it with a hammer.
They told him this by signs; and we have only one more instance of the
Admiral's facility in interpreting signs in favour of his own beliefs.
It is only a few days later that in the same Journal he says, "The people
of these lands do not understand me, nor do I nor any other person I have
with me understand them; and these Indians I am taking with me, many
times understand things contrary to what they are." It was a fault at
any rate not exclusively possessed by the Indians, who were doubtless
made the subject of many philological experiments on the part of the
interpreter; all that they seemed to have learned at this time were
certain religious gestures, such as making the Sign of the Cross, which
they did continually, greatly to the edification of the crew.

In order to keep these six natives in a good temper Columbus kidnapped
"seven women, large and small, and three children," in order, he alleged,
that the men might conduct themselves better in Spain because of having
their "wives" with them; although whether these assorted women were
indeed the wives of the kidnapped natives must at the best be a doubtful
matter. The three children, fortunately, had their father and mother
with them; but that was only because the father, having seen his wife and
children kidnapped, came and offered to go with them of his own accord.
This taking of the women raises a question which must be in the mind of
any one who studies this extraordinary voyage--the question of the
treatment of native women by the Spaniards. Columbus is entirely silent
on the subject; but taking into account the nature of the Spanish rabble
that formed his company, and his own views as to the right which he had
to possess the persons and goods of the native inhabitants, I am afraid
that there can be very little doubt that in this matter there is a good
reason, for his silence. So far as Columbus himself was concerned, it is
probable that he was innocent enough; he was not a sensualist by nature,
and he was far too much interested and absorbed in the principal objects
of his expedition, and had too great a sense of his own personal dignity,
to have indulged in excesses that would, thus sanctioned by him, have
produced a very disastrous effect on the somewhat rickety discipline of
his crew. He was too wise a master, however, to forbid anything that it
was not in his power to prevent; and it is probable that he shut his eyes
to much that, if