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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III. by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. III.



[Transcriber's note: The spelling and punctuation inconsistencies and
typographical errors of the original have been preserved in this etext.]



A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS,

ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER:

FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION,
DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE
PRESENT TIME.


BY


ROBERT KERR, F.R.S. & F.A.S. EDIN.

ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS.

VOL. III.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH:
AND T. CADELL, LONDON
MDCCCXXIV

* * * * *




CONTENTS OF VOL III.


PART II. CONTINUED.

BOOK II. HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, AND OF SOME OF THE EARLY
CONQUESTS IN THE NEW WORLD

CHAP. I. History of the discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus,
written by his son Don Ferdinand Columbus, Introduction, Epochs of
American discovery, Authors Preface.

SECT.
I. Of the country, original, and name of Admiral Christopher
Columbus; with other particulars of his life previous to his arrival in
Portugal.

II. Of his first coming to Portugal, and the motives of his
proposing to discover the West Indies.

III. The Admiral, disgusted by the procedure of the King of
Portugal, in regard to the proposed discovery, offers his services
to the court of Spain.

IV. Narrative of the First Voyage of Columbus, in which he actually
discovered the New World[1].

VI. Second Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies.

VII. Account of the antiquities, ceremonies, and religion of the
natives of Hispaniola, collected by F. Roman, by order of the Admiral.

VIII. The Admiral returns to Spain from his second voyage.

IX. Account of the Admirals Third Voyage, during which he discovered
the continent of Paria; with the occurrences to his arrival in
Hispaniola.

X. An account of the Rebellion in Hispaniola, previous to the arrival
of the Admiral.

XI. Continuation of the troubles after the return of the Admiral to
Hispaniola, to their adjustment.

XII. Transactions in Hispaniola subsequent to the settlement of the
disturbances, until the sending of Columbus in irons to Spain.

XIII. Account of the Fourth Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies.

CHAP. II. Account of the Discovery of America, by Christopher Columbus;
by Antonio de Herrera.

SECT.
I. Of the knowledge of the Ancients respecting the New World.

II. Of the motives which led Columbus to believe that there were
unknown countries.

III. Columbus proposes his design to the King and Queen of Spain; which,
after many repulses, is adopted by the Queen.

IV. Conditions granted to Columbus by the crown of Castile, and an
account of his First Voyage, in which he discovered the New World.

V. Continuation of the voyage; signs of approaching land; the people
mutiny, and the Admiral endeavours to appease them.

VI. Discovery of the Islands of San Salvador, the Conception,
Ferdinandina, Isabella, and others; with a description of these Islands,
and some account of the Natives.

VII. Discovery of Cuba and Hispaniola, and desertion of Martin Alonzo
Pinzon.

VIII. Farther discovery of Hispaniola; simplicity of the natives; the
Admiral loses his ship, and resolves to settle a colony in the island.

IX. The Admiral builds a fort in Hispaniola, and prepares for his return
to Spain.

X. Account of the Voyage home from Hispaniola to Lisbon.

XI. From the arrival of Columbus at Lisbon till the commencement of his
Second Voyage to the New World.

XII. Second Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies, and establishment of
Isabella, the first European colony in the New World.

XIII. Columbus proceeds to explore the coast of Cuba, discovers the
island of Jamaica, and returns to Isabella in Hispaniola.

XIV. Summary of occurrences in Hispaniola, to the return of Columbus
into Spain from his Second Voyage.

XV. Conclusion of the discoveries of Columbus.

CHAP. III. The voyages of Americus Vespucius to the New World,
Introduction.

SECT.
I. The First Voyage of Vespucius.

II. The Second Voyage of Americus Vespucius.

III. The Third voyage of Americus Vespucius.

IV. The Fourth voyage of Americus Vespucius.

CHAP. IV. Summary of the discoveries and settlements of the Spaniards in
the West Indies, from the death of Columbus to the expedition of Hernando
Cortes against Mexico, Introduction.

SECT.
I. Improvements made in the colony of Hispaniola, by Nicholas de
Obando, and the great value of gold procured in that island during his
government.

II. Settlement of Porto Rico under Juan Ponce de Leon.

III. Don James Columbus is appointed to the government of the Spanish
dominions in the West Indies.

IV. Settlement of a Pearl Fishery at the island of Cubagua.

V. Alonzo de Hojeda and Diego de Nicuessa are commissioned to make
discoveries and settlements in the New World, with an account of the
adventures and misfortunes of Hojeda.

VI. The history of Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, and the establishment, by
his means, of the colony of Darien.

VII. The adventures, misfortunes, and death of Don Diego de Nicuessa,
the founder of the colony of Nombre de Dios.

VIII. The conquest and settlement of the island of Cuba by Diego
Velasquez.

IX. The strange expedition of Juan Ponce de Leon in search of the
Fountain of Youth, in which he discovered Florida and the Bahama
Channel.

X. The martyrdom of two Dominican Friars on the coast of Venezuela,
through the avarice of the Spaniards.

XI. Discoveries on the continent of America, by command of Velasquez,
under the conduct of Francis Hernandez de Cordova.

XII. Farther discoveries on the continent by Juan Grijalva, under the
orders of Velasquez, by which a way is opened to Mexico or New Spain.

CHAP. V. History of the discovery and conquest of Mexico, written in the
year 1568, by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of the conquerors,
Introduction, Preface by the Author.

SECT.
I. Expedition of Hernandez de Cordova in 1517.

II. Expedition of Juan de Grijalva in 1518.

III. Commencement of the expedition of Hernando Cortes for the conquest
of Mexico, in 1518.

IV. Arrival of the armament at St Juan de Ulua, and account of
occurrences at that place.

V. The Spanish army advances into the country; an account of their
proceedings before commencing their march to Mexico.


[1] By error of the press, a considerable part of this Section is
marked in the running title as Section V. and the next is numbered
Section VI. so that, numerically only, Section V; is entirely omitted.


[Illustration: West Indies]



A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.


PART II.

BOOK II.

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, AND OF SOME OF THE EARLY CONQUESTS
IN THE NEW WORLD.

* * * * *




CHAP. I.

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, BY CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS; WRITTEN BY
HIS SON DON FERDINAND COLUMBUS[1].

INTRODUCTION.

[Illustration: West Indies]

The whole of this chapter contains an original record, being a distinct
narrative of the discovery of America by COLUMBUS, written by his own son,
who accompanied him in his latter voyages. It has been adopted into the
present work from the Collection of Voyages and Travels published at
London in 1704, by Awnsham and John Churchill, in four volumes folio; in
which it is said to have been translated from the original Italian of Don
Ferdinand Columbus, expressly for the use of that work. The language of
that translation is often obscure and ungrammatical, as if the work of a
foreigner; but, having no access to the original, has necessarily been
adopted for the present occasion, after being carefully revised and
corrected. No farther alteration has been taken with that version, except
a new division into sections, instead of the prolix and needlessly minute
subdivision of the original translation into a multitude of chapters;
which change was necessary to accommodate this interesting original
document to our plan of arrangement; and except in a few rare instances,
where uninteresting controversial argumentations have been somewhat
abridged, and even these chiefly because the original translator left the
sense obscure or unintelligible, from ignorance of the language or of the
subject.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that the new grand division of the world
which was discovered by this _great navigator_, ought from him to
have been named COLUMBIA. Before setting out upon this grand discovery,
which was planned entirely by his own transcendent genius, he was misled
to believe that the new lands he proposed to go in search of formed an
extension of the _India_, which was known to the ancients; and still
impressed with that idea, occasioned by the eastern longitudes of Ptolemy
being greatly too far extended, he gave the name of _West Indies_ to
his discovery, because he sailed to them westwards; and persisted in that
denomination, even after he had certainly ascertained that they were
interposed between the Atlantic ocean and Japan, the Zipangu, or Zipangri
of Marco Polo, of which and Cathay or China, he first proposed to go in
search.

Between the _third_ and _fourth_ voyages of COLUMBUS, _Ojeda_, an officer
who had accompanied him in his _second_ voyage, was surreptitiously sent
from Spain, for the obvious purpose of endeavouring to curtail the vast
privileges which had been conceded to Columbus, as admiral and viceroy of
all the countries he might discover; that the court of Spain might have a
colour for excepting the discoveries made by others from the grant which
had been conferred on him, before its prodigious value was at all thought
of. Ojeda did little more than revisit some of the previous discoveries of
Columbus: Perhaps he extended the knowledge of the coast of Paria. In this
expedition, Ojeda was accompanied by an Italian named _Amerigo_ or
_Almerico Vespucci_, whose name was Latinized, according to the custom of
that age, into _Americus Vespucius_. This person was a Florentine, and
appears to have been a man of science, well skilled in navigation and
geography. On his return to Europe, he published the first description
that appeared of the newly discovered continent and islands in the west,
which had hitherto been anxiously endeavoured to be concealed by the
monopolizing jealousy of the Spanish government. Pretending to have been
the first discoverer of the _continent_ of the _New World_, he
presumptuously gave it the appellation of _America_ after his own name;
and the inconsiderate applause of the European literati has perpetuated
this usurped denomination, instead of the legitimate name which the new
quarter of the world ought to have received from that of the real
discoverer.

Attempts have been made in latter times, to rob COLUMBUS of the honour of
having discovered _America_, by endeavouring to prove that the _West
Indies_ were known in Europe before his first voyage. In some maps in the
library of St Mark at Venice, said to have been drawn in 1436, many
islands are inserted to the _west_ of Europe and Africa. The most
_easterly_ of these are supposed in the first place to be the Azores,
Madeira, the Canaries and Cape Verds. Beyond these, but at no great
distance towards the _west_, occurs the _Ysola de Antillia_; which we may
conclude, even allowing the date of the map to be genuine, to be a mere
gratuitous or theoretic supposition, and to have received that strange
name, because the obvious and natural idea of _Antipodes_ had been
anathematized by Catholic ignorance. Still farther to the _north-west_,
another fabulous island is laid down, under the strange appellation of
_Delaman Satanaxia_, or the land created by the hand of Satan. This latter
may possibly have some reference to an ignorant position of Iceland. Both
were probably theoretic, for the fancied purpose of _preserving a balance_
on the globe with the continents and islands already known; an idea which
was transferred by learned theorists, and even persisted in for a
considerable part of the eighteenth century, under the name of the _Terra
Australis incognita_; and was only banished by the enlightened voyages of
scientific discovery, conducted under the auspices of our present
venerable sovereign.

The globe of Martin Behaim, in 1492, repeats the island of _Antillia_, and
inserts beyond it to the _west_, the isle of St Brandan or Ima, from a
fabulous work of the middle ages. Occasion has already occurred to notice
two other ancient pretended discoveries of the New World: the fabulous
voyages of the Zenos, another Venetian tale; and the equally fabulous
Portuguese island of the _Seven Churches_, abounding in gold, and
inhabited by Spanish or Portuguese Christians. Britain even had its Madoc
prince of North Wales; and a _white_ nomadic nation in North America,
speaking _Welsh_, is still among the puerile fancies of this nineteenth
century.

All these pretended proofs of any previous knowledge of the _western_
world, resolve into complete demonstrations of perfect ignorance, even in
the art of deception and forgery. Not only is the world indebted to
COLUMBUS for this great and brilliant discovery, but every subsequent
improvement in navigation, geography and hydrography, is justly
attributable to his illustrious example. Much and deservedly as our COOK
and his coadjutors and followers have merited from their country and the
world, they are all to be considered as pupils of the truly great
archnavigator COLUMBUS; himself a worthy scholar from the nautical academy
of the truly illustrious and enlightened father of discoveries, DON HENRY.
All other discoveries, whether nautical or by land, dwindle into mere
ordinary events, when compared with his absolutely solitary exertion of
previous scientific views. The sagacious and almost prophetic induction,
persevering ardour, cosmographical, nautical, and astronomical skill,
which centered in COLUMBUS, from the first conception to the perfect
completion of this great and important enterprize, the discovery of a
large portion of the globe which had lain hid for thousands of years from
the knowledge of civilization and science, is altogether unexampled. He
was incontestibly the first bold and scientific mariner who ever dared to
launch out into the trackless ocean, trusting solely to the guidance of
the needle and the stars, and to his own transcendent skill and
intrepidity.

There can be no doubt that Greenland, in some measure an appendage of
America, was discovered in 982, by the Norwegians or their Icelandic
colony; and that the same people accidentally fell in with Newfoundland,
or a part of Labradore, in 1003; of which early real discoveries
particular notices have been taken in the first part of this work. But
these were entirely accidental, and were lost to the world long before
COLUMBUS began his glorious career; and do not in the least degree detract
from the merit or originality of his discovery.

The name even of the great COLUMBUS has of late been fastidiously
endeavoured to be rejected, in favour of the Spanish appellation _Colon_,
which he adopted on entering into that service, which repaid him with base
ingratitude and cruel injuries for his transcendent services. It will be
seen, however, from the authority of his own son, that the original name
of his family was _Colombi_; though some branches in other parts of Italy
had adopted the modern or middle age Roman name of _Collona_. COLUMBUS,
therefore, ought certainly to remain in our language as the Latinized
original name of this illustrious person.

In supplement to the history of Columbus by his son, we have chosen to
give an account of the first Discovery of America, by _Herrera_ the royal
historiographer of Spain. To some readers this may appear superfluous: But,
as _Don Ferdinand Columbus_ may naturally enough be supposed to have
written under a degree of partial attachment to the glory of his immortal
father, it seems fortunate that we possess an authentic early history of
the same unparalleled event, from a more certainly impartial and well
informed author, having access to the public archives. That portion of our
work is given as an original record, almost without any remark; leaving it
to the ingenious industry of such of our readers as may be so disposed, to
make a critical comparison between the work of _Don Ferdinand Columbus_, a
rare and valuable monument of filial piety, and that of _Antonio de
Herrera_. We have only to regret, that the transcendent genius, who
possessed the unexampled sagacity to devise, and the singular good
fortune, perseverance, capacity, and conduct, to succeed in _Discovering
the Western Hemisphere_, had not sufficient health and leisure to have
favoured the world with his own _commentaries_ of this greatest
enterprise that was ever achieved by man.--_Ed_.

* * * * *


_Abridged Series of the Epochs of American Discovery_[2].

A.D. 982. East Greenland discovered by the Norwegians or Icelanders, who
planted a small colony. This was long afterwards shut in by the
accumulation of arctic ice, and entirely lost.

1003. Winland, either Newfoundland or Labradore, was discovered by the
Icelanders, but soon abandoned and forgotten.

1492, August 3d. COLUMBUS commenced his first voyage. 12th October
discovered _Guanahani_, one of the _Bahama_ group, which he named _St
Salvador_, now named _Cat Island_. In this voyage, besides several others
of the Bahama islands, he discovered _Cuba_ and _Hispaniola_, leaving a
colony in the latter, which was cut off by the natives. He returned to
Spain from this voyage on the 4th March 1493.

1494, September 25th. Second voyage of COLUMBUS began; in which he
discovered the _Carribbee_ islands, and founded a permanent colony in
_Hispaniola_ or Haiti. He returned from this voyage in 1496.

1497. _Giovanni Gabotta_, a Venetian, employed by Henry VII. of England,
discovered _Newfoundland_, and traced the eastern coast of North America
as far south as _Virginia_.

1498. Third voyage of COLUMBUS, in which he discovered _Trinidad_ and the
coast of Paria in _South America_; now called the _Spanish Main_ by the
English. He was _sent home in irons_ from Hispaniola in 1500.

1499. _Ojeda_ was sent from Spain to interfere with the great privileges
granted to COLUMBUS; but did very little more than retrace some of his
previous discoveries. In this voyage, as already mentioned, Ojeda was
accompanied by _Americus Vespucius_, who usurped the right of giving the
_New World_ his own name _America_, which still continues universal.

1500. _Cabral_, a Portuguese admiral, while on a voyage to India,
accidentally discovered Brazil.

In this year likewise, _Corte de Real_, a Portuguese navigator,
discovered Labradore, while in search of a _north-west_ passage to India.

1502. _Fourth_, voyage of COLUMBUS, in which he discovered the
continental coast, from _Honduras_ to near the Isthmus of _Darien_.

1513. _Vasco Nunez de Balboa_, descried the _Pacific Ocean_, or great
_South Sea_, and waded into the waves, taking formal possession for the
crown of Spain; and even embarked on that ocean in a canoe, as a more
formal act of conquest.

In the same year, _Florida_ was first discovered by _Ponce de Leon_, a
Spanish officer.

1515. The continent of _South America_ was explored down to the _Rio de
la Plata_.

1519. _Cortez_ began the conquest of _Mexico_, which he accomplished in
1521.

About the same time, _Magalhaens_, usually named Magellan, explored the
_Pacific Ocean_.

1526. _Pizarro_ visited the coast of _Peru_, which he invaded in 1530,
and _afterwards conquered_.


[1] Churchills Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II. 479.

[2] From Pinkertons Modern Geography.

* * * * *




THE AUTHORS PREFACE.

Because admiral DON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, my father, was a person most
worthy to be held in eternal remembrance, it seems reasonable that _I his
son_, who sailed some time along with him, should to my other performances
add this my chiefest work: _The history of his life, and of his wonderful
discovery of the West Indies_.

In consequence of his great and continual sufferings, and the diseases he
long laboured under, my father had not time to reduce his own notes and
observations into historical order; and these having fallen to me, enable
me to execute the present undertaking. Knowing that many others had
undertaken to execute this task, I long delayed its performance. But,
having read those other narratives, I found that they exaggerated many
circumstances, had passed lightly over other matters of importance, and
had even entirely omitted much that was deserving of particular notice.
From these considerations I have been induced to publish this work;
thinking it more becoming that I should undergo the censure of wanting
skill, rather than to permit the truth respecting my noble father to
remain in oblivion. Whatever may be the faults in this performance, these
will not be owing to my ignorance of the truth; for I pledge myself to set
down nothing which I do not find in his own papers or letters, or of which
I have not actually been a witness.

In the following work, the reader will find a faithful record of all the
reasons which induced the admiral to enter upon his great and glorious
and successful enterprize, and will learn how far he personally proceeded
in his _four_ several voyages to the New World. He will see what great
and honourable articles were conceded to him, before going upon his great
discovery, by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, how basely all these
were violated, and he most unworthily and inhumanly treated, after
performing such unparalleled services; how far he established the affairs
of Hispaniola, the first settlement of the Spaniards in the New World;
and what care he took that the _Indians_ should not be oppressed, but
rather prevailed on by kind usage and good example, to embrace the
Catholic faith. In this work, likewise, will be found a faithful picture
of the manners and customs of the Indians, an account of their opinions
and practices respecting religion, and every thing that can reasonably be
looked for in a work like the present: The foundation for which was laid
by the great discoverer, and the superstructure raised by me his own son,
who possessed every advantage derivable from a liberal education and the
possession of authentic original documents, to fit me for executing a
work of such importance.




SECTION I.

_Of the Country, Original, and Name of Admiral Christopher Columbus; with
other particulars of his Life previous to his arrival in Portugal._


It is a material circumstance in the history of a great man to make known
his country and original, as those are best esteemed in the world who are
derived from noble cities and born of illustrious parents. Wherefore some
would have engaged me to prove that the admiral my father was honourably
descended, although his parents, through the fickleness of fortune, had
fallen into great poverty. Those persons required me to prove that his
ancestors descended from _Junius Colomus_, who, as Tacitus relates,
brought Mithridates a prisoner to Rome, for which service he was raised
by the Roman people to the consulate. They would likewise have induced me
to give an account at large of the two illustrious _Colomi_ his
predecessors, who gained a great victory over the Venetians, as recorded
by Sabellius, and which shall be mentioned in this work. But considering
that my father seemed to have been peculiarly chosen by the Almighty for
the great work which he performed, and may be considered in some measure
as an apostle of the Lord by carrying the gospel among the heathen; and
that the other apostles were called upon from the sea and the rivers, and
not from courts and palaces, by him whose progenitors were of the royal
blood of the Jews, yet who was pleased that they should be in a low and
unknown estate: And seeing that God had gifted my father with those
personal qualities which so well fitted him for so great an undertaking,
he was himself inclined that his country and original might remain hidden
and obscure.

Some who would throw a cloud upon his fame, have alleged that he was from
Nerni, others from Cuguero, and others from Bugiesco, all small towns in
the Riviera of Genoa: While others again, who were disposed rather to
exalt his origin, say that he was a native of Savona, others of Genoa,
and some more vain, make him to have been a native of Placentia, where
there are some honourable persons of the name, and several tombs having
the arms and inscriptions of the family of Columbus, which was the usual
sirname of his predecessors; but he, in compliance with the country where
he went to reside, modelled the name in resemblance of the ancients to
Colon, thereby distinguishing the direct descent from the collateral
lines.

Many names have been given by secret impulse, to denote the effects those
persons were to produce; and as most of my fathers affairs were guarded by
some special providence, his name and sirname were not without some
mysterious significations. Thus, considering the sirname of his ancestors,
Columbus or Columba, since he conveyed the grace of the Holy Ghost into
that New World which he discovered, shewing the knowledge of the beloved
Son of God to those people who knew him not, as was done by the Holy Ghost
in the form of a _Dove_ at the baptism of St John; and because, like Noahs
dove, he carried the olive branch and the oil of baptism across the waters
of the ocean, to denote the peace and union of those people with the
church, which had long been shut up in the ark of darkness and ignorance.
So likewise of the sirname of Colon which he revived, which was
appropriate to him as signifying a member; and, in conjunction with his
sirname of Christopher, denoted that he was a member of Christ, by whom
salvation was to be conveyed to the heathen people whom he discovered.
Thus, as St Christopher received that name because he carried Christ over
the deep waters with great danger to himself; so the admiral Christopher
Colonus, imploring the protection of Christ, safely carried himself and
his people over the unknown ocean, that those Indian nations which he
discovered might become citizens and inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem.
For many souls, whom the Devil expected for his prey, were through his
means passed through the water of baptism, and made inhabitants of the
eternal glory of heaven.