1 Explorers We seldom never iad any ation hath endused so many misadventures and ies asthe Spanines have dove i thle Tadan dicoveres. Yet prtsiting in their entervie, with invinibleconbancy, they Rave cmaesed {thei kingdom so many goodly provinces, ae bary the remembrance ofall ‘Tangs prt + Many yest hae pased over some of thie heads la the ‘earch of not vo many lenges: Vea, more than ome or wo hae spene tir inbour thee wealthy od ss ven seech of golden dom, wiebout geting further notice of eta what dey ad at shee ist sting forth.» » Sie Walter Raleigh, Te History of be Wer, x614 In 1502, of bis fourth and final voyage, Christopher Columbus happened upona great uading canoe ust off the coast of Honduras. It swas long a galley’, s Ferdinand, the Adtoical’s thirteen-yerr-old son cecalled, and earved fom one great tree tcunk, Nektber its twenty-five ake paddlers nor the richly clad men who appested to be their masters offered any resistance as the Spaniaeds seized the craft, and they remained paralysed with fight as the bearded ‘rangerstifled through the eargo Te was only when some cacao beans ‘veresllowed t spill from theircontainess in the course ofthe looting tha they momentacly forgot their far, serambling to retrieve them ‘as if they were their eyes. ‘Along, with the precious cacao beans were copper axes and bells; ‘azote and batchets of a transloeent yellow stone, probably Mexican obsidian; heavy wooden wat clubs stadded with fies; poey; and fntments of siaay-coloaced woves cotoa. ‘The small huddle of ‘women and childeen clustered under a canopy were probably also part of the eargo, ta be sold, together with some of the paddlers, along the coast ‘Columbus and his men picked over the cargo, keeping, whatever took tele faney, and then let the canoe go on its way, detaining only the oldman who seemed to be its capenin to test his usefulness 38 a 5‘ Spore ude, Precety what the aves ade ofthe encounter we dont Enow-Theeanve wes cnanl parca the ret sn endurag tng tetwork linking Hondo a esiea in which merchants rom te ‘Yocaan pensla contol the aie bewveen Hondurs and Kiclange, whore the Aces, overiots of much of Mexico, Imintaned a sinton! We ean bese that news ofthe stages and ‘rat uncouth and patel ways an through the whole comple Soren although anv of ta gies sve the ecoras it ect ln ihc Ci a Heep of nrihen Yet, props the invasion ofthe Penvingula by bearded strangers who svete pethaps the mists of the safcud caltare here Kuhl Can, the Fenhered Serpent Teor the Inian the encouner wa thestenng, i was for the Spaniards profounily cheering: Colombo” dstrmined pie ofthe ins he had itcovered bad Become increasingly defensive for ftowher to tht pote bad bis men found apy evidence af the teh Felson he hal promise them, The Iola of the ads hey iui on weer frou Calo tne Rew seb crest, ving like bent nthe ores ori sblers Incanto be called at golngehametesaly naked oe with meze Wis Stloincloth sarap covering hex genta, The Tndans ofthe rene ‘oe tla proper sete of shame the Spied note approvingly Un the women modenty held tei shaw before ce fe ike he Moor women in Granad, and that when he pales eit tre anuched Grom them a limpee-of faugheand.shorough Spun sench ceshigul hey bal covered thee private pats win eheir nds The ede cane, with vad argo, cheer phiseaton ipa by ne herd of wehcbd perio and {le bones, gpeencd in mince the thang ciation Colarabs had sought slong, Te was ott fn ihosle More than dead wa wo pass before spuds were to pene the tangle of ands an the retess ens and vind of the Caribbean tothe exeoetinaty words Sih iy beyond Bat he sory ofthe gest ring canoe became Dur oF the floc ofthe nds, andy ike a promi im mens rn arly io 1517.4 sina lave-honting and exploring expedition made ready to sal out af Cabs, Guba had been congueted - oF more correctly over-run, as its predominately Arawak Indians had offered no resistance ~ sx years before, and had attracted the wal swarm of Explore : Spanish adventurers hungry foe a share of whatever spoils thete might be. Among them Was Bernal Diaz del Castillo, eweaty-four yeats old, already four years inthe Indies, and as yer unremarkable mong his equally poor and hopefal companions Ginold age he was to ‘write his Tre Fistor of the Congest of New Spats, or ‘Mex now eallit, one of the greatest patilpant histories cver written). He brad come, along with many others, from Darien, where there wat a superfiity of Spenish soldiers, and fora time was sustained by the ‘expectation that his distant kinsman Diego Veldaquer, Governor of Cub, would honor his promise to give ime some Indians as soon 2s there were any available’ But Indians were ia short and dvindling, supply, the Gubaa natives dying almort as fat asthe en browghe in fom other islands to replace them, and the Few there were had aleeady. been disteiboted among the powerful men ofthe island. So Digs, and shout another hundred men who, like him, were weary of cooling, theie heels, pooled hele meagre resources 10 buy ewo extavels and a brigantine on credit. They provisioned them, miaizaly,witheassava bread, pigs at seandalously inflated prices, Diaz believed, given the way pig multiplied on the island ~ ol, and a few beads and other tres for trading with the natives aed set off to try their hk tinder the leadership of Francisco Herninder de Cérdoba, ane of the few men of any substance o invest in the eamshackle enterprise+ Ifthe expedition suifered the defects ofits abc beplonings, it was fortunate in its pilot. Anton de Alarainos was a native of Palos, the por which had produced some ofthe fst and continued to produce ‘many ofthe best of Spai’sscaaree-exploters. He knew the waters of the Caribbean ab well as any other man, of, at leat, any other Spaniaed. He had been around ther long enough 1 have leent 10 read the messages coded in the surge and raffle of watee and the duttings and pilings of cloud. He could secognise the small signs the slow oily swell, the estlesssusface play of dolphins which were the muted warnings ofthe onset ofthe great ‘nonther’, the eerible ‘wind which leapt from nowhere to whip water and sky into shrieking. confusion, and which had littered the reefs and beaches of the Caribbean with the shells of vessels whose pilots had eu fom the turmoil forthe illasory safety ofthe shore. ‘Alanis hal been with Columbus as piloton the old admirals ast, voyage: he had seen the trading canoe, and allt promised. I had como, he vemembeced, from the wot, It was Alsminos’ confidence, tind his reputation, which swung the Cbrdobn expedition away from the slender but eaty pickings of slaving among the known islands ~6 Spann tovards an audhenie voyage of explontion. Pasting San Antoni Gite wencenmoat points the thee ships mani thie coud “Afr twelve days ang the le Beet had ee know water, ot ‘Alan il eld toward the setting #89, "20g noi ot Aer wnter nor the curren nor ofthe wie tha asa eed i he lee, ecalle Betnal Diz, who ya no aoe Pe who hed tras In signs or those Who cane yp ren het “Than eam roo days and nights of e201 the ships were bled rBftoned bys sive, When the wid at st Sopp, se we Ul stesy and sl eoether, Seven days ety salty ore, and) ew their hick held: a Tong, low coast slowly fined. above He orton This (dough the Spaniards die't know i) uy dhe at fester point of the great penionla they would gai "Yuen Euping duunoualy towsrds th shore ~ the Wate shatowed a Bt caer eur they sw two Fagus buck fom the bench, on sEEMIY Smet nd, snd sheply defined inthe clear ats gresegow. ew the it tow sen te die ad he jublnt ney pa tee Ga Cate", te Gene Cato, Fo its Se, phi py fd thrown vaulting hopes. Sarwar mornings teeta this ofthe lea deaught probed aout fora scour aneborage, tn buge canoes, beating gi nd dived pullers came swooping out tomes then. Thesngivesshowed aanies of fear Av the Spaniards made baracts of fie ai seinen than thiny Indian swung temsehver abel ie Tapakip und vosemed ovec ite length and breath Phe eheally reese srngs of reenbexs, andthe eae ang thm, ho the Spaniel ye Atak CAE mening cer oust be hospitable his ov Cory nde B65 Feet should come ashore and that he would rete he ays enneStpons enough to feey them all to thebeats The Me wer se dropped back int ther eral ad swepe pack to