DISCOVERY OF HISPANIOLA.

35

ships, sailed from the eastern point of Cuba, and soon arrived at the rich country of which he had received such a glowing description. It was called by the natives Haiti; Columbus gave it the name of Hispaniola. They anchored first at Port St. Nicholas, and shortly after at a little distance from Cape François. The natives took to flight at the appearance of the ships; but kind treatment to one of their number, who accidentally fell into the hands of the Spaniards by the upsetting of his canoe, gave them confidence; and they came in multitudes to the ships, exchanging fruits, provisions, and gold for bits of porcelain, beads, and hawks' bells. Guanacanagari, the prince of the country, or Cacique, as he was called by his people, received Columbus with much kindness, and in return was treated by him with great distinction. They contracted a friendship, which continued ever afterwards undiminished. He was loaded with ornaments of gold, which, he informed the Spaniards, came from a country farther to the east, called Cibao. Columbus, deceived by the resemblance of the names, believed at first that it was Zipangu; but he afterwards learned that Cibao was the name of a mountain in the centre of the island.

The fleet now proceeded to the east, for the purpose of approaching the gold mines of Cibao. On the night of the 24th of December, Columbus's vessel, the Santa Maria, struck upon a reef, and he was compelled to abandon her, and take refuge, with his crew, on board the Nina. The cacique and his people assisted the Spaniards in saving their effects, and consented to their erecting a fort with the timber of the wreck. It was named La Navidad, and garrisoned with thirty-eight men, the first colony in Spanish America. The admiral left provisions in the fort, articles to barter with the natives, and whatever was necessary for its defence. He then took leave of the friendly cacique, with the promise to

return soon.

On the 4th of January, 1493, Columbus set sail, proceeding a little to the east, in order to complete the examination of the north coast of the island, and on his way, met the Pinta,

near Monte Christo. He affected to be satisfied with the excuses made by Alonzo Pinzon, to explain his parting company. At length, on the 16th, the two ships directed their course for Spain. The weather was favourable at the commencement of the voyage; but heavy gales came on when the ships were near the Azores, and the Pinta was a second time lost sight of. The admiral's vessel was in such imminent danger that he despaired of ever reaching land. He was fearful that the knowledge of his discovery would perish with him; and to prevent this, he wrote a brief account of his voyage on two leaves of parchment, and put each of these leaves into a tight cask. One of these casks was thrown overboard immediately; the other was allowed to remain on deck to await the foundering of the vessel. But Providence interposed to save so valuable a life; the storm subsided. They arrived at the Azores on the 15th of February, and at Palos on the 15th of March, seven months and a half after their departure from the same port. Alonzo Pinzon arrived about the same time at a northern port of Spain, and died a few days after.

Columbus's return was a perfect triumph. He was received at Palos with enthusiastic joy. Ringing of bells and processions of magistrates welcomed him as he advanced towards Barcelona, where the sovereigns were at that time holding their court. He made a public entry into the city; the whole population came out to meet him; he walked in the midst of the Indians whom he had brought with him, and had dressed for the occasion in their native costume. The rich productions of the New World were borne in open baskets before him, as he proceeded through an immense crowd to the palace, where Ferdinand and Isabella were seated on their throne, awaiting his arrival. As soon as he appeared with his train, they rose up. Columbus threw himself upon his knees; but they commanded him to be seated in their presence; "a rare honour in this proud and punctilious court." He then gave an account of his voyage, and of the discoveries he had made, and showed the various products

COLUMBUS'S TREATMENT.

37

of the New World, which he had brought, and the Indians who attended him. Ferdinand, delighted with the success of this great enterprise, confirmed to Columbus all his privileges and permitted him to join to the arms of his own family, those of the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, with the emblems of his discoveries, and of the dignities resulting from them.

Such was the reception of Columbus in Spain, after his return from the first voyage to the New World; but his subsequent life was a practical illustration of the ingratitude of kings and courts. "Columbus," says an eloquent writer,* "inherited an elder brother's share-a double portion-of the estate of great men-envy; envy which nothing could disarm, shame down, or satiate. His brilliant success excited inappeasable hatred, on the part of those who were or were not rivals for the glory and profit of nautical adventure. They resisted him in the outset; hung like a mill-stone round his neck, in his progress; and poisoned the cup of his enjoyment, to the last drop. They reversed the benediction; they turned into bitter ashes the beauty of his achievement, which had enabled Spain to stretch her jurisdiction, like the arch of heaven, over half the globe; and instead of the garment of praise, they scourged him home from his world-discovery, clothed in the spirit of heaviness. Before his voyage was undertaken, every imaginable obstacle was thrown in his way. After it was accomplished, while the attempt could be made with any degree of plausibility, the reality of his discovery was denied. When that attempt was baffled by the innumerable proofs which poured in, (to the astonishment and admiration of Spain and all Europe,) of the certain discovery of mighty regions beyond the ocean, whose inhabitants, animals, and plants differed widely from those of the other hemisphere, then the heartless creatures turned round and maintained that the glorious old admiral had learned it all from books and elder navigators. Nor was it a life-estate alone, which he held in the malice of his foes. It descended

with his name. A perverse and wicked cruelty pursued the

* Governor Everett.

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COLUMBUS'S TREATMENT.

very blood of him, who gave a new world to Castile and Leon. But all these poor attempts to blight a peerless reputation, have for ages been buried in the forgotten tombs of their forgotten authors."

The chains, imposed on Columbus by Bobadilla, and indignantly worn by him for a whole voyage, were a type, a perfect emblem, of the reward given by Spain, not only to the admiral, but to all the most distinguished discoverers and conquerors who served her in the New World.

eagerly entered upon the new field of adventure, and England soon laid the foundation of her western empire, in the first discovery of the continent by a native of her own soil. The discoverer of the continent of America, was Sebastian Cabot, a navigator second only to the illustrious admiral, in skill and enterprise, and in the importance of the services which he rendered to the country under whose auspices he sailed.