of the other fhips, with tears of joy and transports of congratulation. This office of gratitude to Heaven was followed by an act of justice to their commander. They threw themselves at the feet of Columbus, with feelings of felf-condemnation mingled with reverence. They implored him to pardon their ignorance, incredulity, and infolence, which had created him fo much unneceffary difquiet, and had so often obfructed the profecution of his well-concerted plan; and paffing, in the warmth of their admiration, from one extreme to another, they now pronounced the man, whom they had fo lately reviled and threatened, to be a perfon infpired by Heaven with fagacity and fortitude more than human, in order to accomplish a defign, fo far beyond the ideas and conception of all former ages. As foon as the fun arofe, all their boats were manned and armed. They rowed towards the island with their colours difplayed, with warlike mufic, and other martial pomp. As they approached the coaft, they faw it covered with a multitude of people, whom the novelty of the fpectacle had drawn together, whofe attitudes and geftures expreffed wonder and aftonishment at the ftrange objects which prefented themselves to their view. Columbus was the firft European who fet foot in the New World which he had discovered. He landed in a rich drefs, and with a naked fword in his hand. His men followed, and kneeling down, they all kiffed the ground which they had fo long defred to fee. They next erected a crucifix, and proftrating themfelves before it, returned thanks to God for conducting their voyage to fuch an happy iffue. They then took folemn poffeffion of the country for the crown of Caftile and Leon, with all the formalities which the Portuguese were accustomed to obferve in acts of this kind, in their new difcoveries. The Spaniards, while thus employed, were furrounded by many of the natives, who gazed, in filent admiration, upon actions which they could not comprehend, and of which they did not foresee the confequences. The drefs of the Spaniards, the whitenefs of their skins, their beards, their arms, appeared ftrange and furprifing. The vast machines in which they had traversed the ocean, that feemed to move upon the waters with wings, and uttered a dreadful found refembling thunder, accompanied with lightning and fmoke, ftruck them with fuch terror, that they began to refpect their new guefts as a fuperior order of beings, and concluded that they were children of the Sun, who had defcended to vifit the earth. The Europeans were hardly lefs amazed at the fcene now before them. Every herb, and fhrub, and tree, was different from thofe which. 3 flourished fourished in Europe. The foil feemed to be rich, but bore few ́marks of cultivation. The climate, even to Spaniards, felt warm, though extremely delightful. The inhabitants appeared in the fimple innocence of nature, entirely naked. Their black hair, long and uncurled, floated upon their shoulders, or was bound in treffes around their heads. They had no beards, and every part of their bodies was perfectly fimooth. Their complexion was of a dusky copper colour, their features fingular, rather than difagreeable, their aspect gentle and timid. Though not tall, they were well fhaped, and active. Their faces, and feveral parts of their body, were fantastically painted with glaring colours. They were fhy at firft through fear, but foon became familiar with the Spaniards, and with transports of joy received from them hawks-bells, glafs beads, or other baubles, in return for which they gave fuch provifions as they had, and fome cotton yarn, the only commodity of value that they could produce. Towards evening, Columbus returned to his fhips, accompanied by many of the islanders in their boats, which they called canoes, and though rudely formed out of the trunk of a fingle tree, they rowed them with furprifing dexterity. Thus, in the first interview between the inhabitants of the old and new worlds, every thing was conducted amicably, and to their mutual fatisfaction. The former, enlightened and ambitious, formed already vaft ideas with respect to the advantages which they might derive from the regions that began to open to their view. The latter, fimple and undifcerning, had no forefight of the calamities and defolation which were approaching their country. Columbus, who now affumed the title and authority of admiral and viceroy, called the inland which he had difcovered San Salvador. It is better known by the name of Guanabani, which the natives gave to it, and is one of that large cluster of iflands called the Lucaya or Bahama ifles. It is fituated above three thousand miles to the west of Gomera, from which the fquadron took its departure, and only four degrees to the fouth of it; fo little had Columbus deviated from the wefterly courfe, which he had chofen as the most proper. Columbus employed the next day in vifiting the coafts of the ifland; and from the univerfal poverty of the inhabitants, he perceived that this was not the rich country for which he fought. But, comformably to his theory concerning the difcovery of thofe regions of Afia which ftretched towards the eaft, he concluded that San Salvador was one of the ifles which geographers defcribed as fituated in the great ocean adjacent to India. Having obferved that most of the people whom he had feen wore small plates of gold, by way of ornament, in their nof trils. he eagerly inquired where they got that precious metal. They pointed towards the fouth, and made him comprehend by figns, that gold abounded in countries fituated in that quarter. Thither he immediately determined to direct his courfe, in full confidence of finding there thofe opulent regions which had been the object of his voyage, and would be a recompence for all his toils and dangers. He took along with him seven of the natives of San Salvador, that, by acquiring the Spanish language, they might serve as guides and interpreters; and thofe innocent people confidered it as a mark of diftinction when they were felected to accompany him. He saw several islands, and touched at three of the largest, on which he bestowed the names of St. Mary of the Conception, Fernandina, and Ifabella. But as their foil, productions, and inhabitants, nearly refembled thofe of San Salvador, he made no ftay in any of them. He inquired every where for gold, and the figns that were uniformly made by way of anfwer, confirmed him in the opinion that it was brought from the fouth. He followed that courfe, and foon difcovered a country which appeared very extenfive, not perfectly level, like thofe which he had already vifited, but fo diverfified with rifing grounds, hills, rivers, woods, and plains, that he was uncertain whether it might prove an island, or part of the continent. The natives of San Salvador, whom he had on board, called it Cuba; Columbus gave it the name of Juanna. He entered the mouth of a large river with his fquadron, and all the inhabitants fled to the mountains as he approached the fhore. But as he refolved to careen his fhips in that place, he fent fome Spaniards, together with one of the people of San Salvador, to view the interior parts of the country. They, having advanced above fixty miles from the fhore, reported upon their return, that the foil was richer and more cultivated than any they had hitherto difcovered; that, befides many scattered cottages, they had found one village, containing above a thousand inhabitants; that the people, though naked, feemed to be more intelligent than thofe of San Salvador, but had treated them with the fame refpectful attention, kiffing their feet, and honouring them as facred beings allied to Heaven; that they had given them to eat a certain root, the tafle of which resembled roasted chefnuts, and likewife a fingular fpecies of corn called maize, which, either when roafted whole or ground into meal, was abundantly palatable; that there feemed to be no four-footed animals in the country, but a fpecies of dogs, which could not bark, and a creature refembling a rabbit, but of a much smaller fize; that they had obferved fome ornaments of gold among the people, but of no great value. Thefe Thefe meffengers had prevailed with fome of the natives to accompany them, who informed Columbus, that the gold of which they made their ornaments was found in Cubanacan. By this word they meant the middle or inland part of Cuba; but Columbus, being ignorant of their language, as well as unaccustomed to their pronunciation, and his thoughts running continually upon his own theory concerning the difcovery of the Eaft Indies, he was led, by the resemblance of found, to fuppofe that they fpoke of the Great Khan, and imagined that the opulent kingdom of Cathay, defcribed by Marco Polo, was not very remote. This induced him to employ fome time in viewing the country. He vifited almoft every harbour, from Porto del Principe, on the north coaft of Cuba, to the eastern extremity of the ifland; but though delighted with the beauty of the fcenes, which every where prefented themfelves, and amazed at the luxuriant fertility of the foil, both which, from their novelty, made a more lively impreffion upon his imagination*, he did not find gold in fuch quantity as was fufficient to fatisfy either the avarice of his followers, or the expectations of the court to which he was to return. The people of the country, as much aftonished at his eagerness in queft of gold, as the Europeans were at their ignorance and fimplicity, pointed towards the eaft, where an ifland which they called Hayti was fituated, in which that metal was more abundant than among them. Columbus ordered his fquadron to bend its courfe thither; but Martin Alonso Pinzon, impatient to be the firft who should take poffeffion of the treafures which this country was fuppofed to contain, quitted his companions, regardless of all the admiral's fignals to flacken fail until they hould come up with him. Columbus, retarded by contrary winds, did not reach Hayti till the fixth of December. He called the port where he firft touched St. In a letter of the admiral's to Ferdinand and Ifabella, he defcribes one of the harbours in Cuba, with all the enthufiaftic admiration of a discoverer." I difcovered a river which a galley might eafily enter; the beauty of it induced me to found, and I found from five to eight fathoms of water. Having proceeded a confiderable way up the river, every thing invited me to fettle there. The beauty of the river, the clearnefs of the water, through which I could fee the fandy bottom, the multitude of palmtrees of different kinds, the talleft and finest 1 had feen, and an infinite number of other large and flourishing trees, the birds, and the verdure of the plains, are fo wonderfully beautiful, that this country excels all others as far as the day furpaffes the night in brightnefs and fplendour, fo that I often faid, that it would be in vain for me to attempt to give your highnesses a full account of it, for neither my tongue nor my pen could come up to the truth, and indeed I am fo much amazed at the fight of such beauty, that I know not how to defcribe it." Life of Columb. c. 30. Nicholas, and the island itself Espagnola, in honour of the kingdom by which he was employed; and it is the only country, of those he had yet difcovered, which has retained the name that he gave it. As he could neither meet with the Pinta, nor have any intercourse with the inhabitants, who fled in great confternation towards the woods, he foon quitted St. Nicholas, and failing along the northern coaft of the island, he entered another harbour, which he called the Conception. Here he was more fortunate; his people overtook a woman who was flying from them, and after treating her with great gentleness, difmiffed her with a prefent of fuch toys as they knew were moft valued in thofe regions. The defcription which she gave to her countrymen of the humanity and wonderful qualities of the ftrangers; their admiration of the trinkets, which she shewed with exultation; and their eagerness to participate of the fame favours; removed all their fears, and induced many of them to repair to the harbour. The ftrange objects which they beheld, and the baubles, which Columbus bestowed upon them, amply gratified their curiofity and their wishes. They nearly refembled the people of Guanahani and Cuba. They were naked like them, ignorant, and fimple; and feemed to be equally unacquainted with all the arts which appear most neceffary in polished focieties; but they were gentle, cre dulous, and timid, to a degree which rendered it easy to acquire the afcendant over them, especially as their exceffive admiration led them into the fame error with the people of the other islands, in believing the Spaniards to be more than mortals, and defcended immediately from Heaven. They poffeffed gold in greater abundance than their neighbours, which they readily exchanged for bells, beads, or pins; and in this unequal traffic both parties were highly pleafed, each confidering themselves as gainers by the tranfaction. Here Columbus was vifited by a prince or cazique of the country. He appeared with all the pomp known among a fimple people, being carried in a fort of palanquin upon the fhoulders of four men, and attended by many of his subjects, who ferved him with great refpect. His deportment was grave and stately, very referved towards his own people, but with Columbus and the Spaniards extremely courteous. He gave the admiral fome thin plates of gold, and a girdle of curious workmanfbip, receiving in return presents of fmall value, but highly acceptable to him. Columbus, ftill intent on difcovering the mines which yielded gold, continued to interrogate all the natives with whom he had any intercourfe concerning their fituation. They concurred in pointing out a mountainous country, which they called Cibao, at fome diftance from the fea, and farther towards the caft. Struck with this found, which appeared |