Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-10-15
WRECK OF THE SANTA MARIE.
And How Columbus Was Treated by the
 Natives of the New CountrY. .

And How Columbus Was Treated by the Natives of the New Country.
 Guacanagari was eager to see more of the Spaniards and sent numbers of his lght-hearted people to welcome them and bring them gifts of every sort. Their enthusiasm was unbounded, their generosity unstinted. The land was gay with festivities, the sea swarmed with canoes. On nearing the caravels, the Indians that crowded them stood up. rendering all kinds of offerings with gestures of devotion, as an idola- trouS worship.
 Beholding all this enthusiasm, Colum bus despatched a formal embassy to Guacanagari, and on hearing. their re- port he determined despite the prevail ing land-breeze, to weigh anchor and sail to the dominions of his friends, which were some five leagues distant. He set out at day break on December 24. Little progress was made during all that day. The night came, Christmas Eve, and Columbus determined to cele- brate it, as best befitted his own health and the comfort of his own crew, by en- toying sound sleep. He retired, worn out by three nights of vigil following three days of herculean labor. Sweet
 
 of that new world whose very existence had been denied, the endless upspring ing of Eden-isles, the simple races bound to nature by such mysterious ties and soon to be brought into the fold of | civilization and Christianity must have filled his mind with happy dreams on this first restful Christmas eve he had passed in thirty years of titanic | contest with all the world, and at times even with his own self. It was midnight, when the echoes { of childhood and of times long past fill | the slumbering ear. The heavens | smiled and the sea was calm. The sailors slept soundly, sure of their bear lngs and sea-room because preceded by | the little fleet of sl1iffs and canoes sent by Columbus to the Indian king. A | ships boy held the helm, so assured were they all of the fairness of the weather and the safety of their course when the flagship suddenly struck | upon a sunken reef. Columbus instant | ly divined his peril, and hurried on deck. With lightning rapidity he gave orders to cut away the mast and throw | the cargo overheard. But the remedy | was futile; it was no mere stranding, it | a wreck. With the desertion of the l Pinto and the loss of the Santa Marie, only the smallest and the frailest of the three caravels that had set sail fr9,n | Palos remained. He went on board the | Nina and sent a fresh embassy to Qua canagari, giving an account of the dis aster, while he stood off and on till day broke. When the chief learned the mis- fortune, he sought in every way to al- leviate it, sparing neither means nor sacrifice. Disastrous indeed it was to face such superstitious races, who con- fided in the prosperity and success of | the supernatural, with the slender rem 5 nants of such a wreck, which showed \ how the sea overcomes all created things and bows us all to it's sovereign | power. But the sentiment of hospital ity was uppermost in that faithful tribe and in their kindly monarch. All the succor needed in that sad hour and all requisite provision for the future, were \ given to the sufferers with admira b1e orderliness. The salvage of the wreck was piled on shore and, under the chiefs orders, scrupulously gu rded by the na- tives as though it were their own. The cargo was rapidly discharged and stored in place of safety, without the loss of pins point.-Emilio Castelar,, in Gen.