sailors, intoxicated with joy 
 and imbued with veneration, as for a god, for him who for their 
 benefit had penetrated beyond the visible horizon, and whom 
 they had insulted by their distrust on the previous day, sub- 
 dued by the evidence and crushed by that superiority which 
 prostrates man, fell at the admiral's feet, kissing his hands and 
 clothes and recognizing, for a moment, the sovereignty and 
 almost the divinity of genius. Yesterday the victims of his 
 steadfastness, to-day the companions of his constancy, and re- 
 splendent in the glory that they had just blasphemed. 
 
 Thus it is with humanity, which persecutes its leaders while 
 inheriting their conquests. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 During the ceremony of taking possession, the inhabitants of 
 the island at first kept at a distance, by fear, and then attracted 
 by that instinct of curiosity which is the first bond that draws 
 men together, had come nearer. 
 
 They discussed amongst themselves the marvelous sights of 
 this night and morning. These vessels working their sails, 
 their lateen and sail yards, like immense limbs folding and un- 
 folding at the impulse of an inward thought, had seemed to 
 them to be living and supernatural beings who, during the 
 darkness, had come down from the crystal firmament that sur- 
 rounded their horizon ; heavenly inhabitants floating on their 
 wings and alighting at pleasure on the shores of which they 
 were the gods. Moved by veneration at the sight of the boats 
 that touched their island, and of the men wearing brilliant stuffs 
 and armour flashing in the sun, they had at last drawn near, as 
 if fascinated by their omnipotence. 
 
 They adored and prayed to them with the artlessness of chil- 
 dren who do not suspect evil in that which charms them. The 
 Spaniards, examining them in their turn, were astonished at 
 finding in these islanders none of the physical characteristics of 
 form and colour of the African, Asiatic, or European races that 
 they were accustomed to meet. Their copper colour, their 
 silky hair spreading in waves over their shoulders, their eyes 
 
 
 i,| 
 
 • til 
 
 
 i:' 
 
 
 ii' 
 
 jr. 
 
 
46 
 
 ClIRISTOFMIKR COLUMTiUS. 
 
 dark as their sea, their soft and delicate features, their open 
 and trustinK faces ; lastly, tlicir nudity, and the coloured de- 
 signs with whicli they dyed their limbs, revealed in them a race, 
 quite distinct from the human families dispersed over the ancient 
 hemisphere, still retaining the simplicity and charms of child 
 hood, forgotten for centuries in these unknown recesses of the 
 world, where they had retained, by very forc:e of ignoranc, the 
 artlessness, candour, and sweetness of early diys. 
 
 Columbus, being persuaded that this island was a peninsula 
 jutting out into the Indian ocean, towards which he still thought 
 he was sailing, wrongly gave them the name of Indians, which, 
 through an error in words that has outlived the sailors' error, 
 they have retained until their extinction. 
 
 XL. 
 
 Soon the Indians, familiarizing themselves with their guests, 
 showed them their springs of water, their dwellings, villages and 
 canoes. They brought them as tribute their nutritious fruits 
 and cassava bread, which replenished the Spaniards' provisions, 
 also some ornaments of pure gold that hung from their ears and 
 nostrils, or as bracelets or collars round the necks and legs of 
 their women. They were ignorant of trade and of the use of 
 money, that base but necessary adjunct to the virtue of hospi- 
 tality ; they received in exchange, with rapture, the most trifling 
 and ordinary European articles. In their eyes the novelty gave 
 value to everything. Rare and precious is the rule all the world 
 over. The Spaniards, who explored the country for gold and 
 precious stones, found out by signs the places from which that 
 metal came. The Indians pointed to the south, and the admi- 
 ral and his companions surmised that there was in that direc- 
 tion an island or a continent of India, answering by its richness 
 and arts to the marvelous stories of the Venetian, Marco Polo. 
 This land, to which they thought they were already near, was, 
 according to them, the fabulous island of Cipangu, or Japan, 
 the sovereign of which walked on floors formed of slabs of gold. 
 Their impatience to resume their course towards this goal of 
 their fancy or their greed soon made them re-embark. They 
 were provisioned with fresh water from the island streams, and 
 their decks were loaded with fruits, roots and cassavas, gifts 
 
CHKISTUPHKk COLUMBUS. 
 
 47 
 
 from these poor and happy Indians, one of whom they took 
 with them to learn iheir language and act as interpreter. 
 
 XLT. 
 
 On rounding tlie island of San Salvador, they found them- 
 selves as if lost in the channels of an archipelngo coni|)oscd of 
 more than a hundred islands of une([ual size, but all with a 
 must luxuriant ap|>earance of youth, fertility, and vegetation. 
 They touched at the larg.st and most populous, where they 
 were surrountled by canoes hollowed from single trees, and 
 traded wich the inhabitants, giving buttons and little bells in 
 exchange for gold and pearls. Their sailings and stopj)ages 
 amid this labyrinth (j4 unknown islands was for them only a 
 repetition of their landing at San Salvador. The same inoffen- 
 sive curiosity greeted thetii everywhere. They were intoxicated 
 by the climate, flowers and perfumes, the colours and the plum- 
 ages of the strange birds, which each one of these oases offered 
 to their senses ; but their mind, interested in one thought 
 alone — the discovery of the land of gold, in what they sup- 
 posed to be the extreme point of Asia — rendered them less 
 sensible to these natural treasures, and prevented them from 
 suspecting the existence of a new and immense continc t, oi 
 which these islands were the advance guards on the ocean. 
 From the direction of the Indians' eyes and their signs, which 
 pointed to a region even more magnificent than their archi- 
 peliigo, Columbus sailed t(nvards the coast of Cuba, where he 
 landed after a pleasant run of three days, without losing sight 
 of the charming islands of the Bahamas that marked out his 
 course. 
 
 Cuba, with its terraced coasts stretching without end, backed 
 by mountains that cleaved the sky, with its harbours, the 
 mouths of its rivers, its gulfs and bays, forests and villages, 
 recalled to him, in even grander features, the Old World 
 Sicily. He remained undecided as to whether it was a 
 continent or an island. He cast anchor in the shady bed 
 of a great river, and, having landed, explored the beach, 
 forests, orange and palm gardens, villages and huts of the in- 
 habitants. A dumb dog was the only livintc thing that he 
 found in these dwellings, deserted at his approach. He re- 
 
 l i 
 
 l\' 
 
 4i 
 
 
48 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 ^ 
 
 embarked, and with his vessels ascended the channel of the 
 river which was shaded by large-leaved palms and giant trees 
 covered with fruit and flowers. Nature seemed to have taken 
 care to lavish spontaneously on these happy tribes the ele- 
 ments of a life of felicity without labour. Kverything recalled 
 the Kden of the Bible and of poetry. Harmless animals, birds 
 of blue and purple plumage ; parrots, wood-peckers, and hum- 
 ming-birdK darted from branch to branch, with cry and song, 
 a very haze of colour ; luminous insects dazzled the air itself ; 
 the sun, temjjered by the breeze from the niountains, by the 
 shade of the trees and by the running streams, fertilized alt 
 there, without parching ; the moon and the stars mirrored 
 themselves, during the darkness, in the bed of the stream, with 
 splendours and flashes of soft light that robbed night of its 
 terrors. A general intoxication exalted the souls and senses of 
 Columbus and his companions. This war, indeed a new earth, 
 at once more virgin and more endearing than the Old World 
 from which they had come. 
 
 " It is the most beauteous island," writes Colnmbus in his 
 notes, '* that the eye of man has ever looked upon. One would 
 wish to live on it forever, for neither sorrow nor death are con- 
 ceivable there." 
 
 The odour of spices that reached his vessels from the interior, 
 and the discovery of pearl-bearing oysters on the shore, per- 
 suaded him more and more that Cuba was a prolongation of 
 Asia. He fancied that behind the mountains of this island, or 
 this continent — for he was still uncertain whether Cuba was or 
 was not connected with the mainland— he would find the em- 
 pires, the civilization, the gold mines, and the marvels with 
 which enthusiastic travellers endowed Cathay and Japan. Not 
 being able to meet with the natives, who all fled from the coast 
 on the approach of the Spaniards, he sent two of his companions, 
 one of whom spoke Hebrew and the other Arabic, to seek 
 for these fabulous capitals, where he thought the sovereign of 
 Cathay made his residence. These envoys were laden with 
 presents for the natives ; they were ordered to exchange them 
 only for gold, the inexhaustible supply of which they thought 
 was in the interior of this land. The messengers returned to 
 the vessels without having discovered any other capital than 
 the huts of savages, and a nature prodigal of vegetation, per- 
 
CHRIS lOIM IKK COLUMBUS. 
 
 49 
 
 tiimcs, flowers and fruits. They had succeeded, by incanr of 
 presents, in overcoinin)!; the shyness of some of the natives, ami 
 hrouyht them l)ack with iheni to the admiral. Tohacro, a 
 slightly intoxicating plant, ol whi<:h the inhabitants tnade small 
 rolls, lighting the '.muIs of them to iiihah* the smoke ; the 
 [.otato, a farinaceo'-.s root which turned mto reaily-madc bread 
 in the ashes ; nuu/c, couon spun by the women, oranges, 
 lemons, and the strange fruits of their orchards, were the only 
 treasures that they had discovered aroimd the dwellings that 
 were scattered, in groups, through the openings of the forests. 
 
 Disappointed in his exjx'ctalions of gold, the admiral, trusting 
 to the directions of the natives, whom he misunderslo )d, re- 
 j;rcttully ijuittcd this cnci anting abode to lurri his course to the 
 cast, where he still placed his fabulous Asia, lie took on board 
 some men and wom< n from Cuba who were bolder and more con. 
 tiilinij; than the others to serve him as intt-rpreters in the ncigh- 
 boiuuigccmntiies that he proposed U) visit, to convert them tolhe 
 true faith, and to offer Isabella these souls redeemed, accordifig to 
 him, Ly her noble enterprise. Being pt^rsuaded that Cuba, the 
 limits of which he had not seen, formed a portion of the conti- 
 nent of Asia, he sailed lor sonjc days at a short distance from 
 the real continent of America, without perceiving it. His ob- 
 stinate illusion hid from him a reality so near his prow. Mean- 
 while envy, which was to poison his life, had sprung into 
 existence in the minds of his companions on the very day 
 when his discoveries had crowned the dream of his whole life. 
 
 Amerigo Vespucci, an obscure Florentine, who had embarked 
 on one of his ships was to give his name to this world towardi 
 which Columbus alone had guided him. Vespucci only owed 
 this good fortune of his name to chance and his subse([uent 
 voyages with Columbus in the same latitudes. A subaltern 
 lieutenant, devoted to the admiral, he never sought to rob him 
 of this glory. A whim of fortune gave it to him, without his 
 ever seeking to deceive the judgment of Europe, aid custom 
 retained it. The name of the leader being deprived of the 
 honour of naming a world, the name of the subordinate pre- 
 vailed — a mockery of human glory, of which Columbus was 
 the victim, but for which Amerigo, at least, was not to blame. 
 Posterity may be reproached with injustice and ingratitude, but 
 
 D 
 
 
 I t 
 
 ":i 
 
 -i 
 
 
JO 
 
 CnRISTOPIir.R COLUMBUS. 
 
 jit 
 
 11 i 
 I*' 
 
 m 
 
 
 '<.. 
 
 the lucky Florentine sailor cannot be charged with wilful mil- 
 appropriation. 
 
 XLll. 
 
 Wat envy, which is horn in the hearts of men on the same 
 day as success, was already burning the heart of the principal 
 lieutenant of Columbus, Alonzo I'inzon. Commanding the Pinta, 
 the second ship of the s(|uadron, Pinzon, whose sails easily out 
 stripped the two other vessels, pretended to lose his way during 
 the night and disappeared from the sight of his leader. He 
 had resolved to profit by the discovery ot (Columbus, to discover 
 for himself other lands, without genius and without effort, and, 
 after having given them his name, to return the first to Europe 
 to usurp the brightness of renown and the recompenses due to 
 his master and his leader on the voyage. Columbus had for 
 some days only too clearly seen the en\y and insubordination 
 of trs lieutenant. Hut he owed much to Alonzo Pinzon ; with- 
 out him and without his encouragement and assistance at Palos, 
 he would never have succeeded in fitting out his shi and 
 getting his sailors. Gratitude had prevented him from sh- 
 ing the first insiil)ordinate acts of a man from whom ne had 
 received so much. 
 
 The tolerant, unpresuming and magnanimous disposition of 
 Columbus dissuaded him from all excessive harshness. Full of 
 impartiality and goodness, he expected goodness and impartiality 
 from others in return. This kindness, which Alonzo Pmzon had 
 taken for feebleness, encouraged him in his ingratitude. He 
 boldly threw himself between Columbus and the new discoveries 
 that he had resolved to snatch from his grasp. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 The admiral grieved as he forecasted the crime, while affect- 
 ing to believe the Pinta's change of course to be involuntary ; 
 he sailed south-east with his two ships towards a great shadow 
 that he saw upon the sea, and landed upon the island of His- 
 paniola, since called St. Domingo. Without this cloud around 
 the mountains of St. Domingo, which made him put about, he 
 was once more in the way of finding the continent. 
 
 The American archipelago, by enticing and leading him from 
 
CHRfSTOFHFR COLUMBUS. 
 
 51 
 
 iiland to Island, seemed to turn him at pleasure from the goal 
 to which he was so close without perceiving it. 
 
 That phantom of Asia, which had led him to the tiireshold of 
 America, now interposcil between America and him, to rob him 
 of the great reality by a chimera. 
 
 XIJV. 
 
 This new and laughing earth, fertile and vast, bathed in a 
 crystal atmosphere, and washed by a sea, the waves of which 
 bore [)erfumes, seemed to him the marvelous island, detached 
 from the continent of India, that he sought for across such 
 distances and through such perils, under the fanciful name of 
 the island of Cipangu. He gave it the name of Hispaniola, to 
 brand i* forever with the mark of the country of his adoption. 
 The natives, simple, gentle and hospitable, open and respectful, 
 hastened in a crowd to the shore, as if to meet beings of a 
 higher nature, whom a celestial prodigy sent to them from the 
 bounds of the horizon, or the dep uS of the firmament, to be 
 adored and served as the equals of the gods. A numerous and 
 happy population then covered the plains and valleys of His- 
 paniola, The men and women were ty[)es of strength and 
 beauty. 
 
 The perpetual peace that reigned among their tribes stamped 
 their faces with an impression of sweetness and good-will. 
 Their laws were only the kindly instincts of the heart, passed 
 into traditions and customs. One would have said a people in 
 its infancy, whose vices had not yet had time to develop, and 
 whom the promptings of an innocent nature sufficed to govern. 
 They understood agriculture, horticulture and as much of the 
 arts as is necessary for government, for the family and for the 
 first necessaries of life. Their fields were admirably cultivated, 
 their huts tasty and grouped in villages on the edge of forests of 
 frait trees, in the neighbourhood of rivers or springs. 
 
 Their clothing, in a warm climate which did not subject them 
 to the extremes of winter or summer, consisted only of ornaments 
 intended to beautify them, cotton stuffs, matting and girdles 
 sufficient to veil their nakediiess. 
 
 Their government was as simple and natural as their ideas. 
 It was the family enlarged by the succession of generations, but 
 
 t 
 
 ■{'I 
 
 It 
 
5* 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 < 
 
 always grouped round a hereditary chief whom they called 
 the Cazique. The Caziques were the leaders, not the tyrants 
 of their iribe. Custom, an unwritten crmslitution, but inviol- 
 able and protecting as a divine law, ruled these petty kings. An 
 authority quite paternal on one side, quite filial on the other, 
 revolt against which seemed unknown I 
 
 The natives of Cuba, whom Columbus had embarked witd 
 him to serve as guides and interpreters on these seas and islands 
 began to understand the language of the Europeans ; they partly 
 understood that of the inhabitants of Hispaniola, a detached 
 branch of the same human family ; they thus established a 
 prompt and easy means of communication between Columbus 
 and the people whom he came to visit. 
 
 XI.V. 
 
 The so-called Indians led the Spaniards without suspicion to 
 their houses, offering them cassava bread, strange fruits, fishe^ 
 and savoury roots, tame birds of magnificent plumage and 
 melodious song, flowers and palms, bananas and lemons, all the 
 gifts of the sea, the sky, the earth and the climate. 
 
 They treated them as guests and brothers, almost as gods. 
 
 " Nature," says Columbus, " is so lavish there, that property 
 has not created feelings of avarice or cupidity. These men seem 
 to live in a golden age, haj)py and peaceful in the midst of their 
 open and boundless gardens, which are neither surrounded by 
 ditches, divided by palisades, or protected by walls. They act 
 honestly towards each other, without laws, books or judges. 
 They look upon him as a wicked man who takes pleasure in 
 doing wrong to another. This horror of the good for the wicked 
 seems to sum up their whole legislation." 
 
 Their religion also was but a sentiment of inferiority, gratitude 
 and love to the invisible being who had been bountiful to them 
 in their life and happiness. 
 
 What a contrast between the state of these ha[)py peoples at 
 the moment when the Kurnpeans discover them to bring them 
 the genius of the old world, and the state into which these un 
 happy Indians fell a few years after this visit of their pretended 
 civilizers ! What a mystery of Providence is this unexpected 
 visit of Columbus to a new world, to which he thinks he is 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMRUS. 
 
 53 
 
 bringing virtue and new life, iind wiiere lie is sowing, unknown 
 !o himself, tyranny and death 1 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 The pilot of Columbup, in endeavouring to penetrate succes- 
 ively into all the creeks and rver mourhs of the island, ran 
 aground while the admiral was asleep. The vessel, threatened 
 with submergence by the roaring waves, was abandoned by the 
 pi:ot and some of the sailors wlu*, on the pretext of taking an 
 anchor ashore, took flight in order to reach another shi[) by dint 
 of rowing, thinking that Columbus was condemned to ceitain 
 death. 
 
 The admiral's energy again saved, not the shij), but his com- 
 panions. He fought against the breakers until the dismember- 
 ment of the last plank, and, i)lacing his men on a raft, landed as 
 a shipwrecked man on that coast where he had recently landed 
 as a conqueror. He was so )n joined by the only vessel that 
 remained to him. 
 
 His shipwreck and misfortune did not cool the hospitality of 
 the Cazique whose guest he had been some days before. The 
 Cazique, named Quacanagari, the first fri^^nd and soon to be the 
 first victim of these strangers, shed te r.s of compassion over the 
 disaster of Columbus. He offered his dwellmg, h^ provisions 
 and his assistance, in every way, to the Sp miard^ The frag- 
 ments of the wreck and the riches of the Europeans, snatched 
 from the waves and spread on the beach, were preserved there, 
 as holy things, from all violation and even from all importunate 
 curiosity. These men who did not understand the meaning of 
 property amongst themselves, seemed to recognize and respect 
 it ill their unfortunate guests. Columbus, in his letters to 
 the King and Queen, showed himself to be deeply touched by 
 the spontaneous generosity of this people. 
 
 "There is not in the universe," he writes, "a better nation 
 or a better country. They love iheir neighbours as themselves ; 
 their speech is always kind and courteous, and a smile of web 
 corne is ever on their lips. They are naked, it is true, but 
 clothed in their seemliness and candour," 
 
 Columbus, after establishing relations of the most intimate 
 and trusting hospitality with the young Cazique, received from 
 
 m 
 
 !;' i 
 
 ■^.i 
 
Si 
 
 CHT .STOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 t'l 
 
 him a present of some gold ornaments. At the sight of the 
 gold, the faces of the Europeans all at once showed such pas- 
 sionate longing, such greedy and fierce desire, that the Cazique 
 and his subjects were astonished and instinctively filled with 
 fear, as if their new friends had suddenly changed their nature 
 and their disposition towards them. It was only too true ; the 
 companions of Columbus only sought the imaginary riches of 
 the west, while he sought for a mysterious portion of the uni- 
 verse. The sight of the gold had called them back to their 
 covetousness ; their faces had become harsh and fierce as their 
 thoughts. The Cazique, on learning that this metal was the god 
 of the Europeans, explained to them, while pointing to the moun- 
 tains, that there was behind those summits, a region from which 
 gold came to him in abundance. Columbus no longer doubted 
 that he had at last traced the riches of Solomon to their source, 
 and, preparing everything for his speedy return to Europe in 
 order to announce his triumph, he built a fort in the Cazique's 
 village to leave a part of his companions there in safety during 
 his absence. He chose forty picked men amongst his officers 
 and sailors, and placed them under the command of Pedro de 
 Arana. They were directed to collect information about the 
 gold region, and to maintain the respect ard friendship of the 
 Indians for the Spaniards. He set out on his return to Europe, 
 laden wiihjlihe gifts of the chief and bringing back all the orna- 
 ments and crowns of pure gold that he had been able to procure, 
 during his stay, by presents or by exchange with the natives. 
 
 In coasting the windings of the island, he met his treacherous 
 companion, Alonzo Pinzon. On the pretext of having lost 
 sight of the admiral, Pinzon had taken a separate course. 
 Hidden in a deep inlet of the island, he had landed, and, instead 
 of imitating the mildness and policy of Columbus, had stained 
 his first steps with blood. The admiral, on finding his lieutenant, 
 pretended to be satisfied with his excuses, and to attribute his 
 desertion to the darkness of the night. He ordered Pinzon to 
 follow with his ship to Europe. 
 
 They again took the sea together, impatient to announce to 
 Spain the news of their marvelous voyage. 
 
 But the ocean, which had brought them kindly with its trade 
 winds, from billow to billow, to the coast of America, seemed, 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 SJ 
 
 with contrary winds and waves, to wish to drive them obstinately 
 from the land that they burned to see again. 
 
 Columbus, thanks to his knowledge of seamanship and the 
 notes of his reckonings which he had kept as a secret from his ' 
 pilots, alone knew the course and alone estimated the distance 
 truly. His companions still thought themselves thousands of 
 leagues from Europe, when he already anticipated the nearness 
 of the Azores, which he soon sighted. 
 
 Terrible squalls, heaped up clouds, thunder and lightning 
 such as they had never seen blaze in the sky to quench itself in 
 the sea ; foaming mountains of wave whirling his ships, which 
 obeyed neither sail or rudder, for six days and nights opened 
 and closed the grave to himself and his companions on the 
 threshold of their country. 
 
 The signals, made by the two vessels in the darkness, dis- 
 appeared. Each one believed in the loss of the other, as eacl\ 
 floated at the will of the never-ending storm, between the Azores 
 and the Spanish coast. Columbus, who did not donbt that the 
 Pinta was buried in the depths with Pinzon, and whose torn sails 
 and wave-abandoned rudder no longer guided the ship, expected 
 to founder every minute under one of these mountains of water 
 which he climbed and sunk from mth their foam. He had sacri- 
 ficed his life ; but he could not, without despair, sacrifice his 
 glory. To know that the mystery and the discovery which he 
 brought back to the Old World was buried with him for centuries, 
 so near port, was such a cruel mockery of Providence that he 
 could not bend even his piety to meet it. His soul rebelled 
 against this freak of fortune. To die at the moment when he 
 touched the shore of Europe but with his foot, and after having 
 deposited his secret and his treasure in the memory of his coun- 
 try, was a destiny that he accepted with joy ; but to leave a 
 second universe to die, so to say, with him, and to carry to the 
 tomb the solution, at last found, of this enigma of the globe, 
 which men, his brothers, would perhaps seek for in vain during 
 as many centuries as it had been hidden from them, was a mil- 
 lion deaths in one ! 
 
 He only asked God, in his vows to all the sanctuaries of 
 Spain, to bear him, at least, to the shore with his wreckage, the 
 proofs of his discovery and his return. Meanwhile tempest 
 followed tempest, and the vessel was full of water. The bitter 
 
 ■1 ' 
 
 fill 
 
 U 
 
56 
 
 CHKISTOFMIFR COLUMBUS. 
 
 'if 
 t 
 
 ''7 
 
 It 
 
 looks, the irritable murmurs, or sullen silence of his com- 
 panions reproached him with the obstinacy that had alkired or 
 forced them to this fatal voyage. They regarded tliis enduring 
 wrath of the elements as a vengeance of the ocean, because a 
 too daring man had robbed it of ils mystery. They spoke of 
 throwing him into the sea, to obtain, by a brilliant atonement, 
 the cahning of the waves. 
 
 XI.VII. 
 
 Columbus, heedless of tlieir wrath, and solely concerned 
 about the fate of his discovery, wrote several short accounts of 
 it on parchment ; inclosed some of them in a roll of wax, others 
 in cedar boxes, and threw these witnessess into the sea for 
 chance to carry them some day, after him, to the shore. It is 
 said that one of these buoys, abandoned to the winds and waves, 
 was tossed on the surface for three centuries and a half, in the 
 channel or on the strands of the sea, and that a sailor of a 
 European ship, while embarking ballast for his vessel, some 
 time ago, on the shingle of the African coast opposite Gibraltar, 
 picked up a petrified cocoanut and took it to his captain as a 
 worthless natural curiosity. The captain, on opening the nut 
 to find out if the kernel had withstood the lapse of time, found, 
 enclosed in the hollow shell, a parchment on which was 
 written in Gothic letters, deciphered with difficulty by a Gib- 
 raltar scholar, these words : 
 
 " We cannot hold out another day against the storm ; we are 
 between Spain and the newly discovered islands of the west. 
 If the caravel founders, may someone pick up this testimony 1 
 
 *' Christopher Columbus." 
 
 The ocean had kept this message for three hundred and 
 fifty-eight years, and only gave it up to Europe after America, 
 colonized, flourishing and free, was a rival of the Old Conti- 
 nent. A freak of fortune to inform men of what could have 
 remained hidden for so many centuries, if Providence had not 
 forbidden the waves to drown its great messenger in the person 
 of Columbus. 
 
 XL VI II. 
 
 On the following day there was a cry ijf Land ! It was the 
 Portuguese island of Santa Maria, at the extremity of the Azores. 
 
CHRLSTOIMIKK COLUMBUS. 
 
 57 
 
 Columbus and his companions were driven away from it by the 
 jealous persecution of the Portuguese. 
 
 Again given up to the extremes of hunger and the fury of 
 the storm for days interminable, they only entered the mouth 
 of the Tagus on the 4th of March, where they at last cast 
 anchor in a shore that was indeed FAiropean, but was a rival 
 of Spain. 
 
 Columbus, being presented to the King of Portugal, gave 
 him an account of his discoveries without revealing his course, 
 for fear that prince should precede the fleets of Isabella. The 
 Portuguese of the court of John II., King of Portugal, advised 
 that king to have the famous sailor assassinated, in order to 
 bury with liim the secret and ihe rights of the crown of Spain 
 over these new countries. John H. was indignant at this base- 
 ness. Columbus, whom he received with honour, sent a 
 courier overland to his sovereigns to announce his succesj and 
 his speedy return by sea to Palos, where he disembarked, at 
 daybreak, on the 15th Marcli, in the midst of a population 
 intoxicated by joy and pride who advanced into the waves to 
 carry him ashore in triuujph. He threw himself into the arms 
 of his friend and protector, the humble Prior of the Monastery 
 of Rabida, Juan Peres, who iiad alone believed in him, and 
 whom one half the globe recompensed for his faith. Columbus 
 went in procession, barefoot, to the monastery church, to give 
 thanks for his safety, his glory and the conquest achieved for 
 Spain. A whole people followed him with blessings to the 
 door of that lowly monastery where, alone and on loot, with 
 his son, he had some years before begged the hospitality that 
 was extended to mendicants. Never since the beginning of the 
 world had a man amongst men brought to his country and pos- 
 terity such a conquest, with the exception of those who brought 
 to the earth the revelation of a creed ; and this conquest of 
 Columbus had so far cost humanity neither a crime, a life, a 
 drop of blood, nor a tear. His happiest days were those 
 which he passed, resting in the brightness of his hopes and 
 glory, at the monastery of Rabida with his host and friend, the 
 Prior of the monastery, and in the embraces of his sons. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 And as if heaven had wished to fill the measure of his happi- 
 ness, and to avenge him on the envy that pursued him, Alonzo 
 
 .1 1 
 f i I 
 
 f ; 
 
 m 
 
 I .■ 
 
 if 
 
 .« 
 
5« 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 I 
 
 
 Pinzon, the captain of his second ship, entered on the following 
 day with the Pinta into the harbour of Palos, where he hoped 
 to arrive before his chief, and rob him of the first fruits of his 
 triumph. But disappointed in his guilty intention, and fearing 
 the punishment of his desertion, if disclosed by the admiral, 
 Pinzon died of despair and envy on touching land and seeing 
 the vessel of Columbus at anchor in the harbour. Columbus 
 was too generous to feel exultation, still less to seek revenge, 
 and the envious Nemesis of great men seemed to expire, of its 
 own accord, at his feet. 
 
 L. 
 
 Isabella and Ferdinand, being informed of the return of 
 Columbus, and of their conquest, by the message that their 
 admiral had sent from Lisbon, met him at Barcelona with 
 ponl^ and ovations worthy of the greatness of his services. The 
 Spanish nobility h-rstened from all the provinces to join his 
 train. He made his entry as a victor and as ruler of an em- 
 pire to come. The Indians brought over by the squadron, as 
 a living proof of the existence of other human races in the 
 newly-discovered countries, marched at the head of the proces- 
 sion, their bodies painted in various colours and adorned with 
 necklaces of gold and pearls ; the animals and birds, the 
 strange plants, and the precious stones gathered on those 
 shores, were displayed in golden vessels and carried on the 
 heads of black or Moorish slaves. The hungry crowd flocked 
 round them ; fabulous stories pursued the steps of the officers 
 and the admiral's companions in renown. Columbus followed, 
 mounted on one of the King's horses, richly caparisoned, 
 escorted by a numerous cavalcade of courtiers and gentlemen. 
 All eyes were concentrated on this God-inspired man who had 
 lifted the veil of the ocean. 1 hey looked in his face for the 
 visible sign of his mission, and believed they saw it there. 
 The beauty of his features, the pensive majesty of his look, the 
 vigour of eternal youth joined to the gravity of years already 
 mature, the thought behind the deed, the strength under the 
 white hairs, the inner consciousness of his worth joined to the 
 piety towards God that had chosen him from amongst all, the 
 gratitude to his sovereigns who returned to him in honours 
 what he had brought to them in conquest's, made of Columbus 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 59 
 
 at this moment, say the spectators of his entry into Barcelona, 
 one of those heroes of prophesy and Bible liistory under whose 
 feet the people threw palms, in wonder and adoration. *' None 
 reached his level," they report ; " all acknowledged in him the 
 greatest and most favoured of men." 
 
 Isabella and Ferdinand received him on their throne, which 
 was sheltered fom the sun by a golden canopy. They rose 
 before him as before a messenger of God, afterwards sealing 
 him on a level with the throne, while they listened to his 
 solemn and circumstantial account of his voyage. At the end 
 of the recital, which the eloquence and poetry that habitually 
 flowed from the admiral's lips had coloured with his in- 
 exhaustible imagination and fired with his holy enthusiasm, the 
 King and Queen, moved to tears, fell on their knees and com- 
 menced, in an outburst of devotion, the Te Deum^ a hymn for 
 the greatest victory that the Almighty had ever granted to a 
 king. 
 
 Couriers instantly set out to bear the great news and the 
 victorious name of Columbus to all the courts of Europe. The 
 obscurity that had, till then, surrounded his life changed to a 
 fame and glory for his name that filled the world. Columbus 
 neither allowed his soul to be puffed up by these honours that 
 had been decreed to his person, nor his modesty to be humili- 
 ated by the jealousies that began to spring up around his glory. 
 One day, when he had been invited to the table of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, one of the guests, envious of the honours granted 
 to the son of a wool carder, artfully asked him if he thought 
 that no one except himself could have discovered that other 
 hemisphere, in case he had not been born. Columbus did not 
 answer the question, for fear he should say too much or too 
 little of himself ; but, taking an egg between his fingers, he 
 turned to all the guests and requested them to make it stand 
 on end. No one succeeded. Columbus then crushed one end 
 of the egg, and, placing it on the broken oval, showed his rivals 
 that there was no merit in a simple idea, but yet that no one 
 could suspect its existence before a first inventor had given 
 others the proof of it : thus ascribing to the Supreme Giver of 
 inspiration the merit of his enterprise, while at the same time 
 claiming for himself alone the honour of priority. This parable 
 became, afterwards, the answer of every man chosen by Provi- 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
6o 
 
 CIIKISTOI'IIKR COLLI M BUS. 
 
 
 
 dence to point out a road to his fellows and to be the first to 
 travel it, not indeed as being greater, but as being more 
 favoured by inspiration than his brethren. 
 
 The iionours and titles, and the future bestowal of the lands, 
 the discovery and concpiest of which he would go to complete, 
 became in his formal treaties with the court the appanage of 
 Columbus. He obtained the vice-royalty, the administration, 
 and a quarter of the riches or products, of every kind, of the 
 seas, islands, and continents where he should |)lant the cross of 
 the Church and tiie fl.ig of Spain. 
 
 Fonscca, Archdeacon of Seville, was entrusted, under the 
 title of " I*atriarch of India," with the prei)aration and c(|uip 
 ment of the new expedition that Columbus was about to kad 
 to greater conquests ; but, from the day of his appointment. 
 Fonseca became the secret riv d of the great sailor, and, as if 
 he had been anxious to disparage the genius that i-.e had been 
 commissioned to assist, while appearing to furnish Columbus 
 liberally with means, he raised obstacles in his |)ath. His 
 delays and pretexts reduced to seventeen ships the squadron 
 that was destined to carry the admiral back across the Atlantic. 
 Nevertheless, the venturesome genius of the Spaniards of this 
 age, the spirit of religious proselytisin, and the s|>irit of chivalry, 
 hurried on board the vessels a large number of monks, gen de- 
 men, and adventurers, who were eager, the former to carry the 
 truth, the latter to bring back fame and fortune, in being the 
 first to throw themselves into these countries that made wider 
 the imagination of mankind. 
 
 Workmen of all trades, farmers from every zone, domestic 
 animals of all kinds, seeds and plants, vine stocks and friiil 
 trees, sugar canes, samples of all the arts and trades of Europe, 
 were embarked on the trans[)orts to test the climate, fertilize 
 the soil, and tempt the men of these new climes, in order to ob- 
 tain from them gold and pearls, with the perfume and spices of 
 India, in exchange for things of small value in Europe. It was 
 the crusade of religion, of war and industry, of glory and ava 
 rice : for these the things of heaven, for the others the things of 
 earth, for all the marvelous and the unknown. 
 
 The most illustrious of these associates who embarked with 
 Columbus was Alonzo de Ojeda, formerly page to Isabella, the 
 handsomest, the most fearless, and most adventurous knight of 
 
CHRISTOPKKR COLUMBUS. 
 
 6i 
 
 the rourt. His soul and judgment so overflowed with daring 
 tluit he carried <'nthusiasin to the ver^e of tnadncss. He it 
 was who, one day when Isabelli had asrended to the lop of the 
 huge tower of Seville, called th«* (liralda, to admire its wonder- 
 tiil height and to look down Irom above on the streets and 
 houses of the city lying like an ant hill at her feet, s] rung on a 
 nirrow beam that projected from the battlements, and, pirouet- 
 ting on one foot at the extremity of this joist, performed pro- 
 digies of dexterity and daring over the abyss to give pleasure 
 to his sovereign, without the giddiness of threatening death 
 di'zing his eyes or terrifying his mind. 
 
 
 LI. 
 
 On the 25th September, 1493, the fleet left the Bay of Cadiz. 
 Shouts of joy all along the shore were the omens of this 
 second departure, which seemed destined only for a long 
 triumph. The two sons of Columbus accompanied their father 
 to the admiral's ship. He blessed them, and left them in Spain, 
 so that the better part of his life, at least, should remain safe 
 from the perils that he went to meet. Three large ships and 
 fourteen caravels made up the fleet. I'he ocean was crossed 
 as easily as on the first occasion. The fl'iet discovered Guada- 
 loupe on the 2nd November, passed through the midst of the 
 Caribbee Islands, christened this archipelago with names 
 borrowed from holy memories ; and, soon afterwards touching 
 at the point of Hispaniola (now Haiti), Columbus made sail 
 towards the gulf where he had built the fort and left his forty 
 companions. He returned full, at once, of anxiety and hope. 
 Might covered the shore when he cast anchor in the roadstead, 
 but he did not wait for daylight to ascertain the fate of his 
 colony. A salvo of cannons rang out upon the waves to in- 
 form the Spaniards of his return : but the cannon of the fort 
 remained dumb ; only the echo of those solitudes returned the 
 greeting of Europe to the New World. On the morrow, at day- 
 break, he saw the deserted shore, the destroyed fort, the cannon 
 half buried in its ruins, the bones of the Spaniards bleaching on 
 the sand, and even the village of the caziques abandoned. 
 
 The few nativ^es who were seen in the distance, on the edge of 
 the forest, seemed to hesitate to approach, as if they had been held 
 
 !5 
 
 i 
 
 1i 
 
63 
 
 CHRISTOPHFR COLUMBUS. 
 
 1 1 
 t 
 
 
 \ ■ 
 
 back by a feeling of remorse or by a fear of vengeance. The 
 caziquc, m'>re confident in his own innocence and in the jus- 
 tice of Colun.bus, whom he had learned to love, at last came 
 forward, lamenting the crimes of the Spaniards, who had taken 
 advantage of the hospitality of his subjects to oppress the 
 natives, and \vho had carried off their daughters and their 
 wives, reduced their hosis to slavery, and at last roused the 
 vengeance of his tribe. 
 
 After having killed a great number of the Indians and burned 
 their huts, they had been killed themselves. The burnt fort, 
 covering their bones, was the first monument of the contact be 
 tween these two human families, one of which brought slavery 
 and devastation to the other. 
 
 Columbus deplored the crimes of his companions and the 
 misfortunes of the cazique. He resolved to seek another part 
 of the shore to disembark and form a settlement on the coasts 
 of the island. 
 
 Amongst the young Indian captives from the neighbouring 
 islands, who were prisoners on board, Catalina, the most beauti- 
 ful amongst them, had charmed the eyes of a cazique who had 
 visited the vessel of Cokmibus. A plan of escape had been 
 arranged between this chief and the object of his love in the 
 language of signs, which the Europeans did not understand. 
 
 The night on which Columbus unfurled his sails, Catalina 
 and her companions, deceiving the vigilance of their tyrants, 
 threw themselves into the sea ; vainly pursued by the Euro- 
 peans' boats, they swam towards the shore, where the young 
 cazique had kindled a fire to guide them. 
 
 The two lovers, united by this wonderful deed of strength 
 and daring, took refuge in the forests from the wrath of the 
 Europeans. 
 
 UI. 
 
 Columbus, again landing on a virgin beach at some distance, 
 founded on it the town of Isabella, established friendly relations 
 with the natives, built, cultivated and governed the first Euro- 
 pean colony, the mother of so many others ; he sent armed de- 
 tachments to visit the plains and mountains of Hispaniola, first 
 treating kindly, then tempting, and finally subduing, by mild 
 and just laws, the different tribes of these vast territories ; he 
 
 w 
 
I". 
 
 CHRISTOPHER CrlLUMRUS. 
 
 63 
 
 built forts and laid out roads to the different parts of his em- 
 pire, seeking for goUl, which was less .ibundaru than he expected 
 in these regions which he still confounded with India, and only 
 finding the inexhaustible wealth of a soil rich to prodigality and 
 a people as easy to bring into subjugation as to tyrannise. 
 
 He sent back the greater number of liis vessels to Spain to 
 ask his sovereign for fresh consignments of men, animals, tools, 
 and the plants and seeds necessary for the vast expanse of the 
 territories that he was about to subjugate to the manners, reli- 
 gion and arts of Europe. 
 
 But the malcontents, the ambitious and the envious were the 
 first to embark on his fleet, in order to sow complaints, accusa- 
 tions and calumnies against him. 
 
 He remained alone, attlicted by gout, suffering excruciating 
 pain, condemned to bodily inactivity while his mind was in 
 constant anxiety, beset, in his budding colony, by the rivalries, 
 revolts and conspiracies, the shameless debauchery and lack of 
 provisions among his crews. 
 
 Ever kind and magnanimous, Columbus, victorious by moral 
 force alone, over the turbulence of his countrymen and the 
 mutiny of his lieutenants, limited himself to consigning the in- 
 subordinate to the vessels ii' the roadstead 
 
 When he had recovered from his long illness, he went over 
 the island at the head of a column of jjicked men, vainly seek- 
 ing the gold mines of Solomon, but studying the nature and 
 customs of the island, and sowing evciy where, on his way, 
 respect and love for his name. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 He found, on his return, the same disorders, the .same insub- 
 ordination and the same vices. The Spaniards abused the 
 superstition of the natives with regard to them and the terror 
 with which their horses inspired them. The Indians took them 
 to be marvelous beings, forming one with their riders, at once 
 smiting, trampling on and blasting the enemies of the Europeans. 
 Thanks to this terror, they subjugated, chained, profaned, vio- 
 lated and tortured this gentle and obedient people. 
 
 Columbus again took harsh measures against the persecution 
 of the Indians by his companions. He wished to bring them 
 the faith and the arts of Europe, not the yoke, vice and death. 
 
 •if 
 
^ 
 
 CMKISToi'FIKK COLUMBUS. 
 
 1 1 
 
 After having re*eitabliiiiie(t lomc decree of order, he embarked 
 with the inli'iiti<»n of visiting the isl.ubl of Cuhi, which he had 
 hardly soen. He touched lliure and coastrd its nhtjre.s a loiij^r 
 ti.iic, without seeing the cud of the island whi< h he took to be 
 a contitient. lie sailed from there towards Jamaica, another 
 island of vast extent, the summits of which he s iw in the < louds, 
 Afterw inU cro.ssuig an archipelago which he called the "(Queen's 
 (Jardcns," from ihe richness and the perfume of the viigetation 
 that < loihed ihc islands, he relumed to C\\\)A and succeeded in 
 establishing friendly iclations with the natives. 
 
 The Indians took part, with mingled astonishment atid re 
 spect, in the ceremonies of I'hristiaii worship which the S[)an 
 iards ceh'braled in a grotlo, under the palm trees on the shore. 
 One of their old men approa<lu?d Oolumbus after the ceremony 
 and said to him in a solenm voice : 
 
 " \Vh;!t you have just done is ^ood, for it ai)p(*ars to be yotir 
 worship at the universal (Jod. It is said that you come to these 
 regions with a sirong force, and an authority superior to all re- 
 sistanro. If that is so, learn from nie what our ancestors tol ! 
 our fathers, who have repeated it to us. After the souls of nnn 
 are separated from the body by the will of divine beings, they 
 go, some to a country without sun or trees, others to regions 
 of bnghluess and bliss, according as they have deserved well 
 or ill her.' below in doing got. or evil to their fellows. If ihi , 
 you nuist die as we, take care that you do not work us evil, us 
 and thos'.* who have not done it unto you ! " 
 
 'J'his speecii of the old Indian, related by Las-Casas, proves 
 that the Indians had a religion almost evangelical in the si?n- 
 plicity and purity of its morality, a mysterious emanation, eillier 
 from a primitive nuture the brightness of which debauchery and 
 vice had not yet tarnished, or Irom an old and worn-out civiliza- 
 tion which had left its traces of light in their iruditions. 
 
 i.ta 
 
 I 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Columbus, after a long and laborious exploration, returned in 
 a dying state to Hispaniola. His hardships and anxieties, added 
 to his suffeiings an(i the weight of years which his mind did not 
 feel, but which weighed on his limbs, had for a moment triumph- 
 ed over his genius. His sailors brought him back to Isabella, 
 
1^ 
 
 CIIRISTOIMIF.K COLUMBUS. 
 
 6! 
 
 l>rofitrfltc and iinronsclous. Hut Providence, which hnd never 
 drscrlc(i him, watched over him (hiring' the Iohh of his facultiet. 
 He found, on waking from his stupor, his beloved brother, 
 llartliolomcw I'oUjinhus, at the head of his bed. Hartholomew 
 luul come from Kurope to llispanioKi, an if he ha(i had a warn- 
 ing of the peril and need in which his brother was to be placed. 
 He was the strength of the family, of which Diej^o, titj third 
 l)iother, was the gentleness, and Christopher the genius. The 
 vi;iour of his body ecjuallcd th»at of his mind, lie was of ath- 
 letic build, of the temper of iron, of robust health, of imposmg 
 presence, and with a voice that in its i)it(h overpowered the wind 
 and the sea. A sailor from his youth, a soldier and an adven- 
 turer all his life, endowed by nature and habits with the daring 
 that commands obedience, and the justice that makes discipline 
 light, a man as fit to rule as to fight, he was the most suitable 
 lieutenant for (>)lumbus in thr cxtre»"'»''ir( umstances into which 
 in.urhy had thrown his empire, and, above all, he was a brother 
 tilled with as muc'» resj)ect as affection for his leader and for 
 the glory of his name. The spirit of family was a guarantee to 
 Columbus for the fidelity of his lieutenant. 
 
 The affection between the two brothers was the best pledge 
 of the trust of the one and the submission of the other. 
 
 Columbus handed over the command and government to his 
 hrother during the long months when exhausted nature con- 
 dcinned him to inaction and repose, under the title of Adelan- 
 tado or general controller and vice-governor of the countries 
 under his authority. 
 
 ]>artholoniew,who was a stricter administratorthon his brother, 
 compelled more respect, but also roused more resistance. 
 
 The rashness and perfidy of the young Spanish soldier Ojeda 
 stirred up wars of despair between the Indians and the colony. 
 This fearless adventurer having penetrated with some horsemen 
 to the most distant and independent parts of the island, per- 
 suaded one of the caziques to accompany him on his return 
 with a large number of Indians, in order to admire the greatness 
 and wealth of the Europeans. 
 
 The beguiled chief followed Ojeda. After a march of some 
 
 days and during a halt on the banks of a river, Ojeda, taking 
 
 advantage of the simplicity of the Indian chief, directed his 
 
 notice to a pair of handcuffs of polished steel, the brightness of 
 
 £ 
 
 1 
 
66 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 I 
 
 ' I 
 
 *i' ' 
 
 which dazzled the cazique. Ojeda told him that these fetters 
 were the bracelets that the European kings wore before their 
 subjects on days of ceremony. He inspired his guest with a 
 wish to put them on also, and, mounting a horse like a Spaniard, 
 to show himself to his Indians in these pretended accoutrements 
 of the sovereigns of the old world. But scarcely had the un- 
 fortunate cazique mounted behira the deceitful Ojeda and put 
 on the handcuffs, the objects of his childish vanity, than the 
 Spanish horsemen, starting at a gallop and dragging their pri- 
 soner along with them, crossed the island and brought him iu 
 chains to the colony, where they kept him in the fetters for 
 v'hicii he had innocently wished. A widespread insurrection 
 roused the Indians against this perfidious act of the strangers, 
 in whom they had first seen guests, friends, benefactors and 
 gods. This insurrection led to vengeance on the part of tlie 
 Spaniaids. They reduced the Indians to a state of slavery, and 
 sent four vessels, laden with the victims of their cupidity, to 
 Spain to make an infamous trade of them as if in human cattle, 
 thus making good, by the price of these slaves, the gold 
 wh^'^h they had expected to gather like dust in the countries 
 where they found only flesh and blood. The war degenerated 
 into a man-huut Dogs, brought from Europe and trained tu 
 this chase in the forests, scenting and seizing the natives and 
 tearing their throats, assisted the Spaniards in this inhuman 
 devastation of the country. 
 
 LV. 
 
 Columbus, having at last recovered from his long illness, 
 again took up the reins of government, and was himself carried 
 away by the wars that were kindled during the interregnum. 
 He became soldier and peace-maker, after having been a 
 sailor ; won decisive battles against the Indians, and made 
 them submissive to the yoke that was made easier to bear by 
 his kindness and diplomacy, imposing on them only a small 
 tribute in gold and the produce of their land, as a token of 
 allegiance rither than of submission. 
 
 The island floiirished once more under his temperate govern- 
 ment ; ! ut the confiding and unhappy cazique, Guanacanari, 
 who had been the first to welcome these visitors to his territory, 
 
CHKISTOrHEK COLUMHUS. 
 
 67 
 
 ashamed and desperate at having involuntarily bten the accom- 
 plice in the enslavemtMit of his country, tied forever to the pre- 
 cipitous mountains of tiie island, and died there in freedom, so 
 that he might not live as a slave under the laws of those who 
 had taken advantage of his ])n)l)ity. 
 
 During this weakness of Columbus and these troubles in the 
 island, his enemies, \vorking for his disgrace at court, had poi- 
 soned the mind of Ferdinand against him. Isabella, who was 
 firmer in her admiration for this great man, vainly shielded him 
 with her favour. The court had sent to Hispaniola a magis- 
 trate invested with secret powers, which authorized him to 
 enquire into the alleged crimes of the viceroy, to deprive him 
 of his authority and to send him to Europe, if his guilt were 
 proved. This biased judge, whose name was Aguado, arrived 
 at Hispaniola while the viceroy was at the head of his troo[)s, 
 in the interior of the island, occupied in the pacification and 
 administration of the country. Forgetting the gratitude that he 
 owed to Columbus, who was the founder of his fortune, Aguado, 
 even before gathering information, pronounced Columbus guilty 
 and provisionally deposed from his sovereign functions. Sur- 
 rounded and applauded, on his landing, by the malcontents of 
 the colony, he sent Columbus an order to come to Isabella, 
 the capital town of the Spaniards, and to make acknowledgment 
 of his authority. Columbus, encompassed by his friends and 
 most devoted of his soldiers, could refuse obedience to the in- 
 solent command of a subordinate. He bowed, on the contrary, 
 to the very name of his sovereign ; went unarmed to Aguado, 
 and, surrendering him. entire authority, allowed him freely to 
 prepare the shameful action that his slanderers were entering 
 against him. But at the very momen' when his fortune was 
 thus sinking before persecution, it procured for him one of 
 those favours that could most readily gain him the favours of 
 the court. 
 
 One of his young officers, named Miguel Diaz, having killed 
 one of his comrades in a duel, fled, for fear of punishment, to 
 a wild and distant t^art of the island. The tribe that inhabited 
 these mountains was governed by a young Indian woman of 
 great beauty, the widow of a cazique. She conceived a pas- 
 sionate attachment for the Spanish fugitive, and married hini. 
 Yet Diaz, though beloved and crowned by the object of his 
 
 ^i!,il 
 
68 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 ii 
 ■i:i 
 
 \r 
 
 I' 
 
 affection, could not forget his country or conceal the sadness 
 that regret for his compatriots plainly marked on his face. His 
 wife, while trying to obtain from him the confession of his 
 melancholy, learned from him that gold was the passion of 
 the Spaniards, and that they would come to live with him, in 
 these regions, if they had the hoi)e of finding the precious 
 metal there. The young Indian wife, delighted to retain the 
 presence of him she loved at this price, revealed to him the 
 existence of inexhaustible mines, hidden in the mountains. 
 The possessor of this secret, and sure of obtaining pardon 
 at this price, Diaz hastened to bear the intelligence of the 
 trensure to Cohunbus. 
 
 The viceroy's brother, Bartholomew Columbus, set out with 
 Diaz and an escort of troops to verify the discovery. They 
 arrived in a few days at a valley where the river rolled gold 
 with its sand, and where the rocks in its bed were incrusted 
 with particles of the metal. Cokmibus built a fortress in the 
 neighbourhood, dug out and enlarged the mines that had been 
 already opened in ancient times, gathering immense riches 
 from them for his sovereigns, and persuading himself more 
 and more that he had entered the fabulous land of Ophir. 
 Diaz, who was grateful and true to his young Indian wife, to 
 whom he owed his pardon, his fortune, and his happiness, had 
 their marriage blessed by the priests of his religion, and ruled 
 over his tribe in peace. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 Columbus, yielding without resistance to Aguado's orders 
 after this discovery, embarked with his judge to Spain. He 
 arrived there, after a voyage of eight months, rather as an 
 accused man who is being led to punishment than as a victor 
 who brings back his trophies. Calumny, incredulity and re- 
 proaches greeted him at Cadiz. S[)ain, which had expected 
 prodigies, saw returning from the land of its dreams only dis- 
 appointed adventurers, accusers and naked slaves. The un- 
 fortunate cazique. still fettered in Ojeda's manacles and brought 
 by Aguado, as a living trophy to Ferdinand and Isabella, had 
 died at sea, cursing his misplaced trust in the Europeans and 
 their treachery. 
 
 Columbus, suiting his dress to the sorrow and misery of his 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 69 
 
 position, went lo Burgos, where the court resided, attired as a 
 Franciscan and wearing only a rope as girdle for liis robe, his 
 head weighed down by years, by cares, by affliction ai^d white 
 hairs, barefoot, as one who comes, a talented suppliant, to ask 
 forgiveness for the glory ho had won. Isabella aiuiie received 
 liim with tender compassion and persisted in believing in his 
 honesty and his services. This constant favour on the part of 
 the Queen, although disguised, sustained the uilmiral against 
 the aspersions and accusations of the courtiers. He proposed 
 fiesh voyages and vaster discoveries. They consented to again 
 entrust him with vessels, but made him consume, in systematic 
 delays, tlie few years of strength that his advanced iige now left 
 him. The ])ious Isabella, in granting power and new titles to 
 Columbus, stipulated for conditions of liberty and humanity 
 in favour of the Indians, that were in advance of the ideas ot 
 her age. A woman's heart instinctively proscribed the slavery 
 which philosophy and religion were only to abolish four cen- 
 turies later. 
 
 At last Columbus, being exculpated, was able to embark and 
 make sail towards his new country: but hatred and envy 
 followed him even on board the vessel on which he was to 
 hoist his admiral's pennant. Breviesca, the treasurer of the 
 Patriarch of India, Fonseca, an enemy lo Columbus, launched 
 forth in insults against the admiral at the moment when the 
 anchor was we.^hed. Columbus, who had restrained himself 
 till then by power of Wi ', by patience and by the appreciation 
 of the vast 'mportance of his mission, for the first lime gave 
 way to bittei less and indignation. At this la:;: dishonour 
 offered him b his enemies, he came down to the level of 
 ordinary men U " a. moment, and, from the full height of his 
 soul, and with all the might of his arm, twice strengthened 
 by his anger, falling on his unworthy persecutor, he felled 
 him on the bridge, and spurned him, with contemj)t, at his 
 feet. Such was the farewell greeting of the jealousy of Europe 
 to the man whom they thought too great, or too fortunate, to 
 be mortal. This sudden vengeance of the admiral left fresh 
 resentment in Fonseca's heart and new accusations for his 
 enemies to profit by. The rising wind took him from the sight 
 of the shore, and from the insults of his countrymen. 
 
 Ml 
 
70 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 rl 
 
 'si 
 
 
 LVII. 
 
 Arriving this time, by another route, at the island of the 
 Trinity, he reconnoitercd it, named it, and, afterwards doubling 
 it, coasted the true shore of America near the mouth of the 
 Oronoco. The freshness of the sea water that he tasted in 
 these latitudes, should have convinced him that the river which 
 discharged itself into the ocean in a volume sufficient to sweeten 
 its waters could only come from a continent. Yet he landed 
 on this coast without suspecting that it was the shore of an un- 
 known world. He found it deserted and silent like a domain 
 awaiting its owners. A smoke above the vast forests in the dis- 
 tance, and an abandoned hut and some traces of bare feet on 
 the sands of the beach were all he saw of America. 
 
 All he did himself was to imprint the first foo nark there, 
 and to pass a single night under the sail that servv-^t him for a 
 tent ; but that first step should have been sufficient to give his 
 name to this hemisphere. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 He set out again from the Gulf of Paria, and once more 
 sighted the coast of Hispaniola, after painstaking investigations 
 of all the neighbouring seas. His troubles of mind and body, 
 his long waiting in Spain, the ingratitude of his countrymen, the 
 coolness of Ferdinand and the hatred of his ministers, the night 
 watches during his voyages and the infirmities of age, had done 
 more to break him down than the trials of the sea. 
 
 His eyes, inflamed from sleeplessness and the study of charts 
 and of the sky, were affected ; his limbs, stiff and painful from 
 gout, refused to bear him. His mind alone was sound and his 
 genius, piercing the future, bore him in thought out of his 
 sufferings and beyond the limits of time. His brother Bar- 
 thclomew who had carried on the government of ihe colony in 
 his absence, was still his consolation and support. 
 
 He hastened to meet the admiral as soon as his lookout men 
 signalled a sail. 
 
 Bartholomew told his brother of the vicissitudes of Hispaniola 
 during his absence. 
 
 Scarcely had he completed the exploration and pacification 
 of the country, when the excesses of the Spaniards and the con- 
 
I. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 71 
 
 halts 
 [from 
 Id bis 
 If his 
 
 Bar- 
 
 IV i>"' 
 
 men 
 
 Iniola 
 
 lation 
 con- 
 
 spiracies of his own lieutenants had overthrown the work of his 
 fortitude and wisdom. A superintendent of the colony, named 
 Roldan, a popular and crafty man, had formed a party for him- 
 self amongst the sailors and adventurers, the scum of Spain cast 
 upon the colony by the mother country. Together with them 
 he had fortified himself on the opposite coast of St. Domingo, 
 and had leagued himself against Bartholomew with the chiefs 
 of the neighbouring tribes ; he had built, or captured, fortresses 
 from which he defied the authority of his legitimate chief. The 
 Indians, witnesses of the divisions amongst their oppressors, 
 had profited by them to rebel and refuse the payment of tribute. 
 Anarchy rent the new possession, and only the heroism of Bar- 
 tholomew held the fragments together in his powerful hands. 
 Ojeda had freighted ships in Spain on his own account ; and, 
 cruising round and landing on the south coast of the island, 
 had leagued himself with Roldan. 
 
 Roldan had afterwards betrayed Ojeda and again placed him- 
 self under the authority of the governor. 
 
 During these quarrels in the colony, don Fernando de Guerara, 
 a young Spaniard of remarkable beauty, had inspired with a 
 violent passion the daughter of Anacoana, the widow of the 
 cazique, who, being carried off by Ojeda to Spain, had died as 
 a prisoner on the voyage. 
 
 Anacoana herself was still young, and celebrated amongst the 
 tribes of the island for her incomparable beauty, for her natural 
 genius and poetical talent, which made her the adored sybil of 
 her countrymen. In spite of the misfortunes of her husband, 
 she had conceived a great admiration and unconquerable affec- 
 tion for the Spaniards. The country which she ruled with her 
 brother was a home for these strangers. She loaded them with 
 hospitality, with gold and with protection in their misfortunes. 
 Her subjects, more civilized than the other Indian tribes, lived 
 in peace, rich and contented under her laws. Roldan, who 
 governed the part of the island that was under the sway of the 
 beautiful Anacoana, had been jealous of the residence and in- 
 fluence of Fernando de Guerara at the court of the princess. 
 He forbade him to marry her daughter and ordered him to em- 
 bark. Fernando, detained by love, had refused to obey, and 
 plotted against Roldan. Surprised and placed in chains in 
 Anacoana's house by Roldan's soldiers, he had been taken to 
 
7?' 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 'i, 
 
 II 
 
 ^1 
 
 r 
 
 Isabella for trial. An expedition, that had left the capital of 
 the colony on the pretext of exploring the island, had been 
 received with friendly interest in Anacoana's capital. The 
 treacherous leader of the expedition, taking advantage of the 
 queen's trust and hospitality, had persuaded her to invite thirty 
 caziques from the south of the island to the feast which she 
 was preparing for the Spaniards, who had plotted the death of 
 their open-hearted protectress, her family, her guests and her 
 people, and the burning of her possessions during the dances 
 and banquets in which they took part. They invited Anacoana, 
 her daughter, the thirty chiefs and the people to watch, from a 
 balcony, the evolutions of their horses and a sham fight between 
 the cavalry and their escort. Suddenly the horsemen rush u[)on 
 the unarmed people, who had gathered in the square through 
 curiosity ; they butcher them and tread them under tiieir horses' 
 hoofs ; then, surrounding Anacoana's palace with a hedge of 
 foot soldiers to prevent the queen and her friends from leaving 
 it, the Spaniards had set fire to the palace, still full of the feast- 
 ing and festivity to which they themselves had just sat down • 
 they had watched with a cruelty equal to their ingratitude the 
 beautiful and unfortunate Anacoana, driven back into her 
 palace, dying in the flames, and calling down upon them the 
 vengeance of her gods ! 
 
 This crime against hospitality, against innocence, against 
 sovereignty, against beauty and genius of which the celebrated 
 Anacoana was the symbol amongst the Indians, had thrown the 
 island into a state of horror and disorder, over which Columbus 
 could not for a long time prevail, notwithstanding all his honesty 
 of purpose and his diplomacy. The flames of the palace and 
 the blood of the queen, whose beauty dazzled them and whose 
 national poetry intoxicated them with love and enthusiasm, 
 rose up between the oppressors and the oppressed. The island 
 became a field of slaughter, a convict prison and a cemetery for 
 the unfortunate Indians. The Spaniards, as fanatical in their 
 proselytism as they were cruel in their a^farice, foreshadowed at 
 Hispaniola the crimes which were soon to depopulate Mexico. 
 These two races of men throttled each other in their greeting. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 While Columbus was endeavouring to separate and pacify 
 these two parts of the population, King Ferdinand, informed 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 73 
 
 by his enemies of the misfortunes of the island, attributed them 
 to the man who was remedying them. Columbus having asked 
 the court to send him a magistrate of high rank to impose, by 
 his judgments, the royal authority on his undisciplined com- 
 panions, the court sent him Bobadilla, a man of incorruptible 
 morals, but a fanatic of ungovernable pride. The ill-defined 
 authority with which he was invested by the royal decree made 
 him, at the same time, subordinate and superior to every other 
 power. On arriving at Hispaniola, and being [irejudiced against 
 the admiral, he insolently summoned him to appear before him' 
 like a culprit, and, directing chains to be brought, he commanded 
 the soldiers to load their general's limbs with them. The sob 
 diers, accustomed to love and honour their leader, now made 
 more venerable in their eyes by age and glory, hesitated and 
 stood motionless, as if they had been ordered to perform an 
 act of sacrilege. But Columbus, of his own accord holding 
 his arms for the fetters which his King had sent to him, allowed 
 his feet and hands to be cliained by one of his own servants, a 
 volunteer hangman, a low hireling in his household, called 
 Espinosa, whose name Las Casas has preserved as a type of 
 insolence and ingratitude. Columbus himself ordered his two 
 brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, who were still at the head 
 of the army corps in the interior, to submit themselves, to his 
 judge, without resistance or complaint. Confined in the dun- 
 geon of the fortress at Isabella, he resigned himself for several 
 months to the preliminaries of his trial, in which all who had 
 rebelled against him, and all his enemies, now become his 
 accusers and his judges, vied with each other in charging him 
 with the most odious and absurd accusations. Turned into an 
 object of public fury and derision, he heard from the depths of 
 his prison the ferocious jests and the jeers of his persecutors, who 
 came every evening to insult him in his captivity. He expected 
 each moment to see his executioners enter : Bot)adilla, however, 
 did not venture on the capital crime. He ordered the admiral 
 to be expelled from the colony and sent to Spain, to submit 
 himself to the justice, or the mercy, of the King. Alonzo de 
 Villego was commissioned to guard him during the voyage. 
 He was a kind-hearted man, obedient from a sense of soldierly 
 duty, but indignant and pitiful while he obeyed. Columbus, 
 on seeing him enter his dungeon, had no doubt that his last 
 
 i'i 
 
74 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 ii 
 !l 
 
 hour had come. He had prepared himself for it, in the know- 
 ledge of his innocence and by prayer : yet his human nature 
 shrunk from it. 
 
 " Where are you taking me?" he asked, questioning the of- 
 ficer by look and word. 
 
 ** To the vessels on which you are going to embark, your ex- 
 cellency," answered Villejo. 
 
 " To embark 1 " replied Columbus, not believing the words 
 that gave him back his life ; " are you not deceiving me, 
 Villegor' 
 
 " No, your excellency," answered the officer, " I swear, by 
 heaven, nothing is more true ! '* 
 
 He supported the steps of the admiral and put him on 
 board the vessel, crushed by the weight of his fetters and fol- 
 lowed by the insults of a cowardly populace. 
 
 But scarcely were the ships under sail when Villejo and An- 
 dreas Martin, the commanders of the vessel that had become *'ie 
 floating prison of their leader, approached him with respect, as 
 well as the whole crew, and wished to remove his irons. 
 
 Columbus, for whom these fetters were at once a proof of his 
 obedience to Isabella and a witness to tlie injustice of men, by 
 which he suffered in his body, but of which in his soul he was 
 proud,. thanked them, but obstinately refused to he freed from 
 the chains. 
 
 " No," he answered. " My sovereigns have written to me 
 to submit to Bobadilla. It is in their name that they iiave 
 loaded me with chains. I will bear them until they release me 
 themselves, and I will keep them afterwards," he added with a 
 bitter satisfaction in his services and his innocence, '* as a 
 monument of the reward accorded by men to my labours." 
 
 His son relates, as well as Las Casas, that Columbus was 
 true to this promise and he ever afterwards kept his chains 
 hung up before his eyes wherever he Hved, and that in his will 
 he gave instructions that they should be enclosed with him in 
 his coffin ; as if he had wished to appeal to God from the in- 
 justice and ingratitude of his contemporaries, and to present to 
 heaven the material proofs of the iniquity and cruelty of the 
 world. 
 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 75 
 
 LX. 
 
 Party hatreds, however, do not cross the seas. The spoliation, 
 the captivity and the fetters of Cohimbus roused the pity and 
 indignation of the people of Cadiz. When they saw this old 
 man, who a little v'hiie before had brought an empire to his 
 country, himself brought back from that empire as a common 
 criminal to atone for his services by disgrace, their hearts re- 
 belled against Hobadilla. 
 
 Isabella, who was then at Granada, shed tears over this in- 
 dignity, ordering that his fetters should be replaced by rich 
 garments and his jailors by an escort of honour. She sum- 
 moned him to Granada. He fell at her feet and sobs of 
 gratitude prevented him for a long tiuje from speaking. 
 
 The King and Queen did not even deign to examine the case 
 against so great a defendant ; he was actpiittcd t)y their regard 
 for him as much as by his innocence. They kept the admiral at 
 their court for some time and sent another governor, named 
 Ovando, to replace Hobadilla. 
 
 Ovando had the good qualities that make a man of integrity, 
 without the greatness of soul that makes the nobleman. His 
 was one of those characters in which everytiiing is narrow, even 
 duty, and in which honesty seems a parsimony of nature. He 
 was the man least fitted to replace a really great man. He re- 
 ceived instructions from Isabella to protect the Indians and a 
 prohibition from selling them as slaves. The portion of the 
 revenues falling to Columbus by treaty, were to be sent to him 
 in Spain, as well as the treasures of whicii he had been des 
 polled by Bobadilla. 
 
 A fleet of thirty sails carried the new governor to Hispaniola. 
 
 Columbus, unconscious of old age and at rest from perse- 
 cution, was impatient of repose and even of the honours paid 
 him by his country. Vasco de Gama had just discovered the 
 route to India by the Cape of Good Hope. The world was 
 full of astonishment at and admiration for the discovery of the 
 Portuguese sailor. A noble rivalry troubled the mind of the 
 Genoese seaman. Being convinced of the rotundity of the 
 earth, he thought he would reach the extreme coasts of the 
 eastern world in sailing due west. He asked the Spanish court 
 for the command of a fourth expedition, and embarked at 
 
 i«« 
 
76 
 
 CHRISTOPHF.R COLrMItUS. 
 
 ^1 
 
 I 
 
 Cadi/, on the iQfh May, 1502, for the last time. IIIm brother, 
 llartholoniew and his son Fernando, now fourteen y^ais of 
 age, accompanied liim. His Heet was composed of four small 
 vessels that were fit lor sailing along the coast and for entering 
 without danger into the coves and the mouths uf rivers which 
 he wished to explore. 
 
 His crews were only 150 seanien all told. Although he ap- 
 proached his seventieth year, his green old nge had withstood 
 the weight of time by his njeiital vigour ; neither his painful 
 maladies nor the prospect of death tinned him aside from his 
 goal. 
 
 " Man," he said, ** is a tool that should break at its work in 
 the hands ot the Providence that miikes use of it for 1 1 
 designs. So long as the body has the power the mind should 
 hav<* the will." 
 
 He had decided to touch, in p.T^^ 'ng, at Hispaniola, to refii, 
 for which he had the authorization tlie court. 
 
 He crossed the ocean in a heavy sea, and arrived in sight of 
 Hispaniola with iiis masts broken, his s.iils m tatters and 'iis 
 shi[)s without water or provisions. His maritime knowledge 
 warned him of a more terrible storm than those to vhich he 
 had been exposed. He sent a boat to ask Governor Ovaiulo 
 for permission to take shelter in the bay of Isabella. Informed 
 by his prognostications of the dangers that the sea was about 
 to let loose on his coasts, Columbus, in his letter, warned 
 Ovando to delay the departure of a numerou;: fleet uliich was 
 ready to set out from Hispaniola for Spain, laden with all the 
 treasures of the new world. Ovando cruelly refused Columbus 
 the moment's refuge which he begged for in the harbour lie had 
 himself discovered. 
 
 He withdrew, in indignation and as an outlaw, seeking far 
 from the dominion of Ovando for a shelter under the remoter 
 cliffs of the island, where he waited for the storm he had ft)rc 
 told. This storm swallowed the Governor's entire fleet, the 
 treasures and the lives of a thousand Spaniards. 
 
 Columbus felt it even in the bay where he had taken shelter ; 
 he grieved over the misfortunes of his countrymen, and, leav- 
 ing this cruel land, he once more saw Jamaica and landed on 
 the continent in the bay of Honduras. 
 
 Sixty days of continuous tempest tossed him from on< cape 
 
CMRISTOI'HKK COLUMIUJS. 
 
 11 
 
 to another nnd from the continent to the islands, on the un 
 known shores of that America, the conciuest of whi* h the storm 
 seemed to dispute with him! 
 
 He lost one of 'is ships with th" fifty men who manned it 
 at the mouth of ii rivet' which lie named the " Beach of the 
 Disaster." As the sea persistently closed to him the way to 
 that India which he still rxpcctt-d to sight he cast anchor be- 
 tween a delicious island .nul the continent. 
 
 BeiiiR visited hy the Indians, he embarked seven of them on 
 his ships in order to familiarize himself with their language 
 and to obtain information. 'rogcth?.'r with tliom he oasted a 
 land where gold and pearls were alv.mdant in the hands of the 
 natives. At the commencement of the year 1504, he a.-^cended 
 the river Veragua and sent his brother Bartholomew at the head 
 of sixty Spaniards to visit the villages on tlie coast and search 
 for the gold mines. 
 
 Hartholomew found only savages and forests. The admiral 
 left this river and entered another, the banks of which were 
 peopled by Indians who lavished gold on his crews in exchange 
 for the commcmest trinkets of luirope. 
 
 He believed he was at the goal of his chitneras, when he 
 was, in reality, at the climax of his disasters. War broke 
 out between this handful of Kuropeans and the numerous 
 people of these districts. Bartholomew Columbus knocked 
 down with his fist, and look captive, the most powerful 
 and formidable of the Indian chiefs. A village which the 
 companions of Columbus had built on the coasi, in order 
 to trade with the interior, was taken and set fire to in the 
 night !iy the natives : eight Spaniards, pierced by their ariows, 
 perished under the ruins r.f their huts. Bartholomew ralHed the 
 bravest and drove the hordes back into tlie f(;rests ; but the 
 antipathy increased on both sides in consequence of the blood 
 that had been shed. A crowd of Indian canoes attacked the 
 long boat of the squadron, as it endeavoured to ascend further 
 up the river : all the Europeans who manned it were killed. 
 During tbis furious struggle, Columbus, who was detained on 
 hoard nis hhip by his bodily weakness and his maladies, kept 
 the ca/.ique and the Indian < jiiefs prisoners on his vessel. 
 These chiefs, being informed of the devastation of their terri- 
 tory and Lhe captivity of their women, endeavoured to escape 
 
78 
 
 CIIRISTOPHKR COLUMBUS. 
 
 one dark iii^lit by raising the trapdoor that closed their floating 
 dungeon. The crew, awakened by tlie noise, drove them back 
 into their prison and closed the hatch with an iron bar. The 
 next day, when the hatch was opened to take hcin food, they 
 only found their corpses : they had killed each other to a man, 
 in despair and to escape slavery. 
 
 I. XI. 
 
 Being soon separated by the breakers from his l)rother 
 iJartholontew, who was on shore with the remains of the expe- 
 dition, there was no way of communicating with him left to 
 Cokunbus, except by the courage of one of his officers who 
 swam through the surf to carry backwards and forwards ihc 
 tidings which constantly grew worse. He could neither with- 
 draw from his friends nor desert them in their disasters. 
 Uneasiness, illness, hunger and the prospect of a shipwreck, 
 without shelter and without witnesses, on a shore so longed for 
 and so fatal, conflicted in his soul with his heroic constancy and 
 his pious resignation to the will of Ood, of whom he felt himsclt 
 to be at once the messenger and the victim, lie thus described, 
 during his spells of wakefulness, the state of his mind : 
 
 " Worn out, I bad fallen asleep, when a voice full of sorrow 
 and compassion spoke to me as follows : Foolish man ! so 
 slow to believe and serve your God, the (iod of the universe ! 
 Did He do more for Moses or David, His servants t From the 
 hour of your birth He has always taken the greatest care of you. 
 Since you have reached man's estate He has mad vour obscure 
 name ring marvelously through all the earth ; He has given you 
 India for a possession, that favoured partion of creation; He 
 has found for you the keys to the barriers of the vast ocean, till 
 then closed by such mighty chains. Turn towards Him and 
 bless His mercifulness to you. If there still remains some 
 great enterprise to accomplish, your age will be no obstacle to 
 His designs. Was not Abraham a hundred years old when he 
 begat Isaac, and was Sara young? Who has caused your 
 present afflictions : God or the world ? The promises He 
 made you, He has never broken ; He has never said, after 
 having received your services, that you had misunderstood Him. 
 He keeps all His promises, and surpasses them : what you an* 
 
«KC fro,,, you, verl-li/ "•;',"';''""«• ''''"X,uiutr' 
 ""'ci and nor u,i.i, ""■"('•"f- AM these rrii.,.p '.. ' ' '•"♦'^ four- 
 
 "'« voice Z r^""' " ''■•'"<•" >hcy ,„'''*''"?'' •"<•• '"cvit- 
 con.ouZ i.' '■"' '''°'"" '" "'■= '''f' -' <ill J"i,h ;'X/^,^ 
 
 J.XII. 
 
 I'rov..„o„s and with .'u, . 'Companions dishearten, i " '" 
 
 re ates, " wiH, '" '""•'"■ "I's worm.eit,.„ "]'''• ."'^ ships 
 
 winds and a 1";"7 ''"''» »« a h , -JcoU • " ';,"-'"^:''' ''"•• 
 shil's on the !,•„'>. 'I'l" '^""' "ispaniola to'r ""•; i"'""" 
 aground o th T "' ,'""'""S, hardy JveMm ," •'•""^"™; his 
 
 raising ten sfo" "'"' '''""'<''. "wkinl thL , 'i""' ""^"> '«■ 
 
 fortress built by the ,^n ^ "^ "8'" o'' 'I"- shiowrert n < , 
 visions with ,h,.\; .'""^""g'-'rs on their beirh ' ? ^"'I "'e 
 
 h 
 
So 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 
 
 8i 
 
 one night to the admiral's mind. He had him secretly sum- 
 moned to his bedside, where he was confined by gout, and 
 said to him : 
 
 " My Son, of all those who are here, you and I alone appre- 
 ciate the dangers that hold out to us but the prospect of death. 
 One way alone remains for us to try. One must expose him- 
 self to death for the sake of all, or save us all. Are you will- 
 ing to be he ? " 
 
 Mendez answered : 
 
 " Your excellency, I have often devoted myself for my fel- 
 lows ; but there are some who complain and say that your 
 partiality selects me when there is a brilliant action to be at- 
 tempted. For this reason propose to the whole crew to-morrow 
 the duty which you offer me, and, if no one accepts it, I will 
 obey you." 
 
 On the following day, the admiral did what Mendez had 
 requested. 
 
 All the crew, when questioned, protested against the possi- 
 bility of a long voyage on a log of wood, a mere plaything of 
 the wind and waves. 
 
 Mendez then came forward and said modestly : 
 
 " I have only one life to lose, but I am ready to risk ii in 
 your service and for the general safety ; I throw myselt on the 
 protection of God." 
 
 He set out and was lost, in the mists and foam on the hori- 
 zon, to the eyes of the Spaniards, whose lives he carried with 
 his own. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 Meanwhile, the waiting without hope, their entire separation 
 from the unknown world and the excess of their misfortune 
 embittered his companions against the admiral, to whom they 
 ascribed their desolation. 
 
 Two of his favourite officers, Diego and Francisco de Porras, 
 whom he had treated as sons and invested with the chief com- 
 mands in the squadron, were tne first to promote complaints, 
 insults, and, soon afterwards, sedition against him. Taking 
 advantage of a crisis in his illness, which confined their bene- 
 factor to his bed, and, carrying with them half the soldiers and 
 sailors, they seized a portion of the provisions and arms, ex- 
 
-«4S^^ 
 
 CHRISTOPHER r^r 
 
 ^«£R COLUMBUS. 
 
 ^'tecJ their ar ^^^UMB Us. 
 
 „. fhey scorned his ".r " '° ''^""■n toZZ'' ^" ''^"ds 
 ™<='- CclumbuTl '^'^''•fned '"'" with th, "''""•" '>«'^' ^'^ bod-' 
 
 fnd their comnatrinf. "^™.P'. returned tn ,,. , "'^Paniola, 
 fearless arm of C"ho on? '^" ^«^"els w^^e d'r '' ^^°'"'»bas 
 
 .ruif;ri ^« ™-C"o^^^ ^^'^ete Coiumhus't 
 
 •countryman. ^ '"" ^"'"Panions should h.?"'"'" ^""ation 
 
 , But, whether it was in. ^ ,• '"''"'•''' ''« 
 
 deavour to wort fk '.""edul ty, delav „ 
 
 "bstruct their?eelint 'r'" °^ ^ ^'va! X';/,^, 'concealed en- 
 
 had, under variou f °^g'-afit"de, thesL7L° S'"^' "«' to 
 
 to pass by. Then R l^"' *"°'^^d tl,e'^d^lJ *," Hispaniola 
 
 ,. w 
 
83 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 phantom of a vessel which had come to try their creduHty or 
 foretell their death. 
 
 Ovando at last decided to send some ships to the admiral to 
 snatch him from mutiny, starvation and death. After sixteen 
 months of shipwreck, the admiral, borne down by years, by his 
 infirmities and disasters, again saw, for a fevv days, the island of 
 which he had made an empire, and from which ingratitude 
 and jealousy banished him. He passed some months there, 
 well received, to all appearances, in the governor's house, but 
 excluded from all influence in the government, seeing his ene- 
 mies in favour, his friends expelled or persecuted on account 
 of their faithfulness to him, and lamenting the ruin and 
 slavery of the land which he had found like I'le garden of the 
 world, and which he now again beheld as the tomb of his 
 friends, the Indians. 
 
 His personal property confiscated, his revenues wasted, his 
 lands dispeopled or uncultivated, left him i prey at once to 
 poverty, sickness and old age. At last, hurried with his broth- 
 er, his son, and some servants, on braid a vessel which was 
 returning to Europe, the implacable sea bore him from tempest 
 to tempest to St. Lucar, where he disembarked on the 7th 
 November, and whence he was carried to Seville, broken in 
 strength, dying in body, unconquerable in mind, and immortal 
 in will and hope. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 The possessor of so many islands and continents had not a 
 roof to shelter his head. 
 
 " If I wish to eat or sleep," he writes to his son from Seville, 
 " I have to knock at the door of an inn, and I often have not 
 the means to pay for my supper and my night's lodging !" 
 
 His misfortunes and his poverty were less intolerable to him 
 than the distress of his companions and his servants, whom he 
 had attached to his fortunes by so many hopes, and who re- 
 proached him with their wretchedness and disappointment. 
 He wrote on their behalf to the King and Queen. But the 
 ungrateful Porras, the defeated rebel, who owed his life to his 
 magnanimity, was before him at the court and prejudiced 
 Ferdinand's mind against him. 
 
 " I have served your Majesties," wrote Columbus to the 
 
 the 
 
 what 
 sou] 
 
 God. 
 her Gt\ 
 
 cares 
 J com I 
 vice of 
 ^n thin 
 suffer, 
 ^^■^e, bu 
 
 Such 
 
 Coiumbi 
 
 IsabeJia 
 hfe. D 
 
 ^"firmitie 
 and his 
 
'ie counted • , ^ ^"•e'i«tli r,,!,! ■"'•''' '" 
 
 !''e -as ■'„'"«!""•« ; & i; ^1' ">/^ p4 ^'^,,„^^^-"^ Of ,„■, 
 """ghter. §" "■^' '"=onwhb7e f """"^ '''"d reached k'" '^^'^ 
 
 a grave level w^{ 'j'^ '"'Wed i„ .u , , "'" ^^'^''ed 
 
 part of our k,nl;' ^""^ '" some off^ " "^ 'he JCimr '"''n ; 
 moved fr.r ; .^''°"'s. I ivisl, 1 , "^ '^'lurcl,, or ^ ^' '"^ 'o'd, 
 
 °f our heart, w ''^ S<:ave niav L? '' '" order h^ ,1 ^"^ re- 
 God SI ^"^'^». oursovi • *"■" ""W i^tn " '° you of 
 
 A°"' o> 'h Q e^r '"■ The fir; ' L'^ ^^' -'^ss 
 
 Ster^trr - -odrdt^i:-?^^^^ -d' a. - - 
 
 ''er eeernalM'' '° ^ood and'Th' ,'""' P^^y and T""'^ "" 
 cares anrf ^"'^ ^"d of her C '"'^ "«' >ve can 1, "^'^''on, to 
 
 '. -«-nd ' o"Sr .°^ ''- -t^ '"Tb^°<^' "^--zr.b°' 
 
 suffer. y\ M . ^'^' that when ^); u ^^"^tendom \> '^ ^^^- 
 
 y^ ''ow sixteen years 
 
 
 r 
 I 
 
84 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 old, gave, in all the grace of his youth, the promise of the solid 
 (lualities of the mature man. 
 
 " Love him like a brother," wrote Columbus to his eldest 
 son, Diego, who was then at court ; " you have no others. 
 Ten brothi-Ts would not be too many for you. I have had no 
 better friends than mine." 
 
 He begged Bartholomew to take the young man to the court 
 and to commend him to the care of his legitimate son, Diego. 
 Bartholomew left with Ferdinand for Segovia, where the court 
 then resided. He vainly solicited attention and justice for 
 Columbus. When spring had softened the air, Columbus him- 
 self set out for Segovia, accompanied by his brother and his 
 sons. 
 
 His presence annoyed the king, his poverty was a reproach 
 to the court. The rendering of judgment on his conduct and 
 the restitution of his possessions and privileges were remitted 
 to courtG of equity, which, without daring to deny his rights, 
 wore out his patience by delays ; they at the same time wore 
 out his life. 
 
 His jnental anxiety and the anticipation of the destitution in 
 which he would leave his brothers and his sons, sharpened his 
 bodily afflictions. 
 
 •* Your Majesty," he wrote to the King from his bed of suffer- 
 ing, " does not see fit to execute the promises which I received 
 from you and from the Queen, who is now in glory. To strive 
 against your will would be to strive against the wind. I have 
 done what I ought to do ; may God, who has ever been propi- 
 tious to me, do the rest in accordance with his divine justice ! " 
 
 He felt that his life, and not his firmness, was ubout to fail 
 him. His brother Bartholomew and his son Diego were ab- 
 sent, by his order, to beg the favor of Queen Juana, daughter 
 of Isabella, who had rctunicd from Flanders to Castile. 
 Physical pain and mental anguish, the knowledge of the short- 
 ness of his life, now too brief for him to hope for justice before 
 its close ; the triumphs of his enemies at court, the mockery of 
 the courtiers, the coldness of the King, the forebodings of his 
 last hour, the isolation in which the absence of his brciiiC- •la-i 
 son had left him in a city of forgetfulness or ingiUt'.uck' ; tht 
 memories of a life, one-half of which had been :iassed ir av.3!S:' 
 ing the hour of forrune's greatness, the other ^.itif in i>*;;v/a?lu4 
 
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 vi »^ii«-^^neU°&^'.'o, 
 
 85 
 
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 f J *i '"* .^^•s^»/s »ifi- «s-"t' ,r.r.™ 
 
 
 '»^"- aten'^"!";?"d the "nut 'I! ^°<^>' and „t 'aT ™«"^'- 
 "" old ,„ln\"^ 5's children 'v^/e^^'^ durin^" Z "," '^e old 
 
 ^ A strange s.V^f r ^ ''""^"e of a ,, "^P^^^ 
 
 ^y nianlcmH ^"^ ^O'" ^^is Door c ^leavenly 
 
 event of n?» ■ '^S'timate ,on n° ""^"'s. "ation, 7„^ ^'^ '""- 
 W»seifsl,'f,'°.^ young Fe°d,-n'!f' ''e enta ed H, "^ '" ">« 
 he;.. --e brother of a^C; tt^;'^'''-- "4^^^ 
 ^"'4'4"«Ster-.nsandthe,V "'^' ^"^ '^'^ 
 
 "ered the mother of thif k ^""^^ ^^'s second ''^''^'' 
 
 ^""^ H, Beatrice C4:r.ho"^e 
 
 If 
 ■iai, 
 
86 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 he had never married, and for the desertion of whom during 
 his years of wandering at sea his conscience reproached him. 
 
 He charged his heir to make a handsome allowance to his 
 consort in the days of his obscurity, while he was struggling at 
 Toledo against the hardships of his early lot. He even seemed 
 to accuse himself of some ir gratitude or some neglect in show- 
 ing aftection for the object of his second love, for he added to 
 the be(iuest he made to her these words, which must have 
 weighed down his dying hand : 
 
 '* Ltt this be done for the relief of my conscience, for her 
 name and memory are a burden on my soul I " 
 
 Then reverting to his first country, which a second country 
 never blots from the heart of man, he remembered the city of 
 Genoa, where time had garnered all his father's house, but 
 where there remained to him rome aistant i elation, like the 
 roots which remain in the soil after the tree is felled. 
 
 "I enjoin my son Diego," he wrote, " to siippoit forever, in 
 the city of Genoa, a member of our family who will live there 
 with his wife, and to secure him a becoming livelihood, such as 
 is suitable to one who is related to us. I wish this kinsman to 
 retain His standing and nationality in that city, as a citizen ; 
 for I was born and came from there. 
 
 " Let my son," he adds with that chivalrous sentiment of 
 fealty and of subordination of self to his sovereign, which was 
 the second religion of the time, " let my son, in memory of me, 
 serve the King, the Queen and their successors, even to the 
 sacrifice of his possessions and his life, since, after God, it is 
 they who furnished with the means of making my discoveries !" 
 
 "It is indeed true," he goes on with an involuntary tone of 
 bitterness, resembling a reproach half stifled in his memory, 
 " that I came from far to make them the offer and that a long 
 time passed before people were willing to believe in the gift I 
 brought their majesties ; but that was natural, for it was a mys- 
 tery for all the world, and could only give rise to incredulity. 
 That is why I ought to share my tame with the sovereigns who 
 were the first to give me credence." 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Columbus then turned all his thoughts towards the Ood 
 whom he had always regarded as his own and true sovereign ; 
 
i-'1--gRi-jt 
 
 ^'^'^ COLUMBUS 
 
 ^7 
 
 nature and V^" "f '"« death i, ""^ mainsnri. 
 
 F - S ^^^^^^t'^T?^^^^^^ 
 
 T, . LXVl *"«at,on. 
 
 TVyL„ ,, ' '"■ "°"'J"eror i"f^'^ «^"{d'ng to 
 
 4 
 
88 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 
 
 birth overcome by natural energy ; quiet but unwearied perti- 
 nacity in attaining his end, resignation to the will of heaven, 
 the struggle against events, the long and solitary deliberation 
 on an idea and its heroic execution in action ; intrepidity and 
 coolness in the face of the elements let loose in the tempest, and 
 in the face of death threatened by rebellion ; confidence in the 
 guiding star, not of a man but of humanity ; his life carelessly 
 thrown away without a backward glance when he threw 
 himself on this unknown and phantom-peopled ocean ; 
 a Rubicon fifteen hundred leagues across, much more 
 desperate than Caisar's ; indefatigable study, knowledge as 
 vast as the horizon of his time, the skilful but honest 
 handling of the hearts of men to tempt them to the truth ; de- 
 corum, nobility and dignity of person that revealed the great- 
 ness of his soul and captivated eyes and hearts alike ; speech 
 equal to and on a level with his thoughts ; an eloquence that 
 brought conviction to kings, and subdued the mutiny of his 
 crews ; a poetry of style that made his stories a fitting expres- 
 sion of the marvels of his discoveries and of the pictures of 
 nature , a boundless love, ardent and active for humanity even 
 in those distant places where she iio longer remembers those 
 who serve her ; the wisdom of the legislator and the serenity of 
 a philosopher in the government of his colonies, a fatherly pity 
 for the Indians, the children of the human race, whose guar- 
 dianship he wished to assign to the Old World, and not their 
 enslavement to oppressors ; forgetfulness of injuries, magnan- 
 imity in pardon to his enemies ; lastly, piety — that virtue whirh 
 contains all the others and makes them divine when it exists as 
 it existed in the soul of Columbus ; the constant presence of 
 God in his mind, integrity in his conscience, and mercy in his 
 heart ; gratitude in success and resignation in disaster ; every- 
 where and always adoration ! Such was this man. 
 
 We know of rone more complete. He embodied many men 
 in one. He was worthy to personify the Old World in the un- 
 known world on which he was to be the first to land, and to 
 bear to these men of another race all the virtues of the old 
 continent without one of its vices. 
 
 His influence on civilization was incalculable. He completed 
 the universe and perfected the physical unity of the globe ; which 
 was to advance much further than had been done until his time, 
 
-^^ 
 
 w'l'ch Colm„h°s thn.''" """"i/'n'ty of mankind -r-i • 
 
 i'HB END