induce him to believe it was one of those rich and fertile countries, that was to reward him and his followers for this hazard+ ous enterprise. Coasting along to the southward, however, he found a larger island abounding with all the necessaries of life, inhabited by a mild and friendly people, and exhibiting every appearance of opulence; whereas that of St. Salvador appeared to be extremely poor. From some specimens of gold shewn to him by the inhabitants of this second discovered island, as well as by those of the Bahama's, he conceived that it possessed mines of this precious metal; and with this idea, which he knew would be highly acceptable to his employers, he resolved to return to Spain for reinforcements, after leaving a number of his companions on a friendly footing with the natives, a few of whom he took with him to Spain. This island was afterwards called by the Spaniards Hispaniola, which name it still retains, though it is more commonly known by that of St. Domingo, and has lately through the successes of the blacks been also styled Hayti. We have no account of his voyage home; we are only informed, that on his arrival at Seville, he proceeded to Barcelona, where the court then resided; which he entered in a triumphal manner, exhibiting to the astonished multitude as he passed along, samples of the gold, with the ornaments of dress, the arms and domestic utensils of the islands he had discovered. His reception was such as might be expected from his sovereigns. The king, in particular, who clearly perceived that the foundation was now laid for the future aggrandizement of his kingdom, by the accession of new territories, and the influx of wealth, entered heartily into the views of Columbus, who proposed to establish a Spanish colony in the islands he had already discovered, and to lose no time in further researches, till he had firmly settled Hispaniola, in which he proposed to reside, and there to wait for favourable opportunities to complete his plan of making new discoveries; for he was fully convinced that there were several other islands at no very great distance. A formidable fleet was got ready with the utmost expedition, amply equipped with every article adapted to the double purpose of exploring and conquering new countries. Columbus was now appointed governor of all the territories he had, or should take possession of, for the crown of Spain. A great number of adventurers, many of them persons of high rank, embarked with him; and this second voyage proved still more successful than the first, for in the course of it he discovered Cuba and Jamaica; and, in a third, the whole Archipelago; which, in process of time, became separate colonies, as we have already noticed, belonging to different European nations. It is now no longer doubted, that this great man was likewise the first discoverer of the Continent of America, ascribed by some historians to Vespusius a merchant of Florence, who, having sailed on a trading voyage to the southern continent, and envying the renown which Columbus had acquired, boldly as sumed the merit of the first discovery; and had the audacity to make the addition of Americus to his family name. But Vespusius was not the only enemy Columbus had to encounter; ä party formed against him at court, prevailed upon the imbecile and ungrateful Ferdinand to send a military officer of rank to Hispaniola, as an inspector of his government; who found means not only to supersede him, but to load him with irons, and to send him to Europe as a state prisoner. Isabella his protectress was no more; but his innocence was so apparent, that he was again taken into favour, and, unmindful of his past sufferings, followed the impulse of his ruling passion, and ventured on a fourth voyage of discovery, most probably that of attempting once more a passage by the West to the East Indies. From this expedition he returned to Spain totally exhausted; and after languishing a considerable time, under a hectic fever, he termi nated his glorious life at Valladolid, in the year 1506, in the 56th year of his age. Situated under the tropic of Cancer, the climate, soil, and productions of the West-India islands may be included together in one general description; and without entering at present into any minute examination of any particular island, we may the whole in one collective point, bearing in general character a near resemblance to one another. The cultivated parts of these islands exhibit a scene of fertility, to which no country in Europe can bear any kind of proportion; and of which no European, accustomed only to the temperate and frigid zones, can have any adequate idea. It is a region in which abundance and variety seem to contend for mastery; in which they seem to lay an equal claim to our attention, but leave the mind undecided in its preference and choice. But abundant and various as these productions are, the fertility which abounds in these countries, may perhaps be attributed more to the salubrity of the climate, in the process of vegetation, than to the internal excellencies of the soil, or the laborious exertions of man. The same effects are produced in these islands by the periodical rains which regularly fall, as are produced in Egypt by the overflowings of the Nile. In both cases the earth seems threatened with an inundation, through those waters which overspread her surface for a moment, and which seem to indicate a second deluge to destroy the world. But they are only so many manifestations of the divine goodness, acting through the medium of second causes, which, in these torrid regions, he has made use of to impregnate the secret recesses of vegetation, to call torpid life into action, and to fertilize the surface of the earth. In Egypt the waters rise from the swellings of the river, but in these islands they descend in torrents from the skies. In both cases the hand of Omnipotence is conspicuous; only he displays his power in different ways. In both cases he appa rently deluges the earth with water, while he only fertilizes her surface, causing her to teem with plenty, which the tropical sun soon ripens for the use of man. It is thus, in the kingdom of nature, that Jehovah acts! It is thus also that he acts in the kingdom of divine grace! He awakens the soul to apprehensions of danger, and then conducts it to. the throne of grace. He waters it from on high with the dews of his heavenly grace, that it may bring forth fruit to his glory, through the efficacy of the Sun of Righteousness, who shines upon it with sacred lustre. The face of these islands would have held out sufficient inducements to the first adventurers, to establish settlements in these prolific regions, though no other temptations had conspired. They were countries in which nature seemed to have poured out, in luxuriant profusion, every thing necessary for the conveniency and comfort of man, and in which she appeared to present an extensive garden, which had been planted and cultivated by the hand of God. The foliage of the trees exhibited little less than a perpetual summer, diffusing its spices through the aromatic gales; while the fruits with which multitudes of them were loaded, gave evident signs of the divine favour. The roots and herbs which were nourished by the intense action of the solar beams, in conjunction with those fruits which were mellowed into ripeness by the same cause, and hung pendent from the boughs, must have excited gratitude in every feeling heart, in proportion as they produced admiration. And the astonishment which nature, thus wearing a perpetual smile, must have infused into the contemplative mind, would, one might expect, have been transferred to the primary Fountain from whence it sprang. The seas which encircle and lave these islands, contribute their portion in displaying the bounties of God. They teem with fish of the most delicious flavour; and yield this grateful repast in a surprising abundance. Both earth and sea conspire to supply the wants of man, by communicating their productions with amazing variety; exciting gratitude while they heighten wonder, through evidences which strike upon every sense, and more than demonstrate the unbounded goodness and infinite power of God. The diversity of hills and valleys, the elevated mountains, the extended savannas, the number and variety of trees and shrubs, and the umbrageous shades and cool retreats, which diversify this picturesque scene, all contribute to heighten the grandeur of the prospect, and to add to that fertility which glows without a rival in any other climate of our terrestrial abode. The mind is lost in contemplating the numerous beau ties which these islands afford; and sinks oppressed with difficulties in making selections among a numerous train which exceeds all the imagery of the mind, and bids defiance to her descriptive powers. The lofty and enormous trees which rise in majestic grandeur, and exceed in magnitude any that Europe ever saw, are, in many cases, protected from those violent tempests which sometimes ravage these countries, and lay plantations waste, by the still loftier mountains, which rise to an astonishing height: while these trees afford to those plants and shrubs which flourish beneath their shade, that protection and shelter which they receive. By these means shrubs and plants are defended against those intense heats which would pierce their vital parts, and extract from them that moisture by which they live.Through the same causes they are preserved from the fatal effects of those rains which fall in autumn with such irresistible violence, as would strike them from the lists of vegetative creation, and mingle them with that earth from whence they now derive support. Thus circumstanced, the tender plants, which flourish in these islands, enjoy the genial and invigorating heats, without being exposed to all the rigour of that intolerable fierceness which blazes in the summer solstice from a vertical sun. Through the same peculiar happiness of situation, these tender plants partake of those enlivening benefits, which issue from those rains and dews which fertilize the country through every varied season, without sustaining the disadvantages which otherwise they must have suffered from those torrents of water which descend, occasionally, from the skies, in terrible inundations. The lofty trees which give graces to the magnificence of the scene, thus contribute to the fertility of those islands which are embellished by their stateliness and foliage; and they must have proved with demonstrative evidence to the first settlers, by their luxuriant growth, which depended on the native vigour of the earth and the power of the soil, the certainty of success which waited to crown the hand of industrious cultivation.* *There is a certain propensity in the human mind inclining it occasionally to draw a veil over the enormities of their fellow-creatures, which I feel myself rather at a loss to comprehend. It seems difficult to say whether this pro The Papaw and Palmeto; the Mahogany and the Cedar; the Ceiba and the Fig, or what is called, in the East, the Banyan pensity arises from respect for human nature, and which would induce us to doubt the authenticity of those facts which stain the page of history with human blood, or whether it arises from a national or an individual friendship for those persons whose actions sully the annals of mankind. Perhaps it may oc casionally arise from both causes. But in either case, it is a censurable propensity, because it ultimately tends to defeat the designs of all faithful records, and to render questionable and suspicious even the best authenticated facts. In the former case it betrays the weakness, and, in the latter, the depravity of the human mind. Facts are, in themselves, good or bad, independently of all opinions which we put upon them; and from what they are in their own natures, the authors of them must finally stand or fall. The false glosses which the varnish of language may give them, may deceive mankind, but cannot deceive Him before whom we must shortly make our appearance to give an account for those deeds done in the body, when we must abide the decision of his tribunal whe shall judge both quick and dead. In the corrupted currents of this world, Even in the teeth and forehead of our faults, The greatest men that ever ornamented human nature, have had their foes, and the greatest villains that ever disgraced mankind, have had their friends. These remarks are of general application; and though we may find some difficulty in discovering the motive, there can be none in discovering the fact. To lessen the fame of Columbus, and to palliate, if not to deny the enormities of the Spaniards, in the extirpation of the peaceful and unoffending natives by some of the most inhuman butcheries which have ever disgraced mankind, some writers have affected in an indirect manner to call in question the veracity of Columbus; by representing these delightful islands as so many melancholy deserts, abounding chiefly with mountains and swamps, at once impenetrable, and hostile to the health of man. And from these circumstances they have inferred the scantiness of their population, in order to extenuate those unheard-of murders which depopulated this Archipelago, and in the short space of somewhat less than half a century, exterminated not less than two millions of the human spesies. And to aggravate the horrid facts, if such facts can be aggravated by any circumstance, no other pretence seems to be assigned, than that they were Pagans, Infidels, or Heretics, and must be destroyed for the glory of God! How inscrutable and mysterious are the ways of Heaven! Perhaps few, if any, abstract arguments can furnish us with more decisive proofs of a future state, than those inhumanities which are practised in the world, and yet go unpunished. The justice of God is inseparable from his nature and being; and his being admits of demonstrative proof. When Jamaica in 1655, under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, was taken from the Spaniards, it seems to have exhibited little less than a dreary waste, in which the lazy Spaniard was obliged to reside in dismal solitudes, which his merciless forefathers had occasioned, by crimes which we |