Columbus_ The Four Voyages - Laurence Bergreen [20]
The ships rode uneasily at anchor, poised to head out to sea. With rain increasing day by day, the seamen fretted that a storm would blow up and destroy the ships, but Columbus believed that a large rock at the mouth of the harbor would protect them from the worst of the weather, or so he said. But their situation was more precarious than he believed, or let on to the others. If the wind shifted, the rock would be no help at all.
At last, he saw people, even if they refused to stay put. It was Monday, December 3, and Columbus, venturing onto land and following a winding creek, had just come upon “five very great dugouts, . . . very handsome and well worked.” Appraising the canoes as a navigator, he declared them a gratifying mixture of form and function. As he walked on, he came across a “boathouse very well ordered and covered, so that neither sun nor water could do [the dugouts] damage.” Within, protected by the structure, he examined a “canoe made of a single log like the others,” comparable to a large rowboat or barge “of 16 thwarts.” The artistry that went into the vessel impressed him deeply. “It was a pleasure to see their workmanship and fine appearance.” A pleasure for him, that is, but not for Spanish bureaucrats, who had dispatched him to save souls, forge trade with the Grand Khan, and, in the process, outfox the wily Portuguese. Examples of indigenous handicrafts were of scant interest to Spanish officialdom; gold was what they wanted, gold and power.
Leaving the boathouse, Columbus “climbed a mountain” and from the summit surveyed broad fields “planted with many things of the country.” A man of the sea, Columbus was unfamiliar with the names of the fruits and vegetables he encountered; some he took to be gourds, or calabazas, among the first plant species to be cultivated.
Suddenly “the people of the village” appeared. The moment they saw the strange figure on the mountain, they took flight. He dispatched his Indian guides to reassure them, and bestow gifts of hawk’s bells, brass rings, and green and yellow glass beads. Concerning the skittish Indians, Columbus “assured the Sovereigns that 10 men could put to flight 10,000, so cowardly and timid are they.” It was true that they were armed with simple spears, but on examination, they proved to be nothing more than reeds with fire-hardened tips. Wanting them for himself, Columbus employed “a good ruse, bartering in such manner that they gave them all.” And so the timid Indians were deprived of their rudimentary weapons by the cunning Admiral, whom they had come to fear and revere.
Just when Columbus believed he had charmed and disarmed the populace, the Indians raised their arms skyward and shouted. Suddenly he saw the face of one Indian “become as yellow as wax” as he frantically gestured to Columbus that people—the Caribs, in all likelihood—were coming. The Indian pointed to a loaded crossbow held by one of the Spaniards, indicating that “they would all be killed” by this unseen menace. To emphasize his point, the Indian grabbed a scabbard and withdrew a sword, brandishing it.
The Indians fled, with Columbus calmly following. When he caught up with them, they were readying for battle. “There were very many, all painted red and naked as their mothers bore them, and some of them with feathers on the head and other