coasting the shore: upon which we made frequent descents, and held
converse with a great number of people: and at the end of some days we
went into a harbour where we underwent very great danger: and it
pleased the Holy Ghost to save us: and it was in this wise. We landed
in a harbour, where we found a village built like Venice upon the
water: there were about 44 large dwellings in the form of huts erected
upon very thick piles, and they had their doors or entrances in the
style of drawbridges: and from each house one could pass through all,
by means of the drawbridges, which stretched from house to house: and
when the people thereof had seen us, they appeared to be afraid of us,
and immediately drew up all the bridges: and while we were looking at
this strange action, we saw coming across the sea about 22 canoes,
which are a kind of boats of theirs, constructed from a single tree:
which came toward our boats, as they had been surprized by our
appearance and clothes, and kept wide of us: and thus remaining, we
made signals to them that they should approach us, encouraging them
with every token of friendliness: and seeing that they did not come,
we went to them, and they did not stay for us, but made to the land,
and, by signs, told us to wait, and that they should soon return: and
they went to a bill in the background, and did not delay long: when
they returned, they led with them 16 of their girls, and entered with
these into their canoes, and came to the boats: and in each boat they
put four of the girls.
That we marveled at this behavior your Magnificence can imagine how
much, and they placed themselves with their canoes among our boats,
coming to speak with us: insomuch that we deemed it a mark of
friendliness: and while thus engaged we beheld a great number of
people advance swimming toward us across the sea, who came from the
houses: and as they were drawing near to us without any apprehension:
just then there appeared at the doors of the houses certain old women,
uttering very loud cries and tearing their hair to exhibit grief:
whereby they made us suspicious, and we each betook ourselves to arms:
and instantly the girls whom we had in the boats, threw themselves
into the sea, and the men of the canoes drew away from us, and began
with their bows to shoot arrows at us: and those who were swimming
each carried a lance held, as covertly as they could, beneath the
water: so that, recognizing the treachery, we engaged with them, not
merely to defend ourselves, but to attack them vigorously, and we
overturned with our boats any of their almadie or canoes, for so they
call them, we made a slaughter (of them), and they all flung
themselves into the water to swim, leaving their canoes abandoned,
with considerable loss on their side, they went swimming away to the
shore: there died of them about 15 or 20, and many were left wounded:
and of ours 5 were wounded, and all, by the grace of God, escaped
(death): we captured two of the girls and two men: and we proceeded to
their houses, and entered therein, and in them all we found nothing
else than two old women and a sick man: we took away from them many
things, but of small value: and we would not burn their houses,
because it seemed to us (as tho that would be) a burden upon our
conscience: and we returned to our boats with five prisoners: and
betook ourselves to the ships, and put a pair of irons on the feet of
each of the captives, except the little girls: and when the night came
on, the two girls and one of the men fled away in the most subtle
manner possible: and the next day we decided to quit that harbour and
go further onwards.
We proceeded continuously skirting the coast, (until) we had sight of
another tribe distant perhaps some 80 leagues from the former tribe:
and we found them very different in speech and customs: we resolved to
cast anchor, and went ashore with the boats, and we saw on the beach a
great number of people amounting probably to 4,000 souls: and when we
had reached the shore, they did not stay for us, but betook themselves
to flight through the forests, abandoning their things: we jumped on
land, and took a pathway that led to the forest: and at the distance
of a bow-shot we found their tents, where they had made very large
fires, and two (of them) were cooking their victuals, and roasting
several animals, and fish of many kinds: where we saw that they were
roasting a certain animal which seemed to be a serpent, save that it
had no wings, and was in its appearance so loathsome that we marveled
much at its savageness:
Thus went we on through their houses, or rather tents, and found many
of those serpents alive, and they were tied by the feet and had a cord
around their snouts, so that they could not open their mouths, as is
done (in Europe) with mastiff-dogs so that they may not bite: they
were of such savage aspect that none of us dared to take one away,
thinking that they were poisonous: they are of the bigness of a kid,
and in length an ell and a half: their feet are long and thick, and
armed with big claws: they have a hard skin, and are of various
colors: they have the muzzle and face of a serpent: and from their
snouts there rises a crest like a saw which extends along the middle
of the back as far as the tip of the tail: in fine we deemed them to
be serpents and venomous, and (nevertheless, those people) ate them.
This land is very populous, and full of inhabitants, and of numberless
rivers, (and) animals: few (of which) resemble ours, excepting lions,
panthers, stags, pigs, goats, and deer: and even these have some
dissimilarities of form: they have no horses nor mules, nor, saving
your reverence, asses nor dogs, nor any kind of sheep or oxen: but so
numerous are the other animals which they have, and all are savage,
and of none do they make use for their service, that they could not he
counted. What shall we say of others (such as) birds? which are so
numerous, and of so many kinds, and of such various-coloured plumages,
that it is a marvel to behold them. The soil is very pleasant and
fruitful, full of immense woods and forests: and it is always green,
for the foliage never drops off. The fruits are so many that they are
numberless and entirely different from ours. This land is within the
torrid zone, close to or just under the parallel described by the
Tropic of Cancer: where the pole of the horizon has an elevation of 23
degrees, at the extremity of the second climate. Many tribes came to
see us, and wondered at our faces and our whiteness: and they asked us
whence we came: and we gave them to understand that we had come from
heaven, and that we were going to see the world, and they believed it.
In this land we placed baptismal fonts, and an infinite (number of)
people were baptized, and they called us in their language Carabi,
which means men of great wisdom.
[1] Americus Vespucius was born in Florence in 1452 and died in
Seville in 1512. He was the son of a notary in Florence, was
educated by a Dominican friar and became a clerk in one of the
commercial houses of the Medici. By this house he was sent to
Spain in 1490. He remained some years in Seville, where he became
connected with the house which fitted out the second expedition of
Columbus.
Vespucius claimed to have been four times in America, first in
May, 1497; second, in May, 1499; third, in May, 1501; fourth, in
June, 1503. In writing of the first expedition he says his ship
reached a coast "which we thought to be that of the continent,"
giving date. If this assumption be correct, and the dates correct,
they would show that he reached the continent of North America a
week or two before the Cabots made their discovery farther north,
but this contention has never been satisfactorily supported.
The letters of Vespucius describing his four voyages were
published originally in Italian in Florence in 1505-6. The letter
here in part given was addrest by Vespucius to Soderini, the
Gonfalonier of Florence. The translation, by one "M.K.," was
published by Mr. Quaritch, the London bookseller, in 1885, and has
been printed as one of the "Old South Leaflets!" The letter is
believed to have been composed by Vespucius within a month after
his return from his second voyage.
Vespucius was a naval astronomer. He has been unjustly accused of
appropriating to himself an honor which belonged to Columbus,--that
of giving a name to the new continent. This injustice, however,
was not due to Vespucius, but to a German schoolmaster named
Hylacomylus, or "Miller of the Wood-pond," who published a book in
1507. The passage in Millers book in which he made a suggestion
which the world has adopted is as follows:
"And the fourth part of the world having been discovered by
Americus, it may be called Amerige; that is, the land of Americus,
or America. Now, truly sience these regions are more widely
explored, and another fourth part is discovered by Americus
Vespucius, I do not see why any one may justly forbid it to be
named Amerige; that is, Americ's Land, after Americus, the
discoverer, who is a man of sagacious mind; or call it America,
since both Europe and Asia derived their names from women."
Vespucius, in spite of several voyages, discovered very little in
America. The continent ought not to have been named alter him.
A BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS
(1497)
AS DESCRIBED BY AMERICUS VESPUCIUS[1]
Desiring to depart upon our voyage natives made complaint to us how at
certain times of the year there came from over the sea to this their
land, a race of people very cruel, and enemies of theirs: and (who) by
means of treachery or of violence slew many of them, and ate them: and
some they made captives, and carried them away to their houses, or
country: and how they could scarcely contrive to defend themselves
from them, making signs to us that (those) were an island-people and
lived out in the sea about a hundred leagues away: and so piteously
did they tell us this that we believed them: and we promised to avenge
them of so much wrong: and they remained overjoyed herewith: and many
of them offered to come along with us, but we did not wish to take
them for many reasons, save that we took seven of them, on condition
that they should come (_i.e._, return home) afterward in (their own)
canoes because we did not desire to be obliged to take them back to
their country: and they were contented: and so we departed from those
people, leaving them very friendly toward us: and having repaired our
ships, and sailing for seven days out to sea between northeast and
east: and at the end of the seven days we came upon the islands, which
were many, some (of them) inhabited, and others deserted: and we
anchored at one of them: where we saw a numerous people who called it
Iti: and having manned our boats with strong crews, and (taken
ammunition for) three cannon shots in each, we made for land: where we
found (assembled) about 400 men, and many women, and all naked like
the former (peoples).
They were of good bodily presence, and seemed right warlike men: for
they were armed with their weapons, which are bows, arrows, and
lances: and most of them had square wooden targets: and bore them in
such wise that they did not impede the drawing of the bow: and when we
had come with our boats to about a bowshot of the land, they all
sprang into the water to shoot their arrows at us, and to prevent us
from leap-lug upon shore: and they all had their bodies painted of
various colours, and (were) plumed with feathers: and the interpreters
who were with us told us that when (those) displayed themselves so
painted and plumed, it was to be-token that they wanted to fight: and
so much did they persist in preventing us from landing, that we were
compelled to play with our artillery: and when they heard the
explosion, and saw one of them fall dead, they all drew back to the
land: wherefore, forming our council, we resolved that 42 of our men
should spring on shore, and, if they waited for us, fight them: thus
having leaped to land with our weapons, they advanced toward us, and
we fought for about an hour, for we had but little advantage of them,
except that our arbalasters and gunners killed some of them, and they
wounded certain of our men. This was because they did not stand to
receive us within reach of lance-thrust or sword-blow: and so much
vigor did we put forth at last, that we came to sword-play, and when
they tasted our weapons, they betook themselves to flight through the
mountains and the forests, and left us conquerors of the field with
many of them dead and a good number wounded.
We took no other pains to pursue them, because we were very weary, and
we returned to our ships, with so much gladness on the part of the
seven men who had come with us that they could not contain themselves
(for joy): and when the next day arrived, we beheld coming across the
land a great number of people, with signals of battle, continually
sounding horns, and various other instruments which they use in their
wars: and all (of them) painted and feathered, so that it was a very
strange sight to behold them: wherefore all the ships held council,
and it was resolved that since this people desired hostility with us,
we should proceed to encounter them and try by every means to make
them friends: in case they would not have our friendship, that we
should treat them as foes, and so many of them as we might be able to
capture should all be our slaves: and having armed ourselves as best
we could, we advanced toward the shore, and they sought not to hinder
us from landing, I believe, from fear of the cannons: and we jumped on
land, 57 men in four squadrons, each one (consisting of) a captain and
his company: and we came to blows with them.
After a long battle many of them (were) slain, we put them to flight,
and pursued them to a village, having made about 250 of them captives,
and we burnt the village, and returned to our ships with victory and
250 prisoners, leaving many of them dead and wounded, and of ours
there were no more than one killed, and 22 wounded, who all escaped
(_i.e._, recovered), God be thanked. We arranged our departure, and
seven men, of whom five were wounded, took an island-canoe, and with
seven prisoners that we gave them, four women and three men, returned
to their (own) country full of gladness, wondering at our strength:
and we thereon made sail for Spain with 222 captive slaves: and
reached the port of Calis (Cadiz) on the 15th day of October, 1498,
where we were well received and sold our slaves. Such is what befell
me, most noteworthy, in this my first voyage.
[1] From a letter addrest by Vespucius to Pier Soderini, Gonfalonier
of Florence. A translation is printed in the "Old South Leaflets."
Vespucius, during one of his voyages, is believed to have
discovered the coast of South America--perhaps as far down as the
mouth of La Plata. His letters, however, give slight clue to
localities. Few of the places described by him have ever been
identified with anything like precision.
THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF AMERICA PRINTED IN ENGLISH[1]
(1511)
Of the newe landes and of ye people founde by the messengers of the
kynge of Portyugale named Emanuel. of the R. [5] Dyners Nacyons
crystened. Of Pope John and his landes and of the costely keyes and
wonders molo dyes that in that lande is.
Here aforetymes [formerly] in the yere of our Lorde god. M.CCCC.xcvi.
[1496] and so be we with shyppes of Lusseboene [Lisbon] sayled oute of
Portyugale thorough the commaundement of the Kynge Emanuel. So haue we
had our vyage. For by fortune ylandes ouer the great see with great
charge and daunger so haue we at the laste founde oon lordshyp where
we sayled well. ix.C. [900] mylee [mile] by the cooste of Selandes
there we at ye laste went a lande but that lande is not nowe knowen
for there haue no masters wryten thereof nor it knowethe and it is
named Armenica [America] there we sawe meny wonders of beestes and
fowles yat [that] we haue neuer seen before the people of this lande
haue no kynge nor lorde nor theyr god But all thinges is comune....
the men and women haue on theyr heed necke Armes Knees and fete all
with feders [feathers] bounden for their bewtynes [beauty] and
fayrenes.
These folke lyuen [live] lyke bestes without any resenablenes.... And
they etc [eat] also on[e] a nother. The man etethe [eateth] his wyfe,
his chylderne as we also haue seen, and they hange also the bodyes or
persons fleeshe in the smoke as men do with vs swynes fleshe. And that
lande is ryght full of folke for they lyue commonly. iii.C. [300] yere
and more as with sykenesse they dye nat they take much fysshe for they
can goen vnder the water and fe[t]che so the fysshes out of the water.
and they werre [war] also on[e] vpon a nother for the olde men brynge
the yonge men thereto that they gather a great company thereto of towe
[two] partyes and come the on[e] ayene [against] the other to the
felde or bateyll [battle] and slee [slay] on[e] the other with great
hepes [heaps]. And nowe holdeth the fylde [field] they take the other
prysoners And they brynge them to deth and ete them and as the deed
[dead] is eten then fley [flay] they the rest. And they been [are] than
[then] eten also or otherwyse lyue they longer tymes and many yeres
more than other people for they haue costely spyces and rotes [roots]
where they them selfe recouer with and hele [heal] them as they be
seke [sick].
[1] The volume from which this passage is taken was first printed
in Antwerp as a compilation with additions based on the letters of
Americus Vespucius. It is included by Edward Arber in his "First
Three English Books on America." The author's name is unknown.
THE DISCOVERY OF FLORIDA BY PONCE DE LEON
(1512)
PARKMAN'S ACCOUNT[1]
Toward the close of the fifteenth century Spain achieved her final
triumph over the infidels of Granada, and made her name glorious
through all generations by the discovery of America. The religious zea
and romantic daring which a long course of Moorish wars had called
forth were now exalted to redoubled fervor. Every ship from the New
World came freighted with marvels which put the fictions of chivalry
to shame; and to the Spaniard of that day America was a region of
wonder and mystery, of vague and magnificent promise. Thither
adventurers hastened, thirsting for glory and for gold, and often
mingling the enthusiasm of the crusader and the valor of the
knight-errant with the bigotry of inquisitors and the rapacity of
pirates. They roamed over land and sea; they climbed unknown
mountains, surveyed unknown oceans, pierced the sultry intricacies of
tropical forests; while from year to year and from day to day new
wonders were unfolded, new islands and archipelagoes, new regions of
gold and pearl, and barbaric empires of more than Oriental wealth. The
extravagance of hope and the fever of adventure knew no bounds. Nor is
it surprizing that amid such waking marvels the imagination should run
wild in romantic dreams; that between the possible and the impossible
the line of distinction should be but faintly drawn, and that men
should be found ready to stake life and honor in pursuit of the most
insane fantasies.
Such a man was the veteran cavalier Juan Ponce de Leon. Greedy of
honors and of riches, he embarked at Porto Rico with three
brigantines, bent on schemes of discovery. But that which gave the
chief stimulus to his enterprise was a story, current among the
Indians of Cuba and Hispaniola, that on the island of Bimini, said to
be one of the Bahamas, there was a fountain of such virtue, that,
bathing in its waters, old men resumed their youth.[2] It was said,
moreover, that on a neighboring shore might be found a river gifted
with the same beneficent property, and believed by some to be no other
than the Jordan. Ponce de Leon found the island of Bimini, but not the
fountain. Farther westward, in the latitude of 30 degrees and 8
minutes, he approached an unknown land, which he named Florida, and,
steering southward, explored its coast as far as the extreme point of
the peninsula, when, after some further explorations, he retraced his
course to Porto Rico.
Ponce de Leon had not regained his youth, but his active spirit was
unsubdued. Nine years later he attempted to plant a colony in Florida;
the Indians attacked him fiercely; he was mortally wounded, and died
soon afterward in Cuba.
The voyages of Garay and Vasquez de Ayllon threw new light on the
discoveries of Ponce, and the general outline of the coasts of Florida
became known to the Spaniards. Meanwhile, Cortes had conquered Mexico,
and the fame of that iniquitous but magnificent exploit rang through
all Spain. Many an impatient cavalier burned to achieve a kindred
fortune. To the excited fancy of the Spaniards the unknown land of
Florida seemed the seat of surpassing wealth, and Pamphilo de Narvaez
essayed to possess himself of its fancied treasures. Landing on its
shores, and proclaiming destruction to the Indians unless they
acknowledged the sovereignty of the Pope and the Emperor, he advanced
into the forests with three hundred men. Nothing could exceed their
sufferings. Nowhere could they find the gold they came to seek. The
village of Appalache, where they hoped to gain a rich booty, offered
nothing but a few mean wigwams. The horses gave out, and the famished
soldiers fed upon their flesh. The men sickened, and the Indians
unceasingly harassed their march. At length, after 280 leagues of
wandering, they found themselves on the northern shore of the Gulf of
Mexico, and desperately put to sea in such crazy boats as their skill
and means could construct. Cold, disease, famine, thirst, and the fury
of the waves melted them away. Narvaez himself perished, and of his
wretched followers no more than four escaped, reaching by land, after
years of vicissitude, the Christian settlements of New Spain.
The interior of the vast country then comprehended under the name of
Florida still remained unexplored. The Spanish voyager, as his caravel
plowed the adjacent seas, might give full scope to his imagination,
and dream that beyond the long, low margin of forest which bounded his
horizon lay hid a rich harvest for some future conqueror; perhaps a
second Mexico, with its royal palace and sacred pyramids, or another
Cuzco, with the temple of the Sun, encircled with a frieze of gold.
[1] From Parkman's "Pioneers of France in the New World." By
permission of the publishers, Little, Brown & Co. Ponce do Leon
was born in Aragon, Spain, about 1460, and died in Cuba in 1521.
Before making the exploration here described, he had been in
America with Columbus in 1493; been governor of the eastern part
of Espanola; been transferred to Porto Rico as governor, and
empowered to conquer the Indians. He returned to Spain in 1511 and
in February, 1512, was commissioned to discover and settle the
island of Bimini. This island, one of the Bahamas, was in the
region in which tradition had placed the Fountain of Youth. After
his expedition to Florida here described, he was occupied with
Indian wars in Porto Rico and Florida, and finally died from a
wound received from an arrow shot by an Indian.
[2] Parkman comments on this tradition of the Fountain of Youth
as follows: "The story has an explanation, sufficiently
characteristic, having been suggested, it is said, by the beauty
of the native women, which none could resist and which kindled
the fires of youth in the veins of age."
THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC BY BALBOA
(1513)
THE ACCOUNT BY MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA[1]
Careta[2] had for a neighbor a cacique called by some Comogre, by
others Panquiaco, chief of about ten thousand Indians, among whom were
3,000 warriors. Having heard of the valor and enterprise of the
Castilians, this chief desired to enter into treaty and friendship
with them; and a principal Indian, a dependent of Careta, having
presented himself as the agent in this friendly overture, Vasco Nuñez,
anxious to profit by the opportunity of securing such an ally, went
with his followers to visit Comogre....
Balboa was transported by the prospect of glory and fortune which
opened before him; he believed himself already at the gates of the
East Indies, which was the desired object of the government and the
discoverers of that period; he resolved to return in the first place
to the Darien to raise the spirits of his companions with these
brilliant hopes, and to make all possible preparations for realizing
them. He remained, nevertheless, yet a few days with the caciques; and
so strict was the friendship he had contracted with them that they and
their families were baptized, Careta taking in baptism the name of
Fernando, and Comogre that of Carlos. Balboa then returned to the
Darien, rich in the spoils of Ponca, rich in the presents of his
friends, and still richer in the golden hopes which the future offered
him.