Chapter 6

THE FINDING OF STRANGE COASTS.

The Discovery of America was a gradual process 447, 448

The letters of Columbus to Santangel and to Sanchez 449

Versification of the story by Giuliano Dati 450

Earliest references to the discovery 451

The earliest reference in English 452

The Portuguese claim to the Indies 453

Bulls of Pope Alexander VI. 454-458

The treaty of Tordesillas 459

Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, and his relations with Columbus 460-462

Friar Boyle 462

Notable persons who embarked on the second voyage 463

Departure from Cadiz 464

Cruise among the Cannibal (Caribbee) islands 465

Fate of the colony at La Navidad 466

Building the town of Isabella 467

Exploration of Cibao 467, 468

Westward cruise; Cape Alpha and Omega 468-470

Discovery of Jamaica 471

Coasting the south side of Cuba 472

The "people of Mangon" 473

Speculations concerning the Golden Chersonese 474-476

A solemn expression of opinion 477

Vicissitudes of theory 477, 478

Arrival of Bartholomew Columbus in Hispaniola 478, 479

Mutiny in Hispaniola; desertion of Boyle and Margarite 479, 480

The government of Columbus was not tyrannical 481

Troubles with the Indians 481, 482

Mission of Juan Aguado 482

Discovery of gold mines, and speculations about Ophir 483

Founding of San Domingo, 1496 484

The return voyage to Spain 485

Edicts of 1495 and 1497 486, 487

Vexatious conduct of Fonseca; Columbus loses his temper 487

Departure from San Lucar on the third voyage 488

The belt of calms 489-491

Trinidad and the Orinoco 491, 492

Speculations as to the earth's shape; the mountain of Paradise 494

Relation of the "Eden continent" to "Cochin China" 495

Discovery of the Pearl Coast 495

Columbus arrives at San Domingo 496

Roldan's rebellion and Fonseca's machinations 496, 497

Gama's voyage to Hindustan, 1497 498

Fonseca's creature, Bobadilla, sent to investigate the troubles in Hispaniola 499

He imprisons Columbus 500

And sends him in chains to Spain 501

Release of Columbus; his interview with the sovereigns 502

How far were the sovereigns responsible for Bobadilla? 503

Ovando, another creature of Fonseca, appointed governor of Hispaniola 503, 504

Purpose of Columbus's fourth voyage, to find a passage from the Caribbee waters into the Indian ocean 504, 506

The voyage across the Atlantic 506

Columbus not allowed to stop at San Domingo 507

His arrival at Cape Honduras 508

Cape Gracias a Dios, and the coast of Veragua 509

Fruitless search for the strait of Malacca 510

Futile attempt to make a settlement in Veragua 511

Columbus is shipwrecked on the coast of Jamaica; shameful conduct of Ovando 512

Columbus's last return to Spain 513

His death at Valladolid, May 20, 1506 513

"Nuevo Mundo;" arms of Ferdinand Columbus 514, 515

When Columbus died, the fact that a New World had been discovered by him had not yet begun to dawn upon his mind, or upon the mind of any voyager or any writer 515, 516

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Portrait of the author _Frontispiece_

View and ground-plan of Seneca-Iroquois long house _reduced from Morgan's Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines_ 66

View, cross-section, and ground-plan of Mandan round house, _ditto_ 80

Ground-plan of Pueblo Hungo Pavie, _ditto_ 86

Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie, _ditto_ 88

Restoration of Pueblo Bonito, _ditto_ 90

Ground-plan of Pueblo Penasca Blanca, _ditto_ 92

Ground-plan of so-called "House of the Nuns" at Uxmal, _ditto_ 133

Map of the East Bygd, or eastern settlement of the Northmen in Greenland, _reduced from Rafn's Antiquitates Americanae_ 160, 161

Ruins of the church at Kakortok, _from Major's Voyages of the Zeni, published by the Hakluyt Society_ 222

Zeno Map, cir. 1400, _ditto_ 232, 233

Map of the World according to Claudius Ptolemy, cir. A. D. 150, _an abridged sketch after a map in Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography_ _Facing_ 265

Two sheets of the Catalan Map, 1375, _from Yule's Cathay, published by the Hakluyt Society_ 288, 289

Map of the World according to Pomponius Mela, cir. A. D. 50, _from Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America_ 304

Map illustrating Portuguese voyages on the coast of Africa, _from a sketch by the author_ 324

Toscanelli's Map, 1474, _redrawn and improved from a sketch in Winsor's America_ _Facing_ 357

Annotations by Columbus, _reduced from a photograph in Harrisse's Notes on Columbus_ 373

Sketch of Martin Behaim's Globe, 1492, preserved in the city hall at Nuremberg, _reduced to Mercator's projection and sketched by the author_ 422, 423

Sketch of Martin Behaim's Atlantic Ocean, with outline of the American continent superimposed, _from Winsor's America_ 429

Map of the discoveries made by Columbus in his first and second voyages, _sketched by the author_ 469

Map of the discoveries made by Columbus in his third and fourth voyages, _ditto_ 493

Arms of Ferdinand Columbus, _from the title-page of Harrisse's Fernand Colomb_ 515

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.