that the Indians of the island were peaceable and well disposed, and came off from all quarters, in their canoes, to traffic. They brought to the ships some little creatures like rabbits, and cakes of bread, which they called zabi, which they were glad to exchange for hawks' bells and glass beads. Sometimes the Spaniards gave a cacique a looking-glass, or a red cap, and perhaps a pair of scissors. It was now necessary to devise means to leave the island. They had no tools to build a new ship with, and it was in vain to stay in hopes that some vessel from Spain would fail in with them. The Admiral thought the best course would be to send word to Hispaniola, and request that a ship might be sent to them with ammunition and provisions. Two canoes were, accordingly, selected for this purpose, and committed to Diego Mendez and Bartholomew Fiesco, with six Spaniards and ten Indians to manage them. They went along the coast of Jamaica, to the eastern extremity, where it was thirty leagues distant from Hispaniola, and put out to

sea.

Shortly after the canoes had departed, the men on shore began to grow discontented, and a violent sickness broke out among them. They became turbulent and seditious. The leaders of the sedition were two natives of Seville, brothers, by the name of Porras. One of them openly insulted the Admiral on the deck of his ship, and, turning his back on him, exclaimed, "I am for Spain, with all that will follow me." About forty of the most mutinous joined with him, and, seizing some canoes which the Admiral had purchased, departed for the eastern extremity of the island. These conspirators treated the natives very cruelly upon the way, committing various outrages, and compelling them to row their canoes for Hispaniola. The sea soon grew rough, and they threw every thing they could spare overboard, in order to lighten their slender barks. At last they threw over even the helpless natives who had been forced into their service, and left them to perish in the waves. With much difficulty the canoes reached the shore. They again ventured out once or twice, after an interval of several weeks, and were again driven back by the winds. From the many excesses committed by these men, and the increasing scarcity of provisions, the Indians at length began to neglect even those who had remained with the Admiral, and whom they had hitherto supplied with sufficient quantities of food. Columbus was desirous to awe the natives into a compliance with his requests. He knew that on a certain night there was to be an eclipse of the moon. On the day before this event, he invited all the caciques and chief men of the place to an assembly. He here told them through an interpreter, that the Spaniards believed in a God, who dwelt in Heaven, rewarding the good and punishing the evil; that this deity had been offended with the wicked who rebelled, and had raised up the winds and tempests against them; that he was angry with the Indians for their negligence in not furnishing food for the white men, and that he would that night give them a sign of his indignation in the skies. The Indians listened, and departed, some in terror, some in scorn. But when the eclipse began, as the moon was rising, they were all struck with fear and confusion. They came running with cries and lamentations from every quarter, bringing

provisions, and praying the Admiral to intercede for them. Columbus shut himself up while the eclipse lasted, and when he saw it begin to go off. he came out of his cabin, and warned them to use the Christians

wel in future, and bring them all they should require of them. From that time supplies of provisions were always abundant.

Eight months passed after the departure of Mendez and Fiesco, before any notice was received of their arrival. Other desertions were on the point of taking place, when, towards dusk, one evening, a caravel was espied in the distance. It proved to have been sent from Hispaniola, under the command of Diego de Escobar. He had orders not to go on shore, nor to permit his crew to have any communication with the followers of the Admiral. Escobar went in his boat to deliver to Columbus a letter from the Governor, and a present of a cask of wine, and a couple of hams; then, returning to his caravel, he sailed away that very evening. The Admiral was very much surprised at this singular conduct, and the people thought the Governor intended to leave them there without assistance. But Columbus soothed them with such explanations as he could invent; told them that Mendez had arrived safely at Hispaniola, and gave promises of speedy relief. He now turned his attention towards arranging affairs with the rebels. Messengers were sent to them, whom they insulted and dismissed; and it was at last necessary to come to open battle with them. For this purpose fifty men, well armed, were selected from those who continued faithful to Columbus, and put under the command of the Adelantado. Having arrived at a small hill, about a bow-shot from the camp of the rebels, two messengers were sent before, to request a peaceable conference with their leaders. They refused to listen to them, but fell, with swords and spears, upon the party of the Adelantado, thinking to rout them immediately. The rebels, however, were finally dispersed with some slaughter. On the next day, all who had escaped joined in an humble petition to the Admiral, repenting of their past conduct, and declaring themselves ready to return to

their duty. Columbus granted their request, upon condition that their captain should remain a prisoner, as a hostage for their good behavior. They were accordingly quartered about the island, in such places as were most convenient, till the arrival of a ship from Hispaniola.

Some days now passed, when Diego Mendez arrived with a vessel which he had purchased and fitted out at St. Domingo, on the Admiral's credit. They immediately embarked on board of it, and, sailing with contrary winds, reached St. Domingo on the 13th of August, 1504. The Governor received the Admiral with the greatest respect and ceremony, but his kindness was only forced and treacherous. He set Porras free from his chains, and attempted to punish those who were concerned in his arrest. Columbus remained here till his ship was refitted and another hired, and in these vessels they pursued their voyage to Spain.

Setting sail on the 12th of September, the mast of one of the ships was carried by the board, when they were about two leagues from shore. This ship returned to the harbor, and the Admiral pursued his voyage in the other. The weather proved very stormy, and the remaining ship was much shattered before she arrived at St. Lucar. At this port Columbus received the sad intelligence of the death of his noble patron, Isabella. He then repaired to Seville.

But he was doomed to submit to the evils of that ingratitude, which is not the growth of republics only, but often finds a genial soil under the shadow of a throne. The discoverer of a world, and the natural master of the empire he had found, Columbus was obliged, in his old age, to submit to the caprices and insults of a narrow-minded monarch, to whose insignificance his own magnanimity was a continual reproach. Deluded with promises, foiled with disappointments, exhausted with the toil and nardship of momentous and ill requited enterprise, mortified by undeserved neglect, disgusted by the baseness and meanness of a servile court, and an ungrateful King, oppressed with infirmity, and cares, and wretchedness, Columbus died at Valladolid, on the 20th of May, 1506. His death was worthy of his character and his fame; marked by no violent emotion, calm, composed, and happy; blessed by the memory of what he had done for mankind, and cheered by the hopes of a holy faith. A fit end to the great drama of his life!*

"Columbus could never forget the ignominy of his chains. He preserved the fetters, hung them up in his apartment, and ordered them to be buried in his grave. In compliance with his request, his body was removed from Seville to the island of St. Domingo, and deposited, with his chains, in a brass coffin, on the right of the high altar of the Cathedral of St. Domingo. There his bones remained, until the Spanish part of the island was ceded to France, in 1795. In consequence of this cession, the descendants of Columbus requested that his remains might be removed to Caba. On the 19th of January, 1796, the brass coffin which contained the ashes of this great man, together with a chain which served as a memorial of his sovereign's weakness, was carried down to the harbor in procession, under fire of the forts, and put on board a brig of war, to be removed to Havana. The brig arrived safely in the harbor of Havana, and the remains of the discoverer of America were buried with all the pomp and ceremony that could be bestowed upon them."

EARLY ADVENTURES IN NORTH AMERICA.

THE exploits of Columbus having excited a great sensation among the English merchants, and at the Court of Henry VII., the adventurous spirit of John Cabot, heightened by the ardor of his son Sebastian, led him to propose to the King to undertake a voyage of discovery, with the twofold object of becoming acquainted with new territories, and of realizing the long-desired object of a western passage to China and the Indies. A commission was accordingly granted, on the 5th of March, 1497, to him and his three sons, giving them liberty to sail to all parts of the east, west, and north, under the royal banners and ensigns, to discover countries of the heathen, unknown to Christians; to set up the King's banners there; to occupy and possess, as his subjects, such places as they could subdue; giving them the rule and jurisdiction of the same, to be holden on condition of paying to the King one fifth part of all their gains. By virtue of this commission, a small fleet was equipped, partly at the King's expense, and partly at that of private individuals, in which the Cabots embarked with a company of three hundred mariners. Our knowledge of this voyage is collected from many detached and imperfect notices of it in different authors, who, while they establish the general facts in the most unquestionable manner, differ in many particular circumstances. The most probable account is, that Cabot sailed north-west a few weeks, until his progress was arrested by floating icebergs, when he shaped his course to the south-west, and soon came in sight of a shore named by him Prima Vista, and generally believed to be some part of Labrador, or Newfoundland. Thence he steered northward again to the sixty-seventh degree of latitude, where he was obliged to turn back by the discontent of his crew. He sailed along the coast in search of an outlet as far as the neighborhood of the Gulf of Mexico, when a mutiny broke out in the ship's company, in consequence of which the farther prosecution of the voyage was abandoned. Cabot reached England with several savages and a valuable cargo, although some writers deny that he ever landed in America, and it is certain that he did not attempt any conquest or settlement there.

This voyage was not immediately followed by any important conse quences; but it is memorable as being the first that is certainly ascer tained to have been effected to this continent, and as constituting the title by which the English claimed the territories that they subsequently acquired here. Through a singular succession of causes, during more than sixty years from the time of this discovery of the northern division of the continent by the English, their monarchs gave but little attention to this country, which was destined to be annexed to their crown, and to be