the night the three ships backed and filled under reduced canvas off this unknown shore. Columbus was like a man possessed. The men were impatient, urging Columbus to move closer but, when dawn broke, the Captain General’s caution was vindicated. They could see a white shoreline, trees rising up, surf seething along a coral rock which stretched like fangs up out of the sea; these would have torn their ships to shreds if they had tried to sail directly to shore.
Once daybreak had come, the three ships tacked along the coastline looking for a place to anchor. At last they found a bay and slipped in easily. The leadsmen sang out the depths until the signal was given to drop anchor. The men clustered on the deck and stared in wonderment: white sands, wooded hills, even the breeze had lost its salty, tangy taste and now wafted the sweeter smells of fruits and vegetation towards them. Figures were seen slipping in and out of the treeline.
‘Savages,’ Navarette, one of the most keen-sighted, reported from where he stood, halfway up the main mast. ‘Naked as babies, they are.’
All three ships’ boats were lowered. Columbus, now dressed in gilded armour, a great cloak round his shoulders and carrying the royal standard of Castile, clambered into his; the Pinzons, carrying the banners of the expedition, a green cross with the initials of the two sovereigns on either side, joined him. Matthias was also chosen to go and he climbed gingerly into the boat.
They reached the shoreline in a matter of minutes. Matthias felt strange to be on dry land again, a sensation not helped by the shimmering, white sands, the glare of the sun and the strange, exotic smells which swept down from the dark green forest which fringed the beach. He helped Baldini pull the boat further up out of the water. Columbus and a number of officers were already planting the standards of Spain into the hot sands before kneeling down. A prayer of thanksgiving was offered and ‘this land and all the territories appertaining to it’ were claimed in the name of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.
A group of olive-skinnd figures slipped out of the trees and came down the beach. Matthias had heard all sorts of stories about the subjects of the Great Khan: how they were small, yellow, wizened and slant-eyed or had the faces of dogs. They, however, were olive-skinned, with jet-black hair which fell down as far as the nape of the neck, of good stature and very comely. They were naked as the day they were born and reminded Matthias of children as they moved shyly towards the Captain General. Some of the women wore beach clouts, with ivory ornaments round their necks and wrists. Dark-eyed, their high-cheekboned faces slightly turned away, as if they did not wish to look fully at these strange creatures. They jabbered quietly amongst themselves. A beautiful young woman, her hair half-covering her face, pinched her nose and giggled. Matthias smiled. With the wind behind them, the smell of Columbus and his party, not to mention that from the ships, must be highly offensive to these people. They bore gifts, fruit and food he’d never seen, and calabashes full of water. Their leader, a stocky young man, plucked up courage and walked towards Columbus. He touched the Captain General’s face and clothes and looked in wonderment at the banners flapping above him.
Columbus whispered instructions to de Torres, who shrugged and began to talk to the natives in English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Hebrew and Aramaic. The leader just looked at him, owl-eyed. Eventually, he did reply, his voice low and guttural. He pointed up to the skies, then at de Torres, who laughed and shook his head.
‘I can’t understand them fully, sir,’ he informed Columbus, ‘but he thinks we come from Heaven.’
The man began to talk again. Matthias, who had edged forward to study these people more closely, saw the look of welcome on the man’s face being replaced by that of fear. The leader repeated the word ‘Caniba’, and pointed out in a southerly direction. The word was taken up by his companions. De Torres caught their drift. He shook his head.
‘Not Caniba! Not Caniba!’ he replied.
Again the man spoke, this time using sign language. Despite the heat Matthias felt a chill go down his back. This young subject of the Great Khan left little to the imagination and Matthias almost knew how de Torres was going to translate it for Columbus.
‘He wants assurances that we are not the Caniba,’ he declared. ‘They are the great enemies of these people.’ He paused as the young Indian intervened and made waving movements with his hand. ‘He says they come here in great canoes,’ de Torres said slowly. ‘They take them prisoner, cut their throats, drink their blood and eat their flesh.’
‘They are not armed,’ Martin Pinzon spoke up. ‘Have you noticed that, sir? They carry no arms.’
Pinzon was correct. Matthias could see no bow or arrow, no sword, daggers, clubs or axes. De Torres drew his sword and held it up so it caught the sunlight. The natives gasped and stared, amazed. He handed the sword to the leader. However, instead of grasping the hilt, the man touched the blade and cut his finger. He stared down in astonishment at the blood welling from the small cut.
‘They know nothing of weapons,’ Escobedo whispered. ‘But Marco Polo, in his journals, says the subjects of the Great Khan are well armed.’
De Torres now sheathed his sword and, when he used a crossbow to bring down a seabird, the natives fell to the sand. Matthias began to wonder. Had they reached Cathay? The great island of Cipango? Or were they somewhere else? Who were these people who acted so innocently? Had they reached a paradise? But, if so, who were the Caniba? Was this a place where both the angels and demons lived? Matthias remembered that mysterious voice: he also wondered who, amongst these people with their childlike faces and innocent ways, had brought Columbus in by showing that mysterious light the evening before? The Captain General, however, had now noticed the small studs of gold in the natives’ noses and ears. He pointed at these and excitedly asked de Torres where they were from? The native leader, surprised by Columbus’ excitement, shrugged, took the gold from his nose and ears and handed it over. He pointed further south, chattering in his own tongue. Columbus stared round, not even waiting for de Torres to translate.
‘We are on the outskirts of Cathay,’ he declared. ‘Their mines and quarries, from which this gold came, must lie to the south.’ He snapped his fingers.
Baldini opened a small chest and Columbus distributed gifts: beads, coins, pieces of cloth and red bonnets. The natives, excited, took them like children seizing toys, only too willing to hand over the small pieces of gold they wore. Columbus then gave strict instructions that the people were not to be harmed or abused in any way.
‘They are,’ he declared, ‘the subjects of their Catholic Majesties.’
After they returned to the ships, those lucky enough to have accompanied the Captain General described what the rest had only seen from afar. Columbus loudly proclaimed he had found the Indies and was determined to sail south. However, late in the afternoon, more of the natives in long dugouts, the oars of which looked like bakers’ shovels, came out to greet all three ships. They brought more gifts, strange-looking fruits and small carvings. Columbus allowed some of the people on board and these gazed in wonderment up at the rigging. When the Captain General gave the order for one of the bombards to be fired, the natives caused much merriment by simply jumping overboard but, when they realised the sound meant them no harm, they laughed and splashed in the water like children.
Columbus sent another party ashore. These brought back cotton threads, multicoloured parrots and hooks made out of fishbones. They described strange plants and trees, talked of inner lakes full of fresh water, flocks of birds never seen before, so many they could darken the sun. Villages with huts made out of palm leaves: enormous snakes and other strange creatures. Matthias, like the rest, listened in wonderment. They also discovered the place they had landed was called Guaharini but Columbus rechristened it San Salvador. De Torres was unable to discover what tongue the natives spoke but soon they established a common list of words and left the rest to sign language. Columbus learnt that there were two islands further along the coast much larger than this, called Colba and Bohio. The Captain General was determined to reach these and, in the succeeding days, the
Columbus still maintained an iron discipline, placing lookouts with strict instructions, for the entire coastline was protected by a long line of cruel-looking reefs which could rip the bottom out of any of his craft. The Captain General soon proved he was a brilliant navigator. Time and again he managed to thread through these reefs into naturally formed harbours and ports. They landed on two more islands which were christened Isabella and Hispaniola. The natives were like those they first met, friendly, unarmed, innocent and eager to please. Sometimes Columbus took a few with him, determined that they would be his scouts who would eventually lead him to the great kingdom of the Khan.
Matthias found the voyage strange. Blue skies, soft white fluffy clouds, gentle breezes and warm sun prevailed. He recalled how, in England, autumn would be giving way to winter, with savage cold winds, driving
