In his second voyage he discovered the island of Jamaica and several
other islands. Ferdinand and Isabella received him with kindness
upon his return; but two years passed before he could obtain another
squadron. It was during this third voyage that complaints reached
Isabella that Columbus was enslaving the inhabitants of Hayti. An
officer named Bobadilla was sent to Hayti to investigate the matter.
He was unscrupulous and envious; and, falsely using his official
authority, he ordered Columbus to be sent back to Spain in chains.
These outrages, inflicted upon a man so illustrious, roused indignation
throughout the world. Ferdinand and Isabella were shocked and alarmed
upon hearing of this outrageous treatment, and sent in the greatest
haste to release him from his fetters, and to express their sympathy
and regret for the indignities he had suffered. Some months after,
Columbus started upon his fourth and last voyage. After encountering
storms and perils, Columbus reached the continent at what is now called
Central America, near Yucatan. Notwithstanding the importance of having
at last touched the American continent, this voyage was a series of
disappointments and disasters. He was detained for a year on the island
of Jamaica, on account of the loss of his ships, which were wrecked in
the storms. At length, two vessels arrived at the island, and Columbus
embarked for his return to Spain. When he at last reached that country,
he was broken down by old age, sickness, and mental suffering. Poverty
stared him in the face. Isabella was upon her death-bed; and Ferdinand
was heartless, and would not offer him any relief. After all his
achievements in behalf of mankind, Columbus thus sadly writes to his
son: “I live by borrowing. Little have I profited by twenty years of
service, with such toils and perils, since at present I do not own a
roof in Spain. If I desire to eat or sleep, I have no resort but
an inn, and for the most times have not wherewithal to pay my bill.”
In the midst of such sorrow and poverty, the heroic Columbus passed
his last days on earth. He was buried in the Convent of St. Francisco,
at Seville. Thirty years afterwards, his remains were removed to St.
Domingo, on the island of Hayti. Upon the cession of the island to the
French, in 1795, they were transferred by the Spanish authorities to
the Cathedral of Havana, in Cuba.
[Illustration: TOMB OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA IN THE CATHEDRAL OF
GRANADA.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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