USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
Who does not know, infidel though he be, that man, in his dire extremity, ever turns to God ? It is even so in moments of great success and exultation. Columbus thanks his Creator,
Eng. by F. G.Kernan NY
51
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
and gives the name of his Saviour to the land he had found ; so Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, his heart filled with gratitude, stern and cruel warrior though he be, sinks upon his knees and pours forth his thanks to the Almighty for being the first European to whom it was given to make this great discovery. He then calls to his people to ascend, and thus addresses them :
" Behold, my friends, that glorious sight which we have so much desired ! Let us give thanks to God that He has granted us this great honor and advantage. Let us pray to Him to guide and aid us to conquer the sea and the land which we have discovered, and which Christian has never entered to preach the holy doctrine of the evangelists. As to yourselves, be as you have hitherto been, faithful and true to me, and, by the favor of Christ, you will become the richest Spaniards who have ever come to the Indies ; you will render the greatest services to your king that ever vassal rendered to his lord, and you will have the eternal glory and advantage of all that is here discovered, con- quered, and converted to our holy Catholic faith."
They answered this by embracing their leader and vowing to follow him to the death. Andres de Vara, a priest of their num- ber, lifted up his voice and chanted a " Te Deum Laudamus," the usual anthem of the Spanish discoverer. "The rest," says Irving, " kneeling down, joined in the strain with pious enthu- siasm and tears of joy ; and never did a more sincere oblation rise to the Deity from a sanctified altar than from that moun- tain summit."
And even so in after years did the Pilgrims, flying from re- ligious oppression, mingle their prayers and hymns of deliver- ance with the moan of the winter winds that rocked the pines on the wild New England shore. How strange the contrast, yet both flowing from the same overwrought emotion, striving to vent itself in prayer and praise !
Balboa, with all his pious enthusiasm, seems to have been a very practical sort of man. The first burst of exultation having subsided, he calls upon all present to witness that he takes pos- session of that sea, its islands and boundaries (a rather large geographical present, by the way), in the name of the sovereigns of Castile ; and the notary of the expedition proceeds then and there to make a testimonial of the same, to which all present, to the number of sixty-seven men, signed their names. He then,
52
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
we are told, " caused a fair and tall tree to be cut down and wrought into a cross, which was elevated on the spot whence he had first beheld the sea. A mound of stones was likewise piled up, to serve as a monument, and the names of the Castilian sovereigns were carved on the neighboring trees." Irving adds, " The Indians beheld all these ceremonials and rejoicings with silent wonder, and while they aided to erect the cross and pile up the mound of stones, marvelled exceedingly at the meaning of these monuments, little thinking that they marked the subju- gation of their land."
" This memorable event took place on the 26th of September, 1513 ; so that the Spaniards had spent twenty days in performing the journey from the province of Careta to the summit of the mountain," a distance, when Irving wrote, requiring but six days to compass. Indeed, the isthmus in that vicinity was not more than eighteen leagues at the widest, and in some places but seven in breadth, but very wild, rugged, and mountainous.
In the mean while, one of his exploring parties had gained the beach and found two empty canoes lying high and dry, with no water in sight. While wondering at this, the tide, which rises to a great height on this coast, came rushing in and set the canoes afloat, whereupon Alonzo Martin steps into one and calls his companions to bear witness that he was the first European to embark upon that sea, his example being followed by one Blas de Etienza.
On September 29th Balboa, having received the reports. of his scouts, sets out for the coast, taking with him twenty-six well-armed Spaniards, and accompanied by the cacique and a number of his warriors. He arrived on the borders of one of its vast bays, to which, it being that saint's day, he gave the name of Saint Michael. The tide being out and still half a league dis- tant, he seated himself by the muddy beach, in the shade of a forest tree, and waited for it to rise. The water rushing in, soon reached the spot where the Spaniards were reposing. Upon this " Balboa rose and took a banner on which was painted the Virgin and Child, and under them the arms of Castile and Leon, then drawing his sword and throwing his buckler on his shoul- der, he marched into the sea until the water reached above his knees, and waving his banner, exclaimed in a loud voice : 'Long live the high and mighty monarchs Don Ferdinand and Donna
53
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Juana, sovereigns of Castile, of Leon, and of Aragon, in whose name and for the royal crown of Castile I take real, and cor- poral, and actual possession of these seas, and lands, and coasts, and islands of the south, and all thereunto annexed, and of the kingdoms and provinces which do or may appertain to them, in whatever manner, or by whatever right or title, ancient or mod- ern, in times past, present, or to come, without any contradic- tion ; and if other prince or captain, Christian or infidel, or of any law, sect, or condition whatsoever, shall pretend any right to these lands and seas, I am ready and prepared to maintain and defend them in the name of the Castilian sovereigns, present and future, whose is the empire and dominion over these Indian seas and terra firma, northern and southern, with all their seas, both at the Arctic and Antarctic poles, on either side of the equinoctial line, whether within or without the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, both now and in all times, as long as the world endures, and till the final day of judgment of all mankind.'"
The reader will, we think, agree with us that the foregoing is a pretty comprehensive and far-reaching declaration, leaving nothing to be desired either in arrogance or assumption, and which, if literally carried out, would have given to Castile and Aragon nearly the whole world. But as Spain, with all her bravado, ere long discovered, it was one thing to claim and quite another to take and retain possession. For the time being, however, as none of the princes or captains referred to were present to dispute his assertions, Balboa called upon his com- panions to bear witness that he had duly taken · possession. They most loyally endorse his action, and, as before, declare themselves ready to defend him to the death. Meanwhile the notary gets to work again-a character who strongly reminds us of Mr. Commissioner Pordage in Dickens's " Island of Silver Store"-and draws out more " documentary evidence," to which, as before, all present-and it seems astonishing that so many knew how to write them-subscribed their names.
" This done," says Oviedo, in his "History of the Indies," " they advance to the margin of the sea, and, stooping down, taste its water. Finding that it was salt, they, though sundered from the Atlantic by such mighty mountains, were assured that they had indeed discovered an ocean, and again gave thanks to God." Balboa then draws a dagger from his girdle and cuts a
54
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
cross upon a tree which grew within the water, and two other crosses on two adjacent trees, in honor of the Three Persons of the Trinity, and in token of possession. His followers likewise cut crosses on many of the trees of the adjacent forest and lop off branches with their swords to bear away as trophies."
" So ends," says Irving, " this singular medley of chivalrous and religious ceremonial with which these Spanish adventurers took possession of the vast Pacific Ocean and all its lands-a scene strongly characteristic of the nation and the age."
Our next chapter must be devoted to the opening of that third door to Western discovery and settlement, the Strait of Magel- lan. The present may be fitly concluded by the following lines :
" Alone, ere noontide's burning heats arise, Balboa stands beneath the tropic skies Upon that height where native knowledge told His eye might range o'er billows bright and bold And lands where princes drank from cups of gold ; O'er boundless seas-coasts by no people trod Who knew the cross or knelt to Christian God. Can it be true ? He scarce dare lift his eyes- A moment pauses, then with glad surprise Sees green savannas, and beyond them all Where the far foam wreaths of the coast-line fall, That broad blue sea, so deep and yet so still, It keeps its title of Pacific still.
Swift to his knees he sinks upon the sod,
And pours his soul in gratitude to God ; Then to the strand he makes his toilsome way ; His soldiers follow, eager to obey. There, in full armor, knee-deep in its tide,
Balboa stands that wished-for wave beside,
Lifts his bright sword above the sounding sea, Whose anthem greets its sponsors soon to be, Plants on its shore the banner of old Spain, And takes possession of that spreading main,
Its isles, its coasts, where'er its waters foam, Wide as the world o'er which its breeze is blown. Alas ! Balboa, little dost thou know What waves of sorrow soon o'er thee shall flow. Improve thy transient hour, thy span of pride, Thy dream of conquest by Pacific's side. The star that rose thy destiny to sway Already sinks and downward takes its way.
Fate waits at Darien with thy reward. Go meet thy doom-the headsman's bloody sword."
-BREWERTON.
I M Colman
CHAPTER IV.
THE OPENING OF THE THIRD DOOR THROUGH THE DISCOVERY OF THE STRAIT BY MAGELLAN.
" What modern mind may judge the care That furrowed brow and whitened hair Of him who trod that narrow deck, Menaced by mutiny and wreck, Yet fearless made his doubtful way Through straits that bear his name to-day ?"
HE who attempts to write history resembles the mariner who launches upon an unknown and practically limitless sea. Fogs and mists hang about him ; events, seen through the haze of centuries, dwindle or enlarge, according to the medium through which they are beheld ; shallowness is mistaken for depth, depth for shallowness ; sirens wave and beckon their misty hands, entreating him to delay and listen to their story ; doubt and glamour beset him on every hand; and even when the fog of error clears away and all is truth and certainty, he doubts the trend and limitations of the coast on which he has fallen. It is even so with the writer. Fain would he tarry with the caravel of old Vincent Pinzon as he skirts the coast of the Brazils and draws favorable deductions from the volume of the Amazon, returning to excite the astonishment of the Spanish court by the exhibition of the first imported opossum ; with Bastidas, through the sinking and subsequent salvage of his treasure ships in the port of Jaragua ; with Solis, to the La Plata, where, we trust, he agreed with the natives who attacked, killed, and de- voured him ; to peruse the life story of the navigator Hojeda, mouldering forgotten in the national archives of Spain; to traverse the seas with Ponce de Leon, as he seeks in vain for the fabled fountain of youth, whose waters, alas ! full many a gray- beard of our own day were fain to discover-yet though he searches in vain for that rejuvenating spring, he locates our land of " sun and flowers," to which, being discovered on Easter Day, he gave the name of Florida-Easter Day bearing the name
58
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
in Spanish of Pascua florida ; and accompany the voyages of Garay, Cordoba, and Allion.
But we must leave them all and pass to the subject of our present chapter, the expedition of Fernando Magalhaens, or, as he is commonly called, Magellan, which eventuated in the finding of the strait that still bears the name of their discoverer --- a highway-or perhaps we should rather call it a byway-of the sea that served and still serves its purpose as a maritime door to the Pacific, as well as the more ordinary passage round Cape Horn.
We have no time to trace the personal history of this some- what remarkable man. Serving with distinction under the Portuguese flag, he becomes disgusted with the neglect of his own country, and being secretly invited so to do, visits the court of Spain, where he is received with open arms and entrusted with the command of a fleet of five vessels, their destination being the Moluccas.
It is a mooted point whether Magellan did or did not know that such a strait existed before sailing on this his last and most eventful voyage. Authorities differ on this point. He may or may not have suspected it ; certain it is that he departed with a firm determination to find it, and his efforts were crowned with success.
The five ships which he was to command were the Trinidad, which Magellan selected as the flagship ; the San Antonio, com- manded by Luis de Mendoza; the Vittoria, by Gaspar de Quesada, and the Conception, on board of which was Sebastian del Cano, in the quality of lieutenant, who had the honor of bringing back the Vittoria, after making the complete circuit of the globe, thus becoming the first circumnavigator. Lastly, there was the Santiago, a small vessel commanded by Rodriguez Serrano. The total tonnage of this little fleet was but 480 tons. Their preparations being completed, the small squadron sailed from San Lucan on September 20th, 1519, arriving without acci- dent on the coast of Brazil. Pursuing his way slowly to the south, Magellan reached in April a safe and commodious harbor in nearly fifty degrees of south latitude, to which he gave the name of Port St. Julien. Here he resolved to pass the winter, which, in this part of the world, where the seasons are the re- verse of ours, is exceedingly rigorous. But the strict economy
59
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
observed by him in the distribution of provisions, together with the hardships of a raw and tempestuous climate, gave rise to discontentment among the officers of the expedition, who were otherwise little disposed to submit to the authority of a for- eigner. They murmured at the privations and dangers to which they were exposed while remaining inactive on a strange and barren coast. They demanded to be conducted back to Spain, and on Magellan's positive refusal to comply with their wishes, broke out into open mutiny. In this trying conjuncture Magel- lan behaved with a promptitude and courage worthy of the grand enterprise he was so unwilling to abandon, " but unhap- pily sullied by such an act of treachery and criminal violence as no danger can excuse." He sent to Luis de Mendoza, the leader of the malcontents, a messenger instructed to stab that captain while conferring with him. This cruel order was punctually executed, and the crew of Mendoza's ship immediately sub- mitted. The execution of Quesada followed the next day, and Juan de Cartagena was sent on shore and deserted, with the expectation, perhaps, of suffering a more cruel fate.
There is a singular resemblance, in some respects, between this and a portion of Columbus's voyage. Mutiny menaced the success of both, and the answer of both commanders to the disaffected is very much the same ; though Magellan was enabled, through a wider nautical knowledge, to predict results and argue the cer- tainty of ultimate success, while Columbus had but his own theories to sustain his expectations. We have quoted the opin- ion of an English writer as to the cruelty of Magellan's course, but are inclined to believe that any naval court would have sus- tained him. His consorts were in open revolt, and Mendoza was cut down or stabbed in the very act of disobedience. Mendoza's body was carried on shore publicly, cried as a traitor, drawn and quartered, and the members spitted on poles. Forty men were found guilty and condemned to death, but pardoned, partly as a wise act of clemency and partly because their services were needed to man the fleet. The captain, Quesada, doubly guilty as a traitor and murderer of the poor contramaestre whom he stabbed to death for faithfulness to his admiral, was found guilty and condemned to death. On Saturday, April 7th, he was taken ashore and executed accordingly, his head being struck off by his own body servant, and his body quartered, as in the
60
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
case of Mendoza. "No more justifiable sentence could have been inflicted." So says the late lecturer on geography at the University (English) of Cambridge ; and he is right. But one cannot expect a civilian to regard acts demanded by the exigen- cies of the time with the eyes of the commander, whose painful duty it sometimes becomes to punish promptly and with appar- ent severity.
This mutiny, thus happily disposed of, proved the turning point of Magellan's career. He had no reason to repeat his les- son-they had learned to fear him as one not to be trifled with. But till the day of his departure for the strait, when he ordered their release, the mutineers in chains were kept working at the pumps till their services were no longer required.
To keep his men in action, and consequently out of mis- chief, the captain-general makes an examination of the coast in his vicinity. The Santiago is chosen for the work, from the lightness of her draught, and the captain-general's entire con- fidence in Serrano, her commander, an intimate friend of his chief's. The winter had now set in with severity. Fearing to continue his explorations by sea, Magellan determines to explore inland to a distance of thirty leagues, plant a cross, and open friendly negotiations with the natives. Four men only are sent, well armed. Neither food nor water is to be had, and the expedi- tion is a failure. One high mountain is ascended, where they plant a cross, and giving it the name of the Mount of Christ, they return to their ships to report the country untraversable and apparently without inhabitants. This at last is soon disproved. One morning the sailors are astonished by the appearance of a man of gigantic stature upon the beach, who sang and danced, pouring sand upon his head in token of amity. Magellan sent a man on shore with orders to imitate the actions of the savage, and, if possible, to make friends with him. This he succeeded in doing, and the new-comer was brought before the admiral, to the mutual surprise of both-the native being amazed at the huge ships and such little men. He points to the sky, believing them gods who had descended from heaven ; and the Spaniards, wondering at the great stature of their visitor, believe they have come upon a race of giants. Pigafetta writes : " So tall was this man that we came up to the level of his waistband ; he was well made, with a broad face painted red, with yellow circles round
Engdy F = Kernan, NY
63
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
his eyes and two heart-shaped spots upon his cheeks. His hair was short and colored white, and he was dressed in the skins of animals cleverly sewn together." The description of this ani- mal leaves no doubt that it was the guanaco. The hide of the same creature served to make boots for these people, and it was the unwieldy appearance thus given to the feet which led Magel- lan to apply to the race the name of Patagao, or, as we read it, Patagonians. The man, who seems in many respects to have been an enlarged copy of our own North American Indians, is further described as peaceably disposed, though not laying aside his arms-a short, thick bow and a bundle of cane arrows tipped with white and black stones. Magellan treated him kindly, and ordered that he should be given food. He was shown a large steel mirror. " So overcome was he at catching sight of him- self," says Pigafetta, " that he jumped backward with an unex- pectedness and impetuosity which overset four of the men who were standing behind him. He was, nevertheless, induced to accept a small mirror as a present, to which some beads and bells were added, and he was then put ashore under the care of four armed men."
The natives, assured of the friendliness of their strange vis- itors, now began to visit the ships, bringing their wives with them, whom they treated like beasts of burden (not unlike the Puget Sound "Siwash" of to-day) ; they were not so tall as the men, but fatter, with breasts half as long as a man's arm. Many visits are made, and one of them is taught his "pater" and "ave," and baptized under the name of Juan Gigante (Big John). He disappeared, and is supposed to have been murdered by his fellows. These natives continued to astonish the Span- iards. They caught the ships' rats and ate them without skin- ning ; they thrust arrows down their throats without injury, which Pigafetta regards as a species of medical treatment for indigestion, possibly to counteract the evil influences of over- indulgence in rodents. But all this friendliness, baptizing, and converting ended as usual. Magellan desiring a giant specimen to exhibit in Spain, attempted to capture him, as an East Indian might treat a rogue elephant, and in so doing brought about the flight of the natives, preceded by skirmish and death, a man-at- arms of the Trinidad being struck with an arrow and killed. So ended the captain-general's attempt to obtain curiosities for their
4
64
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
majesties of Spain. The two captured were placed on different vessels, though only one is said to have arrived in Spain, and even this is uncertain. The actual height of these so-called giants has been a matter of dispute. Lieutenant Musters, the best authority upon Patagonia, gives their average height at six feet-some even reaching six feet four-but their muscular de- velopment is excessive ; their dress of guanaco skins making it apparently greater. What would Magellan's followers have thought of the men of the " blue grass region of Kentucky" ?
Weary of inaction, and anxious to leave the scene of the mutiny, Magellan determines to pass the remainder of the winter at Rio de Santa Cruz, discovered by the captain of the wrecked Santiago. He refits his ships with that intention, but before departing a sentence is to be carried into effect -- that of the marooning (that is to say, abandonment on shore-a common naval punishment in those days and for many years afterward) of Juan de Cartagena and his fellow-mutineer Pedro Sanchez de Reina. For some unknown reason-possibly to increase their sufferings by the sight of their comrades still in port-they were put on shore nearly a fortnight before the sailing of the fleet, on Saturday, August 11th. They were provided with " an abundance of bread and wine," Herrera says ; but it must have been a bitter punishment for them to watch the departure of their comrades and to reflect how small was their chance of life, a chance still further diminished by the recent difficulties with the natives. They were "judged to be worse off, considering the country in which they were left, than the others who were drawn and quar- tered." Such an opinion seems to have been held many years later by another culprit, who, curiously enough, in the very same locality found himself condemned to a like alternative. In June, 1578, when Drake's little squadron lay at anchor in Port St. Julien, Mr. Thomas Doughtie was found guilty of a plot against the life of his admiral. He was offered the choice of death " or to be set on the main, or to return to be tried in England." He chose the first, giving as his reason that the shame of his return as a traitor would be worse than death, and that he would not endanger his soul by consenting to be left among savages and infidels.
On August 24th, every member of the expedition having con- fessed and received the sacrament, the fleet left the bay. Though
65
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
nearly lost in a squall, they reached their new winter harbor in safety. Its latitude is fixed with tolerable accuracy at 50°. In this port, of the utter desolation of which Darwin gives a graphic account, they passed two months, making visits to the wreck of the Santiago, still farther to the southward, and securing such articles as had been washed ashore. The only incident seems to have been a supposed eclipse of the sun, minutely described by Herrera -a delusion due to some atmospheric cause-an annular eclipse actually taking place on that day, but not visible in Patagonia.
On October 18th, judging the spring to be now sufficient- ly advanced, Magellan gets his feet under way, this time for the strait. The wind is unfavorable, and for ten days they fight their way southward, gaining inch by inch. At length it shifts to the north, and they run before it on a south- southwest course for two days more. On October 21st, 1520, they sight land, " and there," says the pilot Alvo, " we saw an opening like unto a bay." They were off Cabo de los Virgenes, and Magellan had found his long-hoped-for strait at last !
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.