While he was preparing his canoe for the voyage, with a false keel and weather-boards, Columbus wrote a letter to Ovando, governor of Hispaniola, begging that a ship might immediately be sent to bring him and his men to Hispaniola; and he wrote another to the sovereigns, intreating for a ship to convey them from Hispaniola to Spain. In this letter he gave a comprehensive account of his voyage, and expressed his opinion that Veragua was the Aurea Chersonesus of the ancients. He supposed himself to have reached the confines of the dominions of the Grand Khan, and offered, if he lived to return to Spain, to conduct a mission thither to instruct that potentate in the christian faith. What an instance of soaring enthusiasm and irrepressible enterprise, is here exhibited! At the time he was indulging these visions, and proposing new and romantic enterprises, he was broken down by age and infirmities, racked by pain, confined to his bed, and shut up in a wreck on the coast of a remote and savage island!

The dispatches being ready, and the canoe fitted for sea, Diego Mendez embarked, accompanied by a Spaniard and six indians, and departed along the coast to the eastward. At the end of fifteen days he returned alone to the harbour in his canoe, having been taken prisoner by the indians, at the east end of the island, and narrowly escaped with his life. Nothing daunted, he of fered to depart immediately on a second attempt, provided he could be escorted to the end of the island by an armed force. His offer was accepted, and Bartholomew Fiesco, a Genoese, who had commanded one of the caravals, and was strongly attached to the admiral, was associated with him in this second expedition. Each had a canoe, with six Spaniards and ten indians under his

command. On reaching Hispaniola, Fiesco was to return immediately to Jamaica, to bring tidings to the admiral of the safe arrival of his messenger; while Diego Mendez was to proceed to San Domingo, and, after purchasing and dispatching a ship, was to depart for Spain, with the letter to the sovereigns.

All arrangements being made, the indians placed in the canoes a supply of cassava bread, and each his calabash of water. The Spaniards, beside their provisions, had each his sword and target. The adelantado, with an armed band, kept pace with them along the coast, until they reached the end of the island, where, waiting for three days until the weather was perfectly serene, they launched forth-on the broad bosom of the sea. The adelantado remained watching them until they became mere specks on the ocean, and the evening hid them from his view, and then returned to the harbour.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Mutiny of Porras. Eclipse of the moon. Stratagem of Columbus to procure supplies from the indians. [1503.]

MONTHS elapsed, and nothing was heard of Mendez and Fiesco. The Spaniards, enfeebled by past sufferings, crowded in close quarters, in a moist and sultry climate, and reduced to a vegetable diet, to which they were unaccustomed, became extremely sickly, and their maladies were heightened by anxiety and suspense. Day after day, and week after week, they had kept a

constant look out upon the sea, for the expected canoe of Fiesco, but all in vain, and at length they began to fear that their messengers had perished. Some gradually sank into despondency, others became peevish and impatient; and in their unreasonable heat, railed at their venerable and infirm commander as the cause of all their misfortunes.

Among the officers of Columbus were two brothers, Francisco and Diego Porras, relations of the royal treasurer Morales. To gratify the latter, the admiral had appointed one of them captain of a caraval, and the other notary and accountant general of the expedition. They were vain and insolent men, and, like many others whom Columbus had benefited, requited his kindness with the blackest ingratitude. Mingling with the people, they assured them that Columbus had no intention of return

ing to Spain, having in reality been banished thence by the sovereigns. Hispaniola, they said, was equally closed against him, and that it was his design to remain In Jamaica, until his friends could make interest at court to procure his recal. As to Mendez and Fiesco, they had been sent to Spain by Columbus on his own private concerns; if this was not the case, why did not the promised ship arrive, or why did not Fiesco return. Or if the canoes had really been sent for succour, the long time that had elapsed without tidings, gave reason to believe that they had perished by the way. In such case, their only alternative would be to take indian canoes, and endeavour to reach Hispaniola; but there was no hope of persuading the admiral to do this, he was too old, and too infirm, to undertake such a voyage.

By these insidious suggestions, they gradually prepared the people for revolt, assuring them of the protection of

their own relations in Spain, and of the countenance of Ovando and Fonseca, if not of the favour of the sovereigns themselves, who had shown their ill will towards Columbus, by stripping him of part of his dignities and privileges.

On the 2d of January, 1504, the mutiny broke out. Francisco Porras suddenly entered the cabin where Co-lumbus was confined to his bed by the gout, reproached him vehemently with keeping them in that desolate place to perish, and accused him of having no intention to return to Spain. The admiral raised himself in bed, and endeavoured to reason with him; but Porras was deaf to all argument. "Embark immediately, or remain, in God's name," cried he, with a voice that resounded all over the wreck. "For my part, I am for Castile! those who choose may follow me!"

This was the signal. "For Castile! for Castile!" was heard on every side. The mutineers sprang up on the most conspicuous parts of the vessel, brandishing their weapons, and amidst the uproar, voices were heard menacing the life of the admiral.

Columbus, ill and infirm as he was, leapt out of bed and tottered forth to pacify the mutineers, but was forced back into his cabin by some of his faithful adherents. The adelantado sallied forth lance in hand, and planted himself in a situation to take the whole brunt of the assault. It was with the greatest difficulty that several of the loyal part of the crew could restrain his fury, and prevail upon him to relinquish his weapon, and retire to the cabin of his brother.

The mutineers being entirely unopposed, took ten canoes, which the admiral had purchased from the indians; others, who had not been concerned in the

mutiny, joined them, through fear of remaining behind, when so reduced in number; in this way forty-eight abandoned the admiral. Many of the sick crawled forth from their cabins, and beheld their departure with tears and lamentations, and would gladly have accompanied them, had their strength permitted.

Porras coasted with his squadron of canoes to the eastward, landing occasionally and robbing the natives, pretending to act under the authority of Columbus, that he might draw on him their hostility. Arrived at the east end of the island, he procured several indians to manage the canoes, and then set out on his voyage across the gulf. The Spaniards had scarcely proceeded four leagues, when the wind came ahead, with a swell of the sea, that threatened to overwhelm the deeply laden canoes. They immediately turned for land, and in their alarm threw overboard the greater part of their effects. The danger still continuing, they drew their swords, and compelled most of the indians to leap into the sea. The latter were skilful swimmers, but the distance to land was too great for their strength; if however they at any time took hold of the canoes to rest themselves and recover breath, the Spaniards, fearful of their overturning the slight barques, would stab them, or cut off their hands. Some were thus slain by the sword, others sunk exhausted beneath the waves; eighteen perished miserably, and none survived but a few who had been retained to manage the canoes.

Having reached the shore in safety, Porras and his men waited until the weather became favourable, and then made another effort to cross to Hispaniola, but with no better success. They then abandoned the attempt in despair, and returned westward, towards the harbour,