CHAPTER XXXIV.

DECISIVE VOYAGES IN HISTORY.—COLUMBUS. VASCO DA GAMA.

Columbus and his Enemies—Unsuitable Settlers—Outrageous Conduct of the Colonists—The Second Expedition of Columbus—Discovery of Jamaica—Dangerous Illness of Columbus—Return to Spain—The Excitement over—Difficulty of starting a New Expedition—Third Voyage—Columbus reaches the Mainland of America—Insurrection in Hispaniola—Machinations at Home—Columbus brought to Spain in Chains—Indignation in Spain—His Fourth Voyage—Ferdinand’s Ingratitude—Death of the Great Navigator—Estimate of his Character—Vasco da Gama—First Voyage—The Cape reached—First Sight of India—At Calicut—Friendship of the King of Cananore—Great Profits of the Expedition—Second Voyage—Vengeance on the Ruler of Calicut—His Brutality—Subsequent History of Da Gama.

The first accounts transmitted to Spain from this grand expedition were of the most sanguine description. But in less than two years from the commencement of this second voyage very different stories reached the home country. It was true that on the voyage Columbus had made further discoveries of a grand nature—the islands of Jamaica, Guadaloupe, and the Caribbee Islands. But rumours, and more than rumours, had reached the Court of the most alarming discontent and disaffection in the colony of Hispaniola, while the actual returns of a practical and commercial nature were as yet exceedingly small. The real secret was, however, that mutiny, jealousy, and distrust of Columbus as a foreigner, had sprung up among the Spanish adventurers, most, or at least many, of whom were little fitted for rough life in a new country. They were like the miscellaneous crowds who in our own day have gravitated towards the gold and diamond fields, a large number of whom expect to make gigantic fortunes without special effort, and in a very short space of time. The hidalgoes and cavaliers, of whom there was a too large proportion on the expedition, could not bend themselves to obey Columbus, whom they deemed an upstart. Prescott, who has collated more carefully than any other writer the many authorities on the subject, shows that the Spaniards indulged in the most wanton licence in regard to the unoffending natives, who in the simplicity of their hearts had received the white men as messengers from heaven. A general resistance had, however, soon followed, which led to a war of extermination. In less than four years after the Spaniards had set foot on San Domingo, one-third of its native population, amounting, according to several authorities, to many hundred thousands, were sacrificed by war, famine, and disease. These figures are undoubtedly exaggerations, but the number was very large. It is due to Columbus, always a just and humane man, to state that he did all in his power to prevent this sad state of affairs, and was forced by his own people to war on the Indians; and equally due to Isabella at home, to record that she was in no way a party to it, but expressed the utmost horror.(50) These excesses, and a total neglect of agriculture—for none would condescend to dig unless for gold—nearly brought about a famine, and Columbus had to put them on very short rations, and compel all to work, whether high or low bred. These regulations led to further mutiny and discontent.

On the return of Columbus to Spain, he brought home, as before, some gold and other samples of Nature’s productions in the islands. But other voyagers returned, who loudly abused the new colony, and whose often wan and sallow features provoked the satirical remarks of the people, that they had come back with more gold in their features than in their pockets! In short, the novelty of the excitement had passed, and like many really valuable colonies of our own day which have been at first over-lauded and over-estimated, Hispaniola fell utterly in public estimation. The Spanish sovereigns, more especially Isabella, appear to have lent an unwilling ear to the accusations of mal-administration by Columbus. Meantime the treasury was drained by the expenses of an Italian war, and large expenses had been incurred for the actual maintenance of the colony. But Isabella, who really believed in Columbus, whose serious and yet enthusiastic character resembled her own, at length found some means for a new expedition, by sacrificing funds intended for another purpose. But now it was found as difficult to induce men to join the new expedition as it had been easy in the previous one. Even convicts were employed as sailors, and this proved a ruinous expedient. All being at length ready, Columbus once again embarked on May 30th, 1498, his little squadron consisting of six vessels. On this voyage he discovered Trinidad, the mouth of the Orinoco—which river he imagined to proceed from the tree of life in the midst of Paradise—and the coasts of Paria, South America. This was really, then his first visit to the _mainland_ of America. On August 14th he sailed for Hispaniola once more, where he found that an insurrection had been raised against his brother, Bartolomeo, whom he had left as his deputy. At this juncture all the real interests of the colony were neglected, and even the gold-mines, which were beginning to prove remunerative, were unwrought. The convicts on the vessels helped to swell the mass of general mutiny, and it took Columbus nearly a year before it was in part quelled. Meantime discontented and worthless men kept returning to Spain, where, encouraged by idle courtiers, they worried the king daily with accounts of the unproductiveness of the colony. They even surrounded him, as he rode out on horseback, clamouring loudly for the arrears of which they said Columbus had defrauded them.

It is very difficult to exactly understand the course pursued at this juncture by the king. The popular view, as adopted by most writers, is that he regarded Columbus as having served his day: the ladder had fulfilled its use, and might now be kicked down. It is, perhaps, more reasonable to believe that Ferdinand hardly knew how to act, with his queen still firmly believing in the great discoverer, and so much pressure in other directions being brought to bear from the court and outside. It was determined to send out a commissioner to investigate the affairs of the colony, and the person chosen seems to have been a most unfit agent. He was one Francisco de Bobadilla, a poor knight of Calatrava, who, puffed up with arrogance at his sudden elevation, seems from the first to have regarded Columbus in the light of a convicted criminal. On his arrival in San Domingo he immediately commanded the admiral to appear before him, and without even pretence of legal inquiry, put him in chains, and thrust him into prison. His two brothers, Bartolomeo and Diego, suffered the same indignities. Bobadilla gave orders that he should be kept strictly in irons during the passage; “afraid,” says his son Ferdinand, satirically, “that he might by any chance swim back again to the island.” It is recorded that the officers who had him in charge would have removed them, but Columbus proudly and bitterly told them, “I will wear them till the king orders otherwise, and will preserve them as memorials of his gratitude.” On arrival at Cadiz, it is not to be wondered that the popular indignation burst forth like a torrent, and was re-echoed through Spain; all seemed to feel it as a national dishonour that such indignities should be heaped on the greatest discoverer of his day. Ferdinand understood the weight of obloquy which, rightly or wrongly, would rest upon him, and sent to Cadiz immediately to release him. The king disclaimed all share in the shameful act; while the queen, who was at least honest in the matter, shed tears when the old man came into her presence, and endeavoured to cheer his wounded spirit. But Ferdinand had no intention of reinstating him in his former power, and Columbus wasted nine months in vain solicitations for redress. At the end of this time, another governor of Hispaniola was appointed in his place. During this time Columbus was reduced to poverty, and we have his own statement to the effect that “he had no place to repair to except an inn, and very frequently had not wherewithal to pay his reckoning.”

Later he was indeed employed on a fourth voyage, but with greatly curtailed powers. He imagined that there might be a passage through the Isthmus of Darien, which would shorten the passage to the East Indies. It need not be stated that he did not find it, although a ship canal through that neck of land has been and is now being mooted, and may some day become an accomplished fact. He, however, discovered parts of the coasts of Honduras, the Mosquito coast, and Costa Rica. Again we find him making his way to Hispaniola, on this occasion with only two over-crowded vessels, almost wrecks in fact, out of the four with which he had sailed from Cadiz. Here he exhausted his funds in procuring necessaries and comforts for his men, even for those who had on the voyage been the ringleaders of vexatious and outrageous mutinies. At length he returned to Spain, where he learned of the death of Queen Isabella, his warm patron. Wearied with illness and disappointment, it was some months before he could proceed on his journey to the court, then at Segovia. Columbus at this period of his life—he was not far from seventy years of age—suffered severely from gout. When he did meet Ferdinand, that monarch gave him fair words, but those alone. Prescott has probably indicated the secret, although he admits that “it was the grossest injustice to withhold from him the revenues secured by the original contract with the crown.” Poor Columbus was obliged to borrow money at this time for necessary expenses. The truth was that the king, as the resources of the new countries began to develop themselves, saw that he had promised a larger proportion of the profits than he ever would have done to a subject and a foreigner could he have foreseen the importance of the discoveries. He was so unjust as to at last propose a compromise—that the admiral should relinquish his claims, in consideration of other estates and dignities to be assigned him in Castile. He regarded him in the unwelcome light of a creditor, whose claims were too just to be disavowed, and too large to be satisfied. It is very doubtful whether Columbus received any assistance from the crown at this time, and wearied in spirit, with health broken by a life of great hardship, he did not long survive. He expired on May 20th, 1506, and his remains, first deposited at Valladolid, were, six years later, removed to Seville, where a costly monument was raised over them by King Ferdinand, with the following inscription:—

“A Castilla y á Leon Nuevo mundo dió Colon”;

“Columbus has given a new world to Castile and Leon”—a very limited estimate of what he had done. From Seville his remains were taken, in 1536, to San Domingo; and at length, on the cession of that island to the French in 1795, were removed to Cuba, where they were finally allowed to repose in peace in the cathedral church of Havana.

While the Spaniards were prosecuting enterprises of great importance in and about the New World, the Portuguese were well employed in pushing their way towards the Orient by a sea route. The aims of both were practically the same. Each wished to find a shorter route to that fabled Cathay, the land of gold, and pearls, and spice, and silk. The celebrated voyages of Vasco da Gama deserve a full share of notice.

The first expedition of Da Gama consisted of three moderate-sized vessels. On the Sunday selected for offering prayers for the success of the expedition, Dom John, with his nobles and court, assembled in the beautiful cathedral, which is still so great an ornament to the banks of the Tagus, and at the conclusion of mass the king stood before the curtain where Vasco and Paulo da Gama placed themselves with the captains of their expedition, on bended knees, and devoutly prayed that they might have strength of mind and body to carry out the wishes of the king to increase the power and greatness of his dominion, and be the means of spreading the Christian religion. With these excellent professions, and amid very general demonstrations of popular interest, Da Gama set sail on July 5th, 1497. Proceeding for the Cape of Good Hope, Da Gama ventured boldly from the gulf of Guinea, and made a direct course to the Cape, and sailed for three months—August, September, and October—without sighting land. At last, on November 4th, they got sight of land in the forenoon, and were so rejoiced, that the ships were decorated with flags, and the captains and crews put on their best array, no doubt anxious to come to anchor somewhere, and land. It was some days, however, before they could do so, at a point believed to have been near the present St. Elena Bay. Da Gama with the other captains went ashore to endeavour to learn from the natives the distance to the Cape of Good Hope.

Leaving St. Elena they encountered heavy gales, during which Da Gama proved the possession of great courage and resolution. The waves ran mountains high, and the little vessels seemed in peril of being engulfed every minute. The wind was piercingly cold, and so boisterous that the commands of the pilot could seldom be heard amid the din of the elements. The sailors exhausted by fatigue and abandoned to despair, surrounded Da Gama, entreating him not to devote himself and them to inevitable destruction. But he resolved to proceed; and, at length, on Wednesday, the 20th November, all the squadron safely passed round the Cape, and on the 25th had sighted land beyond the furthest point reached by Diaz.

At Mozambique, Vasco da Gama sent a Moor ashore with presents to the Sheikh, who tried to act treacherously towards him, by stealing his merchandise. Nor did he fare much better at Quiloa, where the king endeavoured, by means of false pilots, to run Da Gama’s ships on the shoals at the entrance of the port. But at Melinde they were received with full honours, and large supplies of provisions were sent on board. The king visited the ships, and was received with royal hospitality. The expedition sailed on August 6th, the long delay being caused by the monsoons. After a passage of about twenty days they first sighted the high land of India off the coast of Cananore. The news of the arrival spread with great rapidity, and the natives were alarmed, for had they not the legend “that the whole of India would be taken and ruled over by a distant king, who had white people, who would do great harm to those who were not their friends?” The soothsayers, however, told them that the time had not yet come for the fulfilment of this prophecy.

On the arrival of the expedition at Calicut(51) the Portuguese were well received, for the king had discovered that the strangers had plenty of merchandise with them. He immediately sent them presents, “of many pigs, fowls, and cocoa-nuts fresh and dry,” and professed to a desire to enter into friendly relations with the king of so great a people. When Da Gama landed, he took with him twelve men of “good appearance,” and a large number of presents and a display of cloths, crimson velvet and yellow satin, gilt and chased basins, and ewers, knives of Flanders with ivory handles and glittering blades, and so forth. But the Moorish traders, fearing to lose their business, interfered, and the king eventually turned round upon Gama, and endeavoured to capture his ships. Finding it unsafe to remain, the half-laden vessels left Calicut, Da Gama threatening revenge. In the King of Cananore they found a monarch well-disposed to trade, and the Portuguese ships sailed thence very richly laden for the homeward voyage.

Their arrival at Lisbon after two years and eight months’ absence was a time of great rejoicing. The direct results of the expedition, pecuniarily, were immense. In spite of the cost of the expedition and presents made, the profit was “fully sixty-fold.” Rewards were bestowed on all who had taken part in the expedition, and Da Gama himself received the title of “Dom” with many grants and privileges. He was also created high admiral of Spain.

The second expedition of Dom Gama had avowedly for its object the punishment of the King of Calicut. Ten large ships, fitted with heavy guns and all the munitions of war then known, with five lateen-rigged caravels, formed the fleet. Arrived at Cananore, he related to the friendly king the manner in which he intended to be revenged on the King of Calicut. The former “swore upon his head, and his eyes, and by his mother’s womb that had borne him, and by the prince, his heir,” that he would assist Da Gama to his utmost, and they soon matured a system of trade. Gama then sailed for Calicut, which he found deserted of its shipping, the news of his previous doings having reached that port.

The King made one effort at conciliation by sending on board one of the chief Brahmins of the place with a flag of truce, but Da Gama rejected every overture, ordered the Indian boat back, and kept the ambassador on board, while he bombarded the city. While this was going on there came in from the offing two large ships and twenty-two sambachs and Malabar vessels, which he plundered, with the exception of six of the smaller vessels that belonged to Cananore, and barbarously put to death a large number of the captives. The King of Calicut, surrounded with the wives and relations of those who had been so shamefully massacred, bewailing in the most heart-rending manner their loss, and beseeching protection, called a council, and it was resolved to construct armed proas, large rowing barges and sambachs, and as many vessels of war as could be mustered. Long before they were ready, Dom Gama had sailed with his fleet for Cochym (Cochin China) having on his way wreaked vengeance on as many of the Calicut vessels as crossed his path. The king of Cochym had resolved from the first to be friendly with the Portuguese, and Gama soon established an important factory, from which the power of Portugal spread over India. In 1503 he returned to his own country, to be welcomed with fresh honours and titles, but was not immediately reappointed to command in India. In 1524, however, he was appointed viceroy of Portuguese India, and a year later died in Cochin China. Thus ended the life of one of the most courageous adventurers the world has seen, but a life stained by crimes of the most brutal nature.