SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TOTAGTS AND TRAVEL!,

select Letters of Chrtstopher Columbus, with other Original Documents relating to bls Four Voyages to the New World. Translated and edited by E. H. Major, Esq., of the British Museum Printed for the Hakluyt Society.

FICTION,

captain Spike ; or the Islets of the Gulf. By J. Fenimore Cooper, Esq., Author of

"The Spy," "The Pathfinder," Rc. In three volumes Bentley.

PONTRT,

spedraCILS of Swedish and German Poetry. Triiislated by J. E. D. Bethune. Part I. Poems of Esalas Tegner. nut II. Schiller's "Maid of Orleans." Murray.

SELECT LETTERS OF COLUMBUS.

THIS second publication by the Haklnyt Society contains the four letters of Columbus narrating his first, third, and fourth voyages, with a me- morial relating to the second; a letter descriptive of the second voyage, by Dr. Chanca, physician of the fleet ; and extracts from the will of Diego Mendez. This Spaniard was an active officer of Columbus, who rendered conspicuous services to the expedition on the fourth voyage, both at the mouth of the Orinoco and in Jamaica : the veteran adopted this mode of recording his deeds, in order to serve as a memorial for his family, and to remind Don Diego Columbus of the promises of his father on his deathbed, which Diego had confirmed but not fulfilled.

These documents have been translated by Mr. Major, of the British Museum ; who has displayed his original text in the lower half of the page, and sparingly illustrated it by notes. He has prefaced his transla- tion by an elaborate introduction, in which he gives a very good bibliogra- phical account of the documents in the volume, a sufficient life of Colum- bus, and a summary of the evidence respecting the former discoveries of America, to the belief of which fact he inclines, There is also a good index ; but the volume requires a map to exhibit the, iscoveries (and only the discoveries) of Columbus, with the track of his voyages,—an omission that we should not have expected from the Hakluyt Society.

Although wanting the fulness of story and the quaintness of style which belong to the voyage of Sir Richard Hawkins, this volume has sufficient popular interest in its narrative, especially when regarded as the first observations made upon the New World by the actual discoverer. The account, indeed, has not the completeness of a regular history, which, drawing its materials from all quarters, extracts minute particulars from other writers, that Columbus himself passed over if he knew them, as too individual to be addressed to his Sovereigns—or too egotistical—or, when they concerned the overlooked misconduct of others, neither fair nor politic to make. The object of Columbus must also be borne in mind ; which was to give a general account of the countries discovered, and of their productions, in order to impress Ferdinand and Isabella with their im- portance. It was no business of his to extend his despatches by minute details of the expeditions, still less to enter into aneodotical stories about individuals, or touch upon personal adventures. Such things are to be found in the letters ; but they appear incidentally, and more fully in the epistle of De. Ohanca than in the letters..qf Columbus; but more fully still in the will of Diego Mendel., which in fact is entirely occupied by de- tails concerning himself and his exploits. There are many passages of striking description, and some of stirring dangers ; especially in the fourth voyage, when the Admiral was contending with violent storms and the currents of the Orinoco. The following passage is thefirst descrip- tion of the New World ever written : it applies especially to Cuba and Hayti. "All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by a diversity of scenery: they are filled with a great variety of trees of immense height, and which I believe to retain their foliage ha all seasons; for when I saw them they were as verdant end luxuriant as they usuallrare in Spain in the month of May, —some of them were blossoming, some beanng fruit, and all flourishing in the greatest perfection, according to their respective stages of growth and the nature and quality of each: yet the islands are not so thickly wooded as to be impas- sable. The nightingale and various birds were singing in countless numbers, and that in November, the month in which I arrived there. There are besides in the same island of Juana [Cuba] seven or eight kinds of palm trees, which, like all the other trees, herbs, and fruits, considerably surpass oars in height and beauty. The pines also are very handsome; and there are very extensive fields and meadows, a variety of birds, different kinds of honey, and many sorts of metals, but no iron. In that island also, which I have before said we named Espanola, [Hayti, there are mountains of very great size and beauty, vast plains, groves, and very fruitful fields, admirably adapted for tillage, pasture, and habi- tation. The convenience and excellence of the harbours in this island, and the abundance of the rivers' so indispensable to the health of man, surpass anything that would be believed by one who had not seen it. The trees, herbage, and fruits of Espanola, are very different from those of Juana; and, moreover, it abounds in various kinds of spices, gold, and other metals. The inhabitants of both sexes in this island, and in all the others which I have seen or of which I have received information, go always naked as they were born, with the exception of some of the women, who use the covering of a leaf, or small bough, or an apron of cotton which they prepare for that purpose. None of them, as I have already said, are possessed of any iron; neither have they weapons, being un- acquainted with, and indeed incompetent to use them; not from any deformity of body, (for they are well-formed,) but because they are timid and full of fear. They carry, however, in lien of arms, canes dried in the sun, on the ends of which they fix heads of dried wood sharpened to a point; and even these they dare not use habitually; for it has often occurred when I have sent two or three of my men to any of the villages to speak with the natives, that they have come out in a disorderly troop, and havefled in such haste at the approach of our men that the fathers forsook their children and the children their fathers. This timidity did not arise from an loss or injury that they had received from us; for, on the contrary, I gate to all I approached whatever articles I had about me, such as cloth and many other things, taking nothing of theirs in return: but they are naturally timid and fearful As soon, however, as they see that they are safe, and have laid aside all fear, they are very simple and honest, and exceedingly liberal with all they have."

Valuable as this publication is for presenting the first account of Ame- rica in the very words of the original, its chief interest arises from its autobiographical view of Columbus. Of course, we do not mean that any new facts will be found ; the subject has been too frequently and thoroughly investigated for that. But the ipsissinta verba of Columbus give a precision and fulness which the reproduction of the literary artist often misses ; while the general colouring is of necessity altered when pre.. sented by another mind as part of another work. All the biographers of Columbus have dwelt upon his great anxiety during his first voyage, and his frequent visits to the deck in the night ; but we question if they equal his own simple picture when describing his broken health off the mouths of the Orinoco—" And although on my former [first] voyage, when I first discovered terra firma, [he thought Cuba was the continent of Asia,] I passed thirty-three days without natural rest, and was all that time deprived of sight, yet never were my eyes so mach affected or so painful as at this period." The hardships to which Columbus was at last reduced by the ingratitude of King Ferdinand are another fertile topic : yet declamation is hardly so forcible as his own subdued complaints in the account of his fourth voyage. Almost in the words of Othello when superseded—" I have done the state some service "—Columbus exclaims, " Yes, as I have said, their Highnesses have received some services from me" : and in various places he touches upon the past, or gives a sad account of his present condition and future expectations—expectations too sadly verified.

"Such is my fate, that the twenty years of service through which I have passed with so much toil and danger, have profited me nothing, and at this very day I do not possess a roof in Spain that I can call my own: if I wish to eat or sleep, I have nowhere to go but to the inn or tavern, and most times lack wherewith to pay the bill. • • • "I was twenty-eight years old when I came into your Highnesses' service, and now I have not a hair upon me that is not grey; my body is infirm, and all that was left to me, as well as to my brothers, has been taken away and sold, even to the frock that I wore, to my great dishonour. I cannot but believe that this was done without year Royal permission. The restitution of my honour, the repara- tion of my losses, and the punishment of those who have inflicted them, will re- dound to the honour of your royal character: a similar punishment also is due to those who plundered me of my pearls, and who have brought a disparagement upon the privileges of my Admiralty. Great and unexampled will be the glory and fame of your Highuessea if you do this; and the memory of your Highnesses, as just and grateful sovereigns, will survive as a bright example to Spain in fu- ture ages. The honest devotedness I have always shown to your Majesties' set vice, and the so unmerited outrage with which it has been repaid, will not allow my soul to keep silence, however much I may wish it: I implore your High- nesses to forgive my complaints. I am indeed in as ruined a condition as I

have related: hitherto I have wept over others; may Heaven now have mercy

upon me, and may the earth weep for me. With regard to temporal t • I have not even a blares for an offering; and in spirituA things, I have ceased ere in the Indies from observing the prescribed forms of religion. Solitary in my trouble, sick, and in daily expectation of death, surrounded bymillions of hostile savages full of cruelty, and thus separated from the blessed sacraments of our holy church, how will my soul be forgotten if it be separated from the body in this foreign land? Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, and justice!"

There are passages, no doubt, that form a species of set-off—not against Ferdinand, and his pompous, jealous, and malignant Spaniards— but as regards the lofty virtue of Columbus. Though himself treating thc natives with mildness and justice in respect to individual dealings and per.. sonal claims, he set right altogether aside as regarded public points. The independence of an Indian chief, and the clear right of himself or his people to oppose Columbus,'were thrust aside at once if the Admiral did not con. (wive mildness politte and_though it Nay be said that thin was no more than has frequently been done since, it must be remembered that Colum- bus set the bad example. On the subject of the slave-trade he was behind the age ; for in his memorial respecting his second voyage, he proposed a regular trade 'in Caribs, because they were cannibals,—a project which the Sovereigns first "reserved," and then declined.

The volume also supplies many examples of the close observation of Columbus and his attention to minute details, as well as furnishes spe- cimens of his curious learning, his wild credulity, his geographical know- ledge, and his cosmvaphical speculations. They who wish information on these topics muslhafe recourse to the volume; but an extract touch- ing the site of the Terrestial Paradise will give some indications of them. Columbus set out with the idea that the earth was spherical, but subse- quently conceived it to be pear-shaped. The river he is speaking of in the following extract was the Orinoco ; the land South America, but which he still conceived was Asia.

"I do not find, nor have ever found, say account by the Romans or Greeks which fixes in a positive manner the site of the terrestrial paradise; neither have i I seen it given in any mappe-monde laid down from authentic sources. Some placed it in Ethiopia, at the sources of the Nile; but others, traversing all these countries, found neither the temperature nor the altitude of the sun correspond with their ideas respecting it; nor did it appear that the overwhelming waters of the deluge had been there. Some Pagans pretended to adduce arguments to establish that it was in the Fortunate Islands, now called the Canaries, &c. "St. Isidore, Bede, Strabo, and the master of scholastic history, with St. Am brose and Scotus, and all the learned theologians, agree that the earthly paradise is in the East, &c. "I have already described my ideas concerning this hemisphere and its form; and I have no doubt, that if I could pass below the Equinoctial line, after reach- ing the highest point of which I have spoken, I should find a much milder tem- perature, and a variation in the stars and in the water. Not that I suppose that elevated point to be navigable, nor even that there is water there; indeed, I be- lieve it is impossible to ascend thither, because I am convinced that it is the spot of the earthly paradise whither no one can go but by God's permission. But this land which your Highnesses have now sent me to explore is very extensive; and I think there are many other countries in the South of which the world has never had any knowledge. "I do not suppose that the earthly paradise is in the form of a rugged moun- tain, as the descriptions of it have made it appear; but that it is on the summit of the spot which I have described as being in the form of the stalk of a pear; the approach to it from a distance mast be by a constant and gradual ascent; but I believe that, as I have already said, no one could ever reach the top. I think also that the water [the embouchure of the Orinoco] I have described may pro- ceed from it though it be far off, and that, stopping at the place which I have just left, it forms this lake. There are great indications of thin being the terres- trial paradise; for its site coincides with the opinion of the holy and wise theolo- gians whom I have mentioned: and moreover, the other evidences agree with the supposition, for I have never either read or heard of fresh water coming in so large a quantity in close conjunction with the water of the sea: the idea is also cor- roborated by the blandness of the temperature; and if the water of which I speak does not proceed from the earthly paradise, it appears to be still more marvellous, for I do not believe that there is any river in the world so large or so deep."