man recently killed, was yet bleeding; some parts of his body were roasting before the fire, others boiling with the flesh of geese and parrots.1

Several of the natives, in the course of the day, had been seen on the shore, gazing with wonder at the ships, but when the boats approached, they fled to the woods and mountains. Several women came off to the Spaniards for refuge, being captives from other islands. Columbus ordered that they should be decorated with hawks' bells, and strings of beads and bugles, and sent on shore, in hopes of enticing off some of the men. They soon returned to the boats stripped of their ornaments, and imploring to be taken on board the ships. The admiral learnt from them that most of the men of the island were absent, the king having sailed some time before with ten canoes and three hundred warriors, on a cruise in quest of prisoners and booty. When the men went forth on these expeditions, the women remained to defend their shores from invasion. They were expert archers, partaking of the warrior spirit of their husbands, and almost equaling them in force and intrepidity.2

The continued absence of the wanderers perplexed Columbus extremely. He was impatient to arrive at Hispaniola, but unwilling to sail while there was a possibility of their being alive, and being recovered. In this emergency Alonso

1 P. Martyr, Letter 147, to Pomponio Læto. Idem. decad lib. ii.

2 Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. ix.

de Ojeda, the same young cavalier whose exploit on the tower of the cathedral at Seville has beel mentioned, volunteered to scour the island with forty men in quest of them. He departed accordingly, and during his absence the ships took in wood and water, and part of the crews were permitted to land, wash their clothes, and recreate themselves.

Ojeda and his followers pushed far into the interior; firing off arquebuses and sounding trumpets in the valleys and from the summits of cliffs and precipices, but were only answered by `their own echoes. The tropical luxuriance and density of the forests rendered them almost impenetrable; and it was necessary to wade a great many rivers, or probably the windings and doublings of the same stream. The island appeared to be naturally fertile in the extreme. The forests abounded with aromatic trees and shrubs, among which Ojeda fancied he perceived the odor of precious gums and spices. There was honey in hollow trees and in the clefts of rocks: abundance of fruit also; for, according to Peter Martyr, the Caribs, in their predatory cruisings, were accustomed to bring home the seeds and roots of all kinds of plants from the distant islands and countries which they overran.

Ojeda returned without any tidings of the stragglers. Several days had now elapsed since their disappearance. They were given up for lost, and the fleet was about sailing, when, to the universal joy, a signal was made by them from the shore. When they came on board, their

haggard and exhausted looks bespoke what they had suffered. For several days they had been perplexed in trackless forests, so dense as almost to exclude the light of day. They had clamstruggled through were experienced

Some who

bered rocks, waded rivers, and briers and thickets. seamen, climbed the trees, to get a sight of the stars, by which to govern their course; but the spreading branches and thick foliage shut out all view of the heavens. They were harassed with the fear that the admiral, thinking them dead, might set sail and leave them in this wilderness, cut off forever from their homes and the abodes of

civilized man. At length, when almost reduced to despair, they had arrived at the sea-shore, and following it for some time, beheld, to their great joy, the fleet riding quietly at anchor. They brought with them several Indian women and boys; but in all their wanderings they had not met with any man; the greater part of the warriors, as has been said, being fortunately absent on an expedition.

Notwithstanding the hardships they had endured, and his joy at their return, Columbus put the captain under arrest, and stopped part of the rations of the men, for having strayed away without permission; for in a service of such a critical nature it was necessary to punish every breach of discipline. 1

1 Dr. Chanca's Letter. Hist. del Almirante cap. 46.

EIGHING anchor on the 10th of November, Columbus steered to the northwest, along this beautiful archipelago, giving names to the islands as they rose to view; such as Montserrat, Santa Maria la Redonda, Santa Maria la Antigua, and San Martin. Various other islands, lofty and well wooded, appeared to the north, south-west, and south-east; but he forbore to visit them. The weather proving boisterous, he anchored on the 14th at an island called Ayay by the Indians, but to which he gave the name of Santa Cruz. A boat well manned was sent on shore to get water and procure information. They found a village, deserted by the men; but secured a few women and boys, most of them captives from other islands. They soon had an instance of Carib courage and ferocity. While at the village they beheld a canoe from a distant part of the island come round a point of land, and arrive in view of the ships. The Indians in the canoe, two of whom were

LIFE AND VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. 353

females, remained gazing in mute amazement at the ships, and were so entranced that the boat stole close upon them before they perceived it. Seizing their paddles they attempted to escape, but the boat being between them and the land, cut off their retreat. They now caught up their bows and arrows, and plied them with amazing vigor and rapidity. The Spaniards covered themselves with their bucklers, but two of them were quickly wounded. The women fought as fiercely as the men, and one of them sent an arrow with such force that it passed through and through a buckler.

The Spaniards now ran their boat against the canoe, and overturned it; some of the savages got upon sunken rocks, others discharged their arrows while swimming, as dexterously as though they had been upon firm land. It was with the utmost difficulty they could be overcome and taken: one of them who had been transfixed with a lance, died soon after being brought aboard the ships. One of the women, from the obedience and deference paid to her, appeared to be their queen. She was accompanied by her son, a young man strongly made, with a frowning brow and lion's face. He had been wounded in the conflict. The hair of these savages was long and coarse, their eyes were encircled with paint, so as to give them a hideous expression; and bands of cotton were bound firmly above and below the muscular parts of the arms and legs, so as to cause them to swell to a disproportioned size; a custom prevalent among various tribes of the