him comprehend by figns that gold abounded in countries fituated in that quarter. Thither he directed his courfe, and difcovered Cuba, and afterwards Hifpaniola. The natives of the latter poffeffed gold in greater abundance than their neighbours, which they readily exchanged for bells, beads, or pins; and in this unequal traffic both parties were highly pleafed with each other, confidering themfelves as gainers by the tranfaction. From the condition of his fhips, as well as the temper of his men, Columbus at laft found it neceflary to return to Europe. In his voyage he encountered a violent ftorm; and fearful of being fhipwrecked, and that all evidence of his difcoveries would be loft, he wrote upon parchment, a fhort account of what he had achieved, wrapped it up in an oiled cloth inclofed in a cake of wax, put it into a cafk carefully ftopped up, and threw it into the fea, in hopes that fome fortunate accident might preferve a depofit of fo much importance to the world. He arrived, however, at length fafe at Palos, feven months and eleven days from the time of his departure. His entrance into Barcelona was conducted, by order of Ferdinand and Ifabella, with poinp fuitable to the great event which added fuch diftinguifhed luftre to their reign. The people he had brought with him from the countries he had difcovered, marched first, and by their fingular complexion, wild peculiarity of features, and uncouth finery, appeared like men of another fpecies; next to them were carried the ornaments of gold fashioned by the rude art of the natives,

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the grains of gold found in the mountains, and the duft of the fame metal gathered in the rivers. After thefe were difplayed the various commodities and productions of the newly difcovered countries. Columbus himfelf clofed the proceffion, and attracted the eyes and the admiration of all fpectators. Ferdinand and Ifabella, feated on their thrones, received him with every mark of honour, and heard from him a circumftantial account of his whole voyage.

In his fecond voyage of full five months, he had a trial of almost every hardship to which mariners are expofed, without making any difcovery of importance, except the island of Jamaica. On his return to Hifpaniola, he took measures for the fafety of the Spanish colony there, who, in his abfence, had provoked the vengeance of the harmlefs natives, by acts of oppreffion and injury. He impofed a tribute upon all the inhabitants above the age of fourteen; each perfon who lived where gold was found, was obliged to pay quarterly as much gold duft as filled a hawk's bell; and from thofe in other parts, twenty-five pounds of cotton were demanded. This was the firft regular taxation of the Indians, and ferved as a precedent for all the extortions to which the natives of the New World have fince been compelled to fubmit. Columbus was led to adopt these measures in order to ftop the intrigues and cabals which were carrying on againft him; and he was under the neceffity of producing fuch a quantity of gold as would not only

only justify the reports he had made of the fertility of thefe countries, but encourage Ferdinand and Ifabella to perfevere in profecuting his plans.

In his third voyage, in 1498, he purfued a courfe different from any he had before undertaken, as he was perfuaded that the region of India lay to the fouth-weft of the countries he had difcovered; he touched firft at the Canaries, and then at the Cape de Verd iflands. When he came under the line, the heat became fo exceffive, that many of his wine cafks burft, the liquor in them foured, and the provifions corrupted. The Spaniards, who had never ventured fo far to the fouth, were afraid that the fhips would take fire, and began to apprehend the reality of what the ancients had taught concerning the deftructive qualities of that torrid region of the globe. Thefe circumftances, added to the illnefs of their commander, brought on by extreme vigilance and anxiety, induced him to alter his courfe to the north weft, in order to reach fome of the Carribbee islands, where he might refit, and be supplied with provifions.

On the first of Auguft, the man stationed in the round top, furprised them with the joyful cry of land! They ftood towards it, and the admiral gave it the name of Trinidad, which it still retains. It lies on the coaft of Guiana, near the mouth of the river Oronooko. Columbus juftly concluded that this vaft body of water, fo great as to freshen the ocean many leagues with its flood, could not

be fupplied by any ifland, but muft flow through a country of great extent; and of courfe that he was now arrived at that continent which had fo long been the object of his wifhes. Full of this idea, he ftood to the weft, and difcovered thofe provinces of South America now known by the names of Paria and Cumana. He landed in feveral places, and had fome friendly intercourfe with the natives, who refembled thofe of Hifpaniola, and wore as ornaments finall plates of gold, and pearls of confiderable value, which they willingly exchanged for European toys. They feemed to poffefs better understandings and greater courage than the inhabitants of the islands. The admiral was fo much delighted with the beauty and fertility of the country, that, with the warm enthusiasm of a difcoverer, he imagined it to be the Paradife defcribed in Scripture, which the Almighty chofe for the refidence of man while he retained the innocence, which rendered him worthy of fuch a habitation. He carried off fix of the natives, and returned to Hifpaniola. Thus had Columbus the glory of difcovering the existence of a new world, and was the firft man who conducted the Spaniards to that vaft continent, which has been the chief feat of their empire, and the fource of their treasure in this quarter of the globe. Whilft Columbus was thus nobly employed, Ferdinand and Ifabella liftened to the complaints of his enemies, and Francis de Bovadilla, a knight of Calatrava, was appointed with full powers to inquire into his conduct in the island of Hifpaniola. This envious and unjust

governor

governor treated him as a criminal, and actually fent him and his two brothers in chains to Spain. The king and queen, afhamed of their conduct and their fufpicions, ordered him to be fet at liberty as foon as he landed; expreffed their forrow for what had paffed, and promifed him their future protection.

In the year 1502, this adventurous and moft enterprifing navigator undertook a fourth voyage; when he arrived at St. Domingo, he had the mortification to be refufed admiffion, by the Spanish governor, to enter the harbour; and he was thus excluded from a country of which he had fo recently difcovered the exiftence. A ftorm foon after arofe, in which a fleet deftined for Spain, confifting of eighteen fhips, and commanded by Bovadilla, Roldan, and others, who had been active enemies to Columbus, perifhed with nearly all their fhips; together with them all the wealth acquired by their injuftice and cruelty was fwallowed up. Among the fhips that escaped, one had on board all the effects of Columbus, which had been recovered from the ruin of his fortune. This was a manifeft inftance of the interpofition of divine Providence to avenge the wrongs of an injured man, and to punish the oppreffors of an innocent people. Columbus difcovered Guanaia, an ifland not far diftant from the coaft of Honduras, and all the coaft of the continent from cape Gracias a Dios to a harbour which, on account of its beauty, he called Porto Bello. After fearching in vain for a paffage to the Indian ocean, on his return he was Nn3 fhipwrecked