Columbus_ The Four Voyages - Laurence Bergreen [102]
Once again, he was Jamaica-bound, and in search of gold.
The fleet stood offshore until the next day, when “the Admiral cruised down the coast to explore the island’s harbor.” All was peaceful until the moment “there issued from the shore so many armed canoes that the boats had to return to the ships, not so much from fear of the Indians as to avoid hostilities with them,” Ferdinand said. To avoid a confrontation, Columbus entered another harbor, only to realize he had sailed straight into an ambush. Or was it? On these islands, the Indians’ desire to fight, to trade, or just to make noise frequently overlapped, and Columbus resorted to guessing about their real intentions. His own stance was just as ambivalent; within the span of a few days he was capable of regarding the Indians as political allies, trading partners, converts, slaves, or deadly enemies. In the pages of his journal and letters they appeared as wise or primitive, indolent or resourceful, according to his judgment and whims.
Columbus returned to Cuba and resumed his westward course, pondering a familiar question: Was Cuba part of the mainland, a hypothesis consistent with his insistence that he had reached the Indies, or was it an island? If so, he had not yet reached the Indies. In the midst of his reverie, “there arose a terrible storm of thunder and lightning that, added to the numerous shoals and channels, caused him great danger and toil.”
In severe weather, Columbus would normally strike sail, but his fleet was in danger of colliding with small islands, their dull trees and beaches just visible through the fog and mist. As the weather brightened, the palm trees and scrub sparkled. Columbus called the islets the Queen’s Garden, in honor of his sovereign. “The farther he went, the more islands he discovered, and on one day he caused to be noted 164 islands. God always sent him fair weather for sailing among them, and the vessels ran through those waters as if they were flying,” Bernáldez said.
Ashore, they marveled at the profusion of wildlife, “cranes the size and shape of those of Castile, but bright red.” Nearby, “they found turtles and many turtle eggs, resembling those of hens but having very hard shells.”
Returning to their ships, Columbus’s men noticed the strange manner in which Indians fished from their canoes. As they approached, Ferdinand relates, the Indians “made signs not to come nearer until they had done fishing,” which meant tying “slender cords to the tails of certain fish that we call revesos”—remoras, or suckerfish—“that pursue other fish, to which they attach themselves.” Despite Ferdinand’s enthusiasm for the technique, the Spanish colonists did not trouble to learn this method of fishing for themselves, preferring to rely on the Indians’ largesse.
The Jamaican coast emerged from the fog to take shape before his eyes on May 5. He arrived at what is now called St. Ann’s Bay, which he named Santa Gloria, a timeless paradise of powdery beach and gently surging ultramarine sea. In every direction, the Admiral noticed “very big villages very close together, about four leagues apart. They have more canoes than elsewhere in these parts, and the biggest that have yet been seen, all made each of a single tree trunk.” The settlements were so prosperous that “every cacique has a great canoe for himself in which he takes pride as a Castilian gentleman”—a station to which Columbus aspired—“is proud of possessing a fine, big ship.” The canoes were finely worked, and at least one appeared to be astonishingly long; Columbus