Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/487

TREATMENT OF COLUMBUS. 461 return. irrateful to the admiral ; and when the latter in the chapter . VIII. following year, 1496, returned to Spain, they re- ^ — ceived him with the most ample acknowledgments juiy 12.' of regard. " Come to us," they said, in a kind letter of congratulation, addressed to him soon after his arrival, " when you can do it without inconvenience to yourself, for you have endured too many vexations already."^ The admiral brought with him, as before, such his second samples of the productions of the western hemi- sphere, as would strike the public eye, and keep alive the feeling of curiosity. On his journey through Andalusia, he passed some days under the hospitable roof of the good curate, Bernaldez, who dwells with much satisfaction on the remarkable appearance of the Indian chiefs, following in the admiral's train, gorgeously decorated with golden collars and coronets, and various barbaric orna- ments. Among these he particularly notices cer- tain " belts and masks of cotton and of wood, with fisures of the Devil embroidered and carved there- on, sometimes in his own proper likeness, and at others in that of a cat or an owl. There is much reason," he infers, " to believe that he appears to the islanders in this guise, and that they are all idolaters, having Satan for their lord ! " "^ But neither the attractions of the spectacle, nor 6 Navarrete, Coleccion de Via- es the same charitable opinion, ges, torn. ii. Doc Dipl., no. 101. " Muy claramente se conocio que — Fernando Colon, Hist, del AI- el demonio estava apoderado de inirante, cap. 64. — MuHoz, Hist, aquella gente, y la traia ciega y del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 5, sec. 31. engauada, hablandoles, y mostran- 7 Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, doles en diversas figuras." Jndias MS., cap. 131. — Herrera express- Occidentales, lib. 3, cap. 4.