The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1891-10-09
IRVING'S COLUMBUS.
The Great Discoverer's First
Voyage to America.
A Far More Wonderful Story Than
the Most Brilliant Imagination Has
Yet Conjurcd, Told in the Words
of One of The Masters OF Litera-
CHAPTER discontinued.

Va OnC Va tnV &AA ootOEo Va AAhtOEttr
ture.
CHAPTER Ill Continued
AS Columbus supposed himself to have
landed on an island at the extremity
of India, he called the natives by the
general appellation of Indians. which
was universally adopted before the true
nature O, his discovery was known, and
has since been extended to all the aborig-
inals of the New World.
The islanders were friendly and gen.
tie. Their only arms were lances, hard
ened at the end by fire, or pointed with
a flint, or the teeth or bone of fish.
There was no iron to be seen, nor did
they appear acquainted with its proper
ties; for, when drawn sword was pre-
sented to them, they unguardedly took
it by the edge.
Columbus distributed among them
colored caps, glass beads, hawks bells
and other trifes. such as the Portuguese
were accustomed to trade with among
the nations of the gold coast of Africa.
They received them eagerly. hung the
beads round their necks, and were won
derfully pleased with their finery and
with the sound of the bells. The Span
iards remained all day on shore refresh
ing themselves after their anxious voy-
age amid the beautiful groves of the
island, and returned on board late in the
evening delighted with all they had seen.
On the following morning, at break Of
4ln c1,< l.,
natives; some swan off to the ships,
others came in light barks which they
called canoes, formed of a single tree,
followed, and capable Of holding from
one man to the number of forty or fifty.
These they managed dexterously with
paddles, and, if overturned, SWAN about
in the water with perfect unconcern, as
if in their natural element, righting their
canoes with great facility, and bailing
them with calabashes.
They were eager to procure more toys
and trinkets, not apparently from any
idea of their intrinsic value, but because
everything from the hands of the stran-
gers possessed a supernatural virtue in
their eyes, as having been brought from
heaven; they even picked up fragments
Of glass and earthenware as valuable
prizes. They had but few objects to
offer in return, except parrots, of which
great numbers were domesticated among
them. and cotton yarn, Of which they
had abundance, and would exchange
large balls of five and twenty pounds
weight for the merest trifie.
They brought also cakes of kind OF
bread called cassava, which constituted
principal part Of their food, and was
afterward an important article of pro.
visions with the Spaniards. 1t was
formed from great root called yuca,
which they cultivated in fields. This
they cut into small morsels, which they
grated or scraped, and strained in a
press, making broad, thin cake. which
was afterward dried hard and would
keep for long time, being stepped in
water when eaten. It was insipid, but
pourashing, though the water strained
from it in the preparation was a deadly
poison. There was another kind of yuca
destitute Of this poisonous quality, which
was eaten in the root, either boiled or
roasted.
The avarice of the discoverers was
quickly excited by the sight of small Or
naments Of gold worn by some of the
natives in their noses. These the latter
gladly exchanged for glass beads and
hawks bells, and both parties exulted
in the bargain, no doubt admiring each
others simplicity. AS gold, however,
was an object of royal monopoly in all
enterprises of discovery, Columbus for
bade any traffic in it without his express
sanction; and he put the same prohibi-
tiop on the traffic for cotton, reserving
to the crown MI trade for it, wherever it
should be found in any quantity.
He inquired of the natives where this
gold was procured. They answered him
by signs, pointing to the south, where,
he understood them, dwelt a king Of
such wealth that he was served in vessels
of wrought gold. He understood also
that there was land to the south, the
southwest and the northwest, and that
the people from the last mentioned quar-
ter frequently pFapseded to the south
west in quest of gold and precious stones,
making in their way descents upon the
A5luAluS hiAO C0A Ing OA buo tAhaDttdttV9-
Several of the natives showed him scars
Of wounds received in battles with these
invaders. 1t is evident that great part
Of his fancied intelligence was self de-
lusion on the part of Columbus. for he
was under spell of the imagination,
which gave its own shapes and colors to
every object. He was persuaded that he
had arrived among the islands described
by Marco Polo as lying nppnsite Cathgy,
in the Chinese sea. and he construed
everything to accord with the account
given Of those opulent regions. Thus the
enemies which the natives spoke of as
coming from the northwest he concluded
to be the people of the mainland of Asia,
the subjects of the great khan of Tar
tary, who were represented by the Vene-
tian traveller as accustomed to make war
upon the islands and to enslave their In
habitants. The country to the south,
aboppGing in gold, could be none other
than the fameas island of Cpango; and
the king who was served ont OF vessels
of gold must be the monarch whose mag
pifcent city and gorgeous palace. COW
esed with plates of gold, had been ex-
tolled in such splendid terms by Marco
Polo.
The island where Columbus had thus
for the first time set his foot upon the
New World was called by the natives
Guanahane. 1t still retains the name of
San Salvador which La erava 70 ~