WESTWARD HO ! 



effort on their own part. Embarrassed all round, he sent back five 

 hundred Indian prisoners who he suggested might be sold as slaves in 

 Spain, thus beginning the Indian slave trade. But the Queen knew of 

 the gentleness of these natives and how hospitably they had treated the 

 explorers and immediately ordered their return. On this voyage he 

 discovered Jamaica and carried out considerable surveying work in the 

 Caribbean, but the trials of the voyage very nearly killed him, and the 

 colonists that he had taken out were hopeless. They were rebellious 

 against their leaders and brutal to the natives. On his return a still 

 larger fleet was put under his charge and he was granted a proportion of 

 the profits that should have made him rich for life. 

 The Death of Columbus. 



On his third voyage Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad 

 and the mainland of South America. He reached Hispaniola only to 

 find that malcontents intriguing in his absence had influenced the Court 

 at home. Accordingly a Governor was appointed and Columbus and his 

 two brothers were shipped home in chains. By the time he reached 

 Spain the tide had once more turned in his favour and he was released. 

 He made a fourth voyage but his health by now was broken and his 

 enemies were gaining both in numbers and power, so that soon after his 

 return from it he died at Valladolid on May 20th, 1506. 

 Ojida. 



As typical of the dare-devil adventurers who followed Columbus 

 may be mentioned Alonso de Ojida. Originally one of Columbus's 

 lieutenants he was the nephew of one of the principal Inquisitors of 

 Spain and incidentally was one of his leader's bitterest enemies. The 

 result was that although Columbus was supposed to have a monopoly, 

 Ojida, when little more than twenty-one, was fitted out with an expedi- 

 tion at Seville and allowed to sail in 1499. He struck the South 

 American coast and ran along it, defeating the Caribs time and again. 

 Wantonly slaughtering a large number, and causing mischief wherever 

 he went, he took a large number of slaves back to Spain but obtained very 

 little profit. In 1502 he was allowed to sail again, but this expedition 

 was fouled with appalling bloodshed and finally he was captured by his 

 own compatriots and sent back to Hispaniola in irons. Arriving at the 

 island, manacled as he was, he slipped overboard and attempted to 

 swim ashore but his chains dragged him down and he was finally rescued 

 on the verge of drowning. Eventually he was acquitted but the actions 

 against him had ruined him and he disappeared from history for some 

 years. In 1508 he appeared again, but once more caused trouble 

 wherever he went and his force was finally cut up by the Indians. At 

 last he succeeded and got the leadership of a large body but his rest- 

 less spirit kept him fighting and he appeared indeed to have a charmed 

 life. Finally his native enemies determined to kill him somehow and 

 accordingly an ambuscade was laid for him and he was wounded by three 

 poisoned arrows. Even then he recovered by the heroic method of 

 putting red-hot plates on the wounds. Again ruined, he accepted the 

 262 



