Chapter XVIII: Part 18

The nation of which Pope Pius II. describes the situation and characteristics has now been found,[409-2] excepting the horses with the saddles and poitrels and bridles of gold; but this is not to be wondered at, for the lands on the sea-coast are only inhabited by fishermen, and moreover I made no stay there, because I was in haste to proceed on my voyage. In Cariay[409-3] and the neighboring country there are great enchanters of a very fearful character. They would have given the world to prevent my remaining there an hour. When I arrived they sent me immediately two girls very showily dressed; the eldest could not be more than eleven years of age and the other seven, and both exhibited so much immodesty, that more could not be expected from public women; they carried concealed about them a magic powder; when they came I gave them some articles to dress themselves out with, and directly sent them back to the shore.[409-4] I saw here, built on a mountain, a sepulchre as large as a house, and elaborately sculptured; the body lay uncovered and embalmed in it. They also spoke to me of other very excellent works of art.[410-1] There are many species of animals both small and large, and very different from those of our country. I had a present of two pigs, and an Irish dog was afraid to face them. A cross-bowman had wounded an animal like a monkey,[410-2] except that it was larger, and had a face like a man's; the arrow had pierced it from the neck to the tail, and since it was fierce he was obliged to cut off an arm and a leg; the pig bristled up on seeing it and tried to get away. I, when I saw this, ordered the _begare_[410-3] as it is called to be thrown to the pig where he was, and though the animal was nearly dead, and the arrow had passed quite through his body, yet he threw his tail round the snout of the boar, and then holding him firmly, seized him by the nape of the neck with his remaining hand, as if he were engaged with an enemy. This action was so novel and so extraordinary, that I have thought it worth while to describe it here. There is a great variety of animals here, but they all die of _barra_.[410-4] I saw some very large fowls (the feathers of which resemble wool),[410-5] lions, stags, fallow-deer and birds.

When we were so harassed with our troubles at sea, some of our men imagined that we were under the influence of sorcery, and even to this day entertain the same notion. Some of the people whom I discovered eat men, as was evidenced by the brutality of their countenances. They say that there are great mines of copper in the country, of which they make hatchets[411-1] and other elaborate articles both cast and soldered; they also make of it forges, with all the apparatus of the goldsmith, and crucibles. The inhabitants go clothed; and in that province I saw some large sheets of cotton very elaborately and cleverly worked, and others very delicately painted in colors.[411-2] They tell me that more inland towards Cathay they have them interwoven with gold. For want of an interpreter we were able to learn but very little respecting these countries, or what they contain. Although the country is very thickly peopled, yet each nation has a very different language; indeed so much so, that they can no more understand each other than we understand the Arabs. I think, however, that this applies to the barbarians on the sea-coast, and not to the people who live more inland. When I discovered the Indies, I said that they composed the richest lordship in the world; I spoke of gold and pearls and precious stones, of spices and the traffic that might be carried on in them; and because all these things were not forthcoming at once I was abused. This punishment causes me to refrain from relating anything but what the natives tell me. One thing I can venture upon stating, because there are so many witnesses of it, viz., that in this land of Veragua I saw more signs of gold in the first two days than I saw in Espanola during fours years,[TN-10] and that there is not a more fertile or better cultivated country in all the world, nor one whose inhabitants are more timid; added to which there is a good harbor, a beautiful river, and the whole place is capable of being easily put into a state of defence. All this tends to the security of the Christians and the permanency of their sovereignty, while it affords the hope of great increase and honor to the Christian religion; moreover the road hither will be as short as that to Espanola, because there is a certainty of a fair wind for the passage. Your Highnesses are as much lords of this country as of Xerez or Toledo; your ships if they should go there, go to your own house. From there they will take gold; in other lands to have what there is in them, they will have to take it by force or retire empty-handed, and on the land they will have to trust their persons in the hands of a savage.[412-1]

Of the other [matter] that I refrain from saying, I have already said why I kept silent. I do not speak so, neither [do I say] that I make a threefold affirmation in all that I have ever said or written nor that I am at the source.[412-2] The Genoese, Venetians and all other nations that possess pearls, precious stones, and other articles of value, take them to the ends of the world to exchange them for gold. Gold is most excellent; gold is treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world, and succeeds in helping souls into paradise. They say that when one of the lords of the country of Veragua dies, they bury all the gold he possessed with his body. There were brought to Solomon at one journey[412-3] six hundred and sixty-six quintals of gold, besides what the merchants and sailors brought, and that which was paid in Arabia. Of this gold he made two hundred lances[412-4] and three hundred shields, and the flooring[412-5] which was to be above them was also of gold, and ornamented with precious stones; many other things he made likewise of gold, and a great number of vessels of great size, which he enriched with precious stones. This is related by Josephus in his Chronicle _De Antiquitatibus_; mention is also made of it in the Chronicles and in the Book of Kings.[413-1] Josephus thinks that this gold was found in the Aurea;[413-2] if it were so, I contend that these mines of the Aurea are identical with those of Veragua, which, as I have said before, extends westward twenty days' journey, and they are at an equal distance from the Pole and the Line.[413-3] Solomon bought all of it,--gold, precious stones, and silver,--but your Majesties need only send to seek them to have them at your pleasure. David, in his will, left three thousand quintals of Indian gold to Solomon, to assist in building the Temple; and, according to Josephus, it came from these lands.[413-4] Jerusalem and Mount Sion are to be rebuilt by the hands of Christians, who it is to be God told by the mouth of His prophet in the fourteenth Psalm.[413-5] The Abbot Joaquim said that he who should do this was to come from Spain;[414-1] Saint Jerome showed the holy woman the way to accomplish it;[414-2] and the emperor of Cathay, a long time ago, sent for wise men to instruct him in the faith of Christ.[414-3] Who will offer himself for this work?[414-4] Should any one do so, I pledge myself, in the name of God, to convey him safely thither, provided the Lord permits me to return to Spain.

The people who have sailed with me have passed through incredible toil and danger, and I beseech your Highnesses, since they are poor, to pay them promptly, and to be gracious to each of them according to their respective merits; for I can safely assert, that to my belief they are the bearers of the best news that ever was carried to Spain. With respect to the gold which belongs to the Quibian of Veragua, and other chiefs in the neighboring country, although it appears by the accounts we have received of it to be very abundant, I do not think it would be well or desirable, on the part of your Highnesses, to take possession of it in the way of plunder; by fair dealing, scandal and disrepute will be avoided, and all the gold will thus reach your Highnesses' treasury without the loss of a grain.

With one month of fair weather I shall complete my voyage. As I was deficient in ships, I did not persist in delaying my course; but in everything that concerns your Highnesses' service, I trust in Him who made me, and I hope also that my health will be re-established. I think your Highnesses will remember that I had intended to build some ships in a new manner, but the shortness of the time did not permit it. I had certainly foreseen how things would be. I think more of this opening for commerce, and of the lordship over such extensive mines, than of all that has been done in the Indies.[415-1] This is not a child to be left to the care of a stepmother.

I never think of Espanola, and Paria, and the other countries, without shedding tears. I thought that what had occurred there would have been an example for others; on the contrary, these settlements are now in a languid state, although not dead, and the malady is incurable, or at least very extensive. Let him who brought the evil come now and cure it, if he knows the remedy, or how to apply it; but when a disturbance is on foot, every one is ready to take the lead. It used to be the custom to give thanks and promotion to him who placed his person in jeopardy; but there is no justice in allowing the man who opposed this undertaking, to enjoy the fruits of it with his children. Those who left the Indies, avoiding the toils consequent upon the enterprise, and speaking evil of it and me, have since returned with official appointments,--such is the case now in Veragua: it is an evil example, and profitless both as regards the business in which we are embarked, and as respects the general maintenance of justice. The fear of this, with other sufficient considerations, which I clearly foresaw, caused me to beg your Highnesses, previously to my coming to discover these islands and mainland, to grant me permission to govern in your royal name. Your Highnesses granted my request; and it was a privilege and treaty granted under the royal seal and oath, by which I was nominated viceroy, and admiral, and governor-general of all: and your Highnesses limited the extent of my government to a hundred leagues beyond the Azores and Cape Verde islands, by a line passing from one pole to the other, and gave me ample power over all that I might discover beyond this line; all which is more fully described in the official document.[416-1]

But the most important affair of all, and that which cries most loudly for redress, remains inexplicable to this moment. For seven years was I at your royal court, where every one to whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as ridiculous; but now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does not beg to be allowed to become a discoverer. There is reason to believe, that they make the voyage only for plunder, and that they are permitted to do so, to the great disparagement of my honor, and the detriment of the undertaking itself.[416-2] It is right to give God His own,--and to Caesar[416-3] that which belongs to him.[416-4] This is a just sentiment, and proceeds from just feelings. The lands in this part of the world, which are now under your Highnesses' sway, are richer and more extensive than those of any other Christian power, and yet, after that I had, by the Divine will, placed them under your high and royal sovereignty, and was on the point of bringing your majesties into the receipt of a very great and unexpected revenue; and while I was waiting for ships, to convey me in safety, and with a heart full of joy, to your royal presence, victoriously to announce the news of the gold that I had discovered, I was arrested and thrown, with my two brothers, loaded with irons, into a ship, stripped, and very ill-treated, without being allowed any appeal to justice.[417-1]

Who could believe, that a poor foreigner would have risen against your Highnesses, in such a place, without any motive or argument on his side; without even the assistance of any other prince upon which to rely; but on the contrary, amongst your own vassals and natural subjects, and with my sons staying at your royal court? I was twenty-eight years old when I came into your Highnesses' service,[417-2] and now I have not a hair upon me that is not gray; my body is infirm, and all that was left to me, as well as to my brothers, has been taken away and sold, even to the frock that I wore, to my great dishonor. I cannot but believe that this was done without your royal permission. The restitution of my honor, the reparation of my losses, and the punishment of those who have inflicted them, will redound to the honor of your royal character; a similar punishment also is due to those who plundered me of my pearls, and who have brought a disparagement upon the privileges of my admiralty. Great and unexampled will be the glory and fame of your Highnesses, if you do this; and the memory of your Highnesses, as just and grateful sovereigns, will survive as a bright example to Spain in future ages. The honest devotedness I have always shown to your Majesties' service, and the so unmerited outrage with which it has been repaid, will not allow my soul to keep silence, however much I may wish it: I implore your Highnesses to forgive my complaints. I am indeed in as ruined a condition as I have related; hitherto I have wept over others;--may Heaven now have mercy upon me, and may the earth weep for me. With regard to temporal things, I have not even a blanca,[418-1] for an offering; and in spiritual things, I have ceased here in the Indies from observing the prescribed forms of religion. Solitary in my trouble, sick, and in daily expectation of death, surrounded by a million of hostile savages full of cruelty, and thus separated from the blessed sacraments of our holy Church, how will my soul be forgotten if it be separated from the body in this foreign land? Weep for me, whoever has charity, truth, and justice! I did not come out on this voyage to gain to myself honor or wealth; this is a certain fact, for at that time all hope of such a thing was dead. I do not lie when I say, that I went to your Highnesses with honest purpose of heart, and sincere zeal in your cause. I humbly beseech your Highnesses, that if it please God to rescue me from this place, you will graciously sanction my pilgrimage to Rome and other holy places. May the Holy Trinity protect your Highnesses' lives, and add to the prosperity of your exalted position.

Done in the Indies, in the island of Jamaica, on the seventh of July, in the year one thousand five hundred and three.

FOOTNOTES:

[389-1] The punctuation of this first paragraph has been changed in the light of the contemporary Italian translation known as the _Lettera Rarissima_, which is given in facsimile and English translation in Thacher's _Christopher Columbus_, II. 671 _et seqq._

[389-2] June 29. Las Casas, III. 29.

[390-1] By the letter of the King and Queen, March 14, 1502, Columbus had been forbidden to call at Espanola on the outward voyage. Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, III. 26.

[390-2] The new governor, Ovando, who had been sent out to supersede Bobadilla, had reached Santo Domingo in April of this year, 1502.

[390-3] Columbus was accompanied by his younger son Ferdinand and his elder brother Bartholomew. Las Casas, III. 25.

[390-4] The translation here follows Lollis's emendation of the text which changed the printed text, "_habia, echado a la mar, por escapar, fasta la isola la Gallega; perdio la barca_," etc., to "_habia echado a la mar, por escapar fasta la isla; la Gallega perdio la barca_." One of the ships was named _La Gallega_, and there is no island of that name in that region.

[391-1] Columbus set forth from the harbor of Santo Domingo in the storm, Friday, July 1. The ships found refuge in the harbor of Azua on the following Sunday, July 3. (Ferdinand Columbus in the _Historie_, ed. 1867, pp. 286-287.) Azua is about 50 miles west of Santo Domingo in a straight line, but much farther by water. After a rest and repairs the Admiral sailed to Yaquimo, the present Jacmel in the territory of Hayti, into which port he went to escape another storm. He left Yaquimo, July 14. (Las Casas, III. 108; Ferdinand Columbus, _Historie_, p. 289.) He then passed south of Jamaica, and was carried by the currents northwest till he reached the Queen's Garden, a group of many small islands south of Cuba and east of the Isle of Pines, so named by him in 1494 on his exploration of the coast of Cuba.

[391-2] From the Queen's Garden he sailed south July 27 (the Porras narrative of this voyage, Navarrete, II. 283; in English in Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 640 _et seqq._), and after a passage of ninety leagues sighted an island Saturday, July 30. (Porras in Thacher, II. 643.) This was the island of Guanaja about twelve leagues north of Trujillo, Honduras. (Las Casas, III. 109.) Here a landing was made and a canoe was encountered which was covered with an awning and contained Indians well clothed and a load of merchandise. Notwithstanding these indications of a more advanced culture than had hitherto been found, the Admiral decided not to explore the country of these Indians, which would have led him into Yucatan and possibly Mexico, but to search for the strait which he supposed separated Asia from the continental mass he had discovered on his third voyage (Paria, South America). He struck the mainland near Trujillo, naming the point Caxinas. At or near this place they landed Sunday, August 14, to say mass. (Las Casas, III. 112; Ferdinand Columbus, _Historie_, p. 295.) From this point he coasted very slowly, sailing in sight of land by day and anchoring at night, distressed by storms and headwinds, some days losing as much ground as could be gained in two, till September 12, when he reached Cape Gracias a Dios. (Las Casas, III. 113; _Historie_, p. 297; Porras narrative in Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 644.) It will be seen from this collation of the sources that the statements in our text are far from exact, that they are in fact a very general and greatly exaggerated recollection of a most trying experience. It will be remembered that Ferdinand was on this voyage, but his narrative says nothing of any storm between July 14 when he left the Queen's Gardens and the arrival at Guanaja, a passage which Porras says took three days. This passage, however, Las Casas describes apparently on the basis of this letter as having taken sixty days (_Historia_, III. 108). Next the text of the _Historie_ presents a difficulty, for it places the tedious stormy voyage of _sixty_ leagues and _seventy_ days between Caxinas (Trujillo) and Cape Gracias a Dios (_Historie_, p. 296), although in another place it gives the beginning of this coasting as after August 14 and the date of arrival at the Cape as September 12. This last chronological difficulty may perhaps be accounted for in this way: The original manuscript of the _Historie_ may have had "XXX dias," which a copyist or the Italian translator may have taken for "LXX dias."

[392-1] A review of the chronology of the voyage in the preceding note will show that no such storm of eighty-eight days' duration could have occurred in the first part of this voyage. Columbus was only seventy-four days in going from Santo Domingo to Cabo Gracias a Dios. Either the text is wrong or his memory was at fault. The most probable conclusion is that in copying either LXXXVIII got substituted for XXVIII or _Ochenta y ocho_ for _Veinte y ocho_. In that case we should have almost exactly the time spent in going from Trujillo to Cape Gracias a Dios, August 14 to September 12, and exact agreement between our text, the _Historie_, and the Porras narrative.

[393-1] Twenty years, speaking approximately. This letter was written in 1503, and Columbus entered the service of Spain in 1485.

[393-2] Diego was the heir of his father's titles. He was appointed governor of the Indies in 1508, but a prolonged lawsuit was necessary to establish his claims to inherit his father's rights.

[393-3] Their course was down the Mosquito coast. Cariay was near the mouth of the San Juan River of Nicaragua. Las Casas gives the date of the arrival at Cariari, as he gives the name, as September 17 (III. 114). The _Historie_ gives the date as September 5 and the name as Cariai (p. 297).

[393-4] Peter Martyr, _De Rebus Oceanicis_ (ed. 1574), p. 239, says that Columbus called Ciamba the region which the inhabitants called Quiriquetana, a name which it would seem still survives in Chiriqui Lagoon just east of Almirante Bay. The name "Ciamba" appears on Martin Behaim's globe, 1492, as a province corresponding to Cochin-China. It is described in Marco Polo under the name "Chamba"; see Yule's _Marco Polo_, II. 248-252 (bk. III., ch. V.).

[393-5] Carambaru is the present Almirante Bay, about on the border between Costa Rica and Panama. Las Casas describes the bay as six leagues long and over three broad with many islands and coves. He gives the name as Caravaro (III. 118). Ferdinand Columbus's account is practically identical.

[394-1] Veragua in this letter includes practically all of the present republic of Panama. The western quarter of it was granted to Luis Colon, the Admiral's grandson, in 1537, as a dukedom in partial compensation for his renouncing his hereditary rights. Hence the title Dukes of Veragua borne by the Admiral's descendants. The name still survives in geography in that of the little island Escudo de Veragua, which lies off the northern coast.

[394-2] The eve or vigil of St. Simon and St. Jude is October 27. According to the narrative in the _Historie_, on October 7, they went ashore at the channel of Cerabora (Carambaru). A few days later they went on to Aburema. October 17 they left Aburema and went twelve leagues to Guaigo, where they landed. Thence they went to Cateva (Catiba, Las Casas) and cast anchor in a large river (the Chagres). Thence easterly to Cobrava; thence to five towns, among which was Beragua (Veragua); the next day to Cubiga. The distance from Cerabora to Cubiga was fifty leagues. Without landing, the Admiral went on to Belporto (Puerto Bello), which he so named. ("Puerto Bello, which was a matter of six leagues from what we now call El Nombre de Dios." Las Casas, III. 121.) He arrived at Puerto Bello November 2, and remained there seven days on account of the rains and bad weather. (_Historie_, pp. 302-306.) Apparently Columbus put this period of bad weather a few days too early in his recollection of it.

[394-3] Ciguare. An outlying province of the Mayas lying on the Pacific side of southern Costa Rica. Peter Martyr, _De Rebus Oceanicis_, p. 240, says, "In this great tract (_i.e._, where the Admiral was) are two districts, the near one called Taia, and the further one Maia."

[395-1] See p. 311, note 5.

[395-2] Probably _casas_, houses, should be the reading here. In the corresponding passage of the contemporary Italian version the word is "houses." This information, mixed as it is with Columbus's misinterpretations of the Indian signs and distorted by his preconceptions, was first made public in the Italian translation of this letter in 1505 and then gave Europe its first intimations of the culture of the Mayas.

[395-3] _I.e._, in being on either side of a peninsula, Tortosa and Fontarabia being on opposite sides of the narrowest part of the Spanish peninsula.

[395-4] See p. 300, note 1.

[396-1] The Spanish reads, "Lo que yo se es que el ano de noventa y cuatro en veinte y cuatros grados al Poniente en termino de nueve horas." The translation in the text and that in Thacher (II. 687) of the Italian makes nonsense. The translation should be "what I know is that in the year '94 (1494) I sailed westward on the 24th parallel (lit. on 24 degrees) a total of nine hours (lit. to a limit of nine hours)." That is, he reckoned that he had gone 9/24 round the world on the 24th parallel, and he knew it because there was an eclipse by which he found out the difference in time between Europe and where he was. The "termino" of nine hours refers to the western limit of his exploration of the southern coast of Cuba when he concluded it was a projection of the mainland of Asia. After reaching the conclusion that this is the correct interpretation of this passage, I discovered that it had been given by Humboldt in his _Kritische Untersuchungen ueber die historische Entwickelung der geographischen Kenntnisse von der Neuen Welt_, I. 553, and by Peschel in his _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_, p. 97, note 2. It may be objected to this explanation that in reality Columbus had only gone about 75 degrees west of Cape St. Vincent in Portugal. The accurate calculation of longitude at that time, however, was impossible, and as will be seen in the following note Columbus's calculation was biassed by powerful preconceptions.

[396-2] In his _Libro de Profecias_ Columbus recorded the data of this eclipse which took place February 29, 1494, from which he drew the conclusion, "The difference between the middle of the island Jamaica in the Indies and the island of Cadiz in Spain is seven hours and fifteen minutes." Navarrete, _Viages_, II. 272.

[396-3] Reading _remendiado_ or _remendado_ instead of _remedado_.

[396-4] Catigara was in China on the east side of the Gulf of Tonquin.

[396-5] Marinus of Tyre divided the earth into 24 meridians, 15 degrees or one hour apart. His first meridian passed the Fortunate Isles, which he supposed to be 2-1/2 degrees west of Cape St. Vincent, and his fifteenth through Catigara, southeastern China. The inhabited world embraced fifteen of these lines, 225 degrees, and the unknown portion east of India and west of Spain, nine lines, or hours, or 135 degrees. _Cf._ Vignaud, _Toscanelli and Columbus_, p. 74; Bunbury, _History of Ancient Geography_, II. 519 _et seqq._ Columbus, therefore, according to his calculations, had in 1494 completely covered this unknown section and reached India (or China), and so had demonstrated the correctness of Marinus's views. In reality his strong preconceptions as to where he was distorted his calculations of the longitude. Ptolemy corrected Marinus's estimate of 225 degrees from Cape St. Vincent to Sera in China, and, as noted in Columbus's letter, placed Catigara in China (on the east side of the Gulf of Tonquin) at twelve lines or 180 degrees west of his meridian (2-1/2 degrees west of Cape St. Vincent). If Ptolemy was right, Columbus had not reached India (or more exactly China) or come, on his own calculation, within 45 degrees or 2700 geographical miles of it measured on the equator. The outline reproduction of the map of Bartholomew Columbus made after his return from this voyage given in Channing's _Student's History of the United States_, p. 27 (photographic reproduction in Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 96) illustrates the Admiral's ideas and conclusions. This region (_i.e._, Costa Rica and Panama) is a southern extension of Cochin-China and Cambodia and is connected with _Mondo Novo_, _i.e._, South America.

[397-1] The translation here adopts the emended text of Lollis, substituting "ali[e]nde" for "al Indo" in the sentence "Marino en Ethiopia escribe al Indo la linea equinocial." _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte I., tomo II., p. 184. The translation of the unamended text as printed by Major was "the same author describes the Indus in Ethiopia as being more than four and twenty degrees from the equinoctial line." Apparently the 24 should be 44. With these changes the statements in the text agree with Columbus's marginalia to the _Imago Mundi_, where he notes that the Cape of Good Hope is Agesinba and that Bartholomew Diaz found it to be 45 degrees south of the equator. "This," he goes on, "agrees with the dictum of Marinus, whom Ptolemy corrects, in regard to the expedition to the Garamantes, who said it traversed 27,500 stadia beyond the equinoctial." _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte II., tomo II., p. 377. On Marinus's exaggerated estimate of the distance covered by the Romans in tropical Africa, see Bunbury, _History of Ancient Geography_, II. 524.

[397-2] This is unintelligible. The Spanish is, "Tolomeo diz que la tierra mas austral es el plazo primero." The meaning of _plazo_ is not "boundary" but "term" (allotted time). The reading should be: "la tierra mas austral es el praso promontorio," and the translation should be, "Ptolemy says that the most southern land is the promontory of Prasum," etc. Prasum promontorium was Ptolemy's southern limit of the world. He placed it at about 16 degrees south latitude. See Bunbury, _History of Ancient Geography_, II. 572, and Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_, art. "Prasum Promontorium"; also Ptolemy's _Geography_, bk. IV., ch. IX., the descriptive matter relating to Map 4 on Africa.

[398-1] _II. Esdras_, VI. 42, see p. 358, note 1.

[398-2] See the Letter of Columbus on his Third Voyage. Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, p. 141.

[398-3] Ptolemy reckoned the length of the degree on the equator at 62-1/2 miles. The shorter measurement of 56-2/3 was the estimate adopted by the Arab astronomer Alfragan in the ninth century and known to Columbus through Cardinal d'Ailly's _Imago Mundi_, the source of much if not most of his information on the geographical knowledge and opinions of former times. Cardinal d'Ailly's source of information about Alfragan was Roger Bacon's _Opus Majus_. Columbus was deeply impressed with Alfragan's estimate of the length of the degree and annotated the passages in the _Imago Mundi_. _Cf._ _Raccolta Colombiana_, Parte I., tomo II., pp. 378, 407, and frequently. See this whole question in Vignaud, _Toscanelli and Columbus_, p. 79 _et seqq._

[398-4] In Puerto Bello. See p. 394, note 2. Porto Bello, to use the Anglicized form, became the great shipping port on the north side of the isthmus for the trade with Peru. _Cf._ Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 292.

[399-1] Columbus left Porto Bello November 9 and went eight leagues, but the next day he turned back four and took refuge at what is now Nombre de Dios. From the abundance of maize fields he named it Port of Provisions (Puerto de Bastimentos). _Historie_, p. 306.

[399-2] _Me reposo atras il viento_, etc. For _reposo_ the text apparently should be either _repuso_, "put back," or _rempujo_, "drove back," and the translation is based on this supposition.

[399-3] They remained at Bastimentos till November 23, when they went on to Guiga, but did not tarry but pushed on to a little harbor (November 26), which the Admiral called Retrete (Closet) because it was so small that it could hold only five or six vessels and the entrance was only fifteen or twenty paces wide. _Historie_, p. 306.

[399-4] That is, Columbus turns back to explore the mines on account of the violence of the east and northeast winds. This was December 5. _Historie_, p. 309.

[400-1] Not mentioned in the _Historie_ by name. It was the place where they stayed from December 26 to January 3 to repair the ship _Gallega_ as appears in the _Probanzas del Almirante_. Navarrete, _Viages_, III. 600. It was between Rio de los Lagartos and Puerto Bello. Lollis, _Raccolta Colombiana_, Parte I., tomo II., p. 187.

[400-2] Adopting de Lollis's text and punctuation.

[400-3] _La oposicion de Saturno con Marte tan desvaratado en costa brava_, adopting de Lollis's text following the suggestion of the contemporary Italian translation. According to the doctrines of astrology the influence of Saturn was malign. "When Saturn is in the first degree of Aries, and any other Planet in the first degree of Libra, they being now an hundred and eighty degrees each from other, are said to be in Opposition: A bad Aspect." William Lilly, _Christian Astrology_ (London, 1647), p. 27.

[400-4] Epiphany, January 6. It will be remembered that Columbus had passed Veragua the previous October when working eastward. See p. 394, note 2. He now found he could enter the river of Veragua, but found another near by called by the Indians Yebra, but which Columbus named Belem in memory of the coming of the three kings (the wise men of the East) to Bethlehem. (Las Casas, III. 128; Porras in Thacher, II. 645.) The name is still preserved attached to the river.

[401-1] _Proeses._ In nautical Spanish _prois_ or _proiza_ is a breastfast or headfast, that is a large cable for fastening a ship to a wharf or another ship. In Portuguese _proiz_ is a stone or tree on shore to which the hawsers are fastened. Major interpreted it in this sense, translating the words _las amarras y proeses_, "the cables and the supports to which they were fastened." The interpretation given first seems to me the correct one, especially as Ferdinand says that the flood came so suddenly that they could not get the cables on land. _Historie_, p. 315.

[402-1] _Quibian_ is a title, as indicated a few lines further on, and not a proper name as Major, Irving, Markham, and others following Las Casas have taken it to be. The Spanish is uniformly "El Quibian." Peter Martyr says: "They call a kinglet (_regulus_) Cacicus, as we have said elsewhere, in other places Quebi, in some places also Tiba. A chief, in some places Sacchus, in others Jura." _De Rebus Oceanicis_, p. 241.

[402-2] "_Una mozada de oro._" _Mozada_ is not given in any of the Spanish dictionaries I have consulted. The Academy dictionary gives _mojoda_ as a square measure, deriving it from the low Latin _modiata_ from _modius_. Perhaps one should read _mojada_ instead of _mozada_ and give it a meaning similar to that of _modius_ or about a peck. Major's translation follows the explanation of De Verneuil, who says: "_Mozada signifie la mesure que peut porter un jeune garcon_."

[403-1] The mouth of the river was closed by sand thrown up by the violent storms outside. _Historie_, p. 321.

[403-2] The teredo.

[403-3] During the weeks that he was shut in the River Belem Columbus had his brother explore the country. The prospects for a successful colony led him to build a small settlement and to plan to return to Spain for re-enforcements and supplies. The story is told in detail in the _Historie_ and by Irving, _Columbus_, II. 425-450, and more briefly by Markham, _Columbus_, pp. 259-207. This was the first settlement projected on the American Continent. The hostility of the Indians culminating in this attack rendered the execution of the project impracticable. In the manuscript copy of Las Casas's _Historia de las Indias_ Las Casas noted on the margin of the passage containing the account of this incident, "This was the first settlement that the Spaniards made on the mainland, although in a short time it came to naught." See Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 608.

[404-1] De Lollis points out that these striking words are a paraphrase of the famous lines in Seneca's _Medea_, Chorus, Act II.:--

Venient annis saecula seris Quibus Oceanus vincula rerum Laxet, et ingens pateat tellus, Tethysque novos detegat orbes Nec sit terris ultima Thule.

Columbus copied these verses into his _Libro de las Profecias_ and translated them. Navarrete, _Viages_, II. 272.

[404-2] Accepting de Lollis's emended text.

[405-1] "Quando se aia de proveer de socorro, se proveera de todo."

[405-2] April 16, 1503.

[405-3] Cuba. According to Ferdinand Columbus the course was as follows: The Admiral followed the coast of the isthmus eastward beyond El Retrete to a place he named Marmoro (near Punto de Mosquitos) somewhat west of the entrance to the Gulf of Darien; then May 1 in response to the urgency of the pilots he turned north. May 10 they sighted two little islands, Caymanos Chicos, and the 12th they reached the Queen's Garden just south of Cuba (see p. 301, note 1). The next day they landed in Cuba and secured supplies. It is significant of the tenacity of Columbus's conviction that Cuba was a part of the mainland of Asia that he here calls it Mago (_i.e._, Mango). June 12, 1494, when he had explored the southern coast of Cuba, he reached this conviction and compelled his officers and crew to take oath that "it (_i.e._, Cuba) is mainland and in particular the province of Mango." Navarrete, _Viages_, II. 144. (The affidavits are translated in Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 327.) Mangi (southern China) is described by Marco Polo at great length. In the second Toscanelli letter Quinsay is said to be "in the province of Mangi, _i.e._, near the province of Cathay." It is noted several times in Columbus's marginalia to Marco Polo.

[406-1] _Alli me torne a reposar atras la fortuna._ De Lollis, following the Italian translation, reads: _Alli me torne a reposar atras la fortuna_, etc. "There the storm returned to drive me back; I stopped in the same island in a safer port." As this gives an unknown meaning to _reposar_, he suggests that Columbus may have written _repujar_, "to drive."

[406-2] June 23. _Historie_, p. 334.

[407-1] On the contrary the narrative of Diego de Porras, which he prepared after his return to Spain in November, 1504, is a much clearer account of the voyage in most respects than this letter of Columbus's. For it, see Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 640-646. Porras relates that during this voyage the Admiral took all the charts away that the seamen had had. Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 646.

[407-2] "_El puerto de Jaquimo_ [Jacmel], which he called the port of Brasil." Las Casas, _Historia_, III. 108.

[408-1] Cuba.

[408-2] The pilots thought that they were east of Espanola when Columbus turned north, and consequently thought that Cuba (Mango) was Porto Rico (San Juan). _Cf._ _Historie_, p. 333.

[408-3] _I.e._, in that it is clear to one who understands it, and blind to one who does not.

[408-4] _Las naos de las Indias_, _i.e._, the large ships for the Indies, _i.e._, Espanola.

[408-5] Bow-lines are ropes employed to keep the windward edges of the principal sails steady, and are only used when the wind is so unfavorable that the sails must be all braced sideways, or close hauled to the wind. (Major.)

[409-1] _I.e._, rigged with lateen sails in the Portuguese fashion.

[409-2] Columbus, in his marginal notes to his copy of the _Historia Rerum ubique Gestarum_ of Pope Pius II. (Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini; Venice, 1477), summarized the description of the Massagetae in ch. XII. in part as follows: they "use golden girths and golden bridles and silver breast-pieces and have no iron but plenty of copper and gold." _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte I., tomo II., p. 300. This description of the Massagetae goes back to Herodotus. While some habits ascribed to the Massagetae were like what Columbus observed in Veragua, their home was nowhere near eastern China.

[409-3] See p. 393, note 3.

[409-4] The account in the _Historie_ is radically at variance with this. The girls were brought on board and "showed themselves very brave since although the Christians in looks, acts, and race were very strange, they gave no signs of distress or sadness, but maintained a cheerful and modest (_honesto_) bearing, wherefore they were very well treated by the Admiral who gave them clothes and something to eat and then sent them back." _Historie_, p. 299. Ferdinand gives the ages as eight and fourteen and says nothing of witchcraft except that the Indians were frightened and thought they were being bewitched when Bartholomew the next day ordered the ships' clerks to write down the replies he got to his questions; _ibid._

[410-1] A specimen of the Maya sculptures, of which such imposing remains are found in Yucatan. The translation follows Lollis's emendation, which substitutes _mirrado_ for _mirando_.

[410-2] _Gato paulo_. On this name, see p. 341, note 3. Ferdinand, in the _Historie_, relates this incident in more detail, from which it is clear that the pigs were peccaries which had been captured by the men. On the other hand, Ulloa, the Italian translator of the _Historie_, mistranslated _gato paulo_ by "gatto," "cat."

[410-3] _Begare._ Columbus in recollecting this incident transferred to the monkey the Indian name of the wild pigs. The _begare_ is the "peccary," a native of America. Oviedo, lib. XII., cap. XX, gives _baquira_ as the name of wild pigs in Nicaragua, and _baquira_ and _begare_ are obviously identical.

[410-4] For the word _barra_ no explanation can be offered except what is derived from the context. As the Italian has _diverse malattie_, "divers diseases," de Lollis suggests that _barra_ should be _varias_ and that _maladias_ was somehow dropped from the text.

[410-5] _Leones._ The American lion or puma.

[411-1] A misunderstanding. The Mayas made no metal tools. Brinton, _The American Race_, p. 156.

[411-2] Possibly Columbus may have seen some Maya codices, of which such remarkable specimens have been preserved.

[412-1] Considering Columbus's experience at Veragua this account exhibits boundless optimism. Still it is not to be forgotten that through the conquest of Mexico to the north this prediction was rather strikingly fulfilled.

[412-2] It is not clear to what Columbus refers in this sentence.

[412-3] _De un camino._ The texts to which Columbus refers just below show that this should read _de un ano_, in one year.

[412-4] In the Latin version of Josephus used by Columbus the Greek thyreos, a target, was rendered _lancea_. See _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte I., tomo II., p. 367.

[412-5] _Tablado._ In the Italian translation _tavolato_, a "partition wall," "wainscoting," also "floor." _Tablado_ also means "scaffold" and "stage" or "staging." We have here a curious series of mistakes. The Greek text of Josephus has ekpomata, "cups." The old Latin translator, perhaps having a defective text, took ekpomata apparently to be equivalent to pomata, which has as its secondary meaning, "lids," and translated it by the uncommon word _coopercula_, "lids" (_cf._ Georges, _Lateinischdeutsches Handwoerterbuch, sub voce cooperculum_). The meaning of this word Columbus guessed at, not having the text before him to see the connection, and from its derivation from _cooperio_, "to cover," took it to be a "covering" in the sense of flooring, or perhaps ceiling, above where the shields were hung "in the house of the forest of Lebanon," and rendered it _tablado_. The whole passage from the old Latin version (published in 1470 and frequently later), Columbus copied into a fly-leaf of his copy of the _Historia Rerum ubique Gestarum_ of Pope Pius II. See _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte I., tomo II., pp. 366-367.

[413-1] Josephus, _Antiquities of the Jews_, bk. VIII., ch. VII., sect. 4; _I. Kings_, X. 14, 15; _II. Chronicles_, IX. 13, 14.

[413-2] The Chersonesus Aurea of Ptolemy, or the Malay Peninsula.

[413-3] That is, Veragua and the Golden Chersonese are in the same latitude.

[413-4] Josephus wrote that the gold came from the "Land of Gold," "_a terra que vocatur aurea_," as the passage in the Latin version reads. The Greek is, apo tes chryses kaloumenes ges. Josephus gives no further identification of the location.

[413-5] I have not been able to verify this reference. There is nothing in the fourteenth Psalm relating to this matter, nor is the fourteenth Psalm mentioned among the many citations from the Psalms in the _Libro de las Profecias_.

[414-1] In his _Libro de las Profecias_ Columbus wrote, "El abad Johachin, calabres, diso que habia de salir de Espana quien havia de redificar la Casa del Monte Sion." "The abbot Joachim, the Calabrian, said that he who was destined to rebuild the House of Mount Sion was to come from Spain." Lollis remarks that Columbus interpreted in his own way the "Oraculum Turcicum," which concludes the thirty prophecies of Joachim of Flora in regard to the popes. In the edition (Venice, 1589) which Lollis had seen, this prophecy was interpreted to mean Charles VIII. of France. _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte II., tomo II., p. 83.

[414-2] The reference to St. Jerome I have not found in Columbus's marginalia.

[414-3] The father and uncle of Marco Polo had been given this mission by Cublay Kaan. See Marco Polo, bk. I., ch. VII. Opposite the passage in his copy of the Latin Marco Polo which he had, Columbus wrote, "magnus kam misit legatos ad pontificem." _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte II., tomo II., p. 446.

[414-4] The recovery of the Holy Sepulchre had been long a cherished object with Columbus. See the Journal of the First Voyage, December 26; the letter to Pope Alexander VI., February, 1502 (Navarrete, _Viages_, II. 280), and his _Libra de Profecias_, a collection of Scripture texts compiled under his supervision relating to the restoration of Zion, etc. _Raccolta Colombiana_, parte I., tomo II., pp. 77-160.

[415-1] An opinion abundantly justified through the conquest of Mexico and the establishment of the kingdom of New Spain.

[416-1] See the Capitulation, pp. 77, 78 above. The limit mentioned was fixed by the Papal Demarcation line; the limit agreed upon by Spain and Portugal was 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

[416-2] A reference to such voyages as those of Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Hojeda, Diego de Lepe, and Rodrigo de Bastidas which occurred in 1499-1502. _Cf._ Bourne, _Spain in America_, pp. 67-71, and for details Irving, _Columbus_, III. 15-62.

[416-3] Accepting de Lollis's emendation _a Cesar_ instead of the MS. reading _acetar_ which Navarrete printed _aceptar_. The Italian has _a Cesaro_.

[416-4] "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God, the things which are God's." _Matthew_, XXII. 21.

[417-1] At Espanola in 1500 by Bobadilla. _Cf._ the letter to the nurse above, p. 380.

[417-2] This is one of the most important passages bearing upon the age of Columbus. As he came to Spain at the end of 1484 according to Ferdinand Columbus, _Historie_, ch. XII., Peschel fixed his birth in 1456, _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_, p. 76. The majority of modern critics, however, have agreed upon the basis of notarial documents in Genoa that 1446 was the date of his birth and propose therefore to emend the text here by substituting "treinta y ocho" for "veinte y ocho." On the various dates set for his birth see Vignaud, _The Real Birth-date of Christopher Columbus_. Vignaud fixes upon 1451.

[418-1] _Blanca_, a copper coin worth about one-third of a cent.

ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF THE VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT

INTRODUCTION

John Cabot, the Venetian sailor who took the first English ship across the Atlantic, was not a writer like Columbus, and consequently our knowledge of his projects and his achievements is limited to what is derived from the reports of other men who knew him or his son and from certain official documents. In general our material may be classified into: (_a_) English official documents, (_b_) reports derived from John Cabot himself, and (_c_) reports or records derived more or less directly from Sebastian Cabot. The materials in _a_ and _b_ are harmonious; those in classes _b_ and _c_, on the other hand, are practically irreconcilable. The result of this conflict of testimony has been to discredit Sebastian Cabot and to lead many scholars to believe that he tried to ascribe to himself what his father did. Other critics reluctant to bring so serious a charge against a man who held honorable positions in Spain and later in England believe that the material in class _c_ relates to the second voyage--that of 1498, and that by a mistake it was in the minds of the narrators confused with the voyage of 1497. For a presentation of all the original material the reader may be referred to H. Harrisse, _John Cabot the Discoverer of North America, and Sebastian his Son_ (London, 1896), and to G.E. Weare, _Cabot's Discovery of North America_ (London, 1897). G.P. Winship, _Cabot Bibliography_ (London, 1900), gives a complete guide to the Cabot literature. For a brief account of the voyages and of the Cabot question see E.G. Bourne, _Spain in America_ (New York, 1904), pp. 54-63. The most important recent monograph is H.P. Biggar, _The Voyages of the Cabots and of the Corte-Reals_, in _Revue Hispanique_, tome X. (Paris, 1903).

The material presented here consists of the private letters of two Italians sojourning in London in 1497-1498, and the official despatch of the junior Spanish ambassador at the English court.

E.G.B.

THE VOYAGES OF JOHN CABOT

LETTER OF LORENZO PASQUALIGO TO HIS BROTHERS ALVISE AND FRANCESCO,
MERCHANTS IN VENICE[423-1]

The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a ship from Bristol to find new islands, has returned, and says that 700 leagues hence he discovered mainland, the territory of the Grand Cham (_Gram Cam_).[423-2] He coasted for 300 leagues and landed; he did not see any person, but he has brought hither to the King certain snares which had been set to catch game, and a needle for making nets; he also found some cut trees, wherefore he supposed there were inhabitants. Being in doubt he returned to his ship.

He was three months on the voyage, and this is certain, and on his return he saw two islands[423-3] but would not land, so as not to lose time, as he was short of provisions. The King is much pleased with this. He says that the tides are slack and do not flow as they do here.

The King has promised that in the spring our countryman shall have ten ships, armed to his order, and at his request has conceded him all the prisoners, except traitors, to go with him as he has requested. The King has also given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then,[424-1] and he is now at Bristol with his wife, who is also Venetian, and with his sons; his name is Zuam Talbot,[424-2] and he is styled the great admiral. Vast honor is paid him; he dresses in silk, and these English run after him like mad people, so that he can enlist as many of them as he pleases, and a number of our own rogues besides.

The discoverer of these things planted on his new-found land a large cross, with one flag of England and another of St. Mark, by reason of his being a Venetian, so that our banner has floated very far afield.

London, 23 August 1497.

FIRST LETTER OF RAIMONDO DE SONCINO, AGENT OF THE DUKE OF MILAN, TO THE DUKE[424-3]

... Also some months ago his Majesty sent out a Venetian, who is a very good mariner, and has good skill in discovering new islands, and he has returned safe, and has found two very large and fertile new islands; having likewise discovered the Seven Cities,[425-1] 400 leagues from England, on the western passage. This next spring his Majesty means to send him with fifteen or twenty ships.

SECOND LETTER OF RAIMONDO DE SONCINO TO THE DUKE OF MILAN[425-2]

_Most Illustrious and Excellent My Lord_:--