Amerigo Vespucci

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His services were in great request at that time, and in the month of
October, 1500, he was engaged by Rodrigo Bastidas, a lawyer of
Seville, to pilot a small expedition he had fitted out to search for
gold and pearls. This was the expedition in which Vasco Nunez de
Balboa first embarked for the New World, and which was so profitable
that the leaders returned (though their vessels had sunk at their
anchors in a harbor of Haiti) with sufficient pearls to give them each
a fortune. If they had been content to live at ease in Spain, they
might have done so during the remainder of their days; but both
Bastidas and La Cosa were lured back to the coast of Terra Firma by
the prospect of further enrichment, and there they came to untimely
ends.

La Cosa was created _alguazil mayor_ of the territory he and Vespucci
had coasted, and finding Ojeda in want--both of money and an
opportunity to display his prowess as a fighter--he generously shared
his fortune with him and fitted out a fleet containing a ship and two
small brigantines. Thenceforth, as fate willed it, the great-hearted
pilot and the fiery cavalier were inseparable until cut down by death.
In the month of November, 1509, they set sail from Santo Domingo with
their three vessels and three hundred men. La Cosa piloted the little
fleet into a safe harbor, as he knew the coast well from two previous
visits to Terra Firma, but he endeavored to induce Ojeda to attempt a
settlement farther on towards the Isthmus of Darien, as the Indians of
this region were very ferocious and used poisoned arrows.

Ojeda, however, would not be turned from his purpose, which was to
acquire a large number of slaves, either by stratagem or force. After
the monks who accompanied his command had read a requisition to the
savages, requiring them to submit gracefully and be converted, if they
did not wish to incur the vengeance of the King of Spain, the Pope of
Rome, and their emissaries there assembled, finding them obdurate,
Ojeda gave the command to attack. The Indians, by this time, had
assembled in great force, and if they understood the message (which
was not likely, as it was in Spanish, a language they had never heard
before) they manifested no inclination to heed its warnings. They
brandished their spears, shot their arrows, and yelled defiance to the
invaders. This was more than the rash Ojeda could endure, and he
dashed headlong at the naked enemy without waiting for his men to
follow.

Only the gallant La Cosa was with him at first, continually
remonstrating with his friend for his temerity, but fighting bravely
at his side. The old pilot was a man of peace, but he was destined to
die a violent and a horrible death. While pressing forward in advance
of their men, the retreat of Ojeda and La Cosa was cut off by the wily
savages, who had pretended to retire to the hills, whence they soon
returned in great force. La Cosa took refuge in a hut, where he
gallantly defended himself until a poisoned arrow pierced his breast
and he fell to the ground. One companion survived, to whom he said, as
he felt the chill of death creeping over him, "Brother, since God hath
protected thee from harm, sally out and fly; and if ever thou shouldst
see Alonzo de Ojeda, tell him of my fate."

Thus expired Juan de la Cosa, former companion of Columbus and
Vespucci, able pilot, skilled cartographer, loyal till death to the
man who had led him into the forest where he met that fatal arrow.

It is claimed by some that Vespucci and La Cosa made two voyages
together, in the years 1505 and 1507, but this is doubtful. After
their return from the voyage of 1499-1500 they separated, Amerigo to
take service with the King of Portugal, and La Cosa, upon the
completion of his chart and after his return from the Bastidas
expedition of 1500-1501, settling down to the enjoyment of his
fortune. The third famous member of the trio, Alonzo de Ojeda,
obtained authority from the king to colonize Coquibacoa, on the coast
of Terra Firma, and received in addition a grant of land six leagues
square in the island of Hispaniola.

The former venture had not been considered a success, but the
merchants of Seville and Cadiz were persuaded to once more try their
fortunes with the brave cavalier Ojeda, and fitted out for him a fleet
of four large vessels. In command of these he set sail, in the year
1502, and after touching at Cumana, where he pillaged the Indians and
took many prisoners, he proceeded to Coquibacoa. Finding the place
unsuited for a settlement, he went farther westward and attempted a
colony at Bahia Honda, building there a fortress and huts for his
people. The Indians were hostile at first, but gold was found in
abundance--so much of it, in fact, that the adventurers began to
quarrel over it, and soon came to blows. Ojeda, as usual, was foremost
in the fight that followed, and, as his company turned against him, he
was entrapped on one of the caravels and placed in irons. Then the
entire company sailed for Hispaniola, intending to submit the cause of
their dissension, which was their strong-box full of gold, to the
courts of that island for a decision. They arrived at a port on the
western coast of Hispaniola, and in the night the manacled Ojeda
slipped overboard into the water, intending to swim ashore and make
his escape. The fetters on his feet were heavy, however, though his
arms were free, and he was nearly drowned before his companions,
hearing his cries for help, pulled him out of the water and again
confined him in the hold of the vessel.

Taken to the city of Santo Domingo, he was placed on trial for
attempting to defraud the government, and the decision was against
him. He was not only deprived of his lands, but was stripped of
everything he owned. For several years thereafter he roamed about the
island, and made occasional voyages, but as a penniless, rather than
an influential, adventurer. His good friend, the "ungodly bishop,"
Fonseca, was still in power, but inaccessible through the great
distance that separated them. One happy day, however, Ojeda met La
Cosa, who was then in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, and
who, with the reckless generosity for which sailors are proverbial,
placed all his means at his disposal. He went to Spain, where he saw
the bishop, secured a fleet (as already mentioned), and in it sailed
for Santo Domingo, where he was met by his partner, and together the
soldier and the sailor set out for Terra Firma.

Before they left the island, however, Ojeda must needs plunge himself
into another difficulty by picking a quarrel with a rival discoverer,
Nicuesa, whom he challenged to fight a duel. It seems that King
Ferdinand had granted territory in Terra Firma to both these men; and,
though there was certainly room enough and to spare in that vast
region, they began to dispute over their perspective boundaries before
they had staked them out. The hot-headed Ojeda was a skilled
swordsman, but Nicuesa was artful enough to avoid an encounter, in
which there was little doubt he would be killed, by insisting that
each contestant should deposit five thousand castellanos with an
umpire before engaging in the fight. As this was a larger sum than
poor Ojeda could raise--which, of course, Nicuesa knew full well--the
irate cavalier was obliged to sail without having obtained
satisfaction.

This was the expedition that ended so disastrously, as narrated in a
previous chapter. The Spaniard who was charged with La Cosa's last
message to Ojeda was the only survivor of seventy who had followed the
rash commander in his headlong attack. What had become of Ojeda
himself none of the survivors could tell, for several days passed
without news of him. His body was not to be found among the slain, and
no one who knew him believed that the Indians could have captured him
alive. He had fought like a tiger to reach and defend his friend La
Cosa, but had been borne back by the thronging savages, and since
then nothing had been heard of him. The woods and shore were searched
by scouts, and he was finally found extended on some mangrove roots on
the borders of the forest. He was in such an exhausted state that he
could not speak, but, intrepid to the last, still clung to his
buckler, and in his right hand grasped the good sword with which he
had cut his way through the savage hordes.

Although famished, and so weak that he could not stand, it was
discovered that he had not received a single wound; but on his shield
were seen the dents made by more than three hundred arrows. His rescue
had scarcely been effected before the ships of his deadly rival,
Nicuesa, sailed into the harbor; but, instead of taking advantage of
Ojeda's defenceless condition, the high-minded hidalgo offered to join
with him in an attack upon the savages, in order to avenge his defeat.
Combining their forces, the two erstwhile enemies fell upon the
Indians while they were asleep, slaughtered an immense number, and
then, after plundering their dwellings set them on fire.

Thus the unfortunate pilot and his comrades were avenged, and the
ships sailed on, leaving behind hundreds of mangled corpses and huts
reduced to ashes. It was not strange, then, that the surviving savages
should ceaselessly attack the settlement soon after founded by Ojeda
on their coast, and with such persistency that finally it had to be
abandoned. It was in one of these attacks that Ojeda received his
first wound. He had hitherto considered himself invulnerable, but,
falling into an Indian ambush, a poisoned arrow pierced his thigh.
After wrenching it from the wound, he ordered his surgeon, on pain of
death for refusal, to burn out the venom with red-hot irons, and by
this means, though his life was saved, he received injuries that made
him permanently lame.

At last conditions in the settlement became so desperate that Ojeda
seized the occasion of a pirate ship touching there to depart for
Hispaniola in search of assistance. Leaving his company in charge of
Francisco Pizarro--who in this manner began his conquering career--he
embarked in the pirate ship, but had hardly cleared the harbor before
he began a fierce quarrel with the commander, Talavera, by whose
orders he was seized and fettered. Even when chained to the deck, the
undaunted cavalier dared Talavera and his crew to fight him, two at a
time, and when they refused denounced them all as cowards.

A violent gale arose, with the result that their ship was wrecked on
the southern coast of Cuba. Escaping to shore, they endured terrible
sufferings for weeks, wandering half famished in forests and through
swamps, until finally rescued by a tribe of Indians who had not heard
of Spanish atrocities and who gave them freely all the provisions they
needed. A canoe was despatched to Jamaica with the tidings of
disaster, and in the end Ojeda reached Hispaniola, where he had the
satisfaction of seeing his late companions hung for their crimes, and
where he passed the remainder of his life in poverty. He died in 1515,
so poor, says Bishop Las Casas, "that he did not leave money enough to
provide for his interment, and so broken in spirit that, with his last
breath, he entreated his body might be buried in the monastery of San
Francisco [the ruins of which may still be seen in Santo Domingo],
just at the portal, in humble expiation of his past pride, 'that every
one who entered might tread upon his grave.'"

XI

ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL

1501-1502

The New World, subsequently to be called America, did not reveal
itself to navigators during the lifetime of any one of those first
engaged in its discovery. Its islands and coast-lines were brought to
view one by one, and bit by bit, so that many years elapsed between
the voyage of Columbus, in 1492, and that which finally enabled the
map-makers to complete the outlines of the continents. It is
interesting and instructive to trace the movements of the explorers,
and note how, after the initial work of Columbus, they emulate one
another in pushing farther and farther into the great ocean of
darkness, their voyages overlapping at times, but ever extending,
until at last the islands of the West Indies are all revealed and the
vast southern continent is circumnavigated.

Columbus, in his first three voyages, brought to view most of those
islands now known as the Antilles, and on his fourth and last he
skirted the eastern coast of Central America; but he left gaps here
and there which it took many years to fill. On his third voyage, in
1498, he discovered the island of Trinidad and the pearl islands off
the coast of Cumana; but he did not proceed, as he should have done,
along the coast of Terra Firma, and hence Ojeda, Vespucci, and La Cosa
slipped in, guided by the very chart made by him and so treacherously
furnished them by Fonseca.

[Illustration: ROUTES OF THE DISCOVERERS]

While doubts may be entertained as to the "first" voyage of Vespucci,
none can exist as to that made by him in 1499-1500, as we have the
sworn testimony to that effect by Ojeda himself, who, when called to
give the same, in the great suit brought by Diego Columbus against the
crown, declared that he had with him on that voyage both La Cosa and
the Florentine. This testimony was given in 1513, a year after
Vespucci's death, and its object was to show that the coast of Terra
Firma, so called, had been first seen by Columbus. By establishing the
fact of his priority, it disposed of any claim Vespucci or his
friends may have made, as he and Ojeda were sailing with the
track-chart of Columbus as their guide. Thus they picked up the route
pursued by the Admiral, and extended it several degrees, Bastidas and
La Cosa, the next year, carrying it still farther.

In December, 1499, in June of which year Ojeda and Vespucci had set
out together, Vicente Pinzon sailed along the Brazilian coast to a
point eight degrees south of the equinoctial line. He returned to
Spain in September, 1500, and in April of that year Pedro Alvarez
Cabral, in command of a Portuguese fleet bound for the Spice Islands,
over the route discovered by Da Gama, accidentally came in sight of
land on the coast of the country since known as Brazil, in latitude
sixteen degrees south of the line. Unable to prosecute explorations
there, as he was bound for the East, around the Cape of Good Hope and
along the west coast of Africa, Cabral sent a vessel of his fleet back
to Portugal with the news, and proceeded on his way.

Casting about for a navigator eminently qualified as pilot and
cosmographer to pursue the exploration indicated by Cabral, along the
coast of the country he had so strangely revealed, King Emanuel of
Portugal made up his mind that Amerigo Vespucci was the man he wanted.
Just when he came to this decision, and when Vespucci shifted his
allegiance from Spain to Portugal, is not exactly known, but it was
probably late in the year 1500, after his return, of course, from the
voyage with Ojeda and La Cosa. The particulars of this transaction we
will let him relate in the following letter contained in this chapter.
He does not quite satisfactorily explain how he came to break with
King Ferdinand, especially as both the sovereign and Fonseca had
received him with marked attention, the latter having presented him at
court, where he was consulted as to new expeditions, and "his accounts
of what he had already seen listened to with the greatest interest."
The affair is all the more inexplicable from the fact that during the
interval between his return from the second voyage and his going to
Portugal he was married to a charming lady of Seville. This lady, Dona
Maria Cerezo, was his betrothed during the time he was engaged with
the house of Berardi, but the mania for exploring having seized him,
their marriage was not consummated until after the two voyages had
been made. She went with him to the court, sharing there the honors
heaped upon him by the king; but after this little is heard of her,
though it is known that she survived him several years, and on account
of his distinguished services to Spain received a liberal pension from
the government.

Leaving his newly wedded wife in Seville, Vespucci went to Portugal,
"where he was received with open arms by King Emanuel, and commenced
with ardor the preparation of the fleet." Respecting his sudden
departure from Spain, his Italian eulogist, Canovai, has this to say:
"It does not appear that King Ferdinand considered himself wronged by
the sudden flight and, to say the least, apparent discourtesy of
Amerigo in leaving the kingdom and the king, his patron, without
salutation or leave-taking. It was probably looked upon as a trait of
his reserved character, or an evidence of his aversion to idle and
slanderous rumors, which he was unwilling to take the pains to
contradict. Rumors and whisperings soon die away when they have
nothing to feed upon, and when Vespucci returned, as though from a
journey, the slight was forgotten, and he was treated with greater
honor than before."

To what cause King Emanuel owed this acquisition of King Ferdinand's
skilled navigator does not appear; but he was not to retain him very
long. He made, however, two voyages under the flag of Portugal, the
first of which is outlined in this letter to his friend, the
Gonfaloniere of Florence, Piero Soderini:

"I was reposing myself in Seville, after the many toils I
had undergone in the two voyages to the Indies, made for his
Serene Highness Ferdinand, King of Castile, yet indulging in
a willingness to return to the Land of Pearls, when Fortune,
not seeming to be satisfied with my former labors, inspired
the mind of his Majesty Emanuel, King of Portugal (I know
not through what circumstances), to attempt to avail himself
of my services. There came to me a royal letter from his
majesty, containing a solicitation that I would come to
Lisbon to speak with him, he promising to show me many
favors. I did not at once determine to go, and argued with
the messenger, telling him I was ill and indisposed for the
undertaking, but that when recovered, if his highness wished
me to serve him, I would do whatever he might command.

"Seeing that he could not obtain me thus, he sent Juliano di
Bartolomeo del Giocondo, who at that time resided in Lisbon,
with a commission to use every means to bring me back with
him. Juliano came to Seville, and on his arrival, and
induced by his urgent entreaties, I was persuaded to go,
though my going was looked upon with ill favor by all who
knew me. It was thus regarded by my friends, because I had
abandoned Castile, where I had been honored, and because
they thought the king had rightful possession of me; and it
was considered still worse that I departed without taking
leave of my host.

"Having, however, presented myself at the court of King
Emanuel, he appeared to be highly pleased with my coming,
and requested that I would accompany his three ships, which
were then ready to set out for the discovery of new lands.
Thus esteeming a request from a king as equivalent to a
command, I was obliged to consent to whatever he asked of
me.

"We set sail from the port of Lisbon with three ships in
company, on the l3th of May, 1501, and steered our course
directly for the Grand Canary Islands, which we passed
without stopping, and coasted along the western shores of
Africa. On this coast we found excellent fishing, taking
fish called porgies, and were detained three days. From
there we went to the coast of Ethiopia, arriving at a port
called Beseneghe, within the torrid zone, and situated on
the fourteenth degree of north latitude, in the first
climate. Here we remained eleven days, taking in wood and
water--as it was my intention to sail south through the
great Atlantic Ocean. Leaving this port of Ethiopia, we
sailed on our course, bearing a quarter south, and in
ninety-seven days we made land, at a distance of seven
hundred leagues from said port.

"In those ninety-seven days we had the worst weather that
ever man experienced who navigated the ocean, in a
succession of drenching rains, showers, and tempests. The
season was very unpropitious, as our navigation was
continually drawing us nearer the equinoctial line, where,
in the month of June, it is winter, and where we found the
days and nights of equal length, and our shadows falling
continually towards the south. It pleased God, however, to
show us new land, on the 17th day of August, at half a
league distance from which we anchored. We launched our
boats and went ashore, to see if the country was inhabited,
and, if so, by what kind of people, and we found at length a
population far more degraded than brutes.

"It should be understood that at first we did not see any
inhabitants, though we knew very well, by the many signs we
saw, that the country was peopled. We took possession of it,
in the name of his most serene majesty, and found it to be
pleasant and verdant, and situated five degrees south of the
equinoctial line. This much we ascertained and then returned
to the ships. On the next day, while we were ashore, we saw
people looking at us from the summit of a mountain, but they
did not venture to descend. They were naked, and of the same
color and figure as those heretofore discovered by me for
the King of Spain. We made much exertion to persuade them to
come and speak with us, but could not assure them
sufficiently to trust us. Seeing their obstinacy, as it was
growing late we returned to the ships, leaving on shore for
them many bells, looking-glasses, and other things, in
places where they could find them. When we had gone away
they descended from the mountain and took possession of the
things we had left, appearing to be filled with wonder while
viewing them. The next morning we saw from the ships that
the people of the land were making many bonfires, and,
taking them for signals to go ashore, we went and found that
many had arrived; but they kept always at a distance, though
they made signs that they wished us to accompany them
inland. Whereupon two Christians were induced to ask the
captain's permission to brave the danger and go with them,
in order to see what kind of people they were, and whether
they had any kind of riches, spices, or drugs. They
importuned him so much that he finally consented, and after
having been fitted out with many articles for trade they
left us, with orders not to be absent more than five days,
as we should expect them with great anxiety. So they took
their way into the country, and we returned to the ships to
wait for them, which we did for six days; but they never
came back, though nearly every day there came people to the
shore, who would not, however, speak with us.

"On the seventh day we landed and found that they had
brought their wives with them, whom they commanded, as we
reached the shore, to speak with us. We observed that they
hesitated to obey the order, and accordingly determined to
send one of our people, a very courageous young man, to
address them. In order to encourage them, we entered the
boats while he went to speak with the women. When he arrived
they formed themselves into a great circle around him,
touching and looking at him as with astonishment. While all
this was going on, we saw a woman coming from the mountains
carrying a large club in her hands. When she arrived where
our young Christian stood she came up behind him and,
raising the bludgeon, gave him such a blow with it that she
laid him dead on the spot, and immediately the other women
took him by the feet and dragged him away towards the
mountain. The men ran towards the shore forthwith and began
to assail us with their arrows, throwing our people into a
great fright, in consequence of the boats having grounded,
many arrows reaching them. No one resorted to arms, but for
a time all was terror and panic. After a while, however, we
discharged four swivels at them, which had no other effect
than to make them flee towards the mountain, when they heard
the report. There we saw that the women had already cut the
young Christian in pieces, and at a great fire which they
had made were roasting him in our sight, showing us the
several pieces as they ate them. The men also made signs to
us indicating that they had killed the other two Christians
and eaten them in the same manner, which grieved us very
much.

" ... We departed from this place and sailed along in a
southeasterly direction, on a line parallel with the coast,
making many landings, but never finding any people with whom
to converse. Continuing in this manner, we found at length
that the line of the coast made a turn to the south, and
after doubling a cape, which we called St. Augustine, we
began to sail in a southerly direction. This cape is a
hundred and fifty leagues distant, easterly, from the
aforementioned land where the three Christians were
murdered, and eight degrees south of the equinoctial line.
While sailing on this course, we one day saw many people
standing on the shore, apparently in great wonder at the
sight of our ships. We directed our course towards them,
and, having anchored in a good place, proceeded to land in
the boats, and found the people better disposed than those
we had passed. Though it cost us some exertion to tame them,
we nevertheless made them our friends and treated with them.
In this place we stayed five days, and here we found
cassia-stems very large and green, and some already dried on
the tops of the trees. We determined to take a couple of men
from the place, in order that they might learn the language,
and three of them came with us voluntarily, wishing to visit
Portugal.

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