but encourage Ferdinand and Isabella to persevere in prosecuting his plans. The necessity of obtaining it forced him not only to impose a heavy tax upon the Indians, but to exact payment of it with extreme rigor; and may be pleaded in excuse for his deviating on this occasion from the mildness and humanity with which he uniformly treated that unhappy people.
The task of reducing the island to order occupied Columbus till towards the end of the year 1495. Meanwhile the representations of his enemies in Spain had gained such weight over the cold and jealous Ferdinand, and even over the generous soul of Isabella, that they resolved to send out a commissioner to investigate into his conduct. The person chosen for this office was Aguado, a groom of the king's bed-chamber. On arriving in Hispaniola, Aguado's behavior was so arrogant, and had such a bad effect upon the interests of the colony, that Columbus determined to proceed to Spain, and vindicate his conduct personally to the sovereigns. Accordingly, appointing his brother Bartholomew adelantado, or lieutenant-governor, of the island, and Francis Roldan chief-justice, he set sail in the spring of 1496, and arrived safely in Spain.
Third and Fourth Voyages—Ill-treatment of Columbus—Death.
The appearance of Columbus in Spain, his manly and candid defense of his
conduct, his glowing exposition of the value of his discoveries, and the best
means of prosecuting them, had the effect of silencing his detractors for a
time. A third expedition was fitted out at his solicitation. It was not,
however, till the beginning of 1498 that all was in readiness. This delay
arose partly from the dilatoriness of officials, and partly from the unwillingness
of men to engage in an enterprise which did not now appear so captivating
as it did at first. 'To supply the want of voluntary recruits, a
measure was adopted, at the suggestion of Columbus, which shows the
desperate alternatives to which he was reduced by the great reaction of
public sentiment. This was to commute the sentences of criminals condemned
to banishment, to the galleys, or to the mines, into transportation
to the new settlements, where they were to labor in the public service without
pay. This pernicious measure, calculated to poison the population of
an infant community at its very source, was a fruitful cause of trouble, and
misery and detriment to the colony. It has been frequently adopted by
various nations whose superior experience should have taught them better,
and has proved the bane of many a rising settlement. It is assuredly as
unnatural for a metropolis to cast forth its crimes and its vices upon its
colonies, as it would be for a parent willingly to engraft disease upon his
children.
On the 30th of May 1498, Columbus set sail on his third voyage, with a squadron of six vessels. Sailing much farther south in this voyage than he had done in the two former, he landed on the coast of Paria, in the South American continent. The circumstances of this third voyage, part of which lay within the tropics, and the appearance of the new coasts to which it conducted him, made a strong impression on the mind of Columbus, which had a natural bent for theorising upon every phenomenon presented to it. Among other theories which he started about this time, was one by which he attempted to explain the variation of the compass, and other extraordinary changes which occurred in passing from the old world to the new. According to this theory, he supposed that the earth, instead
