The Life of Columbus: From His Own Letters and Journals and Other Documents of His TimeHale, Edward Everett
History
The Life of Columbus: From His Own Letters and Journals and Other Documents of His Time
Hale, Edward Everett
Columbus, Christopher, 1451-1506
He left thirty-nine men to be the garrison of this fort; and the colony
which was to discover the mine of gold. In command he placed Diego da
Arana, Pedro Gutierres and Rodrigo de Segovia. To us, who have more
experience of colonies and colonists than he had had, it does not seem
to promise well that Rodrigo was “the king’s chamberlain and an officer
of the first lord of the household.” Of these three, Diego da Arana was
to be the governor, and the other two his lieutenants. The rest were all
sailors, but among them there were Columbus’s secretary, an alguazil, or
person commissioned in the civil service at home, an “arquebusier,” who
was also a good engineer, a tailor, a ship carpenter, a cooper and a
physician. So the little colony had its share of artificers and men of
practical skill. They all staid willingly, delighted with the prospects
of their new home.
On the third of January Columbus sailed for Europe in the little Nina.
With her own crew and the addition she received from the Santa Maria,
she must have been badly crowded. Fortunately for all parties, on
Sunday, the third day of the voyage, while they were still in sight of
land, the Pinta came in sight. Martin Pinzon came on board the Nina and
offered excuses for his absence. Columbus was not really satisfied with
them, but he affected to be, as this was no moment for a quarrel. He
believed that Pinzon had left him, that, in the Pinta, he might be alone
when he discovered the rich gold-bearing island of Babeque or Baneque.
Although the determination was made to return, another week was spent in
slow coasting, or in waiting for wind. It brought frequent opportunities
for meeting the natives, in one of which they showed a desire to take
some of their visitors captive. This would only have been a return for a
capture made by Pinzon of several of their number, whom Columbus, on
his meeting Pinzon, had freed. In this encounter two of the Indians were
wounded, one by a sword, one by an arrow. It would seem that he did not
show them the power of firearms.
This was in the Bay of Samana, which Columbus called “The Bay of
Arrows,” from the skirmish or quarrel which took place there. They then
sailed sixty-four miles cast, a quarter northeast, and thought they saw
the land of the Caribs, which he was seeking. But here, at length, his
authority over his crew failed. The men were eager to go home;--did not,
perhaps, like the idea of fight with the man-eating Caribs. There was
a good western wind, and on the evening of the sixteenth of January
Columbus gave way and they bore away for home.
Columbus had satisfied himself in this week that there were many islands
east of him which he had not hit upon, and that to the easternmost of
these, from the Canaries, the distance would prove not more than four
hundred leagues. In this supposition he was wholly wrong, though a chain
of islands does extend to the southeast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Life of Columbus: From His Own Letters and Journals and Other Documents of His Time — John Shaqi
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