Notable Voyagers | Page 9

several
leagues in extent, level, and covered with trees, and populated, for the
naked inhabitants were seen running from all parts to the shore, and
gazing with astonishment at the ships. The anchors being dropped, the
boats manned, he, richly attired in scarlet and holding the royal
standard, accompanied by the Pinzons in their own boats, approached
the shore.
On landing he threw himself on his knees, and kissing the earth,
returned thanks to God, the rest following his example. He then,
drawing his sword, took possession of the island, which he named San
Salvador, in the names of the sovereigns of Castile. The crews now
thronged round the Admiral, some embracing him, others kissing his
hands, expressing their joy; the most mutinous becoming the most
enthusiastic and devoted.
The natives, who had at first fled, supposing the ships monsters which
had risen from the deep, recovering their fears, now timidly advanced,
lost in admiration at the shining armour and splendid dresses of the
Spaniards, and their complexions and beards, at once recognising the
Admiral as the commander of the strangers.
Columbus, pleased with their gentleness, suffered them to scrutinise
him, and won them by his benignity. The natives were equally objects
of curiosity to the Spaniards. They were naked, painted all over with a
variety of colours and designs. Their complexion was tawny, and they
were destitute of beards; their hair not crisp, like that of negroes, but
straight and coarse; their features were agreeable; their stature moderate
and well shaped; their foreheads lofty, and their eyes remarkably fine.
As Columbus supposed that he had landed on an island at the extremity
of India, he called the natives Indians, as the inhabitants of the New
World have ever since been denominated. Their only arms were lances

pointed with the teeth or bones of fishes. There was no iron seen, and
so ignorant were the natives of its properties, that one of them took a
drawn sword by the edge, not aware that it would cut.
Columbus, to win their confidence, distributed among them coloured
caps, hawks' bells, and glass beads, with which they were highly
pleased, allowing the Spaniards unmolested to walk about the groves
examining the beautiful trees, the shrubs, fruits, and flowers, all so
strange to them.
The next morning canoes of all sizes, formed out of single trees, came
off, some holding one man, some forty or fifty, who managed them
with great dexterity.
They readily accepted toys and trinkets, which, supposing them to be
brought from heaven, possessed a supernatural virtue in their eyes. The
only things they had to give in return were parrots and balls of
cotton-yarn, besides cassava cakes, formed from the flour of a root
called yuca, which they cultivated in their fields. The Spaniards, who
were eagerly looking out for gold, were delighted to obtain some small
ornaments of that metal in exchange for beads and hawks' bells. As it
was a royal monopoly, Columbus forbade any traffic in it, as he did
also in cotton, reserving to the crown all trade in it.
Misled by the accounts he had read in Marco Polo's works, he was from
the first persuaded that he had arrived at the islands lying opposite
Cathay in the Chinese seas, and that the country to the south, which he
understood from the natives abounded in gold, must be the famous
island of Cipango.
San Salvador, where he first landed, still retains its name, though called
by the English from its shape Cat Island. It is one of the great cluster of
the Lucayos or Bahama Islands. Coasting round it in the boats, the
Admiral visited various spots, and had friendly intercourse with the
natives, to whom he gave glass beads and other trifles.
He landed at another place, where there were six Indian huts
surrounded by groves and gardens as beautiful as those of Castile.

At last the sailors, wearied with their exertions, returned to the ships,
carrying seven Indians, that they might, by acquiring the Spanish
language, serve as interpreters. Taking in a supply of wood and water,
the squadron sailed the same evening to the south, where the Admiral
expected to discover Cipango. As the Indians told him there were
upwards of a hundred islands in the neighbourhood, he was confirmed
in his belief that they must be those described by Marco Polo,
abounding with gold, silver, drugs, and spices.
Several other islands were visited, but the explorers looked in vain for
bracelets and anklets of gold. One day, just as the ships were about to
make sail, one of the San Salvador Indians on board the Nina, plunging
overboard, swam to a large canoe which had come near. A boat was
sent in chase, but the Indians in their light canoe escaped, and reaching