183-1This Indian word survives in modern Spanish with the meaning political boss.183-2Diego de Arana.184-1Rodrigo de Escobedo.184-2In Spain in earlier times the Annunciation was celebrated on December 18 to avoid having it come in Lent. When the Roman usage in regard to Annunciation was adopted in Spain they instituted the Feast of our Lady’s Expectation on December 18. It was called “The Feast of O because the first of the greater antiphons is said in the vespers of its vigil.” Addis and Arnold,Catholic Dictionary, under “Mary.” The series of anthems all begin with “O.”186-1The excelente was worth two castellanos or about $6 in coin value.187-1El Puerto de la Granja. (Navarrete.)187-2The bay of Puerto Margot. (Id.)188-1Point and Island of Margot. (Navarrete.)188-2CaminoforCabo(?). (Markham.)188-3Mountain over Guarico. (Navarrete.)188-4Cf.p. 178, note.188-5Bahia de Acúl. (Navarrete.)189-1This conjecture proved to be wrong. The Peak of Teneriffe is over 12,000 ft. high, while 10,300 ft. (Mt. Tina) is the highest elevation in Santo Domingo.189-2This is one of the passages used to determine the date of Columbus’s birth. By combining his statement quoted in theHistorieof Ferdinand, ch.IV., that he went to sea at 14, and this assertion that he followed the sea steadily for 23 years, we find that he was 37 years old in 1484 or 1485, when he left Portugal and ceased sea-faring till 1492.189-3A gap of a line and a half in the manuscript.189-4Another gap in the manuscript.190-1The mutilation of the text makes this passage difficult. The third line literally is, “and I saw all the east [or perhaps better the Levant,el Levante] and the west which means the way to England,” etc. After the second gap read: “better than the other which I with proper caution tried to describe.” After “world,” read: “and [is] enclosed so that the oldest cable of the ship would hold it fast.”190-2The distance is six miles. (Navarrete.)190-3Acúl. (Id.)191-1Gonze avellanada.The interpretation of the French translators is followed. The wordgonzeis not given in the dictionaries.193-1“This king was a great lord and king Guacanagarí, one of the five great kings and lordships of this island.” Las Casas, I. 389.194-1“This girdle was of fine jewellery work, like misshapen pearls, made of fish-bones white and colored interspersed, like embroidery, so sewed with a thread of cotton and by such delicate skill that on the reverse side it looked like delicate embroidery, although all white, which it was a pleasure to see.” Las Casas, I. 389. From this we learn that wampum belts were in use among the Indians of Española.196-1Port of Guarico. (Navarrete.)196-2This estimate was far too great. The island is about one-third the size of Great Britain and one-half the size of England.196-3Guarico.196-4It is now called San Honorato. (Navarrete.)197-1“The fact is thatCaciquewas the word for king, andNitaynofor knight and principal lord.” Las Casas, I. 394.197-2The similarity between the names and the report of gold made Columbus particularly confident of the identification.198-1Entrance of the Bay of Acúl. (Navarrete.)198-2Isla de Ratos. (Id.)199-1Puerto Frances. (Navarrete.)199-2Perhaps better “a young common sailor.”200-1The master, who was also the owner, of the Admiral’s ship was Juan de la Cosa of Santoña, afterwards well known as a draughtsman and Pilot. (Markham.)200-2Rather, “Then the seams opened but not the ship.” That is, the ship was not stove. The word translated “seams” isconventos, which Las Casas, I. 398, defines aslos vagos que hay entre costillas y costillas. In this passage he is usingcostillasnot in the technical sense ofcostillas de nao, “ribs,” but in the sense of “planks,” as incostillas de cuba, “barrel staves.”202-1In reality Cibao was a part of Española.202-2Made from the manioc roots orajes. Cassava biscuit can be got to-day at fancy grocery stores. It is rather insipid.204-1In reality, three-quarters the size of Portugal.204-2Juan de la Cosa, the master, was a native of Santoña, on the north coast of Spain. There were two other Santoña men on board and several from the north coast. (Markham.)206-1“He ordered then all his people to make great haste and the king ordered his vassals to help him and as an immense number joined with the Christians they managed so well and with such diligence that in a matter of ten days our stronghold was well made and as far as could be then constructed. He named it the City of Christmas (Villa de la Navidad) because he had arrived there on that day, and so to-day that harbor is called Navidad, although there is no memory that there even has been a fort or any building there, since it is overgrown with trees as large and tall as if fifty years had passed, and I have seen them.” Las Casas, I. 408.206-2These were not islands, but districts whose chiefs were called by the same names.Cf.Las Casas, I. 410.207-1For Yañez. Vincent Yañez Pinzon.208-1Rather, “For now the business appeared to be so great and important that it was wonderful (said the Admiral) and he said he did not wish,” etc.208-2The first suggestion of systematic colonization in the New World.209-1Seenote 2 under Jan. 9, p. 218.210-1The actual number was 44, according to the official list given in a document printed by Navarrete, which is a notice to the next of kin to apply for wages due, dated Burgos, December 20, 1507. Markham reproduces this list in his edition of Columbus’s Journal.210-2Las Casas gives the farewell speech of the Admiral to those who were left behind at Navidad, I. 415. It is translated in Thacher’sColumbus, I. 632.211-1“It is not known how many he took from this island but I believe he took some, altogether he carried ten or twelve Indians to Castile according to the Portuguese History [Barros] and I saw them in Seville yet I did not notice nor do I recollect that I counted them.” Las Casas, I. 419.212-1It is N. 80° E. 70 leagues. (Navarrete.)212-2Los siete Hermanos. (Id.)212-3Bahia de Manzanillo. (Id.)212-4Should be S.W. three leagues.212-5Rio Tapion, in the Bahia de Manzanillo. (Id.)212-6A mistake for three leagues. (Id.)212-7Should be W.S.W. (Id.)213-1Isla Cabra. (Navarrete.)213-2Anchorage of Monte Cristi. (Id.)213-3Punta Rucia. (Id.)214-1Martin Alonso Pinzon had slipped away during the night of November 21.215-1Here probably the island of Iguana Grande.215-2Jamaica.215-3On this myth see below underJanuary 15.215-4It is remarkable that this report, which refers probably to Yucatan and to the relatively high state of culture of the Mayas, drew no further comment from Columbus. From our point of view it ought to have made a much greater impression than we have evidence that it did; from his point of view that he was off Asia it was just what was to be expected and so is recorded without comment.216-1This is the large river Yaqui, which contains much gold in its sand. It was afterwards called the Santiago. (Navarrete.)217-1Afterwards called the Rio de Santiago. (Navarrete.)217-2This should be 8 leagues. (Id.)217-3Las Casas, I. 429, says the distance to the mines was not 4 leagues.217-4Punta Isabelica. (Id.)217-5The distance is 101/2leagues, or 42 of the Italian miles used by Columbus. (Id.)218-1The mermaids [Spanish, “sirens”] of Columbus are themanatis, or sea-cows, of the Caribbean Sea and great South American rivers. They are now scarcely ever seen out at sea. Their resemblance to human beings, when rising in the water, must have been very striking. They have small rounded heads, and cervical vertebrae which form a neck, enabling the animal to turn its head about. The fore limbs also, instead of being pectoral fins, have the character of the arm and hand of the higher mammalia. These peculiarities, and their very human way of suckling their young, holding it by the forearm, which is movable at the elbow-joint, suggested the idea of mermaids. The congener of themanati, which had been seen by Columbus on the coast of Guinea, is thedugong. (Markham.)218-2Las Casas has “on the coast of Guinea where manequeta is gathered” (I. 430).Amomum Melequeta, an herbaceous, reedlike plant, three to five feet high, is found along the coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to the Congo. Its seeds were called “Grains of Paradise,” ormaniguetta, and the coast alluded to by Columbus, between Liberia and Cape Palmas, was hence called the Grain Coast. The grains were used as a condiment, like pepper, and in making the spiced wine calledhippocras. (Markham.)219-1Rio Chuzona chica. (Navarrete.)219-2Readingbroma(“ship worm”) forbruma(“mist”) in the sentence:sino que tiene mucha bruma. De la Roquette in the French translation givesbrumathe meaning of “shipworm,” supposing it to be a variant form ofbroma. The Italian translator of the letter on the fourth voyage tookbromato bebruma, translated itpruina e bruma, and consequently had Columbus’s ship injured by frost near Panama in April!Cf.Thacher,Christopher Columbus, II. 625, 790.220-1So called because the summit is always covered with white or silver clouds. Las Casas, I. 432. A monastery of Dominicans was afterwards built on Monte de Plata, in which Las Casas began to write his history of the Indies in the year 1527. Las Casas, IV. 254. (Markham.)220-2Puerto de Plata, where a flourishing seaport town was afterwards established; founded by Ovando in 1502. It had fallen to decay in 1606. (Markham.)220-3Punta Macuris. The distance is 3, not 4 leagues. (Navarrete.)220-4Punta Sesua. The distance is only one league. (Id.)220-5Cabo de la Roca. It should be 5, not 6 leagues. (Id.)220-6Bahia Escocesa. (Id.)220-7Las Casas says that none of these names remained even in his time. I. 432.221-1This was the Peninsula of Samana. (Navarrete.)221-2Isla Yazual. (Id.)221-3Cabo Cabron, or Lover’s Cape; the extreme N.E. point of the island, rising nearly 2000 feet above the sea. (Markham.)221-4Puerto Yaqueron. (Navarrete.)221-5Cabo Samana; called Cabo de San Theramo afterwards byColumbus(Markham.)221-6The Bay of Samana. (Navarrete.)221-7Cayo de Levantados. (Id.)222-1This should be, “who says that he was very ugly of countenance, more so than the others that he had seen.”222-2Las Casas says, I. 433, “Not charcoal but a certain dye they make from a certain fruit.”222-3Las Casas, I. 434, says there never were any cannibals in Española.223-1Las Casas, I. 434, says that a section in the northeastern part of Española “was inhabited by a tribe which called themselvesMazarigesand othersCiguayosand that they spoke different languages from the rest of the island. I do not remember if they differed from each other in speech since so many years have passed, and to-day there is no one to inquire of, although I have talked many times with both generations; but more than fifty years have gone by.” The Ciguayos, he adds, were called so because they wore their hair long as women do in Castile. This passage shows that Las Casas was writing this part of his history a half-century after he went first to Española, which was in 1502, with Ovando.223-2Seep. 226, note 4, underJan. 15.223-3Porto Rico. (Navarrete.)223-4Las Casas, I. 434, says that Guanin was not the name of an island, but the word for a kind of base gold.223-5A gap in the original manuscript.224-1Las Casas, I. 435, has, “and as word of a palm-tree board which is very hard and very heavy, not sharp but blunt, about two fingers thick everywhere, with which as it is hard and heavy like iron, although a man has a helmet on his head they will crush his skull to the brain with one blow.”224-2“This was the first fight that there was in all the Indies and when the blood of the Indians was shed.” Las Casas, I. 436.225-1Porto Rico. Navarrete says it is certain that the Indians called Porto Rico Isla de Carib.225-2Probably Martinique or Guadeloupe. (Navarrete.)226-1By this calculation the Admiral entered the service of the Catholic Sovereigns on January 20, 1486. (Navarrete.)226-2“What would he have said if he had seen the millions and millions (cuentos y millones) that the sovereigns have received from his labors since his death?” Las Casas, I. 437.226-3Porto Rico.226-4Columbus had read in Marco Polo of the islands ofMasculiaandFemininain the Indian Seas and noted the passage in his copy. See ch.XXXIII.of pt.III.of Marco Polo. On the other hand there is evidence for an indigenous Amazon myth in the New World. The earliest sketch of American folk-lore ever made, that of the Friar Ramon Pane in 1497, preserved in Ferdinand Columbus’sHistorieand in a condensed form in Peter Martyr’sDe Rebus Oceanicis(Dec.I., lib.IX.), tells the story of the culture-hero Guagugiona, who set forth from the cave, up to that time the home of mankind, “with all the women in search of other lands and he came to Matinino, where at once he left the women and went away to another country,” etc.,Historie(London ed., 1867), p. 188. Ramon’s name is erroneously given as Roman in theHistorie. On the Amazons in Venezuela, see Oviedo, lib.XXV., cap.XIV.It may be accepted that the Amazon myth as given by Oviedo, from which the great river derived its name, River of the Amazons, is a composite of an Arawak folk-tale like that preserved by Ramon Pane overlaid with the details of the Marco Polo myth, which in turn derives from the classical myth.227-1Y los mas le ponen allí yerba, “and the most of them put on poison.” The description of these arrows corresponds exactly with that given by Sir E. im Thurn of the poisoned arrows of the Indians of Guiana, which still have “adjustable wooden tips smeared with poison, which are inserted in the socket at the end of a reed shaft.”Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 242.227-2Capsicum. (Markham.)228-1Gulf of the Arrows. This was the Bay of Samana, into which the river Yuna flows. (Navarrete.)228-2Porto Rico. It would have been distant about 30 leagues. (Navarrete.)229-1“The sons remain with their mothers till the age of fourteen when they go to join their fathers in their separate abode.” Marco Polo, pt.III., ch.XXXIII.Cf.p. 226, note 4.229-2Now calledCabod elEngaño, the extreme eastern point of Española. It had the same name when Las Casas wrote. (Markham.)229-3Alcatraz.230-1Thealmadrabas, or tunny fisheries of Rota, near Cadiz, were inherited by the Duke, as well as those of Conil, a little fishing town 6 leagues east of Cadiz. (Markham.)230-2Un pescado(a fish), called therabiforcado. Forun pescado, we should probably readuna ave pescadora, and translate: a fishing bird, calledrabiforcado. See entry forSeptember 29andnote.230-3Alcatraces,rabos de juncos, andrabiforcados: boobies, boatswain-birds, and frigate-birds. The translator has not been consistent in selecting English equivalents for these names. In the entry ofJanuary 18rabiforcadois frigate-bird; in that ofJanuary 19rabo de juncois frigate-bird; in that ofJanuary 21rabo de juncoisboatswain-bird.September 14garjaois the tern, while onJanuary 19therabiforcadois the tern. On these birds, see notes 11, 12, 13, and 20. See also Oviedo,Historia General y natural de las Indias, lib.XIV., cap.I., for descriptions of these birds.231-1Rabiforcados y pardelas.Las Casas, I. 440, hasaves pardelas. Talhausen,Neues Spanisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, definespardelasasPeters-vogel,i.e., petrel.231-2Rabos de juncos y pardelas.The translator vacillates between sandpipers and terns in renderingpardelas.Cf.January 28and31, but as has just been noted “petrels” is the proper word.231-3An error of the transcriber for miles. Each glass being half-an-hour, going six miles an hour, they would have made 33 miles or 81/4leagues in five hours and a half. (Navarrete.)233-1Petrels.233-2The English equivalent is dory, or gilthead.234-1Petrels.235-1Vicente Yañez Pinzon.235-2Later a rich citizen of the city of Santo Domingo, Española, where he was known as Roldan the pilot. Las Casas, I. 443.236-1The name is also written Peralonso Niño. He made one of the first voyages to the mainland of South America after the third voyage of Columbus. See Irving,Companions of Columbus. Bourne,Spain in America, p. 69.237-1A gap in the original manuscript.238-1Martin Alonso Pinzon succeeded in bringing the caravelPintainto port at Bayona in Galicia. He went thence to Palos, arriving in the evening of the same day as theNiñawith the Admiral. Pinzon died very soon afterwards. Oviedo [I. 27] says: “He went to Palos to his own house and died after a few days since he went there very ill.” (Markham.)239-1Virgin of Guadalupe was the patroness of Estremadura. As many of the early colonists went from Estremadura there came to be a good number of her shrines in Mexico.Cf.R. Ford,Handbook for Spain, index under “Guadalupe.”239-2A full account of the shrine at Loreto may be found in Addis and Arnold,Catholic Dictionary, under “Loreto.”239-3“This is the house where the sailors of the country particularly have their devotions.” Las Casas, I. 446. Moguer was a village near Palos.240-1Seepage 108, note 1. and entry forOctober 10.241-1As Beatriz Enriquez, the mother of Ferdinand, was still living, this passage has occasioned much perplexity. A glance at the corresponding passage, quoted in direct discourse from this entry in the Journal, in theHistorieof Ferdinand, shows that the words “orphans without father or mother” were not in the original Journal, if we can trust this transcript. On the other hand, Las Casas, in hisHistoria, I. 447, where he used the original Journal and not the abridgment that has come down to us, has the words “huerfanos de padre y madre en tierra estraña.” It may be that Ferdinand noted the error of the original Journal and quietly corrected it.241-2In Ferdinand’s text nothing is said explicitly about the Indies.241-3There is nothing corresponding to this in Ferdinand’s extract from the Journal. Was this omission also a case of pious revision?The Admiral thought that there could be no great storms in the countries he had discovered, because trees (mangroves) actually grew with their roots in the sea. The herbage on the beach nearly reached the waves, which does not happen when the sea is rough. (Markham.)241-4Ferdinand Columbus has preserved in his life of his father the exact words of the Journal for the last two pages of the entry for February 14. The extract is given here to illustrate the character of the work of the epitomizer who prepared the text of the Journal as it has come down to us. “I should have borne this fortune with less distress if my life alone had been in peril, since I am aware that I am in debt to the Most High Creator for my life and because at other times I have found myself so near to death that almost nothing remained but to suffer it. But what caused me boundless grief and trouble was the reflection that, now that Our Lord had been pleased to enlighten me with the faith and with the certainty of this undertaking in which he had already given me the victory, that just now, when our gainsayers were to be convinced and your Highnesses were to receive from me glory and enlargement of your high estate, the Divine Majesty should will to block it with my death. This last would have been more endurable if it did not involve that of the people I brought with me with the promise of a very prosperous issue. They seeing themselves in such a plight not only cursed their coming but even the fear or the restraint which after my persuasions prevented them from turning back from the way as many times they were resolved to do. And above all this my grief was redoubled at the vision before my eyes and at the recollection of two little sons that I had left at their studies in Cordova without succor in a strange land and without my having rendered (or at least without its being made manifest) the service for which one might trust that your Highnesses would remember them.“And although on the one hand I was comforted by the faith that I had that Our Lord would never suffer a work which would highly exalt his Church, which at length after so much opposition and such labors I had brought to the last stage, to remain unaccomplished and that I should be broken; on the other hand, I thought that, either on account of my demerits or to prevent my enjoying so much glory in this world, it was his pleasure to take it away from me, and so while thus in perplexity I bethought myself of the venture of your Highnesses who even if I should die and the ship be lost, might find means of not losing a victory already achieved and that it might be possible in some way for the news of the success of my voyage to come to your ears; wherefore I wrote on a parchment with the brevity that the time demanded how I had discovered the lands that I had promised to, and in how many days; and the route I had followed; and the goodness of the countries, and the quality of their inhabitants and how they were the vassals of your Highnesses who had possession of all that had been found by me. This writing folded and sealed I directed to your Highnesses with the superscription or promise of a thousand ducats to him who should deliver it unopened, in order that, if some foreigners should find it, the truth of superscription might prevent them from disposing of the information which was inside. And I straightway had a large cask brought and having wrapped the writing in a waxed cloth and put it into a kind of tart or cake of wax I placed it in the barrel which, stoutly hooped, I then threw into the sea. All believed that it was some act of devotion. Then because I thought it might not arrive safely and the ships were all the while approaching Castile I made another package like that and placed it on the upper part of the poop in order that if the ship should sink the barrel might float at the will of fate.”243-1The bonnet was a small sail usually cut to a third the size of the mizzen, or a fourth of the mainsail. It was secured through eyelet-holes to the leech of the mainsail, in the manner of a studding sail. (Navarrete.)243-2On this day the Admiral dated the letter to Santangel, theescribano de racion, which is given below onpp. 263-272.244-1This was on Sunday, 17th of February. (Navarrete.)244-2The port of San Lorenzo. (Id.).246-1The incredulity of the Portuguese governor as to these assertions was natural. The title Admiral of the Ocean Sea was novel and this was the first time it was announced that Spain or any other European power had possessions in the Indies.247-1Half the crew were still detained on shore.248-1That the site of the Garden of Eden was to be found in the Orient was a common belief in the Middle Ages and later.Cf.theBook of Sir John Mandeville, ch.XXX.249-1The last of the canonical hours of prayer, about nine in the evening.252-1On this day the Admiral probably wrote the postscript to his letter Santangel written at sea on February 15.253-1Modern scholars have too hastily identified this Bartolomé Diaz with the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope. There is no evidence for this except the identity of the name. Against the supposition are the facts that neither Columbus, Las Casas, nor Ferdinand remark upon this meeting with the most eminent Portuguese navigator of the time, and that this Diaz is a subordinate officer on this ship who is sent to summon Columbus to report to the captain. That the great admiral of 1486-1487 would in 1493 be a simplePatronon a single ship is incredible.253-2João II.254-1The treaty of Alcaçovas signed by Portugal September 8, 1479, and by Spain March 6, 1480. In it Ferdinand and Isabella relinquished all rights to make discoveries along the coast of Africa and retained of the African islands only the Canaries. The Spanish text is printed inAlguns Documentos da Torre do Tombo(Lisbon, 1892), pp. 45-46. See also Vignaud,Toscanelli and Columbus, pp. 61-64.254-2“The Mine,” more commonly El Mina, a station established on the Gold Coast by Diogo de Azambuja in 1482. The full name in Portuguese was S. Jorge da Mina, St. George of the Mine.255-1The Portuguese historian Ruide Pina, in hisCronica D’El Rey João, gives an account of Columbus’s meeting with the king which is contemporary. From his official position as chief chronicler and head of the national archives and from the details which he mentions it is safe to conclude that he was an eye-witness.“In the following year, 1493, while the king was in the place of the Val do Paraiso which is above the Monastery of Sancta Maria das Vertudes, on account of the great pestilences which prevailed in the principal places in this district, on the sixth of March there arrived at Restello in Lisbon Christovam Colombo, an Italian who came from the discovery of the islands of Cipango and Antilia which he had accomplished by the command of the sovereigns of Castile from which land he brought with him the first specimens of the people, gold and some other things that they have; and he was entitled Admiral of them. And the king being informed of this, commanded him to come before him and he showed that he felt disgusted and grieved because he believed that this discovery was made within the seas and bounds of his lordship of Guinea which was prohibited and likewise because the said Admiral was somewhat raised from his condition and in the account of his affairs always went beyond the bounds of the truth and made this thing in gold, silver, and riches much greater than it was. The king was accused of negligence in withdrawing from him for not giving him credit and authority in regard to this discovery for which he had first come to make request of him. And although the king was urged to consent to have him slain there, since with his death the prosecution of this enterprise so far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned would cease on account of the decease of the discoverer; and that this could be done without suspicion if he consented and ordered it, since as he was discourteous and greatly elated they could get involved with him in such a way that each one of these his faults would seem to be the true cause of his death; yet the king like a most God-fearing prince not only forbade this but on the contrary did him honor and showed him kindness and therewith sent him away.”Collecçaõ de Livros Ineditos de Historia Portugueza, II. 178-179. It will be noted that according to this account Columbus said he had discovered Cipango and Antilia, a mythical island which is represented on the maps of the fifteenth century, and that Columbus is called Colombo his Italian name, and not Colom or Colon.256-1This may have been her brother, the Duke of Bejar, afterwards King Manoel.256-2Espadim: a Portuguese gold piece coined by João II. Las Casas, I. 466, says: “20Espadinos, a matter of 20 ducats.” The Espadim contained 58 to 65 grains of gold. W. C. Hazlitt,Coinage of European Nations, sub voce. King João II. gave Columbus’s pilot almost exactly the sum which Henry VII. gave to John Cabot, which was £10. In the French translation and the translation in J. B. Thacher’sChristopher Columbusthe wordespadinesis erroneously taken to be Spanish and rendered “Épées,” and “small short swords.”257-1Having been absent 225 days.
183-1This Indian word survives in modern Spanish with the meaning political boss.
183-2Diego de Arana.
184-1Rodrigo de Escobedo.
184-2In Spain in earlier times the Annunciation was celebrated on December 18 to avoid having it come in Lent. When the Roman usage in regard to Annunciation was adopted in Spain they instituted the Feast of our Lady’s Expectation on December 18. It was called “The Feast of O because the first of the greater antiphons is said in the vespers of its vigil.” Addis and Arnold,Catholic Dictionary, under “Mary.” The series of anthems all begin with “O.”
186-1The excelente was worth two castellanos or about $6 in coin value.
187-1El Puerto de la Granja. (Navarrete.)
187-2The bay of Puerto Margot. (Id.)
188-1Point and Island of Margot. (Navarrete.)
188-2CaminoforCabo(?). (Markham.)
188-3Mountain over Guarico. (Navarrete.)
188-4Cf.p. 178, note.
188-5Bahia de Acúl. (Navarrete.)
189-1This conjecture proved to be wrong. The Peak of Teneriffe is over 12,000 ft. high, while 10,300 ft. (Mt. Tina) is the highest elevation in Santo Domingo.
189-2This is one of the passages used to determine the date of Columbus’s birth. By combining his statement quoted in theHistorieof Ferdinand, ch.IV., that he went to sea at 14, and this assertion that he followed the sea steadily for 23 years, we find that he was 37 years old in 1484 or 1485, when he left Portugal and ceased sea-faring till 1492.
189-3A gap of a line and a half in the manuscript.
189-4Another gap in the manuscript.
190-1The mutilation of the text makes this passage difficult. The third line literally is, “and I saw all the east [or perhaps better the Levant,el Levante] and the west which means the way to England,” etc. After the second gap read: “better than the other which I with proper caution tried to describe.” After “world,” read: “and [is] enclosed so that the oldest cable of the ship would hold it fast.”
190-2The distance is six miles. (Navarrete.)
190-3Acúl. (Id.)
191-1Gonze avellanada.The interpretation of the French translators is followed. The wordgonzeis not given in the dictionaries.
193-1“This king was a great lord and king Guacanagarí, one of the five great kings and lordships of this island.” Las Casas, I. 389.
194-1“This girdle was of fine jewellery work, like misshapen pearls, made of fish-bones white and colored interspersed, like embroidery, so sewed with a thread of cotton and by such delicate skill that on the reverse side it looked like delicate embroidery, although all white, which it was a pleasure to see.” Las Casas, I. 389. From this we learn that wampum belts were in use among the Indians of Española.
196-1Port of Guarico. (Navarrete.)
196-2This estimate was far too great. The island is about one-third the size of Great Britain and one-half the size of England.
196-3Guarico.
196-4It is now called San Honorato. (Navarrete.)
197-1“The fact is thatCaciquewas the word for king, andNitaynofor knight and principal lord.” Las Casas, I. 394.
197-2The similarity between the names and the report of gold made Columbus particularly confident of the identification.
198-1Entrance of the Bay of Acúl. (Navarrete.)
198-2Isla de Ratos. (Id.)
199-1Puerto Frances. (Navarrete.)
199-2Perhaps better “a young common sailor.”
200-1The master, who was also the owner, of the Admiral’s ship was Juan de la Cosa of Santoña, afterwards well known as a draughtsman and Pilot. (Markham.)
200-2Rather, “Then the seams opened but not the ship.” That is, the ship was not stove. The word translated “seams” isconventos, which Las Casas, I. 398, defines aslos vagos que hay entre costillas y costillas. In this passage he is usingcostillasnot in the technical sense ofcostillas de nao, “ribs,” but in the sense of “planks,” as incostillas de cuba, “barrel staves.”
202-1In reality Cibao was a part of Española.
202-2Made from the manioc roots orajes. Cassava biscuit can be got to-day at fancy grocery stores. It is rather insipid.
204-1In reality, three-quarters the size of Portugal.
204-2Juan de la Cosa, the master, was a native of Santoña, on the north coast of Spain. There were two other Santoña men on board and several from the north coast. (Markham.)
206-1“He ordered then all his people to make great haste and the king ordered his vassals to help him and as an immense number joined with the Christians they managed so well and with such diligence that in a matter of ten days our stronghold was well made and as far as could be then constructed. He named it the City of Christmas (Villa de la Navidad) because he had arrived there on that day, and so to-day that harbor is called Navidad, although there is no memory that there even has been a fort or any building there, since it is overgrown with trees as large and tall as if fifty years had passed, and I have seen them.” Las Casas, I. 408.
206-2These were not islands, but districts whose chiefs were called by the same names.Cf.Las Casas, I. 410.
207-1For Yañez. Vincent Yañez Pinzon.
208-1Rather, “For now the business appeared to be so great and important that it was wonderful (said the Admiral) and he said he did not wish,” etc.
208-2The first suggestion of systematic colonization in the New World.
209-1Seenote 2 under Jan. 9, p. 218.
210-1The actual number was 44, according to the official list given in a document printed by Navarrete, which is a notice to the next of kin to apply for wages due, dated Burgos, December 20, 1507. Markham reproduces this list in his edition of Columbus’s Journal.
210-2Las Casas gives the farewell speech of the Admiral to those who were left behind at Navidad, I. 415. It is translated in Thacher’sColumbus, I. 632.
211-1“It is not known how many he took from this island but I believe he took some, altogether he carried ten or twelve Indians to Castile according to the Portuguese History [Barros] and I saw them in Seville yet I did not notice nor do I recollect that I counted them.” Las Casas, I. 419.
212-1It is N. 80° E. 70 leagues. (Navarrete.)
212-2Los siete Hermanos. (Id.)
212-3Bahia de Manzanillo. (Id.)
212-4Should be S.W. three leagues.
212-5Rio Tapion, in the Bahia de Manzanillo. (Id.)
212-6A mistake for three leagues. (Id.)
212-7Should be W.S.W. (Id.)
213-1Isla Cabra. (Navarrete.)
213-2Anchorage of Monte Cristi. (Id.)
213-3Punta Rucia. (Id.)
214-1Martin Alonso Pinzon had slipped away during the night of November 21.
215-1Here probably the island of Iguana Grande.
215-2Jamaica.
215-3On this myth see below underJanuary 15.
215-4It is remarkable that this report, which refers probably to Yucatan and to the relatively high state of culture of the Mayas, drew no further comment from Columbus. From our point of view it ought to have made a much greater impression than we have evidence that it did; from his point of view that he was off Asia it was just what was to be expected and so is recorded without comment.
216-1This is the large river Yaqui, which contains much gold in its sand. It was afterwards called the Santiago. (Navarrete.)
217-1Afterwards called the Rio de Santiago. (Navarrete.)
217-2This should be 8 leagues. (Id.)
217-3Las Casas, I. 429, says the distance to the mines was not 4 leagues.
217-4Punta Isabelica. (Id.)
217-5The distance is 101/2leagues, or 42 of the Italian miles used by Columbus. (Id.)
218-1The mermaids [Spanish, “sirens”] of Columbus are themanatis, or sea-cows, of the Caribbean Sea and great South American rivers. They are now scarcely ever seen out at sea. Their resemblance to human beings, when rising in the water, must have been very striking. They have small rounded heads, and cervical vertebrae which form a neck, enabling the animal to turn its head about. The fore limbs also, instead of being pectoral fins, have the character of the arm and hand of the higher mammalia. These peculiarities, and their very human way of suckling their young, holding it by the forearm, which is movable at the elbow-joint, suggested the idea of mermaids. The congener of themanati, which had been seen by Columbus on the coast of Guinea, is thedugong. (Markham.)
218-2Las Casas has “on the coast of Guinea where manequeta is gathered” (I. 430).Amomum Melequeta, an herbaceous, reedlike plant, three to five feet high, is found along the coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to the Congo. Its seeds were called “Grains of Paradise,” ormaniguetta, and the coast alluded to by Columbus, between Liberia and Cape Palmas, was hence called the Grain Coast. The grains were used as a condiment, like pepper, and in making the spiced wine calledhippocras. (Markham.)
219-1Rio Chuzona chica. (Navarrete.)
219-2Readingbroma(“ship worm”) forbruma(“mist”) in the sentence:sino que tiene mucha bruma. De la Roquette in the French translation givesbrumathe meaning of “shipworm,” supposing it to be a variant form ofbroma. The Italian translator of the letter on the fourth voyage tookbromato bebruma, translated itpruina e bruma, and consequently had Columbus’s ship injured by frost near Panama in April!Cf.Thacher,Christopher Columbus, II. 625, 790.
220-1So called because the summit is always covered with white or silver clouds. Las Casas, I. 432. A monastery of Dominicans was afterwards built on Monte de Plata, in which Las Casas began to write his history of the Indies in the year 1527. Las Casas, IV. 254. (Markham.)
220-2Puerto de Plata, where a flourishing seaport town was afterwards established; founded by Ovando in 1502. It had fallen to decay in 1606. (Markham.)
220-3Punta Macuris. The distance is 3, not 4 leagues. (Navarrete.)
220-4Punta Sesua. The distance is only one league. (Id.)
220-5Cabo de la Roca. It should be 5, not 6 leagues. (Id.)
220-6Bahia Escocesa. (Id.)
220-7Las Casas says that none of these names remained even in his time. I. 432.
221-1This was the Peninsula of Samana. (Navarrete.)
221-2Isla Yazual. (Id.)
221-3Cabo Cabron, or Lover’s Cape; the extreme N.E. point of the island, rising nearly 2000 feet above the sea. (Markham.)
221-4Puerto Yaqueron. (Navarrete.)
221-5Cabo Samana; called Cabo de San Theramo afterwards byColumbus(Markham.)
221-6The Bay of Samana. (Navarrete.)
221-7Cayo de Levantados. (Id.)
222-1This should be, “who says that he was very ugly of countenance, more so than the others that he had seen.”
222-2Las Casas says, I. 433, “Not charcoal but a certain dye they make from a certain fruit.”
222-3Las Casas, I. 434, says there never were any cannibals in Española.
223-1Las Casas, I. 434, says that a section in the northeastern part of Española “was inhabited by a tribe which called themselvesMazarigesand othersCiguayosand that they spoke different languages from the rest of the island. I do not remember if they differed from each other in speech since so many years have passed, and to-day there is no one to inquire of, although I have talked many times with both generations; but more than fifty years have gone by.” The Ciguayos, he adds, were called so because they wore their hair long as women do in Castile. This passage shows that Las Casas was writing this part of his history a half-century after he went first to Española, which was in 1502, with Ovando.
223-2Seep. 226, note 4, underJan. 15.
223-3Porto Rico. (Navarrete.)
223-4Las Casas, I. 434, says that Guanin was not the name of an island, but the word for a kind of base gold.
223-5A gap in the original manuscript.
224-1Las Casas, I. 435, has, “and as word of a palm-tree board which is very hard and very heavy, not sharp but blunt, about two fingers thick everywhere, with which as it is hard and heavy like iron, although a man has a helmet on his head they will crush his skull to the brain with one blow.”
224-2“This was the first fight that there was in all the Indies and when the blood of the Indians was shed.” Las Casas, I. 436.
225-1Porto Rico. Navarrete says it is certain that the Indians called Porto Rico Isla de Carib.
225-2Probably Martinique or Guadeloupe. (Navarrete.)
226-1By this calculation the Admiral entered the service of the Catholic Sovereigns on January 20, 1486. (Navarrete.)
226-2“What would he have said if he had seen the millions and millions (cuentos y millones) that the sovereigns have received from his labors since his death?” Las Casas, I. 437.
226-3Porto Rico.
226-4Columbus had read in Marco Polo of the islands ofMasculiaandFemininain the Indian Seas and noted the passage in his copy. See ch.XXXIII.of pt.III.of Marco Polo. On the other hand there is evidence for an indigenous Amazon myth in the New World. The earliest sketch of American folk-lore ever made, that of the Friar Ramon Pane in 1497, preserved in Ferdinand Columbus’sHistorieand in a condensed form in Peter Martyr’sDe Rebus Oceanicis(Dec.I., lib.IX.), tells the story of the culture-hero Guagugiona, who set forth from the cave, up to that time the home of mankind, “with all the women in search of other lands and he came to Matinino, where at once he left the women and went away to another country,” etc.,Historie(London ed., 1867), p. 188. Ramon’s name is erroneously given as Roman in theHistorie. On the Amazons in Venezuela, see Oviedo, lib.XXV., cap.XIV.It may be accepted that the Amazon myth as given by Oviedo, from which the great river derived its name, River of the Amazons, is a composite of an Arawak folk-tale like that preserved by Ramon Pane overlaid with the details of the Marco Polo myth, which in turn derives from the classical myth.
227-1Y los mas le ponen allí yerba, “and the most of them put on poison.” The description of these arrows corresponds exactly with that given by Sir E. im Thurn of the poisoned arrows of the Indians of Guiana, which still have “adjustable wooden tips smeared with poison, which are inserted in the socket at the end of a reed shaft.”Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 242.
227-2Capsicum. (Markham.)
228-1Gulf of the Arrows. This was the Bay of Samana, into which the river Yuna flows. (Navarrete.)
228-2Porto Rico. It would have been distant about 30 leagues. (Navarrete.)
229-1“The sons remain with their mothers till the age of fourteen when they go to join their fathers in their separate abode.” Marco Polo, pt.III., ch.XXXIII.Cf.p. 226, note 4.
229-2Now calledCabod elEngaño, the extreme eastern point of Española. It had the same name when Las Casas wrote. (Markham.)
229-3Alcatraz.
230-1Thealmadrabas, or tunny fisheries of Rota, near Cadiz, were inherited by the Duke, as well as those of Conil, a little fishing town 6 leagues east of Cadiz. (Markham.)
230-2Un pescado(a fish), called therabiforcado. Forun pescado, we should probably readuna ave pescadora, and translate: a fishing bird, calledrabiforcado. See entry forSeptember 29andnote.
230-3Alcatraces,rabos de juncos, andrabiforcados: boobies, boatswain-birds, and frigate-birds. The translator has not been consistent in selecting English equivalents for these names. In the entry ofJanuary 18rabiforcadois frigate-bird; in that ofJanuary 19rabo de juncois frigate-bird; in that ofJanuary 21rabo de juncoisboatswain-bird.September 14garjaois the tern, while onJanuary 19therabiforcadois the tern. On these birds, see notes 11, 12, 13, and 20. See also Oviedo,Historia General y natural de las Indias, lib.XIV., cap.I., for descriptions of these birds.
231-1Rabiforcados y pardelas.Las Casas, I. 440, hasaves pardelas. Talhausen,Neues Spanisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, definespardelasasPeters-vogel,i.e., petrel.
231-2Rabos de juncos y pardelas.The translator vacillates between sandpipers and terns in renderingpardelas.Cf.January 28and31, but as has just been noted “petrels” is the proper word.
231-3An error of the transcriber for miles. Each glass being half-an-hour, going six miles an hour, they would have made 33 miles or 81/4leagues in five hours and a half. (Navarrete.)
233-1Petrels.
233-2The English equivalent is dory, or gilthead.
234-1Petrels.
235-1Vicente Yañez Pinzon.
235-2Later a rich citizen of the city of Santo Domingo, Española, where he was known as Roldan the pilot. Las Casas, I. 443.
236-1The name is also written Peralonso Niño. He made one of the first voyages to the mainland of South America after the third voyage of Columbus. See Irving,Companions of Columbus. Bourne,Spain in America, p. 69.
237-1A gap in the original manuscript.
238-1Martin Alonso Pinzon succeeded in bringing the caravelPintainto port at Bayona in Galicia. He went thence to Palos, arriving in the evening of the same day as theNiñawith the Admiral. Pinzon died very soon afterwards. Oviedo [I. 27] says: “He went to Palos to his own house and died after a few days since he went there very ill.” (Markham.)
239-1Virgin of Guadalupe was the patroness of Estremadura. As many of the early colonists went from Estremadura there came to be a good number of her shrines in Mexico.Cf.R. Ford,Handbook for Spain, index under “Guadalupe.”
239-2A full account of the shrine at Loreto may be found in Addis and Arnold,Catholic Dictionary, under “Loreto.”
239-3“This is the house where the sailors of the country particularly have their devotions.” Las Casas, I. 446. Moguer was a village near Palos.
240-1Seepage 108, note 1. and entry forOctober 10.
241-1As Beatriz Enriquez, the mother of Ferdinand, was still living, this passage has occasioned much perplexity. A glance at the corresponding passage, quoted in direct discourse from this entry in the Journal, in theHistorieof Ferdinand, shows that the words “orphans without father or mother” were not in the original Journal, if we can trust this transcript. On the other hand, Las Casas, in hisHistoria, I. 447, where he used the original Journal and not the abridgment that has come down to us, has the words “huerfanos de padre y madre en tierra estraña.” It may be that Ferdinand noted the error of the original Journal and quietly corrected it.
241-2In Ferdinand’s text nothing is said explicitly about the Indies.
241-3There is nothing corresponding to this in Ferdinand’s extract from the Journal. Was this omission also a case of pious revision?
The Admiral thought that there could be no great storms in the countries he had discovered, because trees (mangroves) actually grew with their roots in the sea. The herbage on the beach nearly reached the waves, which does not happen when the sea is rough. (Markham.)
241-4Ferdinand Columbus has preserved in his life of his father the exact words of the Journal for the last two pages of the entry for February 14. The extract is given here to illustrate the character of the work of the epitomizer who prepared the text of the Journal as it has come down to us. “I should have borne this fortune with less distress if my life alone had been in peril, since I am aware that I am in debt to the Most High Creator for my life and because at other times I have found myself so near to death that almost nothing remained but to suffer it. But what caused me boundless grief and trouble was the reflection that, now that Our Lord had been pleased to enlighten me with the faith and with the certainty of this undertaking in which he had already given me the victory, that just now, when our gainsayers were to be convinced and your Highnesses were to receive from me glory and enlargement of your high estate, the Divine Majesty should will to block it with my death. This last would have been more endurable if it did not involve that of the people I brought with me with the promise of a very prosperous issue. They seeing themselves in such a plight not only cursed their coming but even the fear or the restraint which after my persuasions prevented them from turning back from the way as many times they were resolved to do. And above all this my grief was redoubled at the vision before my eyes and at the recollection of two little sons that I had left at their studies in Cordova without succor in a strange land and without my having rendered (or at least without its being made manifest) the service for which one might trust that your Highnesses would remember them.
“And although on the one hand I was comforted by the faith that I had that Our Lord would never suffer a work which would highly exalt his Church, which at length after so much opposition and such labors I had brought to the last stage, to remain unaccomplished and that I should be broken; on the other hand, I thought that, either on account of my demerits or to prevent my enjoying so much glory in this world, it was his pleasure to take it away from me, and so while thus in perplexity I bethought myself of the venture of your Highnesses who even if I should die and the ship be lost, might find means of not losing a victory already achieved and that it might be possible in some way for the news of the success of my voyage to come to your ears; wherefore I wrote on a parchment with the brevity that the time demanded how I had discovered the lands that I had promised to, and in how many days; and the route I had followed; and the goodness of the countries, and the quality of their inhabitants and how they were the vassals of your Highnesses who had possession of all that had been found by me. This writing folded and sealed I directed to your Highnesses with the superscription or promise of a thousand ducats to him who should deliver it unopened, in order that, if some foreigners should find it, the truth of superscription might prevent them from disposing of the information which was inside. And I straightway had a large cask brought and having wrapped the writing in a waxed cloth and put it into a kind of tart or cake of wax I placed it in the barrel which, stoutly hooped, I then threw into the sea. All believed that it was some act of devotion. Then because I thought it might not arrive safely and the ships were all the while approaching Castile I made another package like that and placed it on the upper part of the poop in order that if the ship should sink the barrel might float at the will of fate.”
243-1The bonnet was a small sail usually cut to a third the size of the mizzen, or a fourth of the mainsail. It was secured through eyelet-holes to the leech of the mainsail, in the manner of a studding sail. (Navarrete.)
243-2On this day the Admiral dated the letter to Santangel, theescribano de racion, which is given below onpp. 263-272.
244-1This was on Sunday, 17th of February. (Navarrete.)
244-2The port of San Lorenzo. (Id.).
246-1The incredulity of the Portuguese governor as to these assertions was natural. The title Admiral of the Ocean Sea was novel and this was the first time it was announced that Spain or any other European power had possessions in the Indies.
247-1Half the crew were still detained on shore.
248-1That the site of the Garden of Eden was to be found in the Orient was a common belief in the Middle Ages and later.Cf.theBook of Sir John Mandeville, ch.XXX.
249-1The last of the canonical hours of prayer, about nine in the evening.
252-1On this day the Admiral probably wrote the postscript to his letter Santangel written at sea on February 15.
253-1Modern scholars have too hastily identified this Bartolomé Diaz with the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope. There is no evidence for this except the identity of the name. Against the supposition are the facts that neither Columbus, Las Casas, nor Ferdinand remark upon this meeting with the most eminent Portuguese navigator of the time, and that this Diaz is a subordinate officer on this ship who is sent to summon Columbus to report to the captain. That the great admiral of 1486-1487 would in 1493 be a simplePatronon a single ship is incredible.
253-2João II.
254-1The treaty of Alcaçovas signed by Portugal September 8, 1479, and by Spain March 6, 1480. In it Ferdinand and Isabella relinquished all rights to make discoveries along the coast of Africa and retained of the African islands only the Canaries. The Spanish text is printed inAlguns Documentos da Torre do Tombo(Lisbon, 1892), pp. 45-46. See also Vignaud,Toscanelli and Columbus, pp. 61-64.
254-2“The Mine,” more commonly El Mina, a station established on the Gold Coast by Diogo de Azambuja in 1482. The full name in Portuguese was S. Jorge da Mina, St. George of the Mine.
255-1The Portuguese historian Ruide Pina, in hisCronica D’El Rey João, gives an account of Columbus’s meeting with the king which is contemporary. From his official position as chief chronicler and head of the national archives and from the details which he mentions it is safe to conclude that he was an eye-witness.
“In the following year, 1493, while the king was in the place of the Val do Paraiso which is above the Monastery of Sancta Maria das Vertudes, on account of the great pestilences which prevailed in the principal places in this district, on the sixth of March there arrived at Restello in Lisbon Christovam Colombo, an Italian who came from the discovery of the islands of Cipango and Antilia which he had accomplished by the command of the sovereigns of Castile from which land he brought with him the first specimens of the people, gold and some other things that they have; and he was entitled Admiral of them. And the king being informed of this, commanded him to come before him and he showed that he felt disgusted and grieved because he believed that this discovery was made within the seas and bounds of his lordship of Guinea which was prohibited and likewise because the said Admiral was somewhat raised from his condition and in the account of his affairs always went beyond the bounds of the truth and made this thing in gold, silver, and riches much greater than it was. The king was accused of negligence in withdrawing from him for not giving him credit and authority in regard to this discovery for which he had first come to make request of him. And although the king was urged to consent to have him slain there, since with his death the prosecution of this enterprise so far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned would cease on account of the decease of the discoverer; and that this could be done without suspicion if he consented and ordered it, since as he was discourteous and greatly elated they could get involved with him in such a way that each one of these his faults would seem to be the true cause of his death; yet the king like a most God-fearing prince not only forbade this but on the contrary did him honor and showed him kindness and therewith sent him away.”Collecçaõ de Livros Ineditos de Historia Portugueza, II. 178-179. It will be noted that according to this account Columbus said he had discovered Cipango and Antilia, a mythical island which is represented on the maps of the fifteenth century, and that Columbus is called Colombo his Italian name, and not Colom or Colon.
256-1This may have been her brother, the Duke of Bejar, afterwards King Manoel.
256-2Espadim: a Portuguese gold piece coined by João II. Las Casas, I. 466, says: “20Espadinos, a matter of 20 ducats.” The Espadim contained 58 to 65 grains of gold. W. C. Hazlitt,Coinage of European Nations, sub voce. King João II. gave Columbus’s pilot almost exactly the sum which Henry VII. gave to John Cabot, which was £10. In the French translation and the translation in J. B. Thacher’sChristopher Columbusthe wordespadinesis erroneously taken to be Spanish and rendered “Épées,” and “small short swords.”
257-1Having been absent 225 days.