Bartolome certainly lived in very interesting times. When he was between
eighteen and nineteen years of age Columbus came to Seville on his
return from his first voyage, which resulted in the discovery of the
West India Islands. He brought with him many strange and wonderful
things,--birds of brilliant color, such as had never been seen before,
gold and pearls, and, most wonderful of all, six Indians. We can imagine
the crowds of people who must have followed that little procession as it
passed through the streets of the city, pushing and crowding one another
to get a sight of the great Admiral and the men who had sailed with him
over unknown waters, and especially of the painted red men, who were, I
am sure, quite as curious on their part, and probably badly frightened
besides.

It is difficult for us to understand now how much courage it took in
those times to put to sea in frail little caravels, which were all the
adventurer had, and go sailing over the waste of waters, not knowing
what was ahead of him, or if he would ever find land on the other side.
The rude maps of that day still showed a great Sea of Darkness. Dragons
and all sorts of frightful sea-monsters were pictured in the unexplored
parts of the ocean, and the popular idea was that if the daring mariner
should sail too far over the slope of the round globe, he might be drawn
by force of gravitation into a fiery gulf and never come back to his
friends again. So the men that thus ventured were heroes in the eyes of
the people. Never had such a voyage been heard of as the great Admiral
had made, and all, from the King and Queen to the little street boys,
were eager to hear about it.

Although he does not mention it, it is probable that Las Casas often saw
Columbus in his father's house. Pedro de Casas, Bartolome's father, and
his uncle, Francisco de Penalosa, both went out with the Admiral on his
second voyage. Columbus had then been made Viceroy of the Indies, and
Bartolome's father was on his staff, while his uncle commanded the
soldiers. One of the Indians that Columbus brought home from the first
expedition he gave to Pedro de Casas, but the good Queen would not allow
these Indians to be kept as slaves, and insisted that they should be
sent back at once. All six had been baptized at Barcelona, with the King
and Queen,--Ferdinand and Isabella,--as godfather and godmother; and
when, soon after this, one of them died, people said he was the first
Indian to