Part 25 (1/2)

[Sidenote: Babeque.]

During the night, proceeding along the channel between the two islands, the Admiral met and took on board a solitary Indian in his canoe. The usual gifts were put upon him, and when the s.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed near a village, he was sent ash.o.r.e with the customary effect. The beach soon swarmed with people, gathered with their king, and some came on board.

The Spaniards got from them without difficulty the bits of gold which they wore at their ears and noses. One of the captive Indians who talked with the king told this ”youth of twenty-one,” that the Spaniards had come from heaven and were going to Babeque to find gold; and the king told the Admiral's messenger, who delivered to him a present, that if he sailed in a certain course two days he would arrive there. This is the last we hear of Babeque, a place Columbus never found, at least under that name. Humboldt remarks that Columbus mentions the name of Babeque more than fourteen times in his journal, but it cannot certainly be identified with Espanola, as the _Historie_ of 1571 declares it to be.

D'Avezac has since shared Humboldt's view. Las Casas hesitatingly thought it might have referred to Jamaica.

Then the journal describes the country, saying that the land is lofty, but that the highest mountains are arable, and that the trees are so luxuriant that they become black rather than green. The journal further describes this new people as stout and courageous, very different from the timid islanders of other parts, and without religion. With his usual habit of contradiction, Columbus goes on immediately to speak of their pusillanimity, saying that three Spaniards were more than a match for a thousand of them. He prefigures their fate in calling them ”well-fitted to be governed and set to work to till the land and do whatsoever is necessary.”

[Sidenote: 1492. December 17.]

[Sidenote: Cannibals.]

It was on Monday, December 17, while lying off Espanola, that the Spaniards got for the first time something more than rumor respecting the people of Caniba or the cannibals. These new evidences were certain arrows which the natives showed to them, and which they said had belonged to those man-eaters. They were pieces of cane, tipped with sticks which had been hardened by fire.

[Sidenote: Cacique.]

”They were exhibited by two Indians who had lost some flesh from their bodies, eaten out by the cannibals. This the Admiral did not believe.”

It was now, too, that the Spaniards found gold in larger quant.i.ties than they had seen it before. They saw some beaten into thin plates. The cacique--here this word appears for the first time--cut a plate as big as his hand into pieces and bartered them, promising to have more to exchange the next day. He gave the Spaniards to understand that there was more gold in Tortuga than in Espanola. It is to be remarked, also, in the Admiral's account, that while ”Our Lord” is not recorded as indicating to him any method of converting the poor heathen, it was ”Our Lord” who was now about to direct the Admiral to Babeque.

[Sidenote: 1492. December 18.]

The next day, December 18, the Admiral lay at anchor, both because wind failed him, and because he would be able to see the gold which the cacique had promised to bring. It also gave him an opportunity to deck his s.h.i.+ps and fire his guns in honor of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin.

In due time the king appeared, borne on a sort of litter by his men, and boarding the s.h.i.+p, that chieftain found Columbus at table in his cabin.

The cacique was placed beside the Admiral, and similar viands and drinks were placed before him, of which he partook. Two of his dusky followers, sitting at his feet, followed their master in the act. Columbus, observing that the hangings of his bed had attracted the attention of the savage, gave them to him, and added to the present some amber beads from his own neck, some red shoes, and a flask of orange-flower water.

”This day,” says the record, ”little gold was obtained; but an old man indicated that at a distance of a hundred leagues or more were some islands, where much gold could be found, and in some it was so plentiful that it was collected and bolted with sieves, then melted and beaten into divers forms. One of the islands was said to be all gold, and the Admiral determined to go in the direction which this man pointed.”

[Sidenote: 1492. December 20.]

[Sidenote: St. Thomas Island.]

That night they tried in vain to stand out beyond Tortuga, but on the 20th of December, the record places the s.h.i.+ps in a harbor between a little island, which Columbus called St. Thomas, and the main island.

During the following day, December 21, he surveyed the roadstead, and going about the region in his boats, he had a number of interviews with the natives, which ended with an interchange of gifts and courtesies.

[Sidenote: 1492. December 22.]

On Sat.u.r.day, December 22, they encountered some people, sent by a neighboring cacique, whom the Admiral's own Indians could not readily understand, the first of this kind mentioned in the journal. Writing in regard to a party which Columbus at this time sent to visit a large town not far off, he speaks of having his secretary accompany them, in order to repress the Spaniards' greediness,--an estimate of his followers which the Admiral had not before suffered himself to record, if we can trust the Las Casas ma.n.u.script. The results of this foray were three fat geese and some bits of gold. As he entered the adventure in his journal, he dwelt on the hope of gold being on the island in abundance, and if only the spot could be found, it might be got for little or nothing.

”Our Lord, in whose hands are all things, be my help,” he cries. ”Our Lord, in his mercy, direct me where I may find the gold mine.”

[Sidenote: Cibao.]

The Admiral now learns the name of another chief officer, Nitayno, whose precise position was not apparent, but Las Casas tells us later that this word was the t.i.tle of one nearest in rank to the cacique. When an Indian spoke of a place named Cibao, far to the east, where the king had banners made of plates of gold, the Admiral, in his eager confidence, had no hesitation in identifying it with c.i.p.ango and its gorgeous prince. It proved to be the place where in the end the best mines were found.

[Sidenote: 1492. December 23.]

In speaking of the next day, Sunday, December 23, Las Casas tells us that Columbus was not in the habit of sailing on Sunday, not because he was superst.i.tious, but because he was pious; but that he did not omit the opportunity at this time of coursing the coast, ”in order to display the symbols of Redemption.”

[Sidenote: Columbus s.h.i.+pwrecked.]

Christmas found them in distress. The night before, everything looking favorable, and the vessel sailing along quietly, Columbus had gone to bed, being much in need of rest. The helmsman put a boy at the tiller and went to sleep. The rest of the crew were not slow to do the same.