The Voyage To Cuba - 2

The Voyage To Cuba - 2

  The faint-hearted Spaniards, who never could meet any trouble without grumbling, were

now in the depths of despair and angry discontent; and it had not pleased them to be put

on a short allowance of even the unwholesome provisions that remained from the original

store. A couple of rude hand-mills had been erected for the making of flour, and as food

was the first necessity Columbus immediately put all the able-bodied men in the colony,

whatever their rank, to the elementary manual work of grinding. Friar Buil and the twelve

Benedictine brothers who were with him thought this a wise order, assuming of course

that as clerics they would not be asked to work. But great was their astonishment, and

loud and angry their criticism of the Admiral, when they found that they also were

obliged to labour with their hands. But Columbus was firm; there were absolutely no

exceptions made; hidalgo and priest had to work alongside of sailor and labourer; and the

curses of the living mingled with those of the dying on the man whose boastful words had

brought them to such a place and such a condition.

It was only in the nature of things that news should now arrive of trouble at Saint

Thomas. Gold and women again; instead of bartering or digging, the Spaniards had been

stealing; and discipline had been relaxed, with the usual disastrous results with regard to

the women of the adjacent native tribes. Pedro Margarite sent a nervous message to

Columbus expressing his fear that Caonabo, the native king, should be exasperated to the

point of attacking them again. Columbus therefore despatched Ojeda in command of a

force of 350 armed men to Saint Thomas with instructions that he was to take over the

command of that post, while Margarite was to take out an expedition in search of

Caonabo whom, with his brothers, Margarite was instructed to capture at all costs.

Having thus set things going in the interior, and once more restored Isabella to something

like order, he decided to take three ships and attempt to discover the coast of Cathay. The

old Nina, the San Juan, and the Cordera, three small caravels, were provisioned for six

months and manned by a company of fifty-two men. Francisco Nino went once more

with the Admiral as pilot, and the faithful Juan de la Cosa was taken to draw charts; one

of the monks also, to act as chaplain. The Admiral had a steward, a secretary, ten seamen

and six boys to complete the company on the Nina. The San Juan was commanded by

Alonso Perez Roldan and the Cordera by Christoval Nino. Diego was again left in

command of the colony, with four counsellors, Friar Buil, Fernandez Coronel, Alonso

Sanchez Carvajal, and Juan de Luxan, to assist his authority.

The Admiral sailed on April 24th, steering to the westward and touching at La Navidad

before he bore away to the island of Cuba, the southern shore of which it was now his

intention to explore. At one of his first anchorages he discovered a native feast going on,

and when the boats from his ships pulled ashore the feasters fled in terror—the hungry

Spaniards finishing their meal for them. Presently, however, the feasters were induced to

come back, and Columbus with soft speeches made them a compensation for the food

that had been taken, and produced a favourable impression, as his habit was; with the

result that all along the coast he was kindly received by the natives, who supplied him

with food and fresh fruit in return for trinkets. At the harbour now known as Santiago de

Cuba, where he anchored on May 2nd, he had what seemed like authentic information of

a great island to the southward which was alleged to be the source of all the gold. The

very compasses of Columbus's ships seem by this time to have become demagnetised,

and to have pointed only to gold; for no sooner had he heard this report than he bore

away to the south in pursuit of that faint yellow glitter that had now quite taken the place

of the original inner light of faith.

The low coast of Jamaica, hazy and blue at first, but afterwards warming into a golden

belt crowned by the paler and deeper greens of the foliage, was sighted first by Columbus

on Sunday, May 4th; and he anchored the next day in the beautiful harbour of Saint

Anne, to which he gave the name of Santa Gloria. To the island itself he gave the name of

Santiago, which however has never displaced its native name of Jamaica. The dim blue

mountains and clumps of lofty trees about the bay were wonderful even to Columbus,

whose eyes must by this time have been growing accustomed to the beauty of the West

Indies, and he lost his heart to Jamaica from the first moment that his eyes rested on its

green and golden shores. Perhaps he was by this time a little out of conceit with Hayti;

but be that as it may he retracted all the superlatives he had ever used for the other lands

of his discovery, and bestowed them in his heart upon Jamaica.

He was not humanly so well received as he had been on the other islands, for when he

cast anchor the natives came out in canoes threatening hostilities and had to be appeased

with red caps and hawks' bells. Next day, however, Columbus wished to careen his ships,

and sailed a little to the west until he found a suitable beach at Puerto Bueno; and as he

approached the shore some large canoes filled with painted and feathered warriors came

out and attacked his ships, showering arrows and javelins, and whooping and screaming

at the Spaniards. The guns were discharged, and an armed party sent ashore in a boat, and

the natives were soon put to flight. There was no renewal of hostilities; the next day the

local cacique came down offering provisions and help; presents were exchanged, and

cordial relations established. Columbus noticed that the Jamaicans seemed to be a much

more virile community than either the Cubans or the people of Espanola. They had

enormous canoes hollowed out of single mahogany trees, some of them 96 feet long and

8 feet broad, which they handled with the greatest ease and dexterity; they had a merry

way with them too, were quick of apprehension and clever at expressing their meaning,

and in their domestic utensils and implements they showed an advance in civilisation on

the other islanders of the group. Columbus did some trade with the islanders as he sailed

along the coast, but he does not seem to have believed much in the gold story, for after

sailing to the western point of the island he bore away to the north again and sighted the

coast of Cuba on the 18th of May.