Ferdinand and Isabella having thus acquired a title, which was, at that period, deemed com. pletely valid, to extend their dominion over such a considerable portion of the globe, nothing now retarded the departure of the fleet. Columbus set sail from the bay of Cadiz on the 25th of SeptemOn the twenty-sixth day after his departure he made land. It was one of the Caribbee or Leeward islands, to which he gave the name of Deseada. After this, he visited successively Dominica, Marigalante, Gaudaloupe, Antigua, Porto Rico, and several other islands. On these the Spaniards never attempted to land without meeting with such a reception as discovered the martial spirit of the natives; and in their habitations were found relics of those horrid feasts which they had made upon the bodies of their enemies taken in

war.

Columbus proceeded as soon as possible to Hispaniola, where he arrived on the 22d of November. When he reached Novidad, the station in which he had left a few months before thirty-eight men, he was astonished that none of them appeared. Full of solicitude about their safety, he rowed instantly to land. All the natives, from whom he might have received information, had fled. But the fort which he had built was entirely demolished; and the tattered garments, the broken arms and utensils, scattered about, left no room to doubt concerning the unhappy fate of the garrison. While the Spaniards were shedding tears over those sad memorials of their fellow-citizens, a brother of the cazique Guacanahari arrived. From him Columbus learned that as soon as the restraint, which his presence imposed, was withdrawn, the garrison threw off all VOL. XXIV.

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regard for the officer whom he had invested with command, and gratified their desires without control. The gold, the women, the provisions of the natives, were all the prey of those licentious oppressors. They roamed in small parties over the island, extending their rapacity and insolence to every corner of it. Gentle as these people were, those unprovoked injuries at length exhausted their patience, and roused their courage. The cazique of Cibao surprised and cut off several of them while they straggled in security. He then assembled his subjects, and, surrounding the fort, set it on fire. Some of the Spaniards were killed in defending it; the rest perished in attempting to make their escape by crossing an arm of the sea.

Instead of attempting to revenge the death of his countrymen, Columbus traced out the plan of a town, in a large plain near a spacious bay; and obliging every person to put his hand to a work on which their common safety depended, the houses and ramparts were soon so far advanced, by their united labour, as to afford them shelter and security. This rising city he named Isabella, in honour of his patroness the queen of Castile.

In carrying on the necessary work, Columbus had to contend with the laziness, the impatience, and mutinous disposition of his followers. Many of them were gentlemen, unaccustomed to the fatigue of bodily labour, and all had engaged in the enterprise with the sanguine hopes of becoming suddenly rich. But, when, instead of that golden harvest which they had expected to reap without toil or pains, the Spaniards saw that their prospect of wealth was remote as well as uncertain, and that it could only be attained by the slow and per

severing efforts of industry, the disappointment of those chimerical hopes occasioned such dejection of mind as led to general discontent. The spirit of disaffection spread, and a conspiracy was formed which might have been fatal to Columbus and the colony. Happily he discovered it, and seizing the ringleaders, punished some of them, and sent others prisoners into Spain, whither he dispatched twelve of the ships which had served as transports, with an earnest request for a reinforcement of men and a large supply of provisions. In the mean time Columbus planned several expeditions into the country, in which he displayed all the military magnificence that he could exhibit, in order to strike the imagination of the natives. He marched with colours flying, with martial music, and with a small body of cavalry, that paraded sometimes in the front and sometimes in the rear. As these were the first horses which had appeared in the New World, they were objects of terror no less than admiration to the Indians, who having no tame animals themselves, were unacquainted with that vast accession of power which man hath acquired by subjecting them to his dominion. They supposed them rational creatures. They imagined that the horse and the rider formed one animal, with whose speed they were astonished, and whose impetuosity and strength they considered as irresistible. But while Columbus endeavoured to inspire the natives with a dread of his power, he did not neglect the arts of gaining their love and confidence. He adhered scrupulously to the principles of integrity and justice in all his transactions, and treated them on every occasion with humanity and kindness. The district of Cibao, inte

which he had sent one expedition, was mountainous and uncultivated, but in every river and brook gold was gathered either in dust or in grains. From these indications the Spaniards could no longer doubt that the country contained rich treasures in its bowels, of which they hoped soon to be the masters. To secure the command of this valuable province Columbus erected a fort, to which he gave the name of St. Thomas, by way of ridicule upon some of his incredulous followers, who would not believe that the country produced gold till they saw it with their own eyes, and touched it with their own hands.

As soon as he saw it prudent to leave the island, Columbus resolved to pursue his discoveries, that he might be able to ascertain whether those new countries with which he had opened a communication were connected with any region of the earth already known, or whether they were to be considered as a separate portion of the globe, hitherto unvisited. Having appointed his brother Don Diego, with a council of officers, to govern the island in his absence, and given all necessary instructions, he weighed anchor on the 24th of April with one ship and two small barks under his command. During a tedious voyage of full five months, he made no discovery of importance, except the island of Jamaica. As he ranged along the southern coast of Cuba, he was entangled in a labyrinth formed by an incredible number of small islands, to which he gave the name of the Queen's Garden. In this unknown course he was retarded by contrary winds, assaulted with furious storms, and alarmed with terrible thunder and lightning, which are often almost incessant between the tropics. At length his provisions fell short, and his crew was

ready to proceed to the most desperate extremities against him. Beset with danger in such various forms, he was obliged to keep continual watch, to observe every occurrence with his own eyes, to issue every order, and to superintend the execution of it. This unremitting fatigue of body, and intense application of mind, overpowering his constitution, though naturally vigorous and robust, had nearly been fatal to his life.

But on his return to Hispaniola, the sudden emotion of joy which he felt upon meeting with his brother Bartholomew at Isabella contributed greatly to his recovery. It was now thirteen years since the two brothers, whom similarity of talents united in close friendship, had separated from each other, and during that long period there had been no intercourse between them. Bartholomew could not have arrived at any juncture when Columbus stood more in need of a friend capable of assisting him with his counsels, or of dividing with him the cares and burthen of government. No sooner had Columbus set out on the voyage of discovery, than the soldiers whom he had left behind, instead of conforming to the prudent instructions which he had given, dispersed in straggling parties over the island, lived at discretion upon the natives, wasted their provisions, seized the women, and treated that inoffensive race with all the insolence of military oppression.

Self-preservation prompted the Indians to wish for the departure of guests who wasted their provisions, and in other respects violated the rights of hospitality. They had long expected that the Spaniards would retire of their own accord; but when they saw no chance of this, they resolved to attack them with united force, and drive them from the