HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



265 



"what they fay, it is eafy to dernonftrate the falfity of his 

 ftory. Gonzalez Hernandez Oviedo, who was in Barcelo- 

 na when Columbus arrived, faw, and knew thofe Ameri- 

 cans, and was an eye-witnefs of what happened, fays no- 

 thing of their madnefs, their howls, and contortions, 

 which he would not naturally have omitted had they 

 been true, as he was rather unfavourable to the Indians, 

 as we have faid before, particularly when he was minute- 

 ly relating their entry into that city, their baptifm, their 

 names, and in part their end. He fays, that Columbus 

 brought with him, from the ifland of Hifpaniola, ten 

 Americans, one of which died on the patia^e, three re- 

 mained tick in Palos, a port of Andalufia, where, as he 

 imagines, they died foon after, and the other fix came to 

 Barcelona, where the court was then held ; that they 

 were well intirucled in the Chriftian doctrines and bap- 

 tifed : Peter Martyr, of Aighera, who was alfo in Spain 

 when Columbus arrived, makes mention of the Indians 

 (k) which that famous admiral brought with him, but 

 does not fay a word about their madnefs : on the con- 

 trary, he relates, that when Cortes returned to Hifpa- 

 niola, he carried back three of the Indians with him, as 

 all the others had died by that time, from change of air 

 and food (/) ; and that he employed one of them to 

 Vol. III. M m gain 



(i) Sommar. della Stor. delle Ind. Occid. cap. 4. 



(/) To the cauies of the death of thofe Americans, mentioned by P. Mar- 

 tyr, may be added the extraordinary hardfhips they fuffered in that horrid voy- 

 age, the circumftances of which are to be found in the letters of Columbus, 

 publifhed by his fon. From the number of thofe who died, mentioned by 

 Martyr, an exception ought to be made of that American whom the prince 

 Don John retained with him, as he did not die till two years after, according 

 to the teftimony of Oviedo. But although they had all died on the voyage, or 

 become frantic and mad, it fhould not caufe any wonder, confidering what is 

 recited by M. de Paw himfelf, in Part iii. feci. 2. of his Refearches: " Les 



" academiciens 



