fympathy, they put to fea a number of canoes, and, under the direction of the Spaniards, affifted in faving whatever could be got out of the wreck; and by the united labour of fo many hands, almost every thing of value was carried afhore. As faft as the goods were landed, Guacanahari in perfon took charge of them. By his orders they were all depofited in one place, and armed centinels were pofted, who kept the multitude at a distance, in order to prevent them not only from embezzling, but from infpecting too curiously what belonged to their guests. Next morning this prince vifited Columbus, who was now on board the Nigna, and endeavoured to confole him for his lofs, by offering all that he poffeffed to repair it *, The condition of Columbus was fuch, that he flood in need of confolation. He had hitherto procured no intelligence of the Pinta, and no longer doubted but that his treacherous affociate had fet fail for Europe, in order to have the merit of carrying the firft tidings of the extraordinary difcoveries which had been made, and to pre-occupy fo far the ear of their fovereign, as to rob him of the glory and reward to which he was juftly entitled. There remained but one veffel, and that the smallest and most crazy of the fquadron, to traverse such a vaft ocean, and carry The account which Columbus gives of the humanity and orderly behaviour of the natives on this occafion is very ftriking. "The king (fays he, in a letter to Ferdi nand and Isabella) having been informed of our misfortune, expreffed great grief for our lofs, and immediately fent aboard all the people in the place in many large canoes; we foon unloaded the fhip of every thing that was upon deck, as the king gave us great affiftance: he himself, with his brothers and relations, took all poffible care that every thing fhould be properly done both aboard and on shore. And, from time to time, he fent some of his relations weeping, to beg of me not to be dejected, for he would give me all that he had. I can affure your highneffes, that fo much care would not have been taken in fecuring our effects in any part of Spain, as all our property was put together in one place near his palace, until the houses which he wanted to prepare for the custody of it, were emptied. He immediately placed a guard of armed men, who watched during the whole night, and those on fhore lamented as if they had been much interefted in our lofs. The people are fo affectionate, so tractable, and fo peaceable, that I fwear to your highneffes, that there is not a better race of men, nor a better country in the world. They love their neighbour as themselves; their converfation is the sweetest and mildest in the world, cheerful, and always accompanied with a fmile. And although it is true that they go naked, yet your highnefes may be affured that they have many very commendable cuftoms; the king is ferved with great ftate, and his behaviour is fa decent, that it is pleafant to fee him, as it is likewife to obferve the wonderful memory which these people have, and their defire of knowing every thing, which leads them to inquire into its caufes and effects." Life of Columbus, c. 32. It is probable that the Spaniards were indebted for this officious attention, to the opinion which the Indians entertained of them as a fuperior order of beings. fo many men back to Europe. Each of those circumstances was alarming, and filled the mind of Columbus with the utmost folicitude. The defire of overtaking Pinzon, and of effacing the unfavourable impreffions which his mifreprefentations might make in Spain, made it neceffary to return thither without delay. The difficulty of taking fuch a number of perfons aboard the Nigna, confirmed him in an opinion, which the fertility of the country, and the gentle temper of the people, had already induced him to form. He refolved to leave a part of his crew in the island, that, by refiding there, they might learn the language of the natives, ftudy their difpofition, examine the nature of the country, fearch for mines, prepare for the commodious fettlement of the colony, with which he purposed to return, and thus fecure and facilitate the acquifition of thofe advantages which he expected from his difcoveries. When he mentioned this to his men, all approved of the defign; and from impatience under the fatigue of a long voyage, from the levity natural to failors, or from the hopes of amaffing wealth in a country which afforded fuch promifing fpecimens of its riches, many offered voluntarily to be among the number of those who should remain. Nothing was now wanting towards the execution of this scheme, but to obtain the confent of Guacanahari; and his unfufpicious fimplicity foon prefented to the admiral a favourable opportunity of propofing it. Columbus having, in the best manner he could, by broken words and figns, expreffed fome curiofity to know the caufe which had moved the iflanders to fly with such precipitation upon the approach of his ships, the cazique informed him that the country was much infested by the incurfions of certain people, whom he called Carribeans, who inhabited feveral islands to the fouth-eaft. These he defcribed as a fierce and war like race of men, who delighted in blood, and devoured the flesh of the prifoners who were fo unhappy as to fall into their hands; and as the Spaniards, at their first appearance, were fuppofed to be Carribeans, whom the natives, however numerous, durft not face in battle, they had recourse to their usual method of securing their safety, by flying into the thickest and most impenetrable woods. Guacanahari, while speaking of thofe dreadful invaders, discovered fuch symptoms of terror, as well as such consciousness of the inability of his own people to refift them, as led Columbus to conclude that he would not be alarmed at the propofition of any scheme which afforded him the profpect of an additional fecurity against their attacks. He inftantly offered him the affiftance of the Spaniards to repel his enemies; he engaged to take him and his people under the protection of the powerful monarch whom he ferved, and offered to leave in the inland fuch a number of his men as fhould be fufficient, not only only to defend the inhabitants from future incurfions, but to avenge their past wrongs. The credulous prince clofed eagerly with the propofal, and thought himself already fafe under the patronage of beings fprung from Heaven, and fuperior in power to mortal men. The ground was marked out for a fmall fort, which Columbus called Navidad, becaufe he had landed there on Christmas day. A deep ditch was drawn around it. The ramparts were fortified with pallifades, and the great guns, faved out of the admiral's fhip, were planted upon them. In ten days the work was finished; that fimple race of men labouring with inconfiderate affiduity in erecting this first monument of their own fervitude. During this time Columbus, by his careffes and liberality, laboured to increase the high opinion which the natives entertained of the Spaniards. But while he endeavoured to infpire them with confidence in their difpofition to do good, he wished likewise to give them some striking idea of their power to punish and destroy fuch as were the objects of their indignation. With this view, in prefence of a vaft affembly, he drew up his men in order of battle, and made an oftentatious but innocent difplay of the sharpness of the Spanish fwords, of the force of their spears, and the operation of their cross-bows. These rude people, ftrangers to the use of iron, and unacquainted with any hoftile weapons, but arrows of reeds pointed with the bones of fishes, wooden fwords, and javelins hardened in the fire, wondered and trembled. Before this surprise or fear had time to abate, he ordered the great guns to be fired. The fudden explofion ftruck them with fuch terror, that they fell flat to the ground, covering their faces with their hands; and when they beheld the aftonishing effect of the bullets among the trees, towards which the cannon had been pointed, they concluded that it was impoffible to refift men, who had the command of fuch deftructive inftruments, and who came armed with thunder and lightning against their enemies. After giving fuch impreffions both of the beneficence and power of the Spaniards, as might have rendered it easy to preserve an afcendant over the minds of the natives, Columbus appointed thirty-eight of his people to remain in the island. He entrusted the command of these to Diego de Arada, a gentleman of Cordova, invefting him with the fame powers which he himself had received from Ferdinand and Ifabella; and furnished him with every thing requifite for the fubfiftence or defence of this infant colony. He strictly enjoined them to maintain concord among themfelves, to yield an unreferved obedience to their commander, to avoid giving offence to the natives by any violence or exaction, to caltivate the friendship of Guacanahari, but not to put themfelves in his power power by straggling in fmall parties, or marching too far from the fort. He promised to revifit them foon; with fuch a reinforcement of ftrength as might enable them to take full poffeffion of the country, and to reap all the fruits of their difcoveries. In the mean time, he engaged to mention their names to the king and queen, and to place their merit and fervices in the most advantageous light. Having thus taken every precaution for the fecurity of the Colony, he left Navidad on the fourth of January, one thousand four hundred and ninety-three, and fteering towards the eaft, difcovered, and gave names to most of the harbours on the northern coast of the island. On the fixth, he defcried the Pinta, and foon came up with her, after a fepa ration of more than fix weeks. Pinzon endeavoured to juftify his conduct, by pretending that he had been driven from his courfe by stress of weather; and prevented from returning by contrary winds. The admiral, though he ftill fufpected his perfidious intentions, and knew well what he urged in his own defence to be frivolous as well as false, was so fenfible that this was not a proper time for venturing upon any high ftrain of authority, and felt fuch fatisfaction in this junction with his confort, which delivered him from many difquieting apprehenfions, that lame as Pinzon's apology was, he admitted of it without difficulty, and reftored him to favour. During his abfence from the admiral, Pinzon had vifited feveral harbours in the island, had acquired fome gold by trafficking with the natives, but had made no difcovery of any import ance. From the condition of his fhips, as well as the temper of his men, Columbus now found it necessary to haften his return to Europe. The former, having fuffered much during a voyage of fuch an unusual length, were extremely leaky. The latter expreffed the utmost impatience to revifit their native country, from which they had been fo long abfent, and where they had things fo wonderful and un-heard of to relate. Accordingly, on the fixteenth of January, he directed his courfe towards the north-eaft, and foon loft fight of land. He had on board fome of the natives, whom he had taken from the different islands which he difcovered; and befides the gold, which was the chief object of research, he had collected fpecimens of all the productions which were likely to become fubjects of commerce in the feveral countries, as well as many unknown birds, and other natural curiofities, which might attract the attention of the learned, or excite the wonder of the people. The voyage was profperous to the fourteenth of February, and he had advanced near five hundred leagues across the Atlantic Ocean, when the wind began to rife, and continued to blow with increafing rage, which terminated F nated in a furious hurricane. Every expedient that the naval skill and experience of Columbus could devife was employed, in order to fave the fhips. But it was impoffible to withstand the violence of the ftorm, and as they were still far from any land, deftruction feemed inevitable. The failors had recourse to prayers to Almighty God, to the invocation of faints, to vows and charms, to every thing that religion dictates, or fuperftition fuggefts, to the affrighted mind of man. No profpect of deliverance appearing, they abandoned themselves to despair, and expected every moment to be fwallowed up in the waves. Befides the paffions which naturally agitate and alarm the human mind in fuch awful fituations, when certain death, in one of his moft terrible forms, is before it, Columbus had to endure feelings of diftrefs peculiar to himself. He dreaded that all knowledge of the amazing difcoveries which he had, made was now to perish; mankind were to be deprived of every benefit that might have been derived from the happy fuccefs of his schemes, and his own name would defcend to pofterity as that of a rash deluded adventurer, instead of being tranfmitted with the honour due to the author and conductor of the most noble enterprise that had ever been undertaken. These reflections extinguished all fenfe of his own perfonal danger. Lefs affected with the lofs of life, than folicitous to preferve the memory of what he had attempted and achieved, he retired to his cabbin, and wrote, upon parchment, a fhort account of the voyage which he had made, of the courfe which he had taken, of the fituation and riches of the countries which he had discovered, and of the colony that he had left there. Having wrapt up this in an oiled cloth, which he inclofed in a cake of wax, he put it into a cafk carefully ftopped up, and threw it into the fea, in hopes that some fortunate accident might preserve a depofit of fo much importance to the world*. At • Every monument of fuch a man as Columbus is valuable. A letter which he wrote to Ferdinand and Ifabella, defcribing what paffed on this occafion, exhibits a most striking picture of his intrepidity, his humanity, his prudence, his public fpirit, and courtly addrefs. "I would have been lefs concerned for this misfortune, had I alone been in danger, both because my life is a debt that I owe to the Supreme Creator, and because I have at other times been exposed to the most imminent hazard. But what gave me infinite grief and vexation was, that after it had pleased our Lord to give me faith to undertake this enterprize, in which I had now been so successful, that my opponents would have been convinced, and the glory of your highneffes, and the extent of your territory increased by me; it should please the Divine Majesty to stop all by my death. All this would have been more tolerable, had it not been attended with the lofs of those men whom I had carried with me, upon promise of the greatest prosperity, who seeing themselves in fuch diftrefs, curfed not only their coming along with me, but that fear and awe of me, |