The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-20

In the nineteenth century TO cast stones
It took three and forty years Of agitation
for emancipation to strike oil English
! welded chains. It took not only years Of
appeal, but thousands OF millions Of money
and scores of thousands Of human lives To
free the bondmen In the United States,
Even II Columbus had proposed to place
in bondage the gentle and Christianized
Indians Of Espahola. his own age could not
call him guilty. whatever we might call him
| to-day. As a matter Of fact, he made no
such proposal. A distinction should be
drawn between enslaving an enemy Ike
the Carib, a cannibal who preyed on the
weaker inhabitants Of Espafiola and the
neighboring islands. and that system OF
involuntary servitude which afterward
sprang up in the West Indies, and under
! which the most horrible cruelties were per-
petrated. Columbus never suggested, en-
couraged or approved Of that system. II
Is. on the contrary, matter Of record that
he protested vehemently against It's hor-
! rors.
During the second voyage there occurred
an incident to which a wrong coloring has
been given by many historians. On June
4 "
the public notaries. Fernand Perez de Luna,
and told him that he believed the land Of
Cuba. which on his first voyage he had
called the island Juana. was really CONT
mental land, since they had sailed along 1t
for distance Of ss5 leagues without find
Ing any ending, and seeing the land turn to
| the southwest. That no one might belittle
the achievement Of having found CONT
! mental land. Columbus directed the said
notary to take witnesses and go to each ship,
interview each person, whether officer,
mariner or ships boy. on the three cara
wells, and ask each whether he had any
doubt that this land was the mainland.
II such a one had any doubt, the notary
was to beg him to make it known. because
then the Admiral would remove the doubt
and convince him that Cuba was really
continental. This was absolutely all that
the notary was ordered to do. What he
did was to 60 to each man with a prepared
form Of words and then to impose on his
own responsibility a penalty Of ten thou
sand maravedis and the cutting out of the
tongue in case any one OF them should say
anything to the contrary. Not only did
Columbus never authorize. but he never
even suggested this enforced expression
Of opinion. The exaction was exclusively
the officious action Of his agent, Fernand
Perez de Luna. Fortunately. the agent
repeats the exact directions given him by
the Admiral. and then shows that he ex-
ceeded his instructions by adding Il
placed them under penalty" So far as
Columbus was concerned, he never required
any oath and never imposed a penalty
~.
1t was during Columbus's third trans
atlantic voyage that the continent OF South
America was first seen by Europeans. On
the morning OF Tuesday, July 81, 1893. the
Admiral who had Of late been sailing to the
westward, altered his course to the north,
quarter northeast, thinking to strike Dom
~ ca or some of the Cannibal Islands, and
he followed this course until midday. 1t
was then that he again altered his course
to the west. being attracted by the GOODNESS
Of the air emitted by the land, and shortly
after the Admiral's servant. from the look
outs stage. saw land to the west. which the
Admiral says was fifteen leagues distant
and what appeared were three rocks or
mountains. In the geographical nomen-
olature Of the Island of Trinidad, these three
mountains are to-day called the Trinity
Hills, or the Three Sisters. Columbus
sailed on, now steering southwest, and
making for high point of land which he
called Cabo de la Galera lat present called
Punta Galeota) from it's resemblance to
ship sailing This he reached at o clock
in the evening The point was seven leagues
to the southwestward OF the locality in
whici. he had found himself when the Three
Sisters first came into view On the follow
ing day, Aug. 1, 1903, he ran down the coast
westwardly for five leagues, after which
he anchored and took In water. Las Casas
says that he believes Columbus called this
anchorage APunta de la Playa Thence he
saw toward the south another island, dis
tant more than twenty leagues. to which he
gave the name OF "Ysla Sancta." If Column
bus really saw this land to the south, he then
and there discovered the continent of South
America, and this discovery occurred on
Aug 1, 1893. The mainland. however, near
the Serpent's Mouth is extremely low, and
1t has been deemed doubtful whether Co
lumbus could have seen 1t from the shore
Of Trinidad, but, as Mr.. Thatcher suggests.
he might have been cruising around TO the
south near enough to distinguish land before
he anchored, and. indeed, we must accept
his statement, since he actually baptized the
land seen by him twenty leagues toward
the south -Ysla Sancta.' Moreover Hum
boldt asserts that the mainland can be
deserted, and says that he himself studied
facts and situations during sojourn In the
neighborhood However this may be, it was
not until Columbus had passed the trouble
some Mouth of the Serpent. had sailed up
the Gulf Of Paria to the Mouth of the Dragon
and had then turned and followed for five
leagues the western coast that the expedi-
ton landed on the South American CONT
nent, and took possession thereof on Sum
day, Aug. s, 1893, with the usual ceremonies.
The Admiral himself did not land Both
Americus vespucius and John Cabot nre-
coded him In the honor of continental dis
covery, and even now, when Fortune had
brought him directly to the mainland OF
the New World, he failed first to grasp the
significance Of the fact, calling the coast
on which his followers landed the island of
Gracia.
It was during his fourth voyage that Co.
lumbus first made landfall on the North