Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[graphic]

HE passion for discovering unknown countries, inspired by the success of the projects which the great mind of Columbus conceived and planned, and which his persevering character accomplished, became soon the mania of the age.

The principal man among the adventurers of that period was not Amerigo Vespucci, but Vincent Torres de

Pinzon, who commanded one of the ships during the first voyage of Columbus. He was an able seaman, of liberal education, great courage, and of such ample fortune as to enable him to fit out four

stout ships at his own expense, with which he sailed, in January, 1500, on a voyage of discovery. He was the first Spanish subject who crossed the equinoctial line, and discovered the country of Santa Cruz, or the Holy Cross, and the river Maranon, or Amazon, in Brazil. He did not succeed in persuading the natives to trade with him. He returned north to the river Orinoco, which was discovered previously by Columbus. He soon after encountered a great storm, lost two of his ships before he reached Hayti, and finally arrived safely in Spain.

In 1501, Roderic de Bastidas fitted out, at his own expense, two ships; and, sailing from Cadiz, he discovered the country since then called Carthagena, and Magdalenna, and about a hundred leagues more of the coast of America than was known to Columbus. He opened an intercourse with the natives, brought some of them away, and proceeded to Hayti. So jealous were the Spaniards of each other, that Bastidas was imprisoned for the success of his enterprise.

St. Juan de Porto Rico, called Borriquen by the natives, was discovered by Columbus, in 1493, but neglected until 1509, when Juan Ponce de Leon, an enterprising, ambitious, and tyrannical nobleman, was informed that gold was abundant in that island. He crossed over from Hayti, and was received kindly by the principal cacique and by the natives; who showed him the streams which carried down great quantities of gold with the sands and washings from the mountains. On returning to Hayti, he managed to obtain a commission from Spain for conquering Porto Rico; and was, on landing, received by the natives, who believed the Spaniards to be immortal, or they would, from their superior numbers, and with their poisoned arrows, as was their manner of defending themselves against the Caribbeans, probably, on the attempt of Ponce de Leon to subdue them, have driven back the Spaniards with great loss of life. The natives believed the Spaniards invulnerable, and they submitted to labour and to slavery, until a young Spaniard, on being carried across the ford of a river, on the shoulders of a native of more than usual boldness, was thrown off by the latter who, with the assistance of other natives, kept the Spaniard under water until he was drowned. They then dragged him ashore, and, doubting whether he was dead, the Indians cried out, asking pardon for the accident, during three days, until the body became so putrid as to remove all their doubts. The natives being now convinced that the Spaniards

[blocks in formation]

could be killed, rose upon, and slaughtered more than a hundred of their oppressors. Ponce de Leon finally succeeded in reducing the whole island to his authority, and the natives to slavery in the mines; in which, and under other cruelties, they became extinct in a short period.

Diego Velasquez sailed from Hayti, in November, 1511, to conquer Cuba, which he accomplished, after committing the most horrible atrocities.

Attempts were made, at this period, to conquer and settle on the coast of Carthagena and Darien.

In 1509, John de Esquibel was sent by Diego Columbus from St. Domingo to form the first settlement in Jamaica, to which Alonzo de Ojeda laid a claim, and threatened to hang Esquibel.

During the following year, Ojeda and John de la Cosas, who had received a license to capture and take possession of Veragua, Carthagena, and other western countries, sailed from St. Domingo, landed on the Continent, and had several conflicts with the natives who were a bolder and more advanced race than the aborigines of Hayti. In one attack, seventy Spaniards were killed, and the remainder wounded with poisoned arrows. Ojeda and Cosas were saved by the arrival of another adventurer, Nicuessa, with four ships. The latter attacked the natives, burnt their town, in which they found a large store of gold, and taking a number of prisoners, sent them as slaves to work in the mines of Hayti. Among the commanders of these vessels was Francis Pizarro, whom Ojeda left at St. Sebastian, the place where he fixed upon for a settlement. The latter entered into an agreement with an outlaw, or pirate, to take him in his vessel to St. Domingo. The pirate's vessel was wrecked on the coast of Cuba, from whence they escaped to Jamaica in a canoe. The pirate was there apprehended and hanged. Pizarro was obliged to leave St. Sebastian, and escaped with a few men to Carthagena, where Enciso, with two ships, arrived from St. Domingo. Pizarro and Enciso then proceeded to St. Sebastian, where they were shipwrecked, and, on landing, found the place entirely destroyed by the natives. They saved, from the wrecks, provisions, arms, and various articles, and proceeded to re-establish themselves at St. Sebastian, but they were reduced to great extremities by the attacks of the natives, and by the scanty supply of food.

One of the most remarkable men among the explorers of America accompanied this expedition. This person was Vasquez Nunez de

[graphic][merged small]

Balboa, a man of good family, who had formerly sailed with Bastidas on his voyage of discovery. He had obtained a settlement at Hayti, but having been accused of some excesses, for which he was to have been executed; he escaped by being concealed on board Enciso's ship in a bread cask. He ventured after a day to make his appearance. Enciso was enraged, as he had been warned not to take any one but those on his muster-roll, from Hayti; but the principal persons on board interceded for Nunez, and he was consequently protected. He was afterwards almost the only person at St. Sebastian who had not absolutely given himself up to despair. Enciso was rallied and encouraged by Nunez, by whose energy the stranded vessels were at last got afloat, and they sailed, according to the advice of Nunez, to where he had seen a town, when he had made the voyage with Bastidas. They, accordingly, steered for the river Darien, and found the place and country such as both were described by Nunez. They marched against the cacique and his people, attacked and put them to flight, found

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

the town, which was immediately deserted, abundance of provisions, also cotton spun and unspun, household goods of various kinds, and more than the value of $10,000 in gold plates. The success of this adventure being justly attributed to Nunez, his reputation became great. He deprived Enciso, who bore him no goodwill from the first, of all authority; gained, by his boldness, the confidence of the Spaniards, and founded the settlement of St. Maria. Nunez established his authority and retained his power in Darien, and the country then called Castell d'Oro, by gaining over, or defeating, the chiefs of the country, by buying, with the gold he sent to St. Domingo, the authorities there over to his interest, and by his superior fertility of resources under the most difficult circumstances.

In the middle of September, 1513, having been informed of rich and vast regions to the south-west; stretching along a great ocean which was not far distant, he departed from St. Maria, accompanied by the afterwards celebrated Francis Pizarro, on an expedition, in which, after some desperate conflicts with the natives, he advanced so

31

[graphic]
« PreviousContinue »