He
Accordingly Went There On Saturday Night The Ninth Of March, And The King
Ordered All The Nobility Of His
Court to go out to meet him; and when the
admiral came into the presence, the king received him with
Great honour,
commanding him to put on his cap and to sit down: and having listened with
a pleasant countenance to a recital of his successful voyage, made offer
of supplying with every thing he might stand in need of for the service of
their Catholic majesties. The king then alleged, as Columbus had been a
captain in the service of the crown of Portugal, that the discovery and
conquest of the new found Indies ought to belong to him. To this the
admiral answered, that he knew of no agreement to that effect, and that he
had strictly obeyed his orders, which were not to go to the Portuguese
mines nor to the coast of Guinea. The king then observed that all was well,
and he had no doubt that justice would be done between the two countries.
Having spent a long time in discourse, the king commanded the prior of
Crato, the greatest person then in the presence, to entertain the admiral
and to shew him all civility and respect, which was done accordingly.
The admiral remained at Valparaiso all the Sunday and Monday till after
mass, when he took leave of the king, who expressed great kindness and
made him great proffers; and ordered Don Martin de Noronha to accompany
him. Many other gentlemen went along with him to do him honour, and from
curiosity to hear an account of the voyage. While on his way to Lisbon,
the admiral had to pass a monastery where the queen then resided, who
earnestly entreated him not to pass without seeing her. She received him
with all the favour and honour which is due to the greatest lord. That
night a gentleman brought a message from the king to inform the admiral
that if he chose to go by land into Spain, he had orders to attend him,
and to provide lodgings and every thing he might want by the way, as far
as the frontiers of Portugal. But the admiral chose to return by sea.
On Wednesday the thirteenth of March, two hours after day-break, the
admiral sailed from Lisbon, and on the following Friday, the fifteenth of
March 1493, he arrived at Saltes about noon, and came to an anchor in the
port of Palos, whence he had set out on the preceding third of August 1492,
having been absent seven months and twelve days upon his expedition. He
was there received by all the people in solemn procession, giving thanks
to God for his prosperous voyage and glorious discovery, which it was
hoped would greatly redound to the propagation of Christianity, and the
extension of their Catholic majesties dominions. All the inhabitants
considered it as a great honour to their city that the admiral had sailed
from thence, and that most of his men belonged to the place, although many
of them, through the instigations of Pinzon, had been mutinous and
disobedient.
It so happened that about the same time that the admiral arrived at Palos,
Pinzon had arrived with the Pinta in Galicia, and designed to have gone by
himself to Barcelona to carry the news of the expedition to their Catholic
majesties. But he received orders not to come to court, unless along with
the admiral with whom he had been sent upon the discovery; at which he was
so mortified and disappointed that he returned indisposed to his native
country, where he died shortly after of grief. But before Pinzon got to
Palos the admiral had set out for Seville, designing to go from thence to
Barcelona where their majesties then resided, and he was forced to make
several short stops by the way, to gratify the importunate curiosity and
admiration of the people, who flocked from all the towns in the
neighbourhood wherever he went, to see him and the Indians and the other
things he had brought with him. Thus holding on his way, the admiral
reached Barcelona about the middle of April, having before sent to their
highnesses on account of the happy success of his voyage. This was very
pleasing to them, and they ordered him to be received in the most
distinguished manner, as a person who had done them such signal service.
All the court and city went out to meet and welcome him, and to escort him
in honourable triumph to the royal presence. Their Catholic majesties sat
in public with great state on rich chairs under a canopy of cloth of gold
to receive him; and when he advanced to kiss their hands, they stood up as
if to receive a great lord, even making a difficulty in giving him their
hands to kiss, and then caused him to sit down in their presence. Having
given a brief account of his voyage, they gave him leave to retire to his
apartment, whither he was attended by the whole court; and so great was
the favour and honour shewn him, that when the king rode about Barcelona,
the admiral rode on one side of him and the Infante Fortuna on the other;
whereas before no one rode along-side of the king except the Infante, who
was his near kinsman.
[1] Rabo de junco is explained to signify Rush-tailed: Rabo being a tail
and Junco a rush in the Spanish language. - E.
[2] Don Ferdinand compliments his father too largely in this place by
supposing Cipango and Hispaniola the same. The original design of
Columbus to sail westwards to India, which he erroneously supposed to
be vastly nearer in that direction, led him accidentally almost to
discover Hispaniola on the supposed route to Cipango or Japan. - E
[3] The dates of the voyage may be here recapitulated. Columbus sailed
from Palos on the third of August 1492, and reached the island of
Gomera, one of the Canary islands, on the ninth of August, or in six
days.
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