they had acquired by their injuftice and cruelty was fwallowed up. It exceeded in value two hundred thousand pefos; an immenfe fum at that period, and fufficient not only to have screened them from any fevere fcrutiny into their conduct, but to have secured them a gracious reception in the Spanish court. Among the fhips that escaped, one had on board all the effects of Columbus which had been recovered from the ruins of his fortune. Hiftorians, ftruck with the exact discrimination of characters, as well as the just distribution of rewards and punishments, confpicuous in those events, univerfally attribute them to an immediate interpofition of divine Providence, in order to avenge the wrongs of an injured man, and to punish the oppreffors of an innocent people. Upon the ignorant and fuperftitious race of men, who were witneffes of this occurrence, it made a different impreffion. From an opinion, which vulgar admiration is apt to entertain with respect to perfons who have diftinguished themfelves by their fagacity and inventions, they believed Columbus to be poffeffed of fupernatural powers, and imagined that he had conjured up this dreadful ftorm by magical art, and incantations, in order to be avenged of his enemies.

Columbus foon left Hifpaniola, July 14, where he met with fuch an inhofpitable reception, and ftood towards the continent. After a tedious and dangerous voyage, he difcovered Guanaia, an island not far diftant from the coaft of Honduras. There he had an interview with fome inhabitants of the continent, who arrived in a large canoe. They appeared to be a people more civilized, and who had made greater progrefs in the knowledge of ufeful arts, than any whom he had hitherto difcovered. In return to the inquiries which the Spaniards made, with their ufual eagerness, concerning the places where the Indians got the gold which they wore by way of ornament, they directed them to countries fituated to the weft, in which gold was found in fuch profufion, that it was applied to the moft coramon ufes. Instead of fteering in queft of a country fo inviting, which would have conducted him along the coaft of Yucatan to the rich empire of Mexico, Columbus was fo bent upon his favourite scheme of finding out the strait which he fuppofed to communicate with the Indian ocean, that he bore away to the eaft towards the gulf of Darien. In this navigation he discovered all the coat of the continent, from Cape Gracias a Dios, to a harbour which, on account of its beauty and fecurity, he called Porto Bello. He fearched, in vain, for the imaginary ftrait, through which he expected to make his way into an unknown fea; and though he went on fhore feveral times, and advanced into the country, he did not penetrate fo far as to cross the narrow ifthmus which feparates the gulf of Mexico

from

from the great fouthern ocean. He was fo much delighted, however, with the fertility of the country, and conceived fuch an idea of its wealth, from the fpecimens of gold produced by the natives, that he refolved to leave a small colony upon the river Belem, in the province of Veragua, under the command of his brother, and to return himself to Spain, in order to procure what was requifite for rendering the establishment permanent. But the ungovernable spirit of the people under his command, deprived Columbus of the glory of planting the first colony on the continent of America. Their infolence and rapacioufnefs provoked the natives to take arms, and as these were a more hardy and warlike race of men than the inhabitants of the islands, they cut off part of the Spaniards, and obliged the reft to abandon a station which was found to be untenable.

This repulfe, the first that the Spaniards met with from any of the American nations, was not the only misfortune that befel Columbus; it was followed by a fucceffion of all the difafters to which navigation is expofed. Furious hurricanes, with violent ftorms of thunder and lightning, threatened his leaky veffels with deftruction; while his difcontented crew, exhausted with fatigue, and deftitute of provifions, was unwilling or unable to execute his commands. One of his fhips perished; he was obliged to abandon another, as unfit for fervice; and with the two which remained, he quitted that part of the continent which in his anguish he named the Coaft of Vexation, and bore away for Hifpaniola. New diftreffes awaited him in this voyage. He was driven back by a violent tempest from the coaft of Cuba, his fhips fell foul of one another, and were fo much shattered by the fhock, that with the utmost difficulty they reached Jamaica, on June 24, where he was obliged to run them aground, to prevent them from finking. The measure of his calamities feemed now to be full. He was caft afhore upon an island at a confiderable distance from the only fettlement of the Spaniards in America. His fhips were ruined beyond the poffibility of being repaired. To convey an account of his fituation to Hispaniola, appeared impracticable; and without this it was vain to expect relief. His genius, fertile in refources, and moft vigorous in thofe perilous extremities when feeble minds abandon themfelves to defpair, difcovered the only expedient which afforded any profpect of deliverance. He had recourse to the hospitable kindness of the natives, who confidering the Spaniards as beings of a fuperior nature, were eager, on every occafion, to minister to their wants. From them he obtained two of their canoes, each formed out of the trunk of a fingle tree hollowed with fire, and fo mif-fhapen and aukward as hardly to merit the name of boats. No. II, L In

In thefe, which were fit only for creeping along the coaft, or croffing from one fide of a bay to another, Mendez, a Spaniard, and Fiefchi, a Genoefe, two gentlemen particularly attached to Columbus, gallantly offered to fet out for Hifpaniola, upon a voyage of above thirty leagues. This they accomplished in ten days, after furmounting incredible dangers, and enduring fuch fatigue, that feveral of the Indians who accompanied them funk under it, and died. The attention paid to them by the governor of Hifpaniola was neither fuch as their courage merited, nor the distress of the perfons from whom they came required. Ovando, from a mean jealoufy of Columbus was afraid of allowing him to fet foot in the island under his government. This ungenerous paffion hardened his heart against every tender fentiment, which reflection upon the fervices and misfortunes of that great man, or compassion for his own fellow-citizens involved in the fame calamities, muft have excited. Mendez and Fieschi spent eight months in foliciting relief for their commander and affociates, without any prospect of obtaining it.

During this period, various paffions agitated the mind of Columbus, and his companions in adverfity. At first the expectation of speedy deliverance, from the fuccefs of Mendez and Fiefchi's voyage, cheered the fpirits of the most defponding. After fome time the more timorous began to fufpect that they had mifcarried in their daring attempt. At length, even the most fanguine concluded that they had perished. The ray of hope which had broke in upon them, made their condition appear now more difmal. Defpair, heightened by disappointment, fettled in every breaft. Their laft refource had failed, and nothing remained but the profpect of ending their miferable days among naked favages, far from their country and their friends. The feamen, in a transport of rage, rofe in open mutiny, threatened the life of Columbus, whom they reproached as the author of all their calamities, feized ten canoes, which he had purchased from the Indians, and despising his remonftrances and entreaties, made off with them to a diftant part of the island. At the fame time the natives murmured at the long refidence of the Spaniards in their country. As their induftry was not greater than that of their neighbours in Hifpaniola, like them they found the burden of fupporting so many strangers to be altogether intolerable. They began to bring in provifions with reluctance, they furnished them with a fparing hand, and threatened to withdraw those fupplies altogether. Such a refolution must have been quickly fatal to the Spaniards. Their fafety depended upon the good-will of the Indians; and unless they could revive the admiration and reverence with which that fimple people had at firft beheld them, deftruction was un

avoidable

avoidable. Though the licentious proceedings of the mutineers had, in a great measure effaced thofe impreffions which had been fo favourable to the Spaniards, the ingenuity of Columbus fuggefted a happy artifice, that not only restored but heightened the high opinion which the Indians had originally entertained of them. By his skill in astronomy he knew that there was shortly to be a total eclipse of the moon. He affembled all the principal persons of the district around him on the day before it happened, and, after reproaching them for their ficklenefs in withdrawing their affection and affiftance from men whom they had lately revered, he told them, that the Spaniards were fervants of the Great Spirit who dwells in heaven, who made and governs the world; that he, offended at their refufing to fupport men who were the objects of his peculiar favour, was preparing to punish this crime with exemplary severity, and that very night the moon fhould withhold her light, and appear of a bloody hue, as a fign of the divine wrath, and an emblem of the vengeance ready to fall upon them. To this marvellous prediction fome of them liftened with the careless indifference peculiar to the people of America; others, with the credulous astonishment natural to barbarians. But when the moon began gradually to be darkened, and at length appeared of a red colour, all were ftruck with terror. They ran with confternation to their houfes, and returning inftantly to Columbus loaded with provifions, threw them at his feet, conjuring him to intercede with the Great Spirit to avert the deftruction with which they were threatened. Columbus, feeming to be moved by their entreaties, promised to comply with their defire. The eclipfe went off, the moon recovered its splendour, and from that day the Spaniards were not only furnished profufely with provifions, but the natives, with fuperftitious attention, avoided every thing that could give them offence.

During those transactions, the mutineers had made repeated attempts to pass over to Hifpaniola in the canoes which they had feized. But, from their own misconduct, or the violence of the winds and currents, their efforts were all unfuccefsful. Enraged at this difappointment, they marched towards that part of the island where Columbus remained, threatening him with new infults and danger. While they were advancing, an event happened, more cruel and afflicting than any calamity which he dreaded from them. The governor of Hifpaniola, whose mind was still filled with some dark fufpicions of Columbus, fent a small bark to Jamaica, not to deliver his diftreffed countrymen, but to spy out their condition. Left the fympathy of those whom he employed fhould afford them relief, contrary to his intention, he gave the command of this veffel to Efcobar, an inveterate enemy of Columbus, who adhering

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adhering to his inftructions with malignant accuracy, caft anchor at fome, distance from the ifland, approached the fhore in a fmall boat, obferved the wretched plight of the Spaniards, delivered a letter of empty compliments to the admiral, received his answer, and departed. When the Spaniards first defcried the veffel ftanding towards the island, every heart exulted, as if the long expected hour of their deliverance had at length arrived; but when it difappeared fo fuddenly, they funk into the deepest dejection, and all their hopes died away. Columbus alone, though he felt most fenfibly this wanton infult which Ovando added to his past neglect, retained fuch compofure of mind, as to be able to cheer his followers. He affured them, that Mendez and Fiefchi had reached Hifpaniola in safety; that they would fpeedily procure fhips to carry them off; but as Efcobar's veffel could not take them all on board, he had refused to go with her, becaufe he was determined never to abandon the faithful companions of his diftrefs. Soothed with the expectation of speedy deliverance, and delighted with his apparent generofity in attending more to their preservation than to his own fafety, their fpirits revived, and he regained their confidence.

Without this confidence, he could not have refifted the mutineers, who were now at hand. All his endeavours to reclaim those desperate men had no effect but to increase their frenzy. Their demands became every day more extravagant, and their intentions more violent and bloody. The common fafety rendered it necessary to oppose them with open force. Columbus who had been long afflicted with the gout, could not take the field. On the twentieth of May his brother, the Adelantado, marched against them. They quickly met. The mutineers rejected with fcorn terms of accommodation, which were once more of fered them, and rushed on boldly to the attack. They fell not upon an enemy unprepared to received them. In the firft fhock, feveral of their moft daring leaders were flain. The Adelatando, whofe ftrength was equal to his courage, clofed with their captain, wounded, difarmed, and took him prifoner. At fight of this, the reft fled with a daftardly fear, fuitable to their former infolence. Soon after, they fubmitted in a body to Columbus, and bound themselves by the most folemn oaths to obey all his commands. Hardly was tranquillity re-established, when the fhips appeared, whofe arrival Columbus had promifed with greataddrefs, though he could foresee it with little certainty. With tran fports of joy, the Spaniards quitted an island in which the unfeeling. jealoufy of Ovando had fuffered them to languish above a year, exposed to mifery in all its various forms.

When