The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II)

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It is extremely probable that this manuscript, of which Arias Perez gives
so vague an account from recollection, but which he appears to think the
main thing that prompted Columbus to his undertaking, was no other than
the work of Marco Polo, which, at that time, existed in manuscript in most
of the Italian libraries. Martin Alonzo was evidently acquainted with the
work of the Venetian, and it would appear, from various circumstances,
that Columbus had a copy of it with him in his voyages, which may have
been the manuscript above mentioned. Columbus had long before, however,
had a knowledge of the work, if not by actual inspection, at least through
his correspondence with Toscanelli in 1474, and had derived from it all
the light it was capable of furnishing, before he ever came to Palos. It
is questionable, also, whether the visit of Martin Alonzo to Rome, was not
after his mind had been heated by conversations with Columbus in the
convent of La Rabida. The testimony of Arias Perez is so worded as to
leave it in doubt whether the visit was not in the very year prior to the
discovery: "fue el dicho su padre a Roma aquel dicho ano antes que fuese a
descubrir." Arias Perez always mentions the manuscript as having been
imparted to Columbus, after he had come to Palos with an intention of
proceeding on the discovery.

Certain witnesses who were examined on behalf of the crown, and to whom
specific interrogatories were put, asserted, as has already been mentioned
in a note to this work, that had it not been for Martin Alonzo Pinzon and
his brothers, Columbus would have turned back for Spain, after having run
seven or eight hundred leagues; being disheartened at not finding land,
and dismayed by the mutiny and menaces of his crew. This is stated by two
or three as from personal knowledge, and by others from hearsay. It is
said especially to have occurred on the 6th of October. On this day,
according to the journal of Columbus, he had some conversation with Martin
Alonzo, who was anxious that they should stand more to the southwest. The
admiral refused to do so, and it is very probable that some angry words
may have passed between them. Various disputes appear to have taken place
between Columbus and his colleagues respecting their route, previous to
the discovery of land; in one or two instances he acceded to their wishes,
and altered his course, but in general he was inflexible in standing to
the west. The Pinzons also, in all probability, exerted their influence in
quelling the murmurs of their townsmen and encouraging them to proceed,
when ready to rebel against Columbus. These circumstances may have become
mixed up in the vague recollections of the seamen who gave the foregoing
extravagant testimony, and who were evidently disposed to exalt the merits
of the Pinzons at the expense of Columbus. They were in some measure
prompted also in their replies by the written interrogatories put by order
of the fiscal, which specified the conversations said to have passed
between Columbus and the Pizons, and notwithstanding these guides, they
differed widely in their statements, and ran into many absurdities. In a
manuscript record in possession of the Pinzon family, I have even read the
assertion of an old seaman, that Columbus, in his eagerness to compel the
Pinzons to turn back to Spain, _fired upon_ _their ships_, but,
they continuing on, he was obliged to follow, and within two days
afterwards discovered the island of Hispaniola.

It is evident the old sailor, if he really spoke conscientiously, mingled
in his cloudy remembrance the disputes in the early part of the voyage
about altering their course to the southwest, and the desertion of Martin
Alonzo, subsequent to the discovery of the Lucayos and Cuba, when after
parting company with the admiral, he made the island of Hispaniola.

The witness most to be depended upon as to these points of inquiry is the
physician of Palos, Garcia Fernandez, a man of education, who sailed with
Martin Alonzo Pinzon as steward of his ship, and of course was present at
all the conversations which passed between the commanders. He testifies
that Martin Alonzo urged Columbus to stand more to the southwest, and that
the admiral at length complied, but, finding no land in that direction,
they turned again to the west; a statement which completely coincides
with the journal of Columbus. He adds that the admiral continually
comforted and animated Martin Alonzo, and all others in his company.
(Siempre los consolaba el dicho Almirante esforzandolos al dicho Martin
Alonzo e a todos los que en su compania iban.) When the physician was
specifically questioned as to the conversations pretended to have passed
between the commanders, in which Columbus expressed a desire to turn back
to Spain, he referred to the preceding statement, as the only answer he
had to make to these interrogatories.

The extravagant testimony before mentioned appears never to have had any
weight with the fiscal; and the accurate historian Munoz, who extracted
all these points of evidence from the papers of the lawsuit, has not
deemed them worthy of mention in his work. As these matters, however,
remain on record in the archives of the Indies, and in the archives of the
Pinzon family, in both of which I have had a full opportunity of
inspecting them, I have thought it advisable to make these few
observations on the subject; lest, in the rage for research, they might
hereafter be drawn forth as a new discovery, on the strength of which to
impugn the merits of Columbus.

No. XII.

Rumor of the Pilot Said to Have Died in the House of Columbus.

Among the various attempts to injure Columbus by those who were envious of
his fame, was one intended to destroy all his merit as an original
discoverer. It was said that he had received information of the existence
of land in the western parts of the ocean from a tempest-tossed pilot, who
had been driven there by violent easterly winds, and who on his return to
Europe, had died in the house of Columbus, leaving in his possession the
chart and journal of his voyage, by which he was guided to his discovery.

This story was first noticed by Oviedo, a contemporary of Columbus, in his
history of the Indies, published in 1535. He mentions it as a rumor
circulating among the vulgar, without foundation in truth.

Fernando Lopez de Gomara first brought it forward against Columbus. In his
history of the Indies, published in 1552, he repeats the rumor in the
vaguest terms, manifestly from Oviedo, but without the contradiction given
to it by that author. He says that the name and country of the pilot were
unknown, some terming him an Andalusian, sailing between the Canaries and
Madeira, others a Biscayan, trading to England and France; and others a
Portuguese, voyaging between Lisbon and Mina, on the coast of Guinea. He
expresses equal uncertainty whether the pilot brought the caravel to
Portugal, to Madeira, or to one of the Azores. The only point on which the
circulators of the rumor agreed was, that he died in the house of
Columbus. Gomara adds that by this event Columbus was led to undertake his
voyage to the new countries. [308]

The other early historians who mention Columbus and his voyages, and were
his contemporaries, viz. Sabellicus, Peter Martyr, Giustiniani, Bernaldez,
commonly called the curate of los Palacios, Las Casas, Fernando, the son
of the admiral, and the anonymous author of a voyage of Columbus,
translated from the Italian into Latin by Madrignano, [309] are all silent
in regard to this report.

Benzoni, whose history of the New World was published in 1565, repeats the
story from Gomara, with whom he was contemporary; but decidedly expresses
his opinion, that Gomara had mingled up much falsehood with some truth,
for the purpose of detracting from the fame of Columbus, through jealousy
that any one but a Spaniard should enjoy the honor of the discovery.
[310]

Acosta notices the circumstance slightly in his Natural and Moral History
of the Indies, published in 1591, and takes it evidently from Gomara.
[311]

Mariana, in his history of Spain, published in 1592, also mentions it, but
expresses a doubt of its truth, and derives his information manifestly
from Gomara. [312]

Herrera, who published his history of the Indies in 1601, takes no notice
of the story. In not noticing it, he may be considered as rejecting it;
for he is distinguished for his minuteness, and was well acquainted with
Gomara's history, which he expressly contradicts on a point of
considerable interest. [313]

Garcilasso de la Vega, a native of Cusco in Peru, revived the tale with
very minute particulars, in his Commentaries of the Incas, published in
1609. He tells it smoothly and circumstantially; fixes the date of the
occurrence 1484, "one year more or less;" states the name of the
unfortunate pilot, Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva; the destination of his
vessel, from the Canaries to Madeira; and the unknown land to which they
were driven, the island of Hispaniola. The pilot, he says, landed, took an
altitude, and wrote an account of all he saw, and all that had occurred in
the voyage. He then took in wood and water, and set out to seek his way
home. He succeeded in returning, but the voyage was long and tempestuous,
and twelve died of hunger and fatigue, out of seventeen, the original
number of the crew. The five survivors arrived at Tercera, where they were
hospitably entertained by Columbus, but all died in his house in
consequence of the hardships they had sustained; the pilot was the last
that died, leaving his host heir to his papers. Columbus kept them
profoundly secret, and by pursuing the route therein prescribed, obtained
the credit of discovering the New World. [314]

Such are the material points of the circumstantial relation furnished by
Garcilasso de la Vega, one hundred and twenty years after the event. In
regard to authority, he recollects to have heard the story when he was a
child, as a subject of conversation between his father and the neighbors,
and he refers to the histories of the Indies, by Acosta and Gomara, for
confirmation. As the conversations to which he listened must have taken
place sixty or seventy years after the date of the report, there had been
sufficient time for the vague rumors to become arranged into a regular
narrative, and thus we have not only the name, country, and destination of
the pilot, but also the name of the unknown land to which his vessel was
driven.

This account, given by Garcilasso de la Vega, has been adopted by many old
historians, who have felt a confidence in the peremptory manner in which
he relates it, and in the authorities to whom he refers. [315]
These have been echoed by others of more recent date; and thus a weighty
charge of fraud and imposture has been accumulated against Columbus,
apparently supported by a crowd of respectable accusers. The whole charge
is to be traced to Gomara, who loosely repeated a vague rumor, without
noticing the pointed contradiction given to it seventeen years before, by
Oviedo, an ear-witness, from whose book he appears to have actually
gathered the report.

It is to be remarked that Goinara bears the character, among historians,
of inaccuracy, and of great credulity in adopting unfounded stories.
[316]

It is unnecessary to give further refutation to this charge, especially as
it is clear that Columbus communicated his idea of discovery to Paulo
Toscanelli of Florence, in 1474, ten years previous to the date assigned
by Garcilasso de la Vega for this occurrence.

No. XIII.

Martin Behem.

This able geographer was born in Nuremburg, in Germany, about the
commencement of the year 1430. His ancestors were from the circle of
Pilsner, in Bohemia, hence he is called by some writers Martin of Bohemia,
and the resemblance of his own name to that of the country of his
ancestors frequently occasions a confusion in the appellation.

It has been said by some that he studied under Philip Bervalde the elder,
and by others under John Muller, otherwise called Regiomontanus, though De
Murr, who has made diligent inquiry into his history, discredits both
assertions. According to a correspondence between Behem and his uncle
discovered of late years by De Murr, it appears that the early part of his
life was devoted to commerce. Some have given him the credit of
discovering the island of Fayal, but this is an error, arising probably
from the circumstance that Job de Huertar, father-in-law of Behem,
colonized that island in 1466.

He is supposed to have arrived at Portugal in 1481, while Alphonso V was
still on the throne; it is certain that shortly afterwards he was in high
repute for his science in the court of Lisbon, insomuch that he was one of
the council appointed by king John II to improve the art of navigation,
and by some he has received the whole credit of the memorable service
rendered to commerce by that council, in the introduction of the astrolabe
into nautical use.

In 1484 king John sent an expedition under Diego Cam, as Barros calls him,
Cano according to others, to prosecute discoveries along the coast of
Africa. In this expedition Behem sailed as cosmographer. They crossed the
equinoctial line, discovered the coast of Congo, advanced to twenty-two
degrees forty-five minutes of south latitude, [317] and erected two
columns, on which were engraved the arms of Portugal, in the mouth of the
river Zagra, in Africa, which thence, for some time, took the name of the
River of Columns. [318]

For the services rendered on this and on previous occasions, it is said
that Behem was knighted by king John in 1485, though no mention is made of
such a circumstance in any of the contemporary historians. The principal
proof of his having received this mark of distinction, is his having given
himself the title on his own globe of _Eques Lusitanus_.

In 1486 he married at Fayal the daughter of Job de Huerter, and is
supposed to have remained there for some few years, where he had a son
named Martin, born in 1489. During his residence at Lisbon and Fayal, it
is probable the acquaintance took place between him and Columbus, to which
Herrera and others allude; and the admiral may have heard from him some of
the rumors circulating in the islands, of indications of western lands
floating to their shores.

In 1491 he returned to Nuremburg to see his family, and while there, in
1492, he finished a terrestrial globe, considered a masterpiece in those
days, which he had undertaken at the request of the principal magistrates
of his native city.

In 1493 he returned to Portugal, and from thence proceeded to Fayal.

In 1494 king John II, who had a high opinion of him, sent him to Flanders
to his natural son prince George, the intended heir of his crown. In the
course of his voyage Behem was captured and carried to England, where he
remained for three months detained by illness. Having recovered, he again
put to sea, but was captured by a corsair and carried to France. Having
ransomed himself, he proceeded to Antwerp and Bruges, but returned almost
immediately to Portugal. Nothing more is known of him for several years,
during which time it is supposed he remained with his family in Fayal, too
old to make further voyages. In 1506 he went from Fayal to Lisbon, where
he died.

The assertion that Behem had discovered the western world previous to
Columbus, in the course of the voyage with Cam, was founded on a
misinterpretation of a passage interpolated in the chronicle of Hartmann
Schedel, a contemporary writer. This passage mentions, that when the
voyagers were in the Southern Ocean not far from the coast, and had passed
the line, they came into another hemisphere, where, when they looked
towards the east, their shadows fell towards the south, on their right
hand; that here they discovered a new world, unknown until then, and which
for many years had never been sought except by the Genoese, and by them
unsuccessfully.

"Hii duo, bono deorum auspicio, mare meridionale sulcantes, a littore non
longe evagantes, superato circulo equinoctiali, in alterum orbem excepti
stint. Ubi ipsis stantibus orientem versus, umbra ad meridiem et dextram
projiciebatur. Aperuere igitur sua industria, alium orbem hactenus nobis
incognitum et multis annis, a nullis quam Januensibus, licet frustra
temptatum."

These lines are part of a passage which it is said is interpolated by a
different hand, in the original manuscript of the chronicle of Schedel. De
Murr assures us that they are not to be found in the German translation of
the book by George Alt, which was finished the 5th October, 1493. But even
if they were, they relate merely to the discovery which Diego Cam made of
the southern hemisphere, previously unknown, and of the coast of Africa
beyond the equator, all which appeared like a new world, and as such was
talked of at the time.

The Genoese alluded to, who had made an unsuccessful attempt were Antonio
de Nolle with Bartholomeo his brother, and Raphael de Nolle his nephew.
Antonio was of a noble family, and, for some disgust, left his country and
went to Lisbon with his before-mentioned relatives in two caravels;
sailing whence in the employ of Portugal, they discovered the island of
St. Jago, &c. [319]

This interpolated passage of Schedel was likewise inserted into the work
De Europa sub Frederico III of AEneas Silvius, afterwards Pope Pius II,
who died in 1464, long before the voyage in question. The
misinterpretation of the passage first gave rise to the incorrect
assertion that Behem had discovered the New World prior to Columbus; as if
it were possible such a circumstance could have happened without Behem's
laying claim to the glory of the discovery, and without the world
immediately resounding with so important an event. This error had been
adopted by various authors without due examination, some of whom had
likewise taken from Magellan the credit of having discovered the strait
which goes by his name, and had given it to Behem. The error was too
palpable to be generally prevalent, but was suddenly revived in the year
1786 by a French gentleman of highly respectable character of the name of
Otto, then resident in New York, who addressed a letter to Dr. Franklin,
to be submitted to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, in which he
undertook to establish the title of Behem to the discovery of the New
World. His memoir was published in the Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, vol. ii., for 1786, article No. 35, and has been
copied into the journals of most of the nations of Europe.

The authorities cited by M. Otto in support of his assertion are generally
fallacious, and for the most part given without particular specification.
His assertion has been diligently and satisfactorily refuted by Don
Christoval Cladera. [320]

The grand proof of M. Otto is a globe which Behem made during his
residence in Nuremburg, in 1492, the very year that Columbus set out on
his first voyage of discovery. This globe, according to M. Otto, is still
preserved in the library of Nuremburg, and on it are painted all the
discoveries of Behem, which are so situated that they can be no other than
the coast of Brazil and the straits of Magellan. This authority staggered
many, and, if supported, would demolish the claims of Columbus.

Unluckily for M. Otto, in his description of the globe, he depended on the
inspection of a correspondent. The globe in the library of Nuremburg was
made in 1520, by John Schoener, professor of mathematics, [321] long after
the discoveries and death of Columbus and Behem. The real globe of Behem,
made in 1492, does not contain any of the islands or shores of the New
World, and thus proves that he was totally unacquainted with them. A copy,
or planisphere, of Behem's globe is given by Cladera in his
investigations.

No. XIV.

Voyages of the Scandinavians.

Many elaborate dissertations have been written to prove that discoveries
were made by the Scandinavians on the northern coast of America long
before the era of Columbus; but the subject appears still to be wrapped in
much doubt and obscurity.

It has been asserted that the Norwegians, as early as the ninth century,
discovered a great tract of land to the west of Iceland, which they called
Grand Iceland; but this has been pronounced a fabulous tradition. The most
plausible account is one given by Snorro Sturleson, in his Saga or
Chronicle of King Olaus. According to this writer, one Biorn of Iceland,
sailing to Greenland in search of his father, from whom he had been
separated by a storm, was driven by tempestuous weather far to the
southwest, until he came in sight of a low country, covered with wood,
with an island in its vicinity. The weather becoming favorable, he turned
to the northeast without landing, and arrived safe at Greenland. His
account of the country he had beheld, it is said, excited the enterprise
of Leif, son of Eric Rauda (or Redhead), the first settler of Greenland. A
vessel was fitted out, and Leif and Biorn departed alone in quest of this
unknown land. They found a rocky and sterile island, to which they gave
the name of Helleland; also a low sandy country covered with wood, to
which they gave the name of Markland; and, two days afterwards, they
observed a continuance of the coast, with an island to the north of it.
This last they described as fertile, well wooded, producing agreeable
fruits, and particularly grapes, a fruit with which they were
unacquainted. On being informed by one of their companions, a German, of
its qualities and name, they called the country, from it, Vinland. They
ascended a river, well stored with fish, particularly salmon, and came to
a lake from which the river took its origin, where they passed the winter.
The climate appeared to them mild and pleasant; being accustomed to the
rigorous climates of the north. On the shortest day, the sun was eight
hours above the horizon. Hence it has been concluded that the country was
about the 49th degree of north latitude, and was either Newfoundland, or
some part of the coast of North America, about the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. [322] It is added that the relatives of Leif made several
voyages to Vinland; that they traded with the natives for furs; and that,
in 1121, a bishop named Eric went from Greenland to Vinland to convert
the inhabitants to Christianity. From this time, says Forster, we know
nothing of Vinland, and there is every appearance that the tribe which
still exists in the interior of Newfoundland, and which is so different
from the other savages of North America, both in their appearance and
mode of living, and always in a state of warfare with the Esquimaux of
the northern coast, are descendants of the ancient Normans.

The author of the present work has not had the means of tracing this story
to its original sources. He gives it on the authority of M. Malte-Brun,
and Mr. Forster. The latter extracts it from the Saga or Chronicle of
Snorro, who was born in 1179, and wrote in 1215; so that his account was
formed long after the event is said to have taken place. Forster says,
"The facts which we report have been collected from a great number of
Icelandic manuscripts, and transmitted to us by Torfreus in his two works
entitled Veleris Groenlandiae Descriptio, Hafnia, 1706, and Historia
Winlandiae Antiquae, Hafnia, 1705." Forster appears to have no doubt of
the authenticity of the facts. As far as the author of the present work
has had experience in tracing these stories of early discoveries of
portions of the New World, he has generally found them very confident
deductions drawn from very vague and questionable facts. Learned men are
too prone to give substance to mere shadows, when they assist some
reconceived theory. Most of these accounts, when divested of the erudite
comments of their editors, have proved little better than the traditionary
fables, noticed in another part of this work, respecting the imaginary
islands of St. Borondon, and of the Seven Cities.

There is no great improbability, however, that such enterprising and
roving voyagers as the Scandinavians, may have wandered to the northern
shores of America, about the coast of Labrador, or the shores of
Newfoundland; and if the Icelandic manuscripts said to be of the
thirteenth century can be relied upon as genuine, free from modern
interpolation, and correctly quoted, they would appear to prove the fact.
But granting the truth of the alleged discoveries, they led to no more
result than would the interchange of communication between the natives of
Greenland and the Esquimaux. The knowledge of them appears not to have
extended beyond their own nation, and to have been soon neglected and
forgotten by themselves.

Another pretension to an early discovery of the American continent has
been set up, founded on an alleged map and narrative of two brothers of
the name of Zeno, of Venice; but it seems more invalid than those just
mentioned. The following is the substance of this claim.