by Ovando and his agents. He had fondly hoped, at one time, to render the natives civilized, industrious, and tributary subjects to the crown, and to derive from their well-regulated labor a great and steady revenue. How different had been the event! The five great tribes which peopled the mountains and the valleys at the time of the discovery, and rendered, by their mingled towns and villages and tracts of cultivation, the rich levels of the Vega so many "painted gardens," had almost all passed away, and the native princes had perished chiefly by violent or ignominious deaths. Columbus regarded the affairs of the island with a different eye from Ovando. He had a paternal feeling for its prosperity, and his fortunes were implicated in its judicious management. He complained, in subsequent letters to the sovereigns, that all the public affairs were ill-conducted; that the ore collected lay unguarded in large quantities in houses slightly built and thatched, inviting depredation; that Ovando was unpopular, the people were dissolute, and the property of the crown and the security of the island in continual risk from mutiny and sedition.* While he saw all this, he had no power to interfere, and any observation or remonstrance on his part was ill received by the governor.

He found his own immediate concerns in great confusion. His rents and dues were either uncollected, or he could not obtain a clear account and a full liquidation of them. Whatever he could collect was appropriated to the fitting out of the vessels which were to convey himself and his crews to Spain. He accuses Ovando, in his subsequent letters, of having neg

*Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, dated Seville 3d Dec., 1504, Navarrete, tom. i. p. 341.

lected, if not sacrificed, his interests during his long absence,
and of having impeded those who were appointed to attend to
his concerns. That he had some grounds for these complaints
would appear from two letters still extant,* written by Queen
Isabella to Ovando, on the 27th of November, 1503, in which
she informs him of the complaint of Alonzo Sanchez de Car-
vajal, that he was impeded in collecting the rents of the ad-
miral; and expressly commands Ovando to observe the capi-
tulations granted to Columbus; to respect his agents, and to
facilitate, instead of obstructing his concerns. These letters,
while they imply ungenerous conduct on the part of the gov
ernor towards his illustrious predecessor, evince likewise the
personal interest taken by Isabella in the affairs of Columbus
during his absence. She had, in fact, signified her displeasure
at his being excluded from the port of San Domingo, when he
applied there for succor for his squadron, and for shelter from
a storm; and had censured Ovando for not taking his advice
and detaining the fleet of Bobadilla, by which it would have
escaped its disastrous fate. And here it may be observed,
that the sanguinary acts of Ovando towards the natives, in
particular the massacre at Xaragua, and the execution of the
unfortunate Anacaona, awakened equal horror and indignation
in Isabella; she was languishing on her death-bed when she
received the intelligence, and with her dying breath she exacted
a promise from King Ferdinand that Ovando should immedi-
ately be recalled from his government. The promise was
tardily and reluctantly fulfilled, after an interval of about four
years, and not until induced by other circumstances; for

* Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii., decad. 151, 152.
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. v. cap. 12.

Dvando contrived to propitiate the monarch, by forcing a revenue from the island.

The continual misunderstandings between the admiral and the governor, though always qualified on the part of the latter with great complaisance, induced Columbus to hasten as much as possible his departure from the island. The ship in which he had returned from Jamaica was repaired and fitted out, and put under the command of the Adelantado; another vessel was freighted, in which Columbus embarked with his son and his domestics. The greater part of his late crews remained at San Domingo; as they were in great poverty, he relieved their necessities from his own purse, and advanced the funds necessary for the voyage home of those who chose to return. Many thus relieved by his generosity had been among the most violent of the rebels.

On the 12th of September he set sail; but had scarcely left the harbor when, in a sudden squall, the mast of his ship was carried away. He immediately went with his family on board of the vessel commanded by the Adelantado, and, sending back the damaged ship to port, continued on his course. Throughout the voyage he experienced the most tempestuous weather. In one storm the mainmast was sprung in four places. He was confined to his bed at the time by the gout; by his advice, however, and the activity of the Adelantado, the damage was skillfully repaired; the mast was shortened; the weak parts were fortified by wood taken from the castles or cabins, which the vessels in those days carried on the prow and stern; and the whole was well secured by cords. They were still more damaged in a succeeding tempest; in which the ship sprung her foremast. In this crippled state they had

VOL. II.-21*

to traverse seven hundred leagues of a stormy ocean. For tune continued to persecute Columbus to the end of this, his last, and most disastrous expedition. For several weeks he was tempest-tost-suffering at the same time the most excruciating pains from his malady-until, on the seventh day of November, his crazy and shattered bark anchored in the harbor of San Lucar. Hence he had himself conveyed to Se ville, where he hoped to enjoy repose of mind and body, and to recruit his health after such a long series of fatigues, anxieties, and hardships.*

Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. iL

cap. 36.

CHAPTER II.

ILLNESS OF COLUMBUS AT SEVILLE-APPLICATION ΤΟ THE CROWN FOR A RESTITUTION

OF HIS

HONORS.-DEATH OF

ISABELLA.

[1504.]

ROKEN by age and infirmities, and worn down by the

BRO

toils and hardships of his recent expedition, Columbus had looked forward to Seville as to a haven of rest, where he might repose awhile from his troubles. Care and sorrow, however, followed him by sea and land. In varying the scene he but varied the nature of his distress. "Wearisome days and nights" were appointed to him for the remainder of his life; and the very margin of his grave was destined to be strewed with thorns.

On arriving at Seville, he found all his affairs in confusion. Ever since he had been sent home in chains from San Domingo, when his house and effects had been taken possession of by Bobadilla, his rents and dues had never been properly collected; and such as had been gathered had been retained in the hands of the governor Ovando. "I have much vexation from the governor," says he, in a letter to his son Diego.*

*Let. Seville, 13 Dec., 1504. Navarrete, v. i. p. 343.