Part 42 (1/2)

The personal demands of Roldan under the capitulation were also to be met. They included restoration of lands which he called his own, new lands to be granted, the stocking of them from the public herds; and Columbus met them, at least, until the grants should be confirmed at Court. This was not all. Roldan visited Bonao, and made one of his late lieutenants an a.s.sistant alcalde,--an a.s.sumption of the power of appointment at which Columbus was offended, as some tell us; but if the _Historie_ is to be depended on, the appointment invited no unfavorable comment from Columbus. When it was found that this new officer was building a structure ostensibly for farm purposes, but of a character more like a fortress, suitable for some new mutiny to rally in, Columbus at last rose on his dignity and forbade it.

[Sidenote: 1499. October. Caravels sent to Spain.]

[Sidenote: Columbus sends Ballester to support his cause in Spain.]

In October, 1499, the Admiral dispatched two caravels to Spain. It did not seem safe for him to embark in them, though he felt his presence was needed at Court to counteract the mischief of his enemies and Roldan's friends. Some of the latter went in the s.h.i.+ps. The most he could do was to trust his cause to Miguel Ballester and Garcia de Barrantes, who embarked as his representatives. They bore his letters to the monarchs.

In these he enumerated the compulsions under which he had signed the capitulation with Roldan, and begged their Majesties to treat it as given under coercion, and to bring the rebels to trial. He then mentioned what other a.s.sistants he needed in governing the colony, such as a learned judge and some discreet councilors. He ended with asking that his son, Diego, might be spared from Court to a.s.sist him.

[Sidenote: Royal infringements of Columbus's privileges.]

[Sidenote: 1499. Ojeda's voyage.]

While Columbus was making these requests, he was ignorant of the way in which the Spanish Court had already made serious trespa.s.ses upon his prerogatives as Admiral of the Indies. He had said in his letter to the sovereigns, ”Your Majesties will determine on what is to be done,” in consequence of these new discoveries at Paria. He was soon to become painfully conscious of what was done. The real hero of Columbus's second voyage, Alonso de Ojeda, comes again on the scene. He was in Spain when the accounts which Columbus had transmitted to Court of his discoveries about the Gulf of Paria reached Seville. Such glowing descriptions fired his ambition, and learning from Columbus's other letters and from the reports by those who had returned of the critical condition of affairs in Espanola, he antic.i.p.ated the truth when he supposed that the Admiral could not so smother the disquiet of his colony as to venture to leave it for further explorations. He saw, too, the maps which Columbus had sent back and the pearls which he had gathered. He acknowledged all this in a deposition taken at Santo Domingo in 1513. So he proposed to Fonseca that he might be allowed to undertake a private voyage, and profit, for himself and for the Crown, by the resources of the country, inasmuch as it must be a long time before Columbus himself could do so.

Fonseca readily commended the plan and gave him a license, stipulating that he should avoid any Portuguese possession and any lands that Columbus had discovered before 1495. It was the purpose, by giving this date, to throw open the Paria region.

[Sidenote: Vespucius with Ojeda.]

[Sidenote: Juan de la Cosa.]

[Sidenote: 1499. May 20. Ojeda sails.]

[Sidenote: At Venezuela.]

The s.h.i.+ps were fitted out at Seville in the early part of 1499, and some men, famous in these years, made part of the company which sailed on them. There was Americus Vespucius, who was seemingly now for the first time to embark for the New World, since it is likely that out of this very expedition the alleged voyage of his in 1497 has been made to appear by some perversion of chronology. There was Juan de la Cosa, a famous hydrographer, who was the companion of Columbus in his second Cuban cruise. Irving says that he was with Columbus in his first voyage; but it is thought that it was another of the same name who appears in the registers of that expedition. Several of those who had returned from Espanola after the Paria cruise of Columbus were also enlisted, and among them Bartholomew Roldan, the pilot of that earlier fleet. The expedition of Ojeda sailed May 20, 1499. They made land 200 leagues east of the Orinoco, and then, guided by Columbus's charts, the s.h.i.+ps followed his track through the Serpent's and the Dragon's Mouths. Thence pa.s.sing Margarita, they sailed on towards the mountains which Columbus had seen, and finally entered a gulf, where they saw some pile dwellings of the natives. They accordingly named the basin Venezuela, in reference to the great sea-built city of the Adriatic. It is noteworthy that Ojeda, in reporting to their Majesties an account of this voyage, says that he met in this neighborhood some English vessels, an expedition which may have been instigated by Cabot's success. It is to be observed, at the same time, that this is the only authority which we have for such an early visit of the English to this vicinity, and the statement is not credited by Biddle, Helps, and other recent writers. Ojeda turned eastward not long after, having run short of provisions. He then approached the prohibited Espanola, and hoped to elude notice while foraging at its western end.

[Sidenote: 1499. September 5. Ojeda touches at Espanola.]

It was while here that Ojeda's caravels were seen and tidings of their presence were transmitted to Santo Domingo. Ignorance of what he had to deal with in these intruders was one of the reasons which made it out of the question for Columbus to return to Spain in the s.h.i.+ps which he had dispatched in October. Ojeda had appeared on the coast on September 5, 1499, and as succeeding reports came to Columbus, it was divulged that Ojeda was in command, and that he was cutting dyewoods thereabouts.

[Sidenote: Columbus sends Roldan to warn Ojeda off.]

Now was the time to heal the dissensions of Roldan, and to give him a chance to recover his reputation. So the Admiral selected his late bitter enemy to manage the expedition which he thought it necessary to dispatch to the spot. Roldan sailed in command of two caravels on September 29, and, approaching un.o.bserved the place where Ojeda's s.h.i.+ps were at anchor, he landed with twenty-five men, and sent out scouts.

They soon reported that Ojeda was some distance away from his s.h.i.+ps at an Indian village, making ca.s.sava bread. Ojeda heard of the approach, but not in time to prevent Roldan getting between him and his s.h.i.+ps. The intruder met him boldly, said he was on an exploring expedition, and had put in for supplies, and that if Roldan would come on board his s.h.i.+ps, he would show his license signed by Fonseca. When Roldan went on board, he saw the doc.u.ment. He also learned from those he talked with in the s.h.i.+ps--and there were among them some whom he knew, and some who had been in Espanola--that the Admiral's name was in disgrace at Court, and there was imminent danger of his being deprived of his command at Espanola. Moreover, the Queen, who had befriended him against all others, was ill beyond recovery. Ojeda promising to sail round to Santo Domingo and explain his conduct to the Admiral, Roldan left him, and carried back the intelligence to Columbus.

The Viceroy waited patiently for Ojeda's vessels to appear, and to hear the explanation of what he deemed a flagrant violation of his rights.

Ojeda, having got rid of Roldan, had accomplished all that he intended by the promise. When he set sail, it was to pa.s.s round the coast easterly to the sh.o.r.e of Xaragua, where he anch.o.r.ed, and opened communication with the Spanish settlers, remnants of Roldan's party, who had not been quite satisfied to find their reinstated leader acting as an emissary of Columbus. Ojeda, with impetuous sympathy, listened to their complaints, and had agreed to be their leader in marching to Santo Domingo to demand some redresses, when Roldan, sent by Columbus to watch him, once more appeared. Ojeda declined a conference, and kept on his s.h.i.+p.

[Sidenote: 1500. June. Ojeda reaches Cadiz.]

Roldan had harbored a deserter from one of Ojeda's fleet, and as he refusedto give him up, Ojeda watched his opportunity and seized two of Roldan's men to hold as hostages. So the two wary adventurers watched each other for an advantage. After a while, Ojeda, in his s.h.i.+ps, stood down the coast. Roldan followed along the sh.o.r.e. Coming up to where the s.h.i.+ps were anch.o.r.ed, Roldan induced Ojeda to send a boat ash.o.r.e, when, by an artifice, he captured the boat and its crew. This game of stratagems ended with an agreement on Ojeda's part to leave the island, while Roldan restored the captive boat. The prisoners were exchanged.

Ojeda bore off sh.o.r.e, and though Roldan heard of his landing again at a distant point, he was gone when the pursuers reached the spot. Las Casas says that Ojeda made for some islands, where he completed his lading of slaves, and set sail for Spain, arriving at Cadiz in June, 1500.

[Sidenote: Nino's voyage to the pearl coast.]