Pioneer Spaniards in North America

Preface

IX offering to the public this series of historical sketches, it has seemed best to omit, in general, formal references to authorities. Instead, there is appended a list of some ot the books that the author has found useful, and that he can recommend. The following works may be mentioned as forming the basis of a large part of the text.

Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh's " The North Americans of Yesterday " is an inyaluable storehouse of information on the arts, customs, religion, and social life of the aboriginal Americans. Dr. Justin Winsor's " Xarratiye and Critical History " is too well known for its encyclopaedic character to need commendation. Dr. John Fiske's " The Discoyery of America" outlines the story ot the Conquest of Mexico in that lamented author's inimitable manner, and is particularly valuable in pointing out the close parallelism between the

PREFACE

respective leagues of the Iroquois and the Aztecs. He also traces admirably the evolution of the name " America." Mr. George Parker Winship's brilliant monograph on "Coronado's Expedition," published in the fourteenth volume of the Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, is a fine example of what thorough scholarship and patient research can accomplish with scanty materials in illumining a subject. With the aid of his translations from the original chronicles and his beautiful plates and maps we are able to follow the route of the Conquistadors with reasonable certainty ; and we get a vivid picture of that romantic enterprise. The reader who wishes to know something of the stirring history of our Southwest will find it sketched with thrilling interest and with genuine sympathy by Mr. C. F. Lummis in his " Spanish Pioneers."

To speak of the Conquest of Mexico and omit a reference to Mr. Prescott's classic work would be unpardonable. Equally inexcusable would it be to commend it without a word of caution. One cannot ignore the fact that he wrote before the era of first-hand anthropological study, so distinctive of our time, and of which Mr. Lewis H. Morgan's article, "Montezuma's Dinner"

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PREFACE

{North American Review^ April, 1876), which the reader should by all means read, may be regarded as a striking example. However discriminatingly he sifted the accounts of Spanish chroniclers and noted glaring discrepancies or manifest exaggerations, the data were as yet wholly lacking for establishing an independent point of view. He did the best that was possible in the then existing state of knowledge, and produced a monumental work that remains an ornament of our literature. That it is pervaded with an atmosphere of romanticism quite unhistorical was an inevitable result of the limitations of the time.

For the study of the aboriginal races, Mr. E. J. Payne's " History of the New World called America" is an incomparable work. It opens up a dim antiquity, and throws a flood of light, drawn from numerous quarters, upon the peopling of this continent, the migratory movements of aboriginal tribes, their respective degrees of social development, and the progress they had made before the advent of Europeans. From this source the matter contained in the Appendix of this volume is almost wholly derived.

The author makes grateful acknowledgment to Mr. Frederick S. Dellenbaugh for his generosity

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PREFACE

in giving the use of his admirably selected illustrations ; to Mr. W. C. Lane, Librarian of Harvard University, and Mr. Otto Fleischner, of the Boston Public Library, for valued courtesies ; and to the staff of the Boston Athenaeum and that of the Cambridge Public Library for unvarying helpfulness.

Cambridge, Mass., July 12, 1903.

vni

BOOKS OF REFERENCE

Washington living's "The Companions of Cohiinbus."

Theodore living's "The Conquest of Florida." Miss Grace Kintj's " De Soto and his Men in the Land of Florida."

Mr. W. H. Prescott's "The Conquest of Mexico." Sir Arthur Helps's "The Spanish Conquest in America."

Sir Clements R. Markham's " Americus Vespucius." Dr. Justin Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History." Dr. John Fiske's "The Discovery of America." Dr. D. G. Brinton's " Races and Peoples." Col. T. W. Higginson's " American Explorers." Mr. George P. Winship's " The Expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado " (in Fourteenth Report of the United States Bureau of Ethnology). Mr. C. F. Lumniis's " Spanish Pioneers." Mr. E. J. Payne's " History of the New World called America."

Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh's " The North Americans of Yesterday."

IX

Contents

Chapter Page

I- Alonzo de Ojeda's Voyages and Discoveries . i

II. Americus Vespucius — Our Country's Name . 21

Chapter I ALONZO DE OJEDA'S VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES

Ojeda's Interesting but Unprofitable Voyage. — He leads an Expedition to Darien. — His Thrilling Adventures with a Pirate Crew. — A Terrible Tramp through Cuba. — Fate of the Pirates. — Ojeda's Death.

H

OW much the world owes to its dreamers ! Columbus, brooding over the old dream of Cathay, with its fabled splendors, steered westward over the Sea of Darkness, and hit upon a world. The same spirit animated his successors for several generations and led to the most important results. Fanciful tales had as much to do with inspiring the first great explorations as the stories of Marco Polo and Maundeville with inciting to the first discoveries. Instead of Cipango and the land of Ophir, the Grand Khan and Prester John, it was now the Fountain of Youth, Cibola, and El Dorado. Not one of the early seekers found what he sought or achieved what he hoped. Yet each accomplished something towards bringing the unknown world within the ken of civilized man.

It was a wonder-lov ing was too marvel Land and sea ing age. Nothto be believed, forest teemed champlain's monster with prodigies. Champlain describes from hearsay a monster, said to exist in Mexico, having the wings of a bat, the head of an eagle, and the tail of an alligator. Happily, he re-assures his hearers by adding that it is harmless, as indeed it is, for the creature so metamorphosed is none other than the inoffensive iguana, a huge lizard, much relished by the natives.

The men of that day had no power of reasoning from what they actually found to what they might reasonably expect to find. Invaders staggering through stifling swamps and squalid abodes of savages, expected to see suddenly rise before them the shining battlements of a royal city, with gilded roofs and gateways encrusted with gems.

This credulous, feverish spirit of the pioneers was the reason why, when the sixteenth century closed, more than a hundred years after America had been discovered, Europeans had made scarcely a lodgment in all the territory between Mexico and the North Pole. Of permanent settlements France had not succeeded in establishing a single one ; England, not one ; and Spain, with all her splendid opportunity, had only St. Augustine, Santa Fe, and a few missions on the Gila and Rio Grande. Why was this ? Undoubtedly because the New World was looked upon rather as a wonder-land, a paradise of adventurers, than as a country that should furnish homes for industrious settlers. Men came to America, not to establish themselves, with their families, to till the soil, and to live by its produce, but to get rich quickly.

The achievements of Columbus brought into the field a host of adventurers eager to get a share of the treasures of the New World. After his third voyage, in 1498, in which he first reached the continent of America and discovered the mouth of the Orinoco, his description of the neighboring coast of Paria as abounding in gold and silver and pearls fired the imagination ot many, and a number of expeditions thither were soon launched.

Quite a notable figure among these adventurers was Alonzo de Ojeda. While he was serving with Columbus in his second voyage and in the government of Hispaniola, he had distinguished himself by taking prisoner the fierce Indian chieftain Caonabo.^ He was not with Columbus on his third voyage. But he no sooner heard of his discovery of the coast of Paria, than he determined to lead an expedition on his own account to the region that promised so rich a reward. King Ferdinand was quite willing that such explorations should be made by adventurers at their own expense, though his granting them leave was in violation of his express agreement with Columbus ; and he readily issued a commission to Ojeda. The latter had no money, but

1 See "The World's Discoverers," p. 66.

with his reputation for slcill and daring, he had no trouble in finding rich merchants who were willing to advance the needed sum. With himself he associated Juan de la Cosa, who had been a chief pilot under Columbus, and was one ot the most scientific navigators of his time. He was a veteran of the seas and a brave man. Another associate of Ojeda was the man whose name has become immortalized by being attached to the New World, Amerigo Vespucci.

The expedition sailed in May, 1499, reached the coast of South America, turned north, passed the mouth of the Orinoco, made its way through the dangerous strait between the island of Trinidad and the mainland which Columbus had called Boca del Drago (Dragon's Mouth), and coasted the shores of Paria, stopping at various places and noting the ways of the inhabitants, whom Vespucci describes very minutely. Then it touched at the island of Margarita (Pearl), since renowned for its pearl-fishery. At a point on the mainland the natives gained the friendship of the Spaniards by gifts of fish, venison, and cassava-bread, and then implored their assistance against the fierce warriors of a distant island, who, they said, were wont to come and carry off their people, to eat them at their leisure. This invitation exactly suited the adventurous nature of Ojeda. He at once took on board some guides, sailed seven days, and came to the island of the cannibals. The beach was covered with gaudily painted and befeathered warriors, ready to de-

CHAMPLAIN S DRAWING OF PEARL FISHERY

fend their native soil. The ships anchored and sent several armed boats to the attack.

They were met with a cloud of arrows. But when they fired their pedreroes (boat-howitzers that discharged stones), the noise and smoke and deadly missiles caused a panic among the Caribs, and they fled. They rallied, however, in the woods and fought the pursuing Spaniards with desperate valor. The next day the fighting was resumed. The Caribs stood their ground bravely, and, with their naked bodies and wooden weapons, engaged hand to hand the enemy sheathed in steel. Of course, they were slaughtered. Then the Spaniards plundered and burned their dwellings, returned to their ships with a number of prisoners, to be sold as slaves, and sailed away, having lost only one man killed and twenty-one wounded. This was very interesting, no doubt, but not exactly the kind of thing for which the merchants of Seville had put out their money. They expected a return in pearls, not in stories of delightful fighting, and thereafter they were not keen to invest in the fiery Ojeda's ventures.

The island of Cura9ao, which the adventurers next visited, was inhabited, according to Vespucci's account, by a race of giants. But subsequent travelers found there people of ordinary size; and we may surmise that some beverage like that potent cordial for which the island is now famous caused him to see them double.

The next point of interest visited was an Indian village on the mainland, consisting of large houses, bell-shaped, reared on piles driven into the bottom of a shallow lagoon. Its appearance recalled, in a rude way, the beautiful city of Venice, reposing on its canals, and Ojeda gave it the name of Venezuela (Little Venice), which has since been extended to include all the neighboring country. The inhabitants at first received the Spaniards kindly, swarming around the ships, some in their canoes, others swimming, for they seemed to be, like frogs, as much at home in the water as on land. Suddenly, however, they began an attack. But Ojeda quickly manned his boats charged the fleet of canoes, sank several, and dispersed the rest, with the loss of many killed, while the Spaniards had only five men wounded.

Sailing further along the coast, the voyagers came to a region where the natives lavished hospitality on them, invited them into the interior, led them from town to town, and performed their national games and dances in their honor, in fact idolized their visitors, as beings of supposed supernatural origin. These delightful experiences, however, did not produce any treasure; and Ojeda determined to see what he could pick up elsewhere. He therefore sailed to Hispaniola. But Columbus was governor there and ordered the intruder off. The latter then visited other islands, carried off numbers of the natives, and reached Spain, after an absence of thirteen months, with his ships crowded with captives. These

lO were sold as slaves ; but the returns were so meagre that, after paying expenses, there were but five hundred ducats to be divided between fifty-five adventurers. About the same time another expedition, which had avoided fighting, returned to Spain with an enormously valuable treasure in pearls.

It will be remembered that Columbus in his last voyage explored a part of the coast of Central America called Veragua, which he found very rich in gold.^ Indeed he fancied that King Solomon brought thence the gold which he used in building the temple at Jerusalem. King Ferdinand's greedy soul became filled with the idea of colonizing that rich coast and placing its government under a capable man. Columbus had now been dead three years. Bishop Fonseca put forward his favorite, the daring Ojeda, for the position. Another candidate was Diego de Nicuesa, an elegant and accomplished cavalier, who had plenty of money and could easily equip an expedition. Ferdinand decided to appoint both. Ojeda was to have the eastern half, including the coast of what is now called Colombia, and a part of the Isthmus. Nicuesa's was to be

1 See "The "World's Discoverers,'" P'ige 83. I I the western territory, extending as tar as Cape Gracias a Dios. Again the veteran pilot Juan de la Cosa became the partner of Ojeda and put all his money into the enterprise. As to Ojeda, he had none. Along \yith his reckless daring, he had a spendthrift disposition Nyhich would always haye kept him poor. So these two sailed with a slender armament. Shortly afterwards Nicuesa put to sea with a splendid fleet, magnificently equipped.

The two crovernors were rivals, and when they reached San Domino;© their jealousy broke out in violent disputes about their jurisdiction. Ojeda, in his fire-eatinff fashion, proposed to settle the matter hv a duel. But this would have been too absurd, even for Spaniards of the sixteenth century, and his loval friend, Juan de la Cosa, succeeded in calming him. Ojeda's dashing manners, however, attracted an ambitious lawyer, named Enciso, who had made money by his practice amono; the quarrelsome cavaliers in San Domingo. He airreed to fit out a vessel and join Ojeda, who, in return, promised to appoint him Chief Justice of his province.

Then Ojeda sailed away tor his government, lea\"ing Enciso to follow as soon as possible.

Some time after Ojeda's departure Xicuesa sailed with his splendid armament.

Now begins a series of adventures so abounding in strange vicissitudes, in deadly perils, in desperate straits, in cruel suffering, that this true story of the terrible sacrifices by which the Spaniards finally established themselves on the Isthmus of Panama reads more like lurid fiction than sober history.

Ojeda, true to his nature, as quickly as possible involved himself in fighting. When he reached the site of Cartagena, in what is now called Colombia, contrary to the advice of the veteran Cosa, who had been there before and knew the desperate valor of the natives and the deadliness of their poisoned arrows, he attacked a large body of them. After a sharp fight, he routed them. Recklessly following the fugitives miles into the interior, he came, at dusk, to a village from which the inhabitants had fled. The Spaniards dispersed themselves among the houses, embowered in the deep woods, roving everywhere in search of booty. Suddenly swarms of savages rushed upon them, cutting off the little groups of invaders from each other. Ojeda took his stand with a few men in a small enclosure. His companions were all killed by his side. His stanch friend, Juan de la Cosa, faithful to the last, tried to come to his rescue with a handful of men. All were killed but one, and the veteran himself fell, sending with his last breath a message of devotion to his reckless commander. Only the one man who bore '.t, and carried the tidings to the fleet, was known to have escaped from the slaughter. Ojeda himself was among the missing.

Some days afterwards, his remaining followers, exploring the coast and firing guns, in the desperate hope of finding some who might have fled the carnage, discovered the fiery adventurer lying on the roots of a mangrove by the water-side, so wasted with hunger and fatigue that he could not speak. He had escaped in the darkness from the fatal village and made his way to the sea-shore.

Shortly afterwards the squadron of Nicuesa came in sight. The ruined and fallen Ojeda shrank from meeting his powerful rival. But the latter generously forgave his former enmity, rescued him in his distress, and welcomed him on his ship.

So soon as Ojeda was able to march, the two led a force of four hundred men, with several

H horses, to take vengeance on the brave villagers- They approached in the dead of night and surrounded the place. There was not a sound but the shrill screeching of parrots in the tree-tops. But this did not arouse the sleeping natives. Suddenly they were horribly awakened by the war-cry of Spain, — "Santiago!" and the darkness was illumined by flames bursting from their cabins. In a moment the place was filled with shrieking women, who, seeing the horses, the first that had been landed on this coast, careering between the blazing houses, mistook them and their riders for some new species of fearful monsters. The carnage was indescribable. The Spaniards gave no quarter and glutted their savage vengeance.

After this Nicuesa sailed for Veragua ; and Ojeda gave up the idea of settling in a region where he had won little gold, and which was so valiantly defended. He sailed to a point on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Darien, which he fortified- and called San Sebastian. Here the Spaniards soon fell into desperate straits. Disease, hunger, and the implacable hostility of the natives, with their deadly poisoned arrows, made frightful inroads into their numbers.

Imagine their surprise when a strange sail one day appeared in the offing. Who could this be, on that lonely coast? It proved to be a reckless scoundrel named Talavera, with a crew of seventy select cut-throats. These villains, the scum of the vagabonds who had drifted to San Domingo, had heard such accounts of the abundance of gold in this new region that they had determined to come to it. The fact of not having ship or money did not long stand in their way. They went stealthilv to a point where a vessel was taking on stores, surprised and seized it, and embarked to join Ojeda. They knew nothing of navigation, but they managed to reach him. He paid them in gold for the supplies they brought, and thus his followers were saved from starvation. But Enciso did not appear, and the spirit of discontent was growing. Ojeda saw that something must be done. He offiered to go himself to San Domingo for more men and supplies, if his followers would promise to remain orderly under his lieutenant, the afterwards renowned conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro. They agreed. At the same time Talavera and his pirate crew, disappointed of finding abundant wealth at San Sebastian, resolved to return to San Domingo at

i6 all hazards. They were willing to take Ojeda, no doubt expecting that his influence would be strong enough to save their necks.

Scarcely were they at sea when Ojeda claimed to command the vessel. The pirate captain had no idea of surrendering the control. A violent quarrel ensued. The whole crew backed their leader, overpowered Ojeda, and laid him by the heels to cool his wrath in irons. In vain he cursed them for cowards and curs and offered to fight the whole of them, if they would give him his sword and a clear deck and come on two at a time. They merely jeered at his rage.

But his turn came soon. The vessel ran into a gale. Talavera and his cut-throats knew little of navigation and less of those seas, whereas Ojeda was a skilful sailor and had had experience of those waters. They made a truce with him, took off his irons, and put him in charge of the vessel as pilot. He did the best that he could, but that was only to beach the shattered craft on the southern coast of Cuba. Now the outlaws were in a desperate plight indeed, stranded on a wild shore, hundreds of miles from any habitation of white men. Their only hope lay in tramping to the eastern end of the island and seeking some means of crossing to Hispaniola (San Domingo). Accordingly they set out.

Cuba was still uncolonized, and besides its native population, its woods were full of Indians who had fled from the cruelty of their conquerors on Hispaniola. These combined and frequently attacked the castaways. Ojeda and his men easily repulsed them, but decided to keep close to the sea, that they might be less exposed to such assaults. Following this course, they became involved in an endless stretch of salt marshes. Day after day they struggled on, sometimes almost waist-deep in mire, surrounded by water, yet consumed with thirst. For food they had only a little cassava-bread and raw roots. At night they climbed upon the twisted roots of the mangrove-trees which grow in the water, and there made their bed. Some were drowned in swimming across rivers and- inlets ; others were smothered in the mire. Altogether, their situation was desperate. They spent thirty days in the interminable morass and lost half of their number.

At last, when some of the survivors in utter despair laid themselves down to die, Ojeda and a few of the stronger, still struggling forward,

i8 came to dry land and found a path that led to an Indian village. The native chief, seeing their exhausted condition, cared for them tenderly, sent a large party with provisions to relieve and bring in on their shoulders the stragglers in the marsh, and entertained all the strangers with the kindest hospitality until they were able to travel. But this lesson of humanity from heathen savages was wasted on these Christian Spaniards.

When Ojeda's party were restored to health they continued their journey and finally reached Jamaica, where there was a Spanish settlement. After a time Ojeda set sail for San Domingo, but his piratical companions preferred remaining in Jamaica to facing the risk of a halter.

Diego Columbus (the Admiral's son) was now Governor of Hispaniola.^ So soon as he heard the story of Ojeda's adventures, he sent a strong force of soldiers to arrest the villains in Jamaica. They were brought to San Domingo in chains, and Talavera was hanged, with a number of his accomplices. " Never," says Washington Irving, " had vagabonds traveled farther or toiled harder to arrive at the gallows."

Ojeda's end was less tragic, but scarcely more

^ See " The World's Discoverers," page 92. 19 cheerful. In San Domingo he learned that his partner, Enciso, had long since sailed for the colony in Panama. He tried hard to raise an expedition to follow him, but he had no money, and nobody would lend him any. He had acquired the reputation of a man who always rushed into danger and got only fighting where more prudent men got gold. He was never able to obtain another command, and sank into dire poverty. His proud spirit was broken by neglect, and the aspiring cavalier who once led the " Ocean Chivalry " died so poor that he left not enough money to pay for his burial.

chapter II AMERICUS VESPUCIUS — OUR COUNTRY'S NAME chapter II

AMERICUS VESPUCIUS — OUR COUNTRY'S NAME

Controversy about Vespucius. — What is known about him. — What he claimed to have done. — How the name America originated. — First applied to Brazil. — Extended to all South America. — Then to the whole continent.

THE man whose name our country bears deserves at least a passing notice. Though this work seeks to avoid controversy and to state only accepted facts, in this case the importance of the subject may excuse us for departing from this rule. It surely is worth our while to learn something about the man whose name is borne by the New World, and to try to determine how much claim he really has to be enrolled among great discoverers.

I think we shall find that Amerigo Vespucci, as was his name, has been treated by the great majority of writers with some degree of injustice. Because an honor was thrust upon him which he never sought, they have looked upon him as a cunning impostor, who craftily planned to reap honors which belonged to another. In the view of these writers, he was a mere landsman, " a beef contractor," who had picked up a smattering of nautical knowledge and in a very subordinate capacity made some voyages, upon which he based the most extravagant claims of great discoveries, and, these claims being credited by people in Europe who knew no better, was hailed as an illustrious man whose name was worthy to be borne by the New World. In the view of another and far smaller number of writers, Vespucius was a man of very great ability, who made remarkable voyages, achieved brilliant discoveries, and probably was the first person who laid eyes on the mainland of America. Perhaps neither party is wholly right. Let us glance at the facts about which there is no dispute.

Amerigo Vespucci was born at Florence, in the year 1452, of a well-to-do family, and received a fairly good education. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and finally went to Spain and became connected with a man who took a large contract for furnishing caravels for foreign exploration. He had already devoted much attendon to the study of astronomy and mapmaking; his business relations threw him much in the company of navigators ; and the result was that he sailed as a pilot and scientific man with Ojeda in his first voyage, in 1499. Thus he gained a knowledge of the Pearl Coast and observed the manners and customs of the natives, whom he afterwards described most interestingly. Later, it is said, he made other voyages. Later still he was appointed Pilot Major of Spain, having been selected from among many eminent navigators for that highly responsible office, in which he had supervision of all maps and charts, and was charged with the duty of examining pilots in the use of nautical instruments. He was well acquainted with Columbus, who esteemed him very highly and warmly commended him to his son. These circumstances show his standing and prove that he was not a mere landsman who palmed himself off on ignorant people.

On the other hand, he certainly was careless and inaccurate in his dates ; vain and boastful, never naming the captain on any vovage on which he sailed, but in downright words claiming for himself all the credit of whatever was accomplished ; given to exaggeration and sometimes to sheer invention. These facts are evident in his writings and have created a prejudice against him, incHning many readers to believe him wholly a fraud. But this seems to be a too sweeping condemnation. Braggarts have sometimes shown themselves to be really brave, and persons addicted to exaggeration may yet be truthful in the main. Let us, therefore, not too hastily condemn Amerigo Vespucci, — or Americus Vespucius, as we call him, using the Latin form of his name, — but rather try to get at some of the main facts in this controversy.

First, let us note that there is not any dispute whatever as to who led the way to the New World. If it was to be named for its discoverer, it should have been called Columbia. On this point all the world is agreed. The only question is as to who first sighted the mainland. According to the accepted account, Columbus, in his third voyage, in 1498, first reached the coast of South America, and thus was the discoverer of the American continent, as well as of the New World, in general. But here comes in Vespucci's claim, which was published some years later. According to this story, he sailed

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FRONTISPIECE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF VESPUCCl's LETTERS on May lo, 1497 — note the year; made a landfall somewhere on this continent — his usual inaccuracy makes it difficult to determine at what point; coasted it for many hundreds of miles; had a number of adventures with the natives, whom he describes quite minutely ; and finally returned to Spain with a cargo of Indian captives. Of course, if this account is true, there is no room for dispute : Vespucci discovered the American continent. But, say the admirers of Columbus, this alleged voyage of Vespucci, in 1497, is a wicked invention, intended to rob the great discoverer of a part of his just fame. They make, in especial, these two points against the Florentine: (i) His account of this voyage relates almost identically the same incidents that occurred in Ojeda's first vovage (see the preceding chapter), on which he undoubtedly was present as a pilot. These occurrences, they say, he put into an imaginary voyage, from which he carefully omitted Ojeda's name, and to which he cunningly gave the date 1497. (2) When King Ferdinand tried to reduce as much as possible the claims of Columbus as a discoverer, he would have gladly welcomed any shadow of proof that anybody else had first reached the mainland.