displeased with the licentiousness of their new neighbours, who endeavoured to keep them in awe by a display of force. The explosion of firearms, and the sight of men mounted on horses, were at first objects of terror; but use had rendered them less formidable. Columbus, overburdened with care and fatigue, fell sick, and at his recovery found a mutiny among his men, which, by a due mixture of resolution and lenity, he had the address to quell. He then endeavoured to establish discipline among his own people, and to employ the natives in cutting roads through the woods. While he was present and able to attend to business, things went on so prosperously that he thought he might safely proceed on his discoveries.

In his former voyage he had visited Cuba, but was uncertain whether it were an island or a part of some continent. He therefore passed over to its eastern extremity, and coasted its southern side till he found himself entangled among a vast number of small islands, which, for their beauty and fertility, he called the Garden of the Queen; but the dangerous rocks and shoals which surrounded them obliged him to stretch farther to the southward, by which means he discovered the

island of Jamaica, where he found water and other refreshments for his men, who were almost dead with famine. The hazard, fatigue, and distress of this voyage threw him into a lethargic disorder, from which he had just recovered, when he returned to his colony and found it all in confusion, from the same causes which had proved destructivé to the first.

In his absence, the licentiousness of the Spaniards had provoked several of the chiefs, four of whom had united to destroy them, and had actually commenced hostilities, in which twenty Spaniards were killed. Columbus collected his people, put them into the best order, and, by a judicious combination of force and stratagem, gained a decisive victory, to which the horses and dogs did not a little contribute.

At his return to Hispaniola he had the pleasure of meeting his brother Bartholo mew,* whom he had not seen for several

* [He was a man of great merit, whose deserts have been overshadowed by the singular renown of the admiral. He was a man of hardly inferior science, of great experience as a navigator, prompt, sagacious, and intrepid. Less imaginative, perhaps, and enthusiastic than his brother, he had more worldly wisdom, and more skill in ruling the turbulent and factious spirits who tortured the more gentle temper of the admiral. He

years, and whom he supposed to have been dead. Bartholomew was a man of equal knowledge, experience, bravery, and prudence with himself. His patience had endured a severe trial in their long separation. He had many obstacles to surmount before he could get to England and obtain access to the king. He was at Paris when he heard of the success of his brother's first enterprise, who had gone on the second before Bartholomew could get to Spain. On his arrival there, and being introduced to the court, he was appointed to the command of three ships, which were destined to convey supplies to the colony; and he arrived while Christopher was absent on his voyage to Cuba and Jamaica. Columbus appointed his brother to command at Isabella, while he went into the interior part of the island to perfect his conquest, and reduce the natives to subjection and tribute.

The Indians were so unused to collect gold-dust in such quantities as their conquerors demanded it, that they offered to plant

was generous and affable, though often abrupt and severe; tall, muscular, and vigorous in person, of a grave and stern aspect. Patient in labour, cheerful in danger, and resolute in command, he was as a right hand to his brother.-H.]

the immense plains of Hispaniola, and pay an equivalent in corn. Columbus was struck with the magnanimity of the proposal, and, in consequence, moderated the tribute. This did not satisfy the avarice of his fellow-adventurers, who found means to complain of him to the king's ministers for his negligence in acquiring the only commodity which they thought deserved the name of riches. The Indians then desisted from planting their usual quantity of corn, and attempted to subsist chiefly on animal food. This experiment proved injurious to themselves as well as to their conquerors; and it was computed that, within four years from the first discovery of the island, one third part of its inhabitants perished.

The complaints against Columbus so wrought on the jealous mind of King Ferdinand, that John Aguado,* who was sent, in 1495, with supplies to the colony, had orders to act as a spy on his conduct. This man behaved with so little discretion as to seek matter of accusation, and give out threats

* [A weak, vain man, who had before received great favours from Columbus. His commission was merely one of inquiry, but he claimed the right to interfere in and control the affairs of the colony.-H.]

against the admiral. At the same time, the ships which he commanded being destroyed by a hurricane, he had no means to return, till Columbus, knowing that he had enemies at home, and nothing to support him but his own merit, resolved to go to Spain with two caravels; himself in one, and Aguado in the other. Having appointed proper persons to command the several forts his brother Bartholomew to superintend the whole, and his brother James* to be next in authority-he set sail on the tenth of March, 1496, and, after a perilous and tedious voyage in the tropical latitudes, arrived in Cadiz on the eleventh of June.

His presence at court, with the gold and other valuable articles which he carried home, removed, in some measure, the prejudices which had been excited against him. But his enemies, though silent, were not idle ; and in a court where phlegm and languor proved a clog to the spirit of enterprise, they found it not difficult to obstruct his views, which, notwithstanding all discouragements, were still pointed to the discovery of a way to India by the west.

* [Better known by his Spanish name Diego. He was far inferior to his brothers in talents and energy.-H.]