settlements of which they had taken possession. Some of the caziques had already surprised and cut off several stragglers. The dread of impending danger united the Spaniards, and re-established the authority of Columbus, as they saw no prospect of safety but in committing themselves to his prudent guidance. It was now necessary to have recourse to arms, which had hitherto been avoided with the greatest solicitude. The Spaniards were very much reduced, and the whole body which took the field consisted only of 200 foot, 20 horse, and 20 large dogs; and how strange soever it may seem to mention the last as composing part of a military force, they were not the least formidable and destructive of the whole, when employed against naked and timi Indians. The Indians assembled ; and instead of attempting to draw the Spaniards into the fastnesses of the woods and mountains, they took their station in the most open plain in the country. Columbus perceived their error, and attacked them during the night, when undisciplined troops are least capable of acting with union and concert, and obtained an easy and bloodless victory. The consternation with which the Indians were filled by the noise and havoc made by the fire-arms, by the impetuous force of the cavalry, and the fierce onset of the dogs, was so great that they threw down their weapons, and fled without attempting resistance. Many were slain, more were taken prisoners, and reduced to servitude; and so completely were the rest intimidated, that from that moment they abandoned themselves to despair, relinquishing all thoughts of contending with aggressors whom they deemed invincible. Columbus employed several months in marching through the island, and in subjecting it to the Spanish government, without meeting with any opposition. He imposed a tribute upon all the inhabitants above the age of fourteen. Each person who lived in those districts where gold was found, was obliged to pay quarterly as much gold dust as filled a hawk's bell; from those in other parts of the country twenty-five pounds of cotton were demanded. This was the first regular taxation of the Indians, and served as a precedent for exactions more intolerable. The labour, attention, and foresight which they were obliged to employ in procuring this tribute, appeared to them most distressing. They were through long habit incapable of such regular and persevering industry, and, in the excess of their impatience and despair, they formed a scheme of starving their oppressors. With this view they suspended all operations of agriculture, pulled up the roots of the casada plant, and, retiring to the mountains, left the uncultivated plains to their enemies. This desperate resolution produced in some degree the effects which they expected. The Spaniards were reduced to extreme want; but they received seasonable supplies of provisions from Europe, and found so many resources in their own ingenuity and industry, that they suffered no great loss of men. The wretched Indians were the victims of their own ill-concerted policy; they soon felt the utmost distresses of famine. This brought on contagious diseases; and in the course of a few months more than a third part of the inhabitants of the island perished, after experiencing misery in all its various forms. But while Columbus was establishing the foundations of the Spanish grandeur in the New World, his enemies at home laboured with unwearied assiduity to deprive him of the glory and rewards : which by his services and sufferings, he was entitled to enjoy he took therefore the resolution of returning to Spain, in order to lay before his sovereign a full account of all his transactions. He committed the administration of affairs to Bartholomew, his brother, and appointed Francis Roldan' chief justice, with extensive powers. 1496. The Columbus, after experincing great diffiA. D. culties, arrived in Spain, and appeared at court with the modest but determined confidence of a man conscious not only of his own integrity, but of having performed great services. Ferdinand and Isabella, who in his absence had lent a too favourable ear to frivolous accusations, received him with such distinguished marks of respect as covered his enemies with shame. gold, the pearls, the cotton, and other commodi. ties of value which Columbus produced, seemed fully to refute what the malcontents had propagated with respect to the poverty of the country. By reducing the Indians to obedience, and imposing on them a regular tax, he had secured a large accession of new subjects, and the establishment of a revenue that promised to be considerable. By the mines which he had found, a source of wealth still more copious was opened. Great as these advantages were, the admiral represented them only as preludes to future acquisitions, and as the earnest of more important discoveries, to which those he had already made would conduct him with ease and certainty. Every preparation that Columbus required was now made for a new expedition. A suitable number of women was to be choserto accompany the new settlers; and it was agreed that persons convicted of certain crimes should hereafter be con A. D. 1498. demned to work in the mines which were to be opened in the New World. Though the royal approbation was obtained to every measure and regulation that Columbus proposed, yet his endeavours to carry them into execution were long retarded, and almost two years were spent before a small squadron was equipped, of which he was to take the command. This squadron consisted of only six ships, but indifferently provided for a long and dangerous navigation. He set sail May the 30th, and no remarkable occurrence happened till they arrived within five degrees of the line, which was on the 19th of July. There they were becalmed; and the heat being so excessive, many of their casks burst, the liquor in others soured, and their provisions became corrupted. The Spaniards now were afraid that the ships would take fire; but their fears were relieved by a seasonable and very heavy fall of rain. On the first of August they discovered the island of Trinidad, which lies on the coast of Guiana, near the mouth of the Oronoco. In this river, which rolls towards the ocean with impetuous force, Columbus was entangled before he was aware. With the utmost difficulty he escaped through a narrow strait; and as soon as the consternation which this occasioned subsided, he discerned in it a source of comfort and hope. He concluded, that such a vast body of water, as this river contained, could not be supplied by an island, and consequently that he was now arrived at that continent which it had long been the object of his wishes to discover. He landed, and found the people resemble those of Hispaniola in their appearance and manner of life. They wore, as ornaments, small plates of gold, and pearls of considerable value. The admiral was so delighted with the beauty and fertility of the country, that he ima gined it to be the Paradise described in scripture. Thus Columbus had the glory not only of discovering to mankind the existence of a new world, but made considerable progress to a perfect knowledge of it; and was the first man who conducted the Spaniards to that vast continent which has been the chief seat of their empire, and the source of their treasures in this quarter of the globe. The condition of his ships made it necessary for him to bear away for Hispaniola, and in his way thither he discovered the islands of Cubugua and Margarita, which afterwards became remarkable for their pearl fishery. During his absence, Columbus found that many revolutions had happened at Hispaniola; and on his arrival the colony was in a very distracted state, owing to the rebellion of Roldan, whom he had left as chief justice. By a seasonable proclamation, offering free pardon to such as should return to their duty, he restored the appearance of order, regular government, and tranquillity. It was at this period that the Portuguese, excited by what had been done by Columbus, undertook a voyage, with a view of finding a passage to the East-Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. The command of this expedition was given to Vasco de Gama, who set sail from Lisbon on the 9th of July, reached the Cape on the 20th of November, and arrived at Calicut, on A. D. 1497. the coast of Malabar, on the 22d of May following. As, however, he did not possess sufficient force to attempt a settlement, he hastened back to Portugal, with an account of his success, in performing a voyage, the longest as well as the |