The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Volume II)
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In our way to the church we passed by the ruins of what had once been a fair and spacious dwelling, greatly superior to the other houses of the village. This, Don Juan informed me, was an old family possession, but since they had removed from Palos it had fallen to decay for want of a tenant. It was probably the family residence of Martin Alonzo or Vicente Yafiez Pinzon, in the time of Columbus.
We now arrived at the Church of St. George, in the porch of which Columbus first proclaimed to the inhabitants of Palos the order of the sovereigns, that they should furnish him with ships for his great voyage of discovery. This edifice has lately been thoroughly repaired, and, being of solid mason-work, promises to stand for ages, a monument of the discoverers. It stands outside of the village, on the brow of a hill, looking along a little valley toward the river. The remains of a Moorish arch prove it to have been a mosque in former times; just above it, on the crest of the hill, is the ruin of a Moorish castle.
I paused in the porch, and endeavored to recall the interesting scene that had taken place there, when Columbus, accompanied by the zealous friar Juan Perez, caused the public notary to read the royal order in presence of the astonished alcaldes, regidors, and alguazils; but it is difficult to conceive the consternation that must have been struck into so remote a little community, by this sudden apparition of an entire stranger among them, bearing a command that they should put their persons and ships at his disposal, and sail with him away into the unknown wilderness of the ocean.
The interior of the church has nothing remarkable, excepting a wooden image of St. George vanquishing the Dragon, which is erected over the high altar, and is the admiration of the good people of Palos, who bear it about the streets in grand procession on the anniversary of the saint. This group existed in the time of Columbus, and now flourishes in renovated youth and splendor, having been newly painted and gilded, and the countenance of the saint rendered peculiarly blooming and lustrous.
Having finished the examination of the church, we resumed our seats in the calesa and returned to Moguer. One thing only remained to fulfill the object of my pilgrimage. This was to visit the chapel of the Convent of Santa Clara. When Columbus was in danger of being lost in a tempest on his way home from his great voyage of discovery, he made a vow, that, should he be spared, he would watch and pray one whole night in this chapel; a vow which he doubtless fulfilled immediately after his arrival.
My kind and attentive friend, Don Juan, conducted me to the convent. It is the wealthiest in Moguer, and belongs to a sisterhood of Franciscan nuns. The chapel is large, and ornamented with some degree of richness, particularly the part about the high altar, which, is embellished by magnificent monuments of the brave family of the Puerto Carreros, the ancient lords of Moguer, and renowned in Moorish warfare. The alabaster effigies of distinguished warriors of that house, and of their wives and sisters, lie side by side, with folded hands, on tombs immediately before the altar, while others recline in deep niches on either side. The night had closed in by the time I entered the church, which made the scene more impressive. A few votive lamps shed a dim light about the interior; their beams were feebly reflected by the gilded work of the high altar, and the frames of the surrounding paintings, and rested upon the marble figures of the warriors and dames lying in the monumental repose of ages. The solemn pile must have presented much the same appearance when the pious discoverer performed his vigil, kneeling before this very altar, and praying and watching throughout the night, and pouring forth heartfelt praises for having been spared to accomplish his sublime discovery.
I had now completed the main purpose of my journey, having visited the various places connected with the story of Columbus. It was highly gratifying to find some of them so little changed though so great a space of time had intervened; but in this quiet nook of Spain, so far removed from the main thoroughfares, the lapse of time produces but few violent revolutions. Nothing, however, had surprised and gratified me more than the contiuued stability of the Pinzon family. On the morning after my excursion to Palos, chance gave me an opportunity of seeing something of the interior of most of their households. Having a curiosity to visit the remains of a Moorish castle, once the citadel of Moguer, Don Fernandez undertook to show me a tower which served as a magazine of wine to one of the Pinzon family. In seeking for the key we were sent from house to house of nearly the whole connection. All appeared to be living in that golden mean equally removed from the wants and superfluities of life, and all to be happily interwoven by kind and cordial habits of intimacy. We found the females of the family generally seated in the patios, or central courts of their dwellings, beneath the shade of awnings and among shrubs and flowers. Here the Andalusian ladies are accustomed to pass their mornings at work, surrounded by their handmaids, in the primitive, or rather oriental style. In the porches of some of the houses I observed the coat-of-arms granted to the family by Charles V, hung up like a picture in a frame. Over the door of Don Luis, the naval officer, it was carved on an escutcheon of stone, and colored. I had gathered many particulars of the family also from conversation with Don Juan, and from the family legend lent me by Don Luis. From all that I could learn, it would appear that the lapse of nearly three centuries and a half has made but little change in the condition of the Pinzons. From generation to generation they have retained the same fair standing and reputable name throughout the neighborhood, filling offices of public trust and dignity, and possessing great influence over their fellow-citizens by their good sense and good conduct. How rare is it to see such an instance of stability of fortune in this fluctuating world, and how truly honorable is this hereditary respectability, which has been secured by no titles nor entails, but perpetuated merely by the innate worth of the race! I declare to you that the most illustrious descents of mere titled rank could never command the sincere respect and cordial regard with which I contemplated this stanch and enduring family, which for three centuries and a half has stood merely upon its virtues.
As I was to set off on my return to Seville before two o'clock, I partook of a farewell repast at the house of Don Juan, between twelve and one, and then took leave of his household with sincere regret. The good old gentleman, with the courtesy, or rather the cordiality, of a true Spaniard, accompanied me to the posada, to see me off. I had dispensed but little money in the posada – thanks to the hospitality of the Pinzons – yet the Spanish pride of my host and hostess seemed pleased that I had preferred their humble chamber, and the scanty bed they had provided me, to the spacious mansion of Don Juan; and when I expressed my thanks for their kindness and attention, and regaled mine host with a few choice segars, the heart of the poor man was overcome. He seized me by both hands and gave me a parting benediction, and then ran after the calasero, to enjoin him to take particular care of me during my journey.
Taking a hearty leave of my excellent friend Don Juan, who had been unremitting in his attentions to me to the last moment, I now set off on my wayfaring, gratified to the utmost with my visit, and full of kind and grateful feelings towards Moguer and its hospitable inhabitants.
1
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv.
2
Ibid., lib. v.
3
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v.
4
Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. ii. p. 147. Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. vi. § 6.
5
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v.
6
"These serpentes are lyke unto crocodiles, saving in bygness; they call them guanas. Unto that day none of owre men durste adventure to taste of them, by reason of theyre horrible deformitie and lothsomnes. Yet the Adelantado being entysed by the pleasantnes of the king's sister, Anacaona, determined to taste the serpentes. But when he felte the flesh thereof to be so delycate to his tongue, he fel to amayne without al feare. The which thyng his companions perceiving, were not behynde hym in greedynesse: insomuche that they had now none other talke than of the sweetnesse of these serpentes, which, they affirm to be of more pleasant taste, than eyther our phesantes or partriches." Peter Martyr, decad. i. book v. Eden's Eng. Trans.
7
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., tom. i. cap. 113.
8
Ibid, lib. i. cap. 114.
9
P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Of the residence of Guarionex, which must have been a considerable town, not the least vestige can be discovered at present. Vol. II. – 2.
10
Escritura de Fr. Roman, Hist. del Almirante.
11
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix.
12
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 121.
13
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 65. Peter Martyr, decad. vi. lib. v.
14
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7.
15
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 6.
16
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 6.
17
Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 9.
18
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 1.
19
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 118.
20
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 73.
21
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 73.
22
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 74.
Extract of a letter from T. S. Heneken, Esq., 1847. – Fort Conception is situated at the foot of a hill now called Santo Cerro. It is constructed of bricks, and is almost as entire at the present day as when just finished. It stands in the gloom of an exuberant forest which has invaded the scene of former bustle and activity; a spot once considered of great importance and surrounded by swarms of intelligent beings.
What has become of the countless multitudes this fortress was intended to awe? Not a trace of them remains excepting in the records of history. The silence of the tomb prevails where their habitations responded to their songs and dances. A few indigent Spaniards, living in miserable hovels, scattered widely apart in the bosom of the forest, are now the sole occupants of this once fruitful and beautiful region.
A Spanish town gradually grew up round the fortress; the ruins of which extend to a considerable distance. It was destroyed by an earthquake, at nine o'clock of the morning of Saturday, 20th April, 1564, during the celebration of mass. Part of the massive walls of a handsome church still remain, as well as those of a very large convent or hospital, supposed to have been constructed in pursuance of the testamentary dispositions of Columbus. The inhabitants who survived the catastrophe retired to a small chapel, on the banks of a river, about a league distant, where the new town of La Vega was afterwards built.
23
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 74.
24
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 74. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7.
25
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 118.
26
Ibid., cap. 119.
27
Las Casas. Herrera. Hist. del Almirante.
28
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 8.
29
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., cap. 121, MS. Peter Martyr, decad. i. cap. 5.
30
The particulars of this chapter are chiefly from P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. vi.; the manuscript history of Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 121; and Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 8, 9.
31
Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 149,150. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 12. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 77.
32
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 153.
33
Hist, del Almirante, cap. 78.
34
In one of these ships sailed the father of the venerable historian Las Casas, from whom he derived many of the facts of his history. Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 153.
35
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 157.
36
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 78.
37
Ibid., cap. 79. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap 13.
38
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 153.
39
Ibid., cap. 158.
40
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 79.
41
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 80.
42
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
43
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
44
Herrera, decad. I. lib. iii. cap. 16.
45
Idem. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 38.
46
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
47
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii cap. 16.
48
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
49
Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. vi. § 50.
50
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 84.
51
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
52
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 83, 84.
53
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
54
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
55
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 3.
56
Las Casas.
57
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 4. Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part in MS. unpublished.
58
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 84.
59
Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.
60
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 169, MS.
61
Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan.
62
Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 169.
63
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 5.
64
Lag Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 170, MS. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 7.
65
Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 84.
66
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 85.
67
Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished.
68
Las Casas, lib. i.
69
Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. 6.
70
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 7.
71
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib i. cap. 169. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 8.
72
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 179.
73
Las Casas, ubi sup. Herrera, ubi sup.
74
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 85. Las Casas. Herrera, ubi sup.
75
Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan.
76
Ibid.
77
Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan.
78
Idem. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv.
79
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 9. Letter to the nurse of Prince Juan.
80
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180.
81
Idem, lib. i. cap. 180.
82
Peter Martyr mentions a vulgar rumor of the day, that the admiral, not knowing what might happen, wrote a letter in cipher to the Adelantado, urging him to come with arms in his hands to prevent any violence that might be contrived against him; that the Adelantado advanced, in effect, with his armed force, but having the imprudence to proceed some distance ahead of it, was surprised by the governor, before his men could come to his succor, and that the letter in cipher had been sent to Spain. This must have been one of the groundless rumors of the day, circulated to prejudice the public mind. Nothing of the kind appears among the charges in the inquest made by Bobadilla, and which was seen, and extracts made from it, by Las Casas, for his history. It is, in fact, in total contradiction to the statements of Las Casas, Herrera, and Fernando Columbus.
83
Charlevoix, in his History of San Domingo (lib. iii. p. 199), states that the suit against Columbus was conducted in writing; that written charges were sent to him, to which he replied in the same way. This is contrary to the statements of Las Casas, Herrera, and Fernando Columbus. The admiral himself, in his letter to the nurse of Prince Juan, after relating the manner in which he and his brothers had been thrown into irons, and confined separately, without being visited by Bobadilla, or permitted to see any other persons, expressly adds, "I make oath that I do not know for what I am imprisoned." Again, in a letter written some time afterwards from Jamaica, he says, "I was taken and thrown with two of my brothers in a ship, loaded with irons, with little clothing and much ill-treatment, without being summoned or convicted by justice."
84
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 10. Oviedo, Cronica. lib. iii. cap. 6.
85
Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished.
86
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.
87
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180, MS.
88
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180, MS.
89
Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.
90
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 182.
91
Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. 6.
92
Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 182. Two thousand ducats, or two thousand eight hundred and forty-six dollars, equivalent to eight thousand five hundred and thirty-eight dollars of the present day.
93
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 10.
94
Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix.
95
Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 12. Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished.
96
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 2. Muñoz, part unpublished.
97
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 2 Muñoz, part unpublished.
98
Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 7. Vol. II. -9
99
Lafiteau, Conquetes des Portugais, lib. ii.
100
Robertson, Hist. America, book ii.
101
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3.
102
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 1, MS.
103
Las Casas, Hist. Ind. lib. ii. cap. 3, MS.
104
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 12.
105
Muñoz, part inedit. Las Casas says the fleet consisted of thirty-two sail. He states from memory, however; Muñoz from documents.
106
Muñoz, H. N. Mundo, part inedit.
107
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3, MS.
108
Garibay, Hist. España, lib. xix. cap. 6. Among the collections existing in the library of the late Prince Sebastian, there is a folio which, among other things, contains a paper or letter, in which is a calculation of the probable expenses of an army of twenty thousand men, for the conquest of the Holy Land. It is dated in 1509 or 1510, and the handwriting appears to be of the same time.
109
Columbus was not singular in his belief; it was entertained by many of his zealous and learned admirers. The erudite lapidary, Jayme Ferrer, in the letter written to Columbus in 1495, at the command of the sovereigns, observes: "I see in this a great mystery: the divine and infallible Providence sent the great St. Thomas from the west into the east, to manifest in India our holy and Catholic faith; and you, Señor, he sent in an opposite direction, from the east into the west, until you have arrived in the Orient, into the extreme part of Upper India, that the people may hear that which their ancestors neglected of the preaching of St. Thomas. Thus shall be accomplished what was written, in omnem terram exibit sonus eorum." … And again, "The office which you hold, Señor, places you in the light of an apostle and ambassador of God, sent by his divine judgment, to make known his holy name in unknown lands." – Letra de Mossen, Jayme Ferrer, Navarrete, Coleccion, tom. ii. decad. 68. See also the opinion expressed by Agostino Giustiniani, his contemporary, in his Polyglot Psalter.
110
Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 4. Las Casas specifics the vicinity of Nombre de Dios as the place.
111
Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. ii. p. 145.
112
A manuscript volume containing a copy of this letter and of the collection of prophecies is in the Columbian Library, in the Cathedral of Seville, where the author of this work has seen and examined it since publishing the first edition. The title and some of the early pages of the work are in the handwriting of Fernando Columbus; the main body of the work is by a strange hand, probably by the Friar Gaspar Gorricio, or some brother of his Convent. There are trifling marginal notes or corrections, and one or two trivial additions in the handwriting of Columbus, especially a passage added after his return from his fourth voyage, and shortly before his death, alluding to an eclipse of the moon which took place during his sojourn in the island of Jamaica. The handwriting of this last passage, like most of the manuscript of Columbus which the author has seen, is small and delicate, but wants the firmness and distinctness of his earlier writing, his hand having doubtless become unsteady by age and infirmity.
This document is extremely curious as containing all the passages of Scripture and of the works of the fathers which had so powerful an influence on the enthusiastic mind of Columbus, and were construed by him into mysterious prophecies and revelations. The volume is in good preservation, excepting that a few pages have been cut out. The writing, though of the beginning of the fifteenth century, is very distinct and legible. The library-mark of the book is Estante Z. Tab. 138, No. 25.
113
Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 4.