Chapter XXVII: Revolt of the Cakchiquels (2)

It is often remarked with wonder in what small and
apparently insecure vessels the early navigators traversed
perilous seas and explored unknown coasts. That shipwreck
so often attended their ventures is less surprising than
that so many escaped destruction. Two of the three vessels
employed by Columbus were open boats, according to _March y
Labores_, _Historia de la Marina Real Española_, i. 98, of
forty tons each, and the decked _Santa María_, only sixty
tons. The term caravel was originally given to ships navigated
wholly by sails as distinguished from the galley propelled
by oars. It has been applied to a great variety of vessels
of different size and construction. The caravels of the New
World discoverers may be generally described as long, narrow
boats of from twenty to one hundred tons burden, with three
or four masts of about equal height carrying sometimes square
and sometimes lateen sails, the fourth mast set at the heel
of the bowsprit carrying square sails. They were usually
half-decked, and adorned with the lofty forecastle and loftier
poop of the day. The latter constituted over that part of
the vessel a double or treble deck, which was pierced for
cannon. A class of vessels like the _Santa María_, beside a
double stern deck, had a forward deck armed with small pieces
for throwing stones and grape. In the archives of Mallorca
is a picture of a caravel drawn in 1397, and a very fair
representation of those in use a century later may be found
on Juan de la Cosa's map. The large decked ships of from 100
to 1200 tons had two, three, or four masts, and square sails,
with high poop and sometimes high prow. In naval engagements
and in discovery the smaller vessels seemed to be preferred,
being more easily handled. Columbus, at Paria, complained of
his vessel of 100 tons as being too large. In his _ordenanzas
de poblaciones_ of 1563 Philip II. required every discoverer
to take at least two vessels of not over sixty tons each, in
order to enter inlets, cross the bars of rivers, and pass over
shoals. The larger ships, if any were of the expedition, must
remain in a safe port until another safe port was found by
the small craft. Thirty men and no more were to go in every
ship, and the pilots must write down what they encountered
for the benefit of other pilots. _Recop. de Indias_, ii. 5-6.
The _galera_ was a vessel of low bulwarks, navigated by sails
and oars, usually twenty or thirty oars on either side, four
or five oarsmen to a bench. It frequently carried a large
cannon, called _cruxia_, two of medium size, and two small
guns. The _galeaza_ was the largest class of galera, or craft
propelled wholly or in part by oars. It had three masts; it
commonly carried twenty cannon, and the poop accommodated a
small army of fusileers and sharpshooters. A _galeota_ was
a small galera, having only sixteen or twenty oarsmen on a
side, and two masts. The _galeon_ was a large armed merchant
vessel with high bulwarks, three or four decks, with two or
three masts, square-rigged spreading courses and top-sails,
and sometimes top-gallant sails. One fleet of twelve galleons,
from 1000 to 1200 tons burden, was named after the twelve
apostles. Those which plied between Acapulco and Manila were
from 1200 to 2000 tons burden. A _galeoncillo_ was a small
galeon. The _carac_ was a large carrying vessel, the one
intended for Columbus' second voyage being 1250 _toneles_,
or 1500 tons. A _nao_, or _navío_, was a large ship with high
bulwarks and three masts. A _nave_ was a vessel with deck and
sails; the former distinguishing it from the _barca_, and the
absence of oars from a galera. The _bergantin_, or brig, had
low bulwarks; the _bergantin-goleta_ was a hermaphrodite brig,
or brigantine, built for fast sailing. The name brigantine was
applied in America also to an open flat-bottomed boat which
usually carried one sail and from eight to sixteen men, with
a capacity for about 100 persons.

[III-5] The Spanish league varies with time and place. It was
not until 1801 that the diverse measurements of the several
original kingdoms were by royal order made uniform, the legal
league then becoming throughout all Spain 20,000 Spanish feet.
Of these leagues there are twenty to the degree, making each
three geographical miles, being, as specified by the law, the
distance travelled on foot at a steady gait in one hour. The
land league was, by law of Alfonso the Wise, 3000 paces, as
specified by the _Siete Partidas_. The discoverers roughly
estimated a league at from two and a half to three and a
half English miles. A marine or geographical league at that
time was about 7500 varas, or little less than four English
miles, there being nearly 17½ to a degree of latitude. In
different parts of Spanish America the league is different,
being sometimes quite short. In Cuba a league consists of 5078
varas, and in Mexico of 5000 varas. The vara is the Spanish
yard, comprising three Spanish feet of eleven English inches
each. Since the decline of Roman influence, the Spaniards have
had no equivalent for the English mile.

[III-6] See next chapter, note 18.

[III-7] Called by the Venetians _bissas_, and by the Spaniards
_broma_; a terrible pest to tropical navigators before the
days of copper-bottoming. This, and another tropical marine
worm, the _Simnoria terebrans_, brought hither by ships,
play havoc with the wharf-piling of San Francisco and other
west-coast harbors.

[III-8] The early chroniclers make their reckonings of
values under different names at different times. Thus during
the discoveries of Columbus we hear of little else but
_maravedís_; then the _peso de oro_ takes the lead, together
with the _castellano_; all along _marco_ and _ducado_ being
occasionally used. At the beginning of the sixteenth century,
and before and after, Spanish values were reckoned from a
mark of silver, which was the standard. A mark was half a
pound either of gold or silver. The gold mark was divided into
fifty castellanos; the silver mark into eight ounces. In the
reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the mark was divided by law
into 65 _reales de vellon_ of 34 maravedís each, making 2210
maravedís in a mark. To show how changeable were the values
of subsidiary Spanish coins, and how utterly impossible it
is accurately and at all times to determine by their names
the amount of metal they represent, it is only necessary to
state that in the reign of Alfonso XI., 1312-1350, there were
125 maravedís to the mark, while in the reign of Ferdinand
VII., 1808-1833, a mark was divided into 5440 maravedís.
In Spanish America a _real_ is one eighth of a _peso_, and
equal to 2½ reales de vellon. The peso contains one ounce
of silver; it was formerly called _peso de ocho reales de
plata_, whence came the term _pieces of eight_, a vulgarism
at one time in vogue among the merchants and buccaneers in
the West Indies. This coin is designated more particularly
as _peso fuerte_, or _peso duro_, to distinguish it from
_peso sencillo_, equivalent in value to four fifths of the
former. The mutilator of Herrera translates _pesos de oro_
as pieces of eight, in which as in other things he is about
as far as possible wrong. The castellano, the one fiftieth
of the golden mark, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella,
was equivalent to 490 maravedís of that day. The _peso de
oro_, according to Oviedo, was exactly equivalent to the
castellano, and either was one third greater than the ducado,
or ducat. The _doblon_, the popular name for the _excelente_,
was first struck by Ferdinand and Isabella as a gold coin
of the weight of two castellanos. The modern doubloon is an
ounce of coined gold, and is worth 16 pesos fuertes. Reduced
to United States currency the peso fuerte, as slightly alloyed
bullion, is in weight nearly enough equivalent to one dollar.
Therefore a mark of silver is equal to eight dollars; a
piece of eight, equal to one peso, which equals one dollar;
a real de vellon, five cents; a Spanish-American real, 12½
cents; a maravedí, 100/276 of a cent; a castellano, or peso
de oro, $2.56; a doubloon, $5.14; a ducat, $1.92; a mark of
gold, $128, assuming the United States alloy. The fact that
a castellano was equivalent to only 490 maravedís shows the
exceedingly high value of silver as compared with gold at
the period in question. The modern ounce, or doubloon, is
valued at about $16. As to the relative purchasing power
of the precious metals at different times during the past
four centuries economists differ. The returns brought by the
first discoverers began the depreciation, which was rapidly
accelerated by the successive conquests, notably of Mexico
and Peru. Any one may estimate; no one can determine with
exactness. Robertson, Prescott, and other writers make but
guess-work of it (see _Hist. America_, and _Conq. Mexico_,
passim) when they attempt to measure the uncertain and widely
diversified denominations of centuries ago by the current coin
of to-day.

[III-9] Las Casas, who was at Santo Domingo when the
shipwrecked mariners arrived, saw Bastidas, and part of his
gold, and the natives of Darien whom he had brought, and who
in place of the Adamic fig-leaf wore a funnel-shaped covering
of gold. There were great riches, it was said; three chests
full of gold and pearls, which on reaching Spain were ordered
to be publicly displayed in all the towns through which the
notary passed on his way to court. This, as an advertisement
of the Indies, was done to kindle the fires of avarice and
discontent in sluggish breasts, that therefrom others might
be induced to go and gather gold and pay the king his fifth.
Afterward Bastidas returned with his wife and children to
Santo Domingo, and became rich in horned cattle, having at one
time 8000 head; and that when a cow in Española was worth 50
pesos de oro. In 1504 he again visited Urabá, in two ships,
and brought thence 600 natives, whom he enslaved in Española.
In 1520 the emperor gave him the pacification of Trinidad
with the title of adelantado; which grant being opposed by
Diego Colon, on the ground that the island was of his father's
discovering, Bastidas waived his claim, and accepted the
governorship of Santa Marta, where he went with 450 men, and
was assassinated by his lieutenant, Villafuerte, who thought
to succeed him, and to silence the governor's interposed
objections to the maltreatment of the natives. Thus if the
humane Bastidas, in accordance with the custom of the day, did
inhumanly enslave his fellow-creatures, he gave his life at
last to save them from other cruelties; which act, standing
as it does luminous and alone in a century of continuous
outrage, entitles him to the honorable distinction of Spain's
best and noblest _conquistador_. As the eloquent Quintana
says: 'Bastidas no se hizo célebre ni como descubridor ni
como conquistador; pero su memoria debe ser grata á todos
los amantes de la justicia y de la humanidad, por haber sido
uno de los pocos que trataron á los indios con equidad y
mansedumbre, considerando aquel pais mas bien como un objeto
de especulaciones mercantiles con iguales, que como campo de
gloria y de conquistas.'

Among the standard authorities mention is made of Bastidas
and his voyage by Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 10-12,
who refutes certain of Oviedo's unimportant statements in
_Historia General y Natural de las Indias_, i. 76-7; ii.
334-5; by Herrera, i. 148-9; Gomara, _Hist. Ind._, fol. 67;
and in _Galvano's Discov._, 99-100, and 102-3. But before
these I should place original documents found in _Navarrete_,
_Col. de Viages_, iii. 25-28, 545-6, and 591-3, and in the
_Coleccion_ of Pacheco and Cárdenas, of both of which works
I shall presently speak more fully. In tom. ii. pp. 362-6 of
this latter collection is given the _Asiento que hizo con sus
Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de Bastidas_, before mentioned;
and on pp. 366-467, same volume, is _Informacion de los
servicios del adelantado Rodrigo de Bastidas, conquistador
y pacificador de Santa Marta_. Next in importance to the
chroniclers are, _Historia de la Marina Real Española_, i.
284; _Morelli_, _Fasti Novi Orbis_, 11; _Robertson's Hist.
Am._, i. 159; _Help's Spanish Conquest_, i. 294; _Acosta_,
_Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada_, 21; _Irving's Columbus_, iii.
53-6, and _Quintana_, _Vidas de Españoles Célebres_, 'Vasco
Nuñez de Balboa,' 1. _Robinson's Acct. Discov. in West_,
105; _Lardner's Maritime Discovery_, ii. 32; _Holmes' Annals
of America_, i. 20; _Lerdo de Tejada_, _Apuntes Hist._, 89;
_Harris' Voy._, i. 270; _Major's Prince Henry_, 369, and like
allusions are worthless. In _Kerr's Col. Voy._, ii. 58-63,
is given a translation of Galvano. In Aa's collection the
narrative is substantially the same as in Gottfried's.

[IV-1] His nephew, Fernando, in his _Hist. Almirante_, in
_Barcia_, passim, and those who follow this author closely,
as Napione and De Conti, call him El Prefecto; Herrera, Diego
Mendez, Diego de Porras, Robertson, Navarrete, and others,
employ the title adelantado. Herrera says he was captain of
one of the ships.

[IV-2] Ferdinand Columbus, or as he is more commonly called
Fernando Colon, was an illegitimate son of Christopher
Columbus, by a lady of respectable family. He was born at
Córdova, and in 1494, after his father became famous, was
brought with his elder brother to court, where he was placed
as page to Prince Juan. Upon the death of the heir apparent
young Fernando served Queen Isabella in the same capacity,
thereby securing an excellent education. During this perilous
voyage he was an object no less of comfort than of anxiety
to his father, now infirm and troubled in spirit, and his
conduct throughout merited and received paternal commendation.
'El ha salido y sale de muy buen saber,' writes the fond
father, 'bien que él sea niño en dias, no es assi en el
entendimiento.' _Cartas de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, _Col.
de Viages_, i. 341 and 344. See also _Zúñiga_, _Anales de
Sevilla_. His manhood fulfilled the promise of his youth.
He cultivated literature with considerable success, and
became, as Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. viii., expresses
it, 'doctísimo para su siglo, y de grandes pensamientos
en materias literarias, segun demostraré á su tiempo.' He
travelled extensively in Europe, in the train of Charles V.,
probably visited Africa and Asia, and is said to have made
two voyages to America after his father's death. He formed
a collection of over 20,000 printed books and manuscripts,
which went to the cathedral of Seville. He neither married,
nor left any recognized progeny. He was the author of several
works which have not been preserved, the inscription on
his tomb mentioning one in four divisions relating partly
to the New World and his father's voyages. Antonio de Leon
Pinelo, _Epitome_, 565, 633 and 711, speaks of a work,
_Apuntamientos sobre la Demarcacion del Maluco_, preserved
in manuscript at Simancas. The only printed book of Fernando
Colon is a history of the admiral, his father. The original
title is not known, the manuscript disappearing before its
publication in Spanish. Luis Colon, duke of Veraguas, and
grandson of the admiral, brought the manuscript to Genoa
about 1568, and delivered it to one Fornari, an old man who,
according to Barcia, began to print it in Spanish, Italian,
and Latin. Others assert that it passed into the hands of
Marini, who caused it to be translated into Italian by Alfonso
de Ulloa. _Spotorno_, _Codice Diplomatico_, 1823, lxiii.
Ulloa's translation, badly made from a bad copy—'sans doute
d'après un texte assez fautif,' _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._,
i. 13,—was printed in Venice, in 1571, under the title,
_Historie del Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare,
& vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell' Ammiraglio
D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre_, etc. It was reprinted
in Italian some six or eight times. A French translation was
published in 1680-1, and an English translation has gone the
rounds, appearing in _Churchill's Col. Voy._, ii. 480-604;
_Kerr's Col. Voy._, iii. 1-242; and _Pinkerton's Col. Voy._,
xii. 1-155. It was carelessly retranslated from the Italian
into Spanish by Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia, and printed in
his _Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales_, 3
vols., Madrid, 1749, comprising pp. 1-128, tom. i., of that
series, and entitled, _La Historia de D. Fernando Colon, en
la qual se da Particular, y verdadera relacion de la vida, y
hechos de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon, su Padre_, etc.
This is the edition most commonly used, and to this I refer,
although I have before me an Italian copy of the edition of
1709. Fernando Colon had peculiar advantages for writing his
father's history. Himself an actor in the events described,
he was moreover personally acquainted with his father's
friends, and held possession of his father's papers. All
agree that he made good use of his opportunity, and that he
has given a clear statement of events which even in his own
time began to be distorted. If he was silent touching his
father's family, country, and birth, we must remember that
poverty and obscurity were a disgrace in those days, and that
the son Fernando was a Spaniard. Those who should best know
the merits of this author pay him the highest tribute. Of
his work says Muñoz, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. viii., 'Confieso
deberle mucho;' and the author Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, i.
lxx., remarks, 'habló siempre con verdad y exactitud, salvo
alguna equivocacion fácil de discernir en buena crítica ...
y por tanto pueden aun estas leves faltas ser efecto de la
incuria ó poca inteligencia de ambos traductores.' Attempts
have been made to deny to Fernando the authorship, but this,
if correct, does not materially affect its value, since it
is allowed to have been written from his documents and under
his supervision. The vicissitudes to which the work has been
subjected and the mutilation it has suffered afford grounds
for caution not to be disregarded by the historian. Still, the
general tenor and details of the narrative, and the literary
bent of the reputed author, present in themselves sufficient
evidence of its authenticity.

With regard to the use of certain proper names encountered
thus far in this history I would say a word. The question
presents difficulties in whatsoever aspect viewed. There
are Spanish names of places and persons which custom has
so anglicized as to give to their use in the original the
appearance of affectation—instance Castilla, for Castile;
Sevilla, Seville; Fernando and Isabel, Ferdinand and Isabella;
Cárlos V., Charles V.; Felipe II., Philip II. On the other
hand, in writing in English of Spanish affairs, the attempt to
continue indefinitely the anglicizing of Spanish names would
be as impossible as absurd. The two chief objects with me have
been to adopt the best forms, and to preserve consistency; I
do not claim eminent success in either attempt. The result,
however, has been the adoption of the following method, if it
may be called a method: The prominent places and persons of
Spain, whose names are invariably given in their anglicized
form in current English literature, I write in the same way;
but those same names, as well as all others, appearing in
the New World, where no prominent English writers have made
them familiar in an English form, I present in the original
as written by the best Spanish scholars. Thus the name of the
great Genoese I give in its common latinized form, Christopher
Columbus, while in the use of those of his less eminent
brothers and sons, who soon became almost or altogether
Spaniards, I adopt the forms employed by Spaniards.

[IV-3] Instance the title-page of the first work published
on the New World, in 1493:—_Epistola Christofori Colom: cui
etas nostra multũ a debet: de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper
inuentis. Ad quas perquirendas octauo antea mense auspiciis
et ere inuictissimi Fernandi Hispaniarum Regis missus fuerat:
ad Magnificum dum Raphaelem Sanxis: eiusdem serenissimi Regis
Tesaurariũ missa: quam nobilis ac litteratus vir Aliander
de Cosco ab Hispano ideomate in latinum conuertit: tertio
kal's Maij. M.cccc.xciij. Pontificatus Alexandri Sexti Anno
Primo._ Letter of Christopher Colom, to whom our age is
greatly indebted, respecting the Islands of India beyond the
Ganges, lately discovered. In search of which he was sent
eight months since, under the auspices and at the expense of
the most invincible Ferdinand, king of the Spains. Sent to the
magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis, treasurer of the same most
serene king, and which the noble and learned man, Aliander de
Cosco, translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin. The third
day of the Calends of May, 1493. Pontificate of Alexander VI.,
Year One.

[IV-4] Guanaja is the most easterly of a group called the Bay
Islands. To the west of Guanaja, in the order here named, lie
Barbaretta, Helena, Morat, Ruatan, the largest, and Utila. On
Peter Martyr's map, _India beyond the Ganges_, 1510, Guanaja
is written _guanasa_. On map iv., _Munich Atlas_, supposed
to have been drawn by Salvat Pilestrina in 1515, Guanaja is
called _sam fir.co_, San Francisco; Ruatan, _todo samto_;
and Utila, _I:lhana_. Fernando Colon locates on his map,
1527, _y:llana_, _s:francisco_, and _todos sanctos_, and
between the last two, _sancta ffe._ On the map of Diego de
Ribera, 1529, are _s:franco_, _to stõs_, _la llana_, and
_s∴ fe._ Vaz Dourado, 1571, map x., _Munich Atlas_, calls
Guanaja, _lla ganaxa_; Ruatan, _aguba_; and Utila, _dotila_.
_Mercator's Atlas_, 1574, gives _Guanaxos_; _Ogilby's Map_,
1671, _Guanaja_, _Guajama_, _Roatan_, and _Vtila_; _Laet_,
_Novvs Orbis_, 1633, the same; _Jefferys' Voyages_, 1776,
_Guanaja_ or _Bonaka_, _Guajama_ or _Rattan_, and _Utila_.
Of Guanaja, Diego de Porras in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_,
i. 283, remarks:—'es pequeña, bojará veinte leguas, no tiene
cosa de provecho.' Utila is low and level; hence the name,
La Llana. In his remarks on the two oldest maps of America,
Kohl says of Guanaja:—'Das Columbus sie schon gesehen hat,
ist zu bezweifeln, da er wohl nicht so weit westwärts segelte
oder blickte. Vielleicht sahen sie jedoch Pinzon und Solis
1508. Gewiss ist es, dass sie schon 1516 von einer spanischen
Expedition, die zum Menschenraub von Cuba nach Süden
ausgelaufen war, besucht wurde.' Fernando Colon complains that
Solis and Pinzon, visiting these regions in 1508, re-named
many localities, claiming to be the first discoverers, and
thus causing much confusion in the charts of the times.

And here as well as elsewhere I may speak of a work from
which I have derived no inconsiderable advantage in tracing
the metamorphoses of names from those originally given
to those finally established. Believing that much curious
and valuable historical information might be obtained by
instituting a close comparison of the nomenclature employed
by the earlier makers of charts at their respective dates,
in 1873 I directed Mr Goldschmidt to bring out and arrange
for convenient reference all such relevant maps as my library
contained. Beginning then with the earliest, we entered on
paper prepared for the purpose the names of all the principal
places contained within our territory. And so with the next,
and the next, through the successive periods of discovery,
following the coast on one side from Darien to Texas, and
on the other from Panamá to Alaska, and along the Arctic
seaboard to the Mackenzie River. Inland names were included,
but their number was small as compared with those along the
ocean. Some 200 maps, each original authority for its time
and place, were thus examined, and the names which had been
applied at various times and by various persons to the several
important geographical points along this vast shore line,
and throughout the inland area, were brought together so that
comparisons might be made, and the nomenclatural history of
the several places be quickly and correctly traced. All of the
authorities I cannot mention here, but they will severally be
referred to in their proper places during the course of this
history. The result of this labor at the end of six months, Mr
Goldschmidt working alone after the first fortnight, was three
folio manuscript volumes, entitled _Cartography of the Pacific
Coast of North America, and of the Eastern Coasts of Mexico
and Central America_. The maps more particularly examined in
writing this volume are as follows. Passing the sea charts
of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made about 1390, and used by
Frobisher; the ocean and islands between western Europe and
eastern Asia from the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492; the chart
of Juan de la Cosa, 1500, showing the West India Islands, but
omitting the coast of Central America; and the map of Johann
Ruysch, 1508,—we have, in part most important, the following:
Map of _India beyond the Ganges_, drawn by Peter Martyr in
1511, and showing a coast line from Brazil to the middle of
Yucatan. Along this line, in the order here given, from east
to west, are _vraba_, _tariene_, _el mamol_, _beragua_, _c
gra de dios_, _guanasa_, _b de lagartos_. North of Cuba is
a section of the continental shore line lettered _isla de
beimini, parte_. In Ptolemy's Cosmography, 1513, the coast
between Brazil and Florida is given, but without names. The
Atlantic is called _Oceanus Occidentalis_; and South America,
_Terra Incognita_. By Reisch, in _Margaritha Philosophica_,
1515, the map is called _Typvs Vniversalis Terre Ivxta_. Two
only of the islands are given and both called _Isabella_.
South of _Oceanus Occidentalis_ is a large continent called
_Paria sev Prisilia_, Paria or Brazil. There are no names on
the line of Central America, and the only lettering on the
small portion of the northern continent are the mysterious
words _Zoana Mela_, which have given rise to much discussion.
In 1859 was published at Munich, by the Royal Bavarian Academy
of Sciences, from manuscripts in the university library and
army archives, under the auspices of Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl
von Spruner, and Georg M. Thomas, and as supplementary to the
text of Kunstmann's _Die Entdeckung Amerikas_, a collection of
fac-similes of thirteen early maps of America, entitled _Atlas
zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas_. This work I shall cite
briefly as the _Munich Atlas_. Parts of the Pacific States
are shown on maps numbers iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xii.
and xiii., which will be further mentioned in their several
places. Map iv. was drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina probably in
1515. It shows none of the main-land above Yucatan, which is
a peninsula. The northern coast of Central America is given,
and the southern seaboard only of the Isthmus. No names are
written on the southern coast. The South Sea is called _Mar
Visto pelos castelhanos_, Sea seen by the Spaniards. Map
v. is supposed to be by Visconte de Maiollo, 1519. It shows
the northern coast of the continent only from Cape Camaron
to about 30° south latitude. In a book entitled _Apiano,
Cosmographia_, 1575, a copy of a map supposed to have been
drawn by Peter Apianus in 1520, and the first upon which I
have seen the name 'America.' The northern part is long and
narrow, of a horseshoe shape, and lettered _Baccalearum_.
A large continent is placed north of a strait running round
the northern end of North America. Evidently Master Apianus
was determined no one during his time should out-north him
in map-delineation of a region of which absolutely nothing
was known, either then or for a long time after. On a map
of North America from the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the
name 'America' likewise appears, the lettering on the globe
being placed in Brazil, and being in these words:—_America
Vel Brasilia Sive Papagalli Terra_. The northern and southern
continents are separated by a strait at the Isthmus. It is
to be regretted that Master Schöner had not the making of
the world, so that it should agree with his map, and save
canal-cutting. The western line of the northern continent runs
north and south; the western line of the southern continent
north-west and south-east. The extreme northern end of the
northern continent is called _Terra de Cuba_. Along the
western shore are the words _Ultra mondv lustratum_. West of
the northern continent lie the large island of _Zipangri_ and
a multitude of islets. The north Pacific is called _Orientalis
Oceanus_. Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, is a
rough draft of oval shape with several names along the coast,
many of which are obsolete. Yucatan is represented as an
island. In 1860 J. G. Kohl published at Weimar a dissertation
on two of the oldest general maps of America, with the origin
of the names on each. The maps were those of Fernando Colon,
1527, and Diego Ribero, 1529, then in the grand-ducal library
at Weimar. The text accompanying these fac-similes is entitled
_Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika_. _Ausgeführt
in den Jahren 1527 und 1529, auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V._ The
maps being full of names, concerning many of which there has
been much discussion, 185 royal folio pages are devoted to
their explanation. Beside a critical review of nomenclature
is given much information, both geographical and historical.
Colon's map shows the eastern coasts of North and South
America, and the southern shores of the Isthmus and Central
America to about Nicaragua. Ribero's map contains more names
than Colon's, and a section of the Peruvian coast; otherwise
they are not unlike. Continuing the present list we have all
of South America, and part of North America, given in 1527
by Robert Thorne; and the western side of the New World in
1528 by Bordone. Ptolemy, in _Munster_, _Cosmography_, 1530,
gives the two Americas entirely surrounded by water, with
Yucatan an island; in the interior of Mexico _Chamaho_, and
_Temistitan_; and near Zipangu _Archipelagus 7448 insularum_,
counted in all probability specially for this map. Orontius
Fine's globe, 1531, unites the southern continent, which it
calls America, by the isthmus _dariena_ to the northern,
which extends toward the north-west across the ocean and
forms part of Asia, with a continuous coast line to Japan.
The Atlantic is _Alanticum_, and the Pacific _Mar del Sur_.
Yucatan is an island. It is difficult to tell where Mexico
ends and Asia begins. _Temistitan_ is just south of _Catay_,
and Mexican and Asiatic names promiscuously occur. Grynæus,
in 1532, gives America in two parts, divided by a strait at
the Isthmus; the western end of the northern continent is
called _Terra de Cuba_. Map vi., _Munich Atlas_, 1532-40,
shows the Pacific coast from Peru to California, which is
represented as a peninsula. The gulf of California is called
the Red Sea. Yucatan is an island. Baptista Agnese, 1536,
gives North America in the shape of a horseshoe, with Yucatan
an island. Map vii., _Munich Atlas_, is supposed to be by
Baptista Agnese, 1540-50. It shows the whole of the Atlantic
coast, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. Ramusio,
_Viaggi_, iii. fol. 455-56, 1565, lays down about half the
Pacific coast. Maps ix. x. and xii., _Munich Atlas_, are
supposed to have been drawn by Vaz Dourado in 1571. The first
delineates South America, and a small part of the Isthmus;
the second both shores of Central America, and the Gulf
of Mexico; the third the Pacific coast only from Mexico to
Anian Strait. On map x. is a large lake north of Mexico, in
latitude 40° to 43°, and under it in large letters, _Bimenii
Regio_. Gerard Mercator, _Atlas sive cosmographicæ_, 1569, and
another edition 1574, represents the world on two globes, and
surrounds the two Americas with water, beside capping either
pole with a huge continent. In the north-eastern corner of
Asia, map iv., is _Americæ pars_. There are also _Anian reg_,
_Quiuira reg_, _Tuchano_, a city, and _El freto de Anian_.
On map v. the strait of Magellan separates the southern
continent from another large continent to the south of it,
on which is placed _Terra del fuego_. Luckily this antarctic
polar continent is labeled _Terra Avstralis nondvm cognita_,
lest the author be embarrassed by questions about it. After
well passing the strait of Magellan, _El Mar Pacifico_ is
entered, though as the tropics are reached it becomes _Mar
del Zur_. The northern part of this map v., the two Americas,
is quite interesting, and will be explained elsewhere. This
cartographical monstrosity Michael Lock, _Hakluyt's Divers
Voy._, 1582, endeavored, and with very fair success, to
exceed. Map xiii., _Munich Atlas_, by Thomas Hood, 1592, gives
the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the eastern coast of
North America. In _Drake's World Encompassed_, 1595, another
source of information not remarkable for reliability, Hondius
traces the western coast to Bering Strait. Hondius' map, 1625,
in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, iv. 857, gives North America to
the mythical strait of Anian. Ioanne de Laet, _Novvs Orbis_,
1633, has at p. 220 a map of _Nveva España_, _Nveva Galicia_,
and _Gvatimala_, and at p. 346 a map of _Tierra Firma_. A
map of the world in the atlas of Jacob Colom, 1663, will
require mention hereafter. _Ogilby's America_, 1671, gives
the northern continent to Anian Strait with _Nova Albion_ in
the northern part, and California as an island; and a map at
p. 222 shows parts of Mexico and Central America. There is
a map of the middle part of America in _Dampier's Voyages_,
i. 44, 1699. Beside these, I shall have occasion to mention
others, such as the maps in the _Buccaniers of America_, 1704;
_Funnell's Voyage_, 1707; the Dutch collection of voyages
by Pieter Van der Aa; the German collection of Gottfried;
_Voyages de François Coreal_, 1722; _Anson's Voyage_, 1756;
_Morden's Geography Rectified_, 1693; Harris, Harleian,
Oxford, Rogers, Shelvocke, Jefferys, and other collections
of voyages. I may also mention incidentally in this volume
maps and charts relating more especially to another part of
the Pacific States and described more fully in a succeeding
volume.

[IV-5] Cacique, lord of vassals, was the name by which the
natives of Cuba designated their chiefs. Learning this, the
conquerors applied the name generally to the rulers of wild
tribes, although in none of the dialects of the continent is
the word found. Peter Martyr says that 'in some places they
call a king Cacicus, in other places they call him Quebi, and
somewhere Tiba.'

[IV-6] 'Porque,' says Herrera, 'auia muchos arboles, cuya
fruta es vnas mançanillas buenas de comer.' Navarrete calls
the place _Punta Castilla y Puerto de Trujillo_, and the coast
_La Costa de Trujillo_. The name Honduras was applied first to
the cape and afterward to a long stretch of shore. Fernando
Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 103, _Barcia_, i., gives 'Cabo de
Onduras.' In _Oviedo_, lib. iii. cap. ix., is written 'el cabo
de Higueras;' this chronicler also employs the word Honduras;
_Galvano's Discov._, 100, 'the Cape of Higueras, and vnto the
Islands Gamares, and to the Cape of Honduras, that is to say,
the Cape of the Depthes;' _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 28,
'Prouincia grande, che da' paesani è nominata Iguera, è da'
Spagnuoli Capo di Fonduri;' _Gomara_, _Hist. Ind._, 31, 'cabo
de Higueras.'

[IV-7] Named by Columbus Rio de la Posesion, now known as Rio
Tinto.

[IV-8] For full descriptions of the several peoples inhabiting
this region at the coming of the Europeans, their physique,
character, customs, myths, and languages, I must refer the
reader to my _Native Races of the Pacific States_, 5 vols.,
passim.

[IV-9] This name has never changed. On Peter Martyr's _India
beyond the Ganges_, 1510, it is put down as _c. gr̃a de dios_;
Maiollo, 1519, writes _C de gratia dios_; Fernando Colon,
1527, _C. de gracias, á dios_; Ribero, 1529, _C∴ de grãc a
dios_; Maps vi. and vii., _Munich Atlas_, 1532-50, _C. de
gracia dios_; Vaz Dourado, _C∴ de grasias adios_; Mercator,
_C. de Gracias á Dios_; Dampier, _C. Gratia Dios_, etc.

[IV-10] Rio Escondido, or Bluefields, sometimes spelt
Blewfields, but erroneously. The name originated from the
Dutch pirate Bleeveldt. On map iv., _Munich Atlas_, in this
vicinity are found the words _R∴ del su._

[IV-11] Mercator places half-way between Cape Gracias á Dios
and Laguna de Chiriqui, _Quicuri_, designating a town. Peter
Martyr, dec. iii. cap. iv., says: 'He came to a region which
the inhabitants call Quicuris, in which is the hauen called
Cariari, named Mirobalanus by the Admirall, because the
Mirobalane trees are natiue in the regions thereabout.'

[IV-12] The name of the province also. Diego de Porras calls
it _Cariay_; Herrera and those who follow him write _Cariari_.
On the maps of Colon and Ribero, and also in Mercator's
atlas, the word is _Cariay_. On the map of Vaz Dourado in
this locality is written _masnoro_. 'Einige Geographen haben
geglaubt, dass unsere heutige "Blewfields-Lagune" dieser
Ankerplatz des Columbus sei. Andere haben dafür die Mündung
des grossen Flusses von Nicaragua den Rio San Juan genommen.'
_Kohl_, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 114-15.

[IV-13] 'En _Cariay_, y en esas tierras de su comarca,
son grandes fechiceros y muy medrosos.' _Carta de
Colon_, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 307. 'Nos parecian
à nosotros grandes hechiceros, i no sin alguna raçon, pues
quando se acercaban à los Christianos, esparcian, por el
aire cierto polvo à su buelta, i con perfumes, que hechaban
del polvo, hacian, que el humo fuese acía los Christianos.'
_Colon_, _Hist. Almirante_, 107, in _Barcia_, i.

[IV-14] Says Fernando Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 108, in
_Barcia_, i., of this place:—'arribò al Canal de Zerabora, que
son 6 leguas de largo, i mas de tres de ancho, en el qual, ai
muchas Isletas, i tres, ò quatro Bocas mui à proposito para
entrar.' And Mr Kohl remarks, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 115,
'Diese Schilderung passt auf kein anderes Gewässer südlich vom
San Juan 'Cariay,' als auf unsere 'Laguna de Chiriqui,' die
auch wohl noch heutiges Tages besonders in ihrer westlichen
Abtheilung 'Baia del Almirante' ... genannt wird.' Ribero
places _ysa de cerebaro_ in the laguna. Vaz Dourado writes
_Carabare_; Maiollo puts here somewhere _la casera bruxada_,
and near by _oro boro_. Mercator makes _Cerebaro_ a town.
Hondius, in _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, places in this
vicinity the town, _Quicari_. _West-Indische Spieghel_, 1624,
gives _Carabaro_, and a little to the north a town, _Quicura_.

[IV-15] Aboriginally the name of a town, province, and
river famous for gold. Later the name became historically
celebrated, being applied by the Spaniards to that whole
region, and given as a title to the descendants of Columbus,
who were called dukes of Veraguas. Peter Martyr, Colon, and
Ribero, all write _beragua_; Vaz Dourado, _baraga_; Ptolemy,
_Beragua_, as a province; Laet and Jefferys, _Veragua_. Porras
calls the province Cobraba.

[IV-16] Off Nombre de Dios on Vaz Dourado's map, is a group
called _I∴ de bastimẽtos_; in the _Novvs Orbis_ of Laet
they are _Yas de Bastimentos_; Jefferys calls them _los
Bastimentos_; Navarrete, _Col. de Viages_, i. 285, gives
_Puerto del Retrete_ in the text, and _Puerto Escribanos_ in
a note.

[IV-17] The locality of this little harbor was soon lost.
Herrera affirms that in his time its situation was uncertain,
some believing Nombre de Dios to be the place mentioned.
Peschel locates it near the town of Colon; Humboldt at Puerto
de Escribanos. Ribero places fifteen leagues west of Nombre de
Dios, _po retre_. Kohl says, _Beiden ältesten Karten_, 116:
'Er findet sich nicht auf N. Vallard (1547), nicht auf Dourado
(1580) und nicht auf den Karten vom Isthmus von Darien in
Herrera.' But it would seem from the description of Fernando
Colon, _Hist. Almirante_, 110, in _Barcia_, i., that the
place should be easily enough found. He says:—'entramos en vn
Puertecillo, que se llamò el _Retrete_, porque no cabian en èl
mas de 5 ò 6 Navios; su entrada era por vna boca de quince, ò
veinte pasos de ancho, i ambos lados eran Rocas, que salian del
Agua, como punta de Diamante, i era tan profundo de Canal,
por enmedio, que acercandose à la orilla, vn poco, se podia
saltar desde el Navio en Tierra.'

[IV-18] Although the authorities are somewhat vague and
conflicting as to the terminal point of the main-land
coastings of Bastidas, there is no doubt that the two
discoveries here united. Oviedo, ii. 334-36, and those copying
his errors, take Bastidas direct from Urabá to Jamaica; but
Las Casas, _Hist. Ind._, iii. 11, states:—'Salieron del golfo
de Urabá, y fueron la costa del Poniente abajo, y llegaron
al puerto que llamaron del Retrete, donde agora está la
ciudad y puerto que nombramos del Nombre de Dios.' Later,
in chapter xxiii. 123, he corrects himself in regard to El
Retrete and Nombre de Dios being the same place:—'Por esto
parece que el puerto del Retrete no es el que agora llamamos
del Nombre de Dios, como arriba dijimos por relacion de
otros, sino más adelante, hácia el Oriente.' Speaking of El
Retrete, Diego de Porras, _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i.
285, remarks:—'En algunas cartas de navegar de algunos de los
marineros juntaba esta tierra con la que habian descubierto
Hojeda y Bastidas.' Navarrete himself, _Col. de Viages_, iii.
26, says of Bastidas, 'terminó su descubrimiento por los diez
grados de altura en el puerto del Retrete ó de Escribanos y
del nombre de Dios;' and again in a note concerning Nombre
de Dios:—'En este puerto entró posteriormente el Almirante
Colon el dia 26 de Noviembre de 1502 con noticia que ya tenia
de los descubrimientos de Bastidas.' Gomara, _Hist. Ind._,
67, accredits Bastidas with the new discovery of 170 leagues
of coast, 'que ay del cabo de la Vela al golfo de Vraua, y
Farallones del Darien,' resting with Oviedo at that point.
From the evidence Humboldt, _Exam. Crit._, i. 360, infers
that Bastidas continued 'vers l'ouest jusqu'au Puerto de
Retrete.' Loose statements are quite the habit now as of old;
instance that of Lerdo de Tejada, who says, _Apuntes Hist._,
89, referring to Bastidas, 'Y siguió hasta el puerto llamado
despues el _Retiro_, donde se fundó posteriormente el del
_Nombre de Dios_.'

[IV-19] That is to say, Bethlehem. Porras enters it _Y. n.
ebra_; Herrera, _Yebra_; and Fernando Colon, _Kiebra_. On
Ribero's map the name _bele_ is given to a lagoon; Vaz Dourado
writes _belen_; and Jacob Colom, _Belem_.

[IV-20] Although used by most Spanish and English writers
as a proper name, the word _quibian_ is an appellative, and
signifies the chief of a nation, or the ruler of a dynasty, as
the _cacique_ of the Cubans, the _inca_ of the Peruvians, the
_ahau_ of the Quichés, etc. Columbus, writing from Jamaica,
employs the term _el Quibian de Veragua_; and again, _Carta
de Colon_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 302, 'Asenté
pueblo, y dí muchas dádivas al _Quibian_, que así llaman al
Señor de la tierra.' Napione and De Conti write _il Quibio o
cacico di Beragua_. See their _Biog. di Colombo_, 388:—"Il
Prefetto andò colle barche al mare per entrare nel fiume e
portarsi alla popolazione del Quibio, cosi chiamato da quei
popoli il loro Re.'

[IV-21] Rio de la Concepcion.

[IV-22] Irving, _Columbus_, ii. 402, carelessly calls him 'the
chief notary,' confounding him with Diego de Porras, who was
notary of the expedition. The notary was not a fighting man,
but rather must withhold himself from action that he might
write down what was done by others.

[IV-23] 'Y como luego mandó prender al Cacique do se le fizo
mucho daño que le quemaron su poblacion, que era la mejor que
habia en la costa é de mejores casas, de muy buena madera,
todas cubiertas de fojas de palmas, é prendieron á sus fijos,
é aquí traen algunos dellos de que quedó toda aquella tierra
escandalizada, desto no sé dar cuenta sino que lo mandó
facer é aun apregonar escala franca.' _Diego de Porras_, in
_Navarrete_, _Col. de Viages_, i. 286-7.

[IV-24] There are two accounts of this affair; one by Fernando
Colon, and one by Diego Mendez. Both are biased; the former
in favor of Bartolomé, the latter in favor of the writer.
Fernando tells how, when the settlement was taken by surprise,
his uncle seized a lance, and supported by seven men fought
with desperate valor until the main body of the Spaniards came
to his relief, when the enemy was routed. The other states,
_Relacion hecha por Diego Mendez_, in _Navarrete_, _Col. de
Viages_, i. 317, that the admiral had just left the harbor,
accompanied by the larger part of the Spaniards, who had gone
to say farewell. Mendez, newly appointed contador, held the
town of Belen with twenty men. Suddenly four hundred Indians
appeared on the hill above, and sent upon the Spaniards a
shower of darts and arrows. Fortunately the yells were in
advance of the weapons, and thus time was given Mendez to
arm. The fight was desperate, and lasted three hours. Ten
natives who ventured to close with their war clubs were slain
by the sword. Seven of the twenty Christians were killed;
but a miracle at last gave victory to the remainder. During
the next four days, by the ingenuity of Mendez, and under his
direction, the effects of the colony were placed on shipboard,
and in return for his invaluable services he was made captain
of Tristan's ship.

[IV-25] The final burial-place, not only of Columbus, but of
his son Diego, and of his grandson Luis, was the cathedral
of Santo Domingo. For seven years after his death the
remains of Columbus lay in the convent of San Francisco at
Valladolid. Then they were removed to Seville and placed in
the monastery of Las Cuevas; and in 1536 were transferred to
Santo Domingo. When Española was ceded to France in 1795,
the Spanish naval commander asked permission to remove the
remains to Cuba, which was granted; and what were supposed
to be the remains were so removed midst pomp and ceremony in
December-January following. But later investigations, the
result of long-standing suspicions, satisfied many that a
blunder had been committed; and that the bones of Columbus
still rest at Santo Domingo. This has been proved beyond a
doubt by the recent researches of the distinguished French
savant and Americaniste A. Pinart.

[IV-26] I have remarked at some length on Fernando Colon's
life of his father, and on the letters of the admiral, and
other documents in Navarrete, Salvá and Baranda, Pacheco and
Cárdenas, and Mendoza, and elsewhere. The standard historians,
Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera, I
will pass for the present, only remarking that each in his
own way tells the story of the admiral, and all must be
carefully considered in a study of his life and achievements.
Other early or important authorities are _Zorzi_, _Paesi
Nouamente retrouati_, Vicentia, 1507; _Ruchamer_, _Newe
unbekanthe landte_, Nuremberg, 1508; _Stamler_, _Dyalogvs_,
Augsburg, 1508; _Marineo_, _Obra Compuesta de las Cosas
Memorables e Claros Varones de España_, Alcala, 1530;
_Geraldini_, _Itinerarivm ad Regiones svb Æqvinoctiali_,
Rome, 1631; _Grynævs_, _Novvs Orbis Regionvm ac Insularvm
veteribvs incognitarvm_, Basle, 1532; _Maffei_, _Historiarum
indicarum_, Florence, 1588; _Gambaræ_, _De navigatione
Christophori Columbi_, Rome, 1585; _Charlevoix_, _Histoire de
l'Isle-Espagnole_, Paris, 1730; _Cladera_, _Investigaciones
historicas_, Madrid, 1794; _Bossi_, _Vita di Colombo_, Milan,
1818. _Die vierdte Reise so vollenbracht hat Christoffel
Columb_, at page 6 of _Löw_, _Meer oder Seehanen Buch_,
Cologne, 1598, should be read in reference with the maps,
to be appreciated. See also _Ramusio_, _Viaggi_, iii. 16-18
and 98-9; _Benzoni_, _Hist. Mondo Nvovo_, 27-30; _Galvano's
Discov._, 100-1; _Humboldt_, _Exam. Crit._, passim; _Major's
Select Letters of Columbus_, _Hakluyt Soc._, London, 1847;
_Castellanos_, _Elegías de Varones ilustres de Indias_, 42-3;
_Acosta_, _Compend. Hist Nueva Granada_, 1-17; _Repertorio
Americano_, iii. 186-225; _Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, 3-6 and
101-6; _Lerdo de Tejada_, _Apuntes Hist._, 77-80; _Remesal_,
_Hist. Chyapa_, 162-3; _Gordon's Hist. Am._, i. 247-64;
_Lardner's Hist. Discov._, ii. 16; _Payno_, _Cronología
Mex._, in _Soc. Mex. Geog._; _Robertson's Hist. Am._, i.
59-175; _Corradi_, _Descub. de la Am._, i. 6-312; _Simon_,
_Conq. tierra firme_, 44-50; _Mesa y Leompart_, _Hist. Am._,
i. 1-64; _Torquemada_, i. 20-1, and iii. 283-94; _Vega_,
_Comentarios Reales_, ii. 7; _Acosta_, _Hist. Ind._, passim;
_Villagvtierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza_, 5-19; _Mendieta_, _Hist.
Ecles._, 13-39; _Cavanilles_, _Hist. España_, v. 27-55
and 104-9; _Nueva España, Breve Resumen_, MS., i. 1-14;
_Maglianos_, _St Francis and Franciscans_, 521-32; _Aa_,
_Naaukeurige Versameling_, ii. and iii. passim; _Holmes'
Annals Am._, i. 1-16; _Puga_, _Cedulario_, 4-5; _Gonzalez
Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, i. 255-6; _Burke's Europ. Set._, i.
1-45; _Major's Prince Henry_, 347-67; _Help's Span. Conq._,
passim; _Heylyn's Cosmog._, 1083; _Ogilby's Am._, 55-6; _Ens_,
_West- und Ost-Indischer Lustgart_, 178-84 and 408-9; _Campe_,
_Hist. Descub. Am._, 1-133; _Poussin_, _De la Puissance
Américaine_, passim; _Hist. Mag._, Aug. and Sept. 1864, and
Feb. 1868; _Mariana_, _Hist. España_, vi. 307 etc. and vii.
80; _Muñoz_, _Hist. Nuevo Mundo_, i. 27-312; _Morelli_, _Fasti
Novi Orbis_, 11-12; _Purchas_, _His Pilgrimes_, v. 801-4;
_Pizarro y Orellana_, _Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo_,
1-53; _Montanus_, _De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld_, 1-43; and
_Laet_, _Nov. Orb._, 345-6. The first work to throw a clear
light on the question of birthplace was the _Della patria di
Cristoforo Colombo_, by Conte Napione di Coconato, Florence,
1808, a dissertation published by the Academy of Sciences,
of Turin. In this and supplementary works the ability and
zeal of the author are manifest. In 1853, at Rome, was issued
a new edition of Napione and de Conti, entitled _Patria e
Biografia Del Grande Ammíraglio D. Cristóforo Colombo ...
rischiarita e comprovata dai celebri scrittori Gio. Francesco
Conte Napione di Coconato e Vincenzo de Conti_, the latter
author of _Storia del Monferrato_, in which appears a wealth
of new information second only to the original narratives
and documents themselves. The _Dissertazioni epistolari
bibliografiche_, Rome, 1809, of Francesco Cancellieri,
which Leclerc calls 'savante et fort curieuse,' should not
be overlooked. John S. C. Abbott throws together a _Life of
Christopher Columbus_, New York, 1875, in popular form, in
which extracts are conspicuous, the author having made quite
free with the writings of his predecessors.

[V-1] Chief judge, or highest judicial officer in the colony,
to take the place of Roldan, who was to be returned to Spain.
Irving, _Columbus_, ii. 331, writes erroneously _alguazil
mayor_, evidently confounding the two offices. For Las Casas,
_Hist. Ind._, iii. 18, says plainly enough:—'Trujo consigo por
Alcalde mayor un caballero de Salamanca y licenciado, llamado
Alonso Maldonado.' An alguacil mayor was a chief constable,
or high sheriff, a very different person from a chief judge.
These terms, and the offices represented by them, will be
fully explained in another place.