The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Volume II)

114

These documents lay unknown in the Oderigo family until 1670, when Lorenzo Oderigo presented them to the government of Genoa, and they were deposited in the archives. In the disturbances and revolutions of after times, one of these copies was taken to Paris, and the other disappeared. In 1816 the latter was discovered in the library of the deceased Count Michel Angelo Cambiaso, a senator of Genoa. It was procured by the king of Sardinia, then sovereign of Genoa, and given up by him to the city of Genoa in 1821. A custodia, or monument, was erected in that city for its preservation, consisting of a marble column supporting an urn, surmounted by a bust of Columbus. The documents were deposited in the urn. These papers have been published, together with an historical memoir of Columbus, by D. Gio. Battista Spotorno, Professor of Eloquence, etc. in the University of Genoa.

115

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88.

116

Señor Navarrete supposes this island to be the same at present called Santa Lucia. From the distance between it and Dominica, as stated by Fernando Columbus, it was more probably the present Martinica.

117

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88.

118

Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.

119

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 5.

120

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3.

121

Las Casas, cap. 5.

122

Las Casas, cap. 5.

123

Las Casas ubi sup.

124

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 5. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88.

125

Supposed to be the Morant Keys.

126

Called in some of the English maps Bonacca.

127

Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.

128

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 20. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.

129

Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

130

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 90.

131

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 80.

132

Letter from Jamaica. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

133

Las Casas, lib ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91.

134

P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv. These may have been the lime, a small and extremely acid species of the lemon.

135

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91. Journal of Porras.

136

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91.

137

Letter from Jamaica.

138

Note. – We find instances of the same kind of superstition in the work of Marco Polo, and as Columbus considered himself in the vicinity of the countries described by that traveler, he may have been influenced in this respect by his narrations. Speaking of the island of Soccotera (Socotra), Marco Polo observes: "The inhabitants deal more in sorcery and witchcraft than any other people, although forbidden by their archbishop, who excommunicates and anathematizes them for the sin. Of this, however, they make little account, and if any vessel belong to a pirate should injure one of theirs, they do not fail to lay him under a spell, so that he cannot proceed on his cruise until he has made satisfaction for the damage; and even although he should have a fair and leading wind, they have the power of causing it to change, and thereby obliging him, in spite of himself, to return to the island. They can, in like manner, cause the sea to become calm, and at their will can raise tempests, occasion ship-wrecks, and produce many other extraordinary effects that need not be particularized." – Marco Polo, Book iii. cap. 35, Eng. translation by W. Marsden.

139

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante cap. 91.

140

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.

141

In some English maps this bay is called Almirante, or Carnabaco Bay. The channel by which Columbus entered is still called Boca del Almirante, or the mouth of the Admiral.

142

Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.

143

P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. v.

144

Columbus' Letter from Jamaica.

145

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 92.

146

Idem.

147

Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. Vol. II. – 12.

148

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist. del Almirante.

149

Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv.

150

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 92.

151

Las Casas. lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 92.

152

It appears doubtful whether Columbus was acquainted with the exact particulars of that voyage, as they could scarcely have reached Spain previously to his sailing. Bastides had been seized in Hispaniola by Bobadilla, and was on board of that very fleet which was wrecked at the time that Columbus arrived off San Domingo. He escaped the fate that attended most of his companions, and returned to Spain, where he was rewarded by the sovereigns for his enterprise. Though some of his seamen had reached Spain previous to the sailing of Columbus, and had given a general idea of the voyage, it is doubtful whether he had transmitted his papers and charts. Porras, in his journal of the voyage of Columbus, states that they arrived at the place where the discoveries of Bastides terminated; but this information he may have obtained subsequently at San Domingo.

153

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 24. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 90.

154

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 94.

155

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 94.

156

A superstitious notion with respect to gold appears to have been very prevalent among the natives. The Indians of Hispaniola observed the same privations when they sought for it, abstaining from food and from sexual intercourse. Columbus, who seemed to look upon gold as one of the sacred and mystic treasures of the earth, wished to encourage similar observances among the Spaniards; exhorting them to purify themselves for the research of the mines by fasting, prayer, and chastity. It is scarcely necessary to add, that his advice was but little attended to by his rapacious and sensual followers.

157

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.

158

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.

159

Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv.

160

Letter of the Admiral from Jamaica.

161

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.

162

Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.

163

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 96.

164

Letter from Jamaica.

165

Equivalent to one thousand two hundred and eighty-one dollars at the present day.

166

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 98. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 27. Many of the particulars of this chapter are from a short narrative given by Diego Mendez, and inserted in his last will and testament. It is written in a strain of simple egotism, as he represents himself as the principal and almost the sole actor in every affair. The facts, however, have all the air of veracity, and being given on such a solemn occasion, the document is entitled to high credit. He will be found to distinguish himself on another hazardous and important occasion in the course of this history. – Vide Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

167

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 98. Las Casas, lib. ii. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Relation of Diego Mendez, Navarrete, tom. i. Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.

168

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 99.

169

Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.

170

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 99, 100. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 29. Relacion por Diego Mendez. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

171

Hist. del Almirante. Letter from Jamaica.

172

Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

173

Letter from Jamaica.

174

Testimony of Pedro de Ledesma. Pleito de los Colones.

175

Letter from Jamaica.

176

Idem.

177

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 100. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.

178

Hist. del Almirante. Journal of Porras.

179

Relacion por Diego Mendez. Navarrete, torn. i.

180

Relacion por Diego Mendez. Navarrete, Colec, torn. i.

181

Joachim, native of the burgh of Celico, near Cozenza, traveled in the Holy Land. Returning to Calabria, he took the habit of the Cistercians in the monastery of Corazzo, of which he became prior and abbot, and afterwards rose to higher monastic importance. He died in 1202, having attained 72 years of age, leaving a great number of works; among the most known are commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse. There are also prophecies by him, "which," (says the Dictionnaire Historique,) "during his life, made him to be admired by fools, and despised by men of sense; at present the latter sentiment prevails. He was either very weak or very presumptuous, to flatter himself that he had the keys of things of which God reserves the knowledge to himself." – Dict. Hist., tom. 5, Caen, 1785.

182

Hist, del Almirante, cap. 101.

183

Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.

184

Letter of Columbus to his son Diego. Navarrete, Colec. Vol. II. -15

185

Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.

186

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 32. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.

187

Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.

188

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 32.

189

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 102. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 32.

190

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 103. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33.

191

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 104.

192

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33.

193

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33. Hist. del Almirante cap. 103.

194

Las Casas, ubi sup. Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.

195

Not far from the Island of Navasa there gushes up in the sea a pure fountain of fresh water that sweetens the surface for some distance: this circumstance was of course unknown to the Spaniards at the time. (Oviedo, Cronica, lib. vi. cap. 12.)

196

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 105. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 31. Testament of Diego Mendez. Navarrete, tom. i.

197

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 106.

198

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 106. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35.

199

At present Mammee Bay.

200

Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.

201

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 107. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib ii. cap. 35.

202

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 35.

203

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 32.

204

Some brief notice of the further fortunes of Diego Mendez may be interesting to the reader. When King Ferdinand heard of his faithful services, says Oviedo, he bestowed rewards upon Mendez, and permitted him to bear a canoe in his coat of arms, as a memento of his loyalty. He continued devotedly attached to the admiral, serving him zealously after his return to Spain, and during his last illness. Columbus retained the most grateful and affectionate sense of his fidelity. On his death-bed he promised Mendez that, in reward for his services, he should be appointed principal Alguazil of the island of Hispaniola; an engagement which the admiral's son, Don Diego, who was present, cheerfully undertook to perform. A few years afterwards, when the latter succeeded to the office of his father, Mendez reminded him of the promise, but Don Diego informed him that he had given the office to his uncle Don Bartholomew; he assured him, however, that he should receive something equivalent. Mendez shrewdly replied, that the equivalent had better be given to Don Bartholomew, and the office to himself, according to agreement. The promise, however, remained unperformed, and Diego Mendez unrewarded. He was afterwards engaged on voyages of discovery in vessels of his own, but met with many vicissitudes, and appears to have died in impoverished circumstances. His last will, from which these particulars are principally gathered, was dated in Valladolid, the 19th of June, 1536, by which it is evident he must have been in the prime of life at the time of his voyage with the admiral. In this will he requested that the reward which had been promised to him should be paid to his children, by making his eldest son principal Alguazil for life of the city of San Domingo, and his other son lieutenant to the admiral for the same city. It does not appear whether this request was complied with under the successors of Don Diego.

In another clause of his will, he desired that a large stone should be placed upon his sepulchre, on which should be engraved, "Here lies the honorable Cavalier Diego Mendez, who served greatly the royal crown of Spain, in the conquest of the Indies, with the admiral Don Christopher Columbus, of glorious memory, who made the discovery; and afterwards by himself, with ships at his own cost. He died, &c., &c. Bestow in charity a Paternoster, and an Ave Maria."

He ordered that in the midst of this stone there should be carved an Indian canoe, as given him by the king for armorial bearings in memorial of his voyage from Jamaica to Hispaniola, and above it should be engraved in large letters the word "CANOA." He enjoined upon his heirs to be loyal to the admiral (Don Diego Columbus), and his lady, and gave them much ghostly counsel, mingled with pious benedictions. As an heirloom in his family, he bequeathed his library, consisting of a few volumes, which accompanied him in his wanderings; viz. "The Art of Holy Dying, by Erasmus; A sermon of the same author, in Spanish; The Lingua, and the Colloquies of the same; The History of Josephus; The Moral Philosophy of Aristotle; The Book of the Holy Land; A Book called the Contemplation of the Passion of our Savior; A Tract on the Vengeance of the Death of Agamemnon, and several other short treatises." This curious and characteristic testament is in the archives of the Duke of Veragua in Madrid.

205

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 6.

206

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 14, MS.

207

Idem, ubi sup.

208

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.

209

Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12.

210

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.

211

Charlevoix, Hist. San Domingo, lib. xxiv. p. 235.

212

Relacion hecha por Don Diego Mendez. Navarrete, Col., tom. i. p. 314.

213

Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.

214

Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12.

215

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 8.

216

Las Casas, ubi. sup.

217

Las Casas, ubi. sup.

218

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 17, MS.

219

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 18.

220

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 36.

221

Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, Seville, Nov. 21, 1504. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

222

Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, dated Seville, 3d Dec., 1504. Navarrete, tom. i. p. 341.

223

Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii. decad. 151, 152.

224

Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. v. cap. 12.

225

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 36.

226

Let. Seville, 13 Dec., 1504. Navarrete, v. i. p. 343.

227

The dying command of Isabella has been obeyed. The author of this work has seen her tomb in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Granada, in which her remains are interred with those of Ferdinand. Their effigies, sculptured in white marble, lie side by side on a magnificent sepulchre. The altar of the chapel is adorned with bas reliefs representing the conquest and surrender of Granada.

228

Elogio de la Reina Catolica por D. Diego Clemencin. Illustration 19.

229

Letter to his son Diego, Dec. 3,1504.

230

Letter of December 21,1504. Navarrete, torn. i. p. 346.

231

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 37. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. vi. cap. 13.

232

Las Casas, Hist. Ind, lib. ii. cap. 37, MS.

233

Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.

234

Diego, the son of the admiral, notes in his own testament this bequest of his father, and says, that he was charged by him to pay Beatrix Enriquez 10,000 maravedis a year, which for some time he had faithfully performed; but as he believes that for three or four years previous to her death he had neglected to do so, he orders that the deficiency shall be ascertained and paid to her heirs. Memorial ajustado sobre la propriedad del mayorazgo que foudo D. Christ. Colon, § 245.

235

Cura de los Palacios, cap. 121.

236

Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 38. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 108.

237

D. Humboldt. Examen Critique.

238

Cladera, Investigaciones historias, p. 43.

239

Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii. p. 365.

240

Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. ii. lib. vii. cap. 4.

241

Extracts from the minutes of the process taken by the historian Muñoz, MS.

242

Further mention will be found of this lawsuit in the article relative to Amerigo Vespucci.

243

Charlevoix, ut supra, v. i. p. 272, id. 274.

244

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 49, MS.

245

Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 49, MS.

246

Herrera, decad. i. lib. vii. cap, 12.

247

Idem.

248

Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, p. 321.

249

Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad i. lib. ix. cap. 5.

250

Idem.

251

Herrera, decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 7.

252

Idem, decad. 1. lib. x. cap. 16.

253

Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming., lib. v.

254

Herrera, decad. ii. lib. ix. cap. 7.

255

Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. iii. lib. iv. cap. 9.

256

Idem, decad. iii. lib. v. cap. 4.

257

Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming., lib. Ti.

258

Herrera, decad. Hi. lib. Tut. cap. 15.

259

Memorial ajustado sobre el estado de Veragua.

Charlevoix mentions another son called Diego, and calls one of the daughters Phillipine. Spotorno says that the daughter Maria took the veil; confounding her with a niece. These are trivial errors, merely noticed to avoid the imputation of inaccuracy. The account of the descendants of Columbus here given, accords with a genealogical tree of the family, produced before the council of the Indies, in a great lawsuit for the estates.

260

Herrern, decad. iv. lib. ii. cap. 6.

261

Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming., lib. vi. p. 443.

262

Idem, tom. i. lib. vi. p. 446.

263

Spotorno, Hist. Colom., p. 123.

264

Bossi, Hist. Colom. Dissert., p. 67.

265

Idem, Dissert. on the Country of Columbus, p. 03.

266

Bossi, Dissertation on the Country of Columbus.

267

Spotorno, p. 127.

268

Literally, in the original, Cazador de Volateria, a Falconer. Hawking was in those days an amusement of the highest classes; and to keep hawks was almost a sign of nobility.

269

Herrera, decad. i. lib. i. cap. 7.

270

Dissertation, &c.

271

Bossi. French Translation, Paris, 1824, p. 09.

272

Idem.

273

Correspondence Astronom. Geograph. &c. de Baron du Zach, vol. 14, cabier 6, lettera 29. 1826.

274

Felippo Alberto Pollero, Epicherema, cioe breve discorso per difess di sua persona e carrattere. Torino, per Gio Battista Zappata. MCDXCVI. (read 1696) in 40. pag. 47.

275

Spotorno, Eng. trans., pp. xi, xii.

276

Bossi, French trans., p. 76.

277

Idem, p. 88.

278

Cura de los Palacios, MS., cap. 118.

279

Alex. Geraldini, Itin. ad. Reg. sub. Aquinor.

280

Antonio Gallo, Anales of Genoa, Muratori, tom. 23.