inland part of Cuba; Columbus, ignorant of their pronunciation, and believing the country he had discovered, to be a part of the East Indies. Under the influence of this idea, he thought they spoke of the great Kahn, and imagined the opulent kingdom of Cathay was not very remote.

The natives, as much astonished at the eagerness of the Spaniards for gold, as the Europeans were at their ignorance and simplicity, pointed towards the east, where was an island called Hayti, in which that metal was more abundant. Columbus ordered his squadron to steer its course thither; but Martin Alonzo Pinzon, eager to be the first in taking possession of the rich treasure, which the island was supposed to contain. quitted his companions, and paid no regard to the admiral's signals to slacken sail, until they should come up with him. Retarded by contrary winds, Columbus did not reach Hayti, until the sixth of December. He called the port where he first landed St. Nicholas, and the island itself Espagnola, in honour of the kingdom by which he was employed; and it is the only country that he discovered, that still bears the name which he gave it.

As he could not have any intercourse with the inhabitants, who fled in great consternation, he soon left St. Nicholas, and sailed along the northern coast of the island: he entered another harbour which he called Conception. Here he was more fortunate; a woman who was flying from them was overtaken; and after treating her kindly, she was dismissed with presents of such toys as to an Indian were considered most valuable. When she returned to her countrymen with her imagination heated with what she had seen, she gave such a flattering description of the new comers; at the same time producing the trinkets she had received; that they were eager to partake of the same favours. Their fears being removed, many of them repaired to the harbour. Here their curiosity and wishes were amply gratified. They nearly resembled the other natives they had already seen, naked, ignorant, and simple, credulous and timid to a degree, which made it easy to acquire an ascendant over them; they were lead into the same error as the other inhabitants who believed them to be more than mortals, descended immediately from Heaven. They possessed gold in greater abundance than their neighbours, which they cheerfully parted with for bells, beads, or pins; and in this unequal traffic, both parties were highly pleased, each considering themselves as gainers by the transaction. A prince or cazique of the country made Columbus a visit at this place. He appeared in all the pomp of Indian magnificence: he was carried in a sort of palanquin by four men, and a numerous train of attendants, who approached him with respectful attention. His deportment was grave, and stately; to his own people very reserved, but to the Spaniards open and extremely courteous. He gave the adс

miral some thin plates of gold, and a girdle curiously wrought after the Indian fashion. Columbus, in return, made him presents of small value to an European, but highly prized by the savage chief. Columbus's thoughts continually occupied with the prospect of discovering gold mines, interrogated all the natives he met with concerning their situation. All his interrogatives were answered by their pointing to a mountainous country, which in their language was called Cibao, at some distance from the sea, towards the east. Struck with the name, he no longer doubted but that it was Cipango, a name by which Marco Polo distinguished the islands of Japan; which strengthened him in that erroneous opinion he had embraced, that the country he had discovered was a remote part of Asia.

In full confidence of the rectitude of his opinion, he directed his course towards the east. He put into a commodious harbour which he named St. Thomas: this part of the country was governed by a powerful cazique, named Guacanahari, who was one of the five sovereigns among whom the whole island was divided. He immediately sent messengers to Columbus with a present of a mask of beaten gold, curiously fashioned, and invited him to his town near the harbour, now called cape François. Columbus returned the cazique's civilities by a deputation of some of his own people; who returned with such favourable accounts of the country and people, as made Columbus impatient for that interview which Guacanahari had desired.

For this purpose he sailed from St. Thomas on the twentyfourth of December with a fair wind and smooth sea; and as he had not slept for two days, at midnight he retired to take some repose, committing the helm to the pilot, strictly enjoining him not to quit it for a moment. But he, dreading no danger, incautiously gave the helm in charge to the cabin boy, and the ship was carried away by the current, and dashed against a rock. The violence of the concussion awakened Columbus. He immediately went upon deck, and there he found all was confusion and despair. He alone retained presence of mind. He immediately ordered some sailors to take a boat and carry out an anchor astern; but they, instead of complying with the orders of their admiral, made off to La Nigna, about half a league distant. He then commanded the masts to be cut down, but all his endeavours were too late; the vessel filled so fast with water, that it was impossible to save her. The smoothness of the sea, and the timely assistance from La Nigna, enabled the crew to save their lives. The natives, as soon as they heard of this disaster, crowded to the shore with Guacanahari at their head, and lamented their misfortune with tears of sincere condolence. But they did not rest satisfied with this unavailing expression of their sorrow; they launched a vast number of canoes, and under the

direction of Spaniards rendered important services, in saving the property out of the wreck; Guacanahari in person took charge of the goods as they were landed; and by his orders were all deposited in one place, and posted centinels to keep the multitude at a distance.

Next morning this prince visited Columbus, who was on board of La Nigna, and in the warmth of affection offered all he had to repair his loss. Such tender assiduity and sincere condolence in a savage, afforded Columbus that relief his agitated spirits stood in need of Columbus had hitherto heard no account of La Pinta, and suspected, not without cause, that his treacherous associate had set sail for Europe, that he might claim the merit of carrying the first tidings of the discoveries to Spain, and so far gain the attention of his sovereign as to rob Columbus of the glory and reward to which he was justly entitled. But one vessel now remained, and that the smallest and most crazy of the squadron: in which they were compelled to traverse a vast ocean, with so many men, back to Europe.

To remedy this last inconvenience, he proposed to his men the great advantages that would accrue by leaving some of them on the island, to learn the language of the natives, study their disposition, examine the country, search for mines, and prepare for the commodious settlement of the colony, for which he proposed to return, and secure those advantages which it was reasonable to expect from his discoveries. To this proposal all his men assented, and many offered voluntarily to remain behind. Guacanahari was pleased with the proposition, as he conceived that with such powerful allies, he should be able to repel the attacks of a warlike and fierce people he called Caribeans, who some times invaded his dominions, delighting in blood, and devoured the flesh of the prisoners, who unhappily fell into their hands. Guacanahari, as he was speaking of these dreadful invaders, discovered such symptoms of terror, as well as consciousness of the inability of his own people to resist them, that led Columbus to believe such a proposal would be very agreeable. Guacanahari, closed instantly with the proposal, and thought himself safe under the protection of beings sprung from heaven, and superior in power to mortal men.

The ground was marked out for a small fort, which was called, by Columbus, Navidad, because it was Christmas-day when he landed there. A deep ditch was drawn around it: the ramparts were fortified, and the great guns saved out of the admiral's ship were planted upon them. In ten days the work was completed; the simple, unsuspecting Indians, laboured with inconsiderate assiduity, in erecting this first monument of their own servitude, The high opinion the natives had of the Spaniards, was increased by the caresses and liberality of Columbus; but while he wish

ed to inspire them with confidence in their disposition to do good, he also wished to give them some striking idea of their power to punish and destroy such as provoked their just indignation. With this view he drew up his men in order of battle, in view of a vast concourse of people, and made an ostentatious display of the force of the Spanish arms.

These rude people, strangers to any hostile weapons, but wooden swords, javelins hardened in the fire, and reeds pointed with the bones of fishes, admired and trembled, but the sudden explosion of the great guns, struck them with such terror and astonishment, that they fell flat to the ground, and covered their faces with their hands; and when they beheld the effects of the balls, they were persuaded that it was impossible to resist men who came armed with thunder and lightning against their enemies. After giving such powerful impressions of the power and beneficence of the Spaniards, Columbus chose out thirty eight of his people to remain on the island. The command of these was given to Diego de Arada, a gentleman of Cordova; Columbus investing him with the same powers which he had himself received from his royal patrons, after furnishing him with every thing requisite for this infant colony. He strongly insisted on their preserving concord amongst themselves, a prompt and ready obedience to their commander, and the maintainance of a friendly intercourse with the natives, as the surest means of their preservation. That they should cultivate the friendship of Guacanahari, but not put themselves in his power by straggling in small parties from the fort. He then took his leave, after promising to revisit them soon with a reinforcement sufficient to take full possession of the country. He further promised to place their merit in a conspicuous light to the king and queen.

Having thus taken every precaution to secure the colony, he left Navidad on the fourth day of January, 1493, and steering towards the east, on the sixth he discovered La Pinta, after a separation of more than six weeks. Pinzon endeavoured to justify his conduct, pretending that he had been driven from his course by stress of weather, and prevented from returning by contrary winds. Columbus, though no stranger to his perfidious intentions, as well as the falsehood he urged in his defence, was so sensible that it was not a proper time for exerting his authority, and was so pleased with joining his consort, as it delivered him from some uneasy apprehensions, that he admitted the apology without dif ficulty, and restored him to favour. Columbus now found it necessary, from the eagerness which his men shewed to visit their native country, and the crazy condition of his ships, to hasten his return to Europe.

With this view, on the sixteenth of January, he directed his course to the north-east, and was soon out of sight of his newly

discovered country. He had some of the natives whom he had taken from the different islands on board; and besides the gold, which was the principal object of research, he had specimens of all the productions which were likely to become subjects of commerce, as well as many strange birds and other natural curiosities, which might attract the attention, and excite the wonder of the people.

The voyage was prosperous to the fourteenth of February, at which time they had advanced five hundred leagues, when the wind began to rise, and blow with increasing rage, till it terminated in a violent hurricane. Columbus's naval skill and experience was severely put to the proof; destruction seemed inevitable; the sailors had recourse to prayers, and to the invocation of saints, to vows and charms, to every thing that religion or superstition suggests to the affrighted mind. No prospect of deliverance appearing, despair was visible in every countenance, and they expected every moment to be swallowed up by the waves. Columbus had to endure feelings peculiar to himself. He dreaded that all the knowledge of his discoveries would be lost to the world, and that his name would descend to posterity as that of a rash deluded adventurer, instead of being transmitted with the honour due to the author and conductor of the noblest enterprize that had ever been undertaken. Reflections like these extinguished all sense of his own personal danger. More solicitous to preserve the memory of what he had achieved, than the preservation of his own life, he retired to his cabin, and wrote upon parchment a short account of the voyage he had made, the course he had taken, and of the riches and situation of the country he had discovered, and of the small colony he had. left there.

Having wrapped this up in an oiled cloth, which he enclosed in a cake of wax, he then carefully put it into a cask, effectually stopping it to keep out the water, he threw it into the sea, in hopes that some fortunate accident might preserve a deposit of so much importance to the world. Providence at length interposed to save so valuable a life. The wind abated, the sea became calm, and on the evening of the fifteenth they discovered land, which they soon knew to be St. Mary, one of the Azores, or Western Islands, subject to the crown of Portugal. There he obtained a supply of provisions, and such other things as he had need of. There was one circumstance that greatly disquieted him: La Pinta had separated from him during the hurricane; he was apprehensive that she had foundered, and that all her crew had perished: afterwards his former suspicions revived, that Pinzon had borne away for Spain, that he might reach it before him, and give the first account of his discoveries. In