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Page 11
As he advanced, there were various other signs that gave great
animation to the crews; many birds were seen flying from the west;
there was a cloudiness in the north, such as often hangs over land;
and at sunset the imagination of the seamen, aided by their desires,
would shape those clouds into distant islands. Every one was eager to
be the first to behold and announce the wished-for shore; for the
sovereigns had promised a pension of thirty crowns to whomsoever
should first discover land. Columbus sounded occasionally with a line
of 200 fathoms, but found no bottom. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, as well as
others of his officers and many of the seamen, were often solicitous
for Columbus to alter his course and steer in the direction of these
favorable signs; but he persevered in steering to the westward,
trusting that by keeping in one steady direction, he should reach the
coast of India, even if he should miss the intervening islands, and
might then seek them on his return....
The situation of Columbus was daily becoming more and more critical.
The impatience of the seamen arose to absolute mutiny. They gathered
together in the retired parts of the ships, at first in little knots
of two and three, which gradually increased and became formidable,
joining in murmurs and menaces against the admiral. They exclaimed
against him as an ambitious desperado who, in a mad fantasy, had
determined to do something extravagant to render himself notorious.
What obligation bound them to persist, or when were the terms of their
agreement to be considered as fulfilled? They had already penetrated
into seas untraversed by a sail, and where man had never before
adventured. Were they to sail on until they perished, or until all
return with their frail ships became impossible? Who would blame them
should they consult their safety and return? The admiral was a
foreigner, a man without friends or influence. His scheme had been
condemned by the learned as idle and visionary, and discountenanced by
people of all ranks. There was, therefore, no party on his side, but
rather a large number who would be gratified by his failure.
Such are some of the reasonings by which these men prepared themselves
for open rebellion. Some even proposed, as an effectual mode of
silencing all after complaints of the admiral, that they should throw
him into the sea, and give out that he had fallen overboard while
contemplating the stars and signs of the heavens, with his
astronomical instruments.
Columbus was not ignorant of these secret cabals, but he kept a serene
and steady countenance, soothing some with gentle words, stimulating
the pride or the avarice of others, and openly menacing the most
refractory with punishment. New hopes diverted them for a time. On the
25th of September Martin Pinzon mounted on the stern of his vessel and
shouted, "Land! land! Senor, I claim the reward!" There was, indeed,
such an appearance of land in the southwest that Columbus threw
himself upon his knees and returned thanks to God, and all the crews
joined in chanting Gloria in Excelsis. The ships altered their course
and stood all night to the southwest, but the morning light put an end
to all their hopes as to a dream; the fancied land proved to be
nothing but an evening cloud, and had vanished in the night....
He was now at open defiance with his crew, and his situation would
have been desperate, but, fortunately, the manifestations of land on
the following day were such as no longer to admit of doubt. A green
fish, such as keeps about rocks, swam by the ships; and a branch of
thorn, with berries on it, floated by; they picked up, also, a reed, a
small board, and, above all, a staff artificially carved. All gloom
and murmuring was now at an end, and throughout the day each one was
on the watch for the long-sought land. They continued on their course
until two in the morning, when a gun from the Pinto gave the joyful
signal of land. It was first discovered by a mariner named Rodriguez
Bermejo, resident of Triana, a suburb of Seville, but native of Alcala
de la Guadaira; but the reward was afterward adjudged to the admiral,
for having previously perceived the light. The land was now clearly
seen about two leagues distant, whereupon they took in sail, and laid
to, waiting impatiently for the dawn. .
When the day dawned, Columbus saw before him a level and beautiful
island, several leagues in extent, of great freshness and verdure, and
covered with trees like a continual orchard. Tho everything appeared
in the wild luxuriance of untamed nature, yet the island was evidently
populous, for the inhabitants were seen issuing from the woods, and
running from all parts to the shore. They were all perfectly naked,
and, from their attitudes and gestures, appeared lost in astonishment
at the sight of the ships. Columbus made signal to cast anchor, and to
man the boats. He entered his own boat richly attired in scarlet, and
bearing the royal standard. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez,
the brother, likewise put off in their boats, each bearing the banner
of the enterprise, emblazoned with a green cross, having on each side
the letters F and Y, surmounted by crowns, the Spanish initials of the
Castilian monarchs, Fernando and Ysabel.
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