Mauro, constructs a celebrated map, note.
Mayobanex, Cacique of the Cignayens; Guarionex flies to him for refuge;
his answer to the Adelantado, when desired to give up Guarionex; is
deserted in his need; compelled to fly; is seized with his wife and
children.
Medina Celi, duke of, entertains Columbus; application of Columbus to;
writes to the queen.
----, Sidonia, duke of, application of Columbus to; plan rejected.
Melons introduced into Hayti.
Mendez, Diego, his bold conduct at Veragua; his reward; his meritorious
conduct at Jamaica; his conversation with Columbus; undertakes to go in a
canoe to St. Domingo; departs with one Spaniard and six Indians; narrowly
escapes being murdered by the Indians of the coast and returns; account of
his voyage; sails for Spain; his subsequent history, note. Mendoza, Pedro
Gonzalez de. See Toledo, Archbishop of. Meneses, Don Pedro de, his answer
to the bishop of Ceuta in respect to the propriety of maritime
discoveries.
Mermaids, three supposed, seen by Columbus.
Mexiatrillo, Rodrigo, commands the soldiery at the massacre of Xaragua.
ii. 264.
Misa, Rio de la, so called from mass performed on its banks.
Monis de Palestrello, Doña Felipa, her marriage with Columbus.
Monte Christi, description of; Columbus founds the city of Isabella.
Montserrat, discovery of.
Moors, war against the.
----, none permitted to establish themselves in the colonies or go on
voyages of discovery.
Morales, Francisco, his evidence relative to the discovery of the coast of
Paria by Columbus.
Mother-of-pearl found on the coast of Paria.
Moxica, Adrian de, conspiracy of; meditates the death of the Admiral and
Roldan; is seized; and flung headlong froin the battlements of Fort
Conception.
Moya, marchioness of, becomes a friend to Columbus; and recommends his
suit to the queen; also.
Mulatas, islands of, discovered.
Mules, the employment of, under the saddle, prohibited in Spain.
Music of the Haytiens.
Musicians sent to Hayti to enliven the spirits of the colony.
N.
Names, exchanging, an Indian league of fraternity.
Navarrete, his opinion relative to the island first discovered by
Columbus.
Navasa, island of; fountain near.
Navidad, La, or the Nativity, construction of the fortress of; disasters
at the fortress; abandoned by Columbus.
Needle, variation of the, first noticed; inclines a whole point;
Columbus's speculation in respect to.
Negroes of Africa introduced into Hispaniola; their first revolt.
Negotiations, diplomatic, between the courts of Spain and Portugal, with
respect to the new discoveries.
Newfoundland, assertions relative to the discovery of, by the
Scandinavians.
Nicholas, St., harbor of.
Nicuesa, Diego de, appointed governor of Golden Castile.
Niño, Pedro Alonzo, sails for Hayti; arrives at Cadiz from Hispaniola,
with a number of Indian prisoners.
Noya, Juan de, his escape by diving.
O.
Ocean, line of demarkation of the, between Spain and Portugal.
Oderigo, documents in the possession of the family of, relative to
Columbus.
Ojeda, Don Alonzo de, goes in search of Diego Marque, at Guadaloupe; his
expedition to explore the interior of Iliwpaniola; sallies from Isabella;
character of; his conduct in respect to some Haytien thieves; character
of; is besieged by Caonabo; anecdote of; undertakes to seize Caonabo, and
deliver him alive into the hands of Columbus; visits him; offers him the
bell of Isabella; his stratagem to take him off; conquers in an engagement
with a brother of Caonabo; his conduct at the battle of the Vega; arrives
at the western part of Hispaniola on a voyage of discovery; cause of his
voyage; his manoeuvres with Roldan; leaves the inland with a threat;
returns to Spain with a drove of slaves; appointed governor of New
Andalusia; fails in his undertaking to colonize that country; his evidence
relative to the discovery of the coast of Paria by Columbus.
Oro, Rio del, or Santiago, discovered.
Otto, Mons., remarks on his letter to Dr. Franklin relative to Martin
Behem.
Ovando, Don Nicholas de, chosen to supersede Bobadilla; character of;
great privileges granted to; his fleet; allowed to wear silk, precious
stones, etc.; sails; reaches St. Domingo and assumes the government;
refuses to let Columbus take shelter; his mysterious conduct to Columbus
in his distress as Jamaica; an account of his administration and
oppression; sufferings of the natives under the civil policy of; view of
the military operations of: visits Anneaona: takes it into his head that
she intends to massacre him and all his attendants; seizes Anacaona and
burns all the Caciques: massacres the populace; and causes Anacaona to be
ignominiously hanged; his further atrocious conduct, to the unfortunate
Indians; founds Santa Maria in commemoration of his atrocities. 267; wages
war against the natives of Higuey; causes many of them to be slaughtered
and their chieftains to be burnt; hangs a female Cacique of distinction;
causes 600 Indians of Saona to be imprisoned in one dwelling and put to
the sword; receives Columbus on his arrival at St. Domingo with a
hypocritical politeness.
Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernandez de, a short account of his life and writings.
Oysters, in the Gulf of Paria, round the roots of the Mangrove trees.
Ozema, river of, and the country through which it flows.
P.
Palos, the port whence Columbus sailed on his first expedition; present
state of; visit to.
Palms, Cape of, discovered.
Pane, Roman, labors to convert the Haytiens.
Paradise, observations on the situation of the terrestrial; of the
Haytiens.
Paria., Gulf of, Columbus's voyage through the; description of the coast
of; manners of the natives; current of the sea.
Parrots, first seen in the western hemisphere; large flights of, seen;
found on the coast of Paria.
Partition, papal bull of; line of, removed.
Pasamonte, Miguel, becomes an enemy to Don Diego Columbus.
Pearls, the Gulf of.
---- of Cubagua. Pepper, Agi.
Perez, Alonzo, discovers land in Columbus's third voyage.
----, Pray Juan, prior of the convent of La Raibida, entertains Columbus
on his first entry into Spain; gives him letters of introduction to the
queen's confessor, and educates his son; reception of Columbus; writes to
Queen Isabella; invited to court; pleads the cause of Columbus; receives a
visit from Columbus after his success.
Philip, king of Castile, listens to the request of Columbus, and promises
a prosperous termination to his suit.
Pigeons, wood, vast numbers seen on the south side of Cuba.
Pilgrimages, lots for, drawing of.
Pilot, observations on the rumor of a pilot having died in the house of
Columbus.
Pine-apple first met with.
Pines, island of, discovered by Columbus.
Pinos, Isla de, discovery of.
Pinta, desertion of.
Pinzons, family of, they enable Columbus to offer to bear one-eighth of
the charge of the expedition, and to add a third ship to the armament.
100; their activity and interest in the voyage; furnish Columbus with
money to defray the eighth share of the expense; account of their family,
note. Pinzon, Martin Alonzo, offers to bear the expenses of Columbus in a
renewed application to the court; his opinion relative to the nearness of
land; begins to lose confidence in the course they are pursuing; crediting
the accounts of the Indians in respect to a very rich island, deserts and
goes in search of it; Columbus meets him; his apology: account of his
proceedings; his duplicity becomes more evident: his arrival at Palos;
effect of his treacherous conduct; his death; reflections on; observations
relative to the supposed idea of Columbus owing to him the success of his
great enterprise: his character.
----, Vicente Yanes, obtains a license for voyages of discovery; sails on
a voyage of discovery; discovers the Brazils; discovers the river of
Amazons; is allowed, as a reward, to colonize and govern the lands which
he had discovered.
Planisphere of Martin Behein. Pliny, his notice of electrical lights on
the masts of ships.
Poetry of the Haytiens.
Polo, Nicholas and Matteo, an account of their travels into the east;
their first journey; return: their second journey: their return; invite
their relatives to a splendid banquet.
----, Marco, influence of his travels upon the mind of Columbus; ii. 406;
short account of his travels; his return; commands a galley at the battle
of Cuzzola: is taken prisoner and sent in chains to Genoa; writes an
account of his travels; is liberated and returns to Venice; an account of
his work.
Porras, Francisco de, engages in a mutiny at Jamaica; they embark with
most of Columbus's erew in ten Indian canoes; are driven back; and with
their companions rove about the island; refuses an offer of pardon;
attacks the Admiral and Adelantado; taken prisoner: is set at liberty by
Ovando; and sent to Spain to be examined by the Indian board. 284.
Porto Rico, or Boriquen, discovery of.
Portugal and Spain, diplomatic negotiations between the courts of, with
respect to the new discoveries.
Potato in Hayti.
Prado, prior of. See Talavera.
Prester John, an imaginary Christian king; account of.
Priests of the Haytiens.
Ptolemy, difficulty at the council of Salamanaca to reconcile the theory
of Columbus with that of.
Puerto de Bastimento, harbor of.
---- Bello, discovery of, by Columbus.
---- Santo, Columbus's description of.
Q.
Queen's Gardens, Columlms's arrival at, in his third voyage; archipelago
of, discovered.
Question, the territorial, how settled.
Quibian, Cacique of Veragua, interview with Bartholomew Columbus: second
interview; determines on preventing the Spaniards from obtaining a
settlement in his territories; conspires to burn their houses and murder
them; is seized by the Adelantado with his wives and children; escapes in
a very extraordinary manner 199; attacks the Spaniards and is defeated.
Quinsai, Marco Polo's account of.
Quintanilla, Alonzo de, receives Columbus into his house.
R.
Rabida, La, convent of, Columbus is entertained at, on his first arrival
in Spain; present state.
Reeds, river of.
----, immense, seen on the Mosquito coast.
Reinier, king of Naples, Columbus engages in his service.
Religion of the natives of Hayti.
Repartimientos, origin of: opposition of Don Diego Columbus to the.
Rewards and punishments, ideas of the Haytiens in respect to.
Rio Verde, or the green river.
Riquelme, Pedro, makes his house the headquarters of the rebels at
Hispaniola; made Alcalde by Roldan: joins in a conspiracy with Adrian de
Moxica; is taken.
Road, the first constructed by Europeans in the New World.
Rodriguez, Sebastian, takes a letter from the prior Perez to the queen.
91.
Roldan, Francisco, history and character of: an account of his conspiracy;
takes possession of Xaragua; his conduct in respect to the ships sent
forward by Columbus: promises to repair to St. Domingo on the arrival of
Columbus; his interview with Ballester; rejects an offer of pardon;
demands his discharge; his interview with Carvajal, etc.; determines on
going to the admiral; correspondence with the admiral; sends propositions
by Carvajal; which are accepted; circumstances prevent their being acted
upon; makes a second arrangement with the admiral; is permitted to resume
his office of Alcalde-mayor; receives a grant of lands; visits his lands;
assumes new authority; is sent to meet Alonzo de Ojeda; his manoeuvres
with him; his rivalship with Guevara; seizes him in the dwelling of
Anacaona; treated with confidence by Bobadilla; his conduct investigated
by Ovando; sails for Spain, and is lost in a violent hurricane.
Roman, Friar, his account of the natives of Hispauiola.
S.
Sabellicus, his account of the capture of the Venetian galleys.
Salamanca, the learned assemble at, to consider the proposition of
Columbus; pronounce the plan to be vain and impossible.
Salcedo, Diego de, arrives at Jamaica with succors from Ovando.
Salvador, St., discovery of; awe and surprise of the natives on first
beholding the ships of Columbus; description of them; gold first
discovered in this island.
Samana, Gulf of, discovered.
San Rafael, discovery of.
Sanchez, Juan, takes charge of Quibian. ii. 196; who escapes; killed in
battle by the Adelantado.
Sande, Don Ruy do, his mission to the Spanish court.
Santa Marta, island of, discovered.
Santa, La Isla, discovery of.
Santa Cruz, island of, discovery of.
Santa Gloria, (St. Ann's Bay), discovered by Columbus.
Santiago. See Jamaica; letter of Heneken, note.
----, river of, discovered.
Saometa, discovery of.
Saona, island of, discovered; difference of longitude between, and Cadiz
Scandinavians, an essay relative to the voyages of.
Schedel, remarks on an interpolation in his chronicle.
Seneca, his notice of electrical lights on the masts of ships.
Serafin Point.
Sharks, a multitude of, seen on the coast of Veragua; curious method of
taking them; superstition concerning.
Ships, observation relative to the size of those employed by Columbus.
Slaves, five hundred are sent to Spain; three hundred sent by Bartholomew
Columbus; arrival in Spain; Queen Isabella interests herself in their
favor; orders them to be sent back to Hayti; negroes first introduced to
the New World; revolt of; Hispaniola the first island to exhibit an awful
retribution; regulations in respect to.
Solomon, the gold used in the temple of.
Soria, Juan de, his insolence to Columbus.
Soul, ideas of the Haytiens in respect to the; the after-state of,
believed by the natives of Cuba.
Spain and Portugal, diplomatic negotiations between the courts of, with
respect to the new discoveries.
Spotorno, Gio, publishes documents relative to Columbus, note.
Sugar-cane introduced into Hayti.
Superstition of St. Elmo lights.
Swallow, a, encircles the ships of Columbus.
T.
Talavera, Fernando de, prior of Prado and confessor to Queen Isabella.
85; esteems Columbus's plan impossible; he is desired by the king to
assemble men of science to consider the matter; reports to the king that
the council had pronounced the plan vain and impossible; takes a message
from the king;' disgusted at the high terms insisted on by Columbus.
Teneriffe, fears of the crew at beholding Mount.
Territory, question of, how settled.
Thomas, St., fortress of, erected; see note; conduct of the colonists
there; attacks of.
Tobacco, first seen in the island of Cuba.
Tobago, discovery of.
Toledo, archbishop of, his character; gives Columbus an attentive hearing;
and procures him an audience of the king.
Toledo, Doña Maria de, Don Diego Columbus becomes enamored of: their
marriage; and embarkation for Hispaniola; is left as vice-queen at St.
Domingo on the sailing of Don Diego for Spain; becomes a widow.
Torre, Doña Juana de la, receives a letter from Columbus with an account
of his treatment.
Torres, Antonio de, dispatched from Hispaniola, with twelve ships, to
Spain; arrives at Cadiz; dismissed from office.
----, Luis de, sent up the island of Cuba by Columbus; an account of his
journey.
Tortoises, sea covered with, on the southern coast of Cuba; curious method
of taking; a living one taken out of the maw of a shark.
Tortugas, beautiful island of, discovery of.
Toscanelli, Paulo, his correspondence with Columbus.
Trade of the colonies monopolized by the crown of Spain; the Spanish
system the scoff of modern times.
Trasierra, Juan de.
Triana, Rodrigo de, first sees the land of the western world; account of.
Tribute imposed upon the Haytiens.
Trinidad, island of, discovered; description of its appearance; curious
account of the natives.
Tristan, Diego; is killed.
Tudela, Benjamin, travels of.
Turk's island, observations relative to.
U.
Ursula, Santa, island of, discovered.
V.
Vassals, natives of Hispaniola reduced to the condition of.
Vega, Garcilasso de la, his tale relative to a pilot having died in the
house of Columbus.
----, river; called by the natives Yagui.
----, Real, the royal plain.
Velasco, Francisco.
Velasquez, Diego, commands the soldiery at the massacre of Xaragua.
Veragua, coast of, discovery of; warlike spirit of the inhabitants; soil
appears to be impregnated with gold; Golden Castile.
Voraguas, duke of, consents to have the remains of Columbus removed to
Cuba.
----, the heirship to Columbus decided in his favor.
Verde, Cape de, discovery of.
Vespucci, Amerigo, first notice of his expedition; employed by Columbus at
court; an account of; a summary view of his claim to the title of a
discoverer; the voyage whence his name was given to the American
continent; Columbus's letter to his son relative to the merit and
misfortunes of; Peter Martyr's character of: his letter to René, duke of
Lorraine; observations relative to the points in controversy; author's
conclusion, that the voyage asserted to have been made by Amerigo Vespucci
never took place.
Vessel, stern-post of a, found in one of the houses at Guadaloupe.
Villains, natives of Hispaniola reduced to the condition of.
Villego, Alonzo de, appointed to carry Columbus to Spain; character of;
his colloquy with Columbus previous to their sailing.
Vines introduced into Hayti.
Vinland, a supposed discovery.
Virgins, the eleven thousand, islands of, discovered.
Vows made in a storm by Columbus and his crew; attempt at fulfilment.
W.
Waterspout, a remarkable, seen on the coast of Veragua.
Wax, cake of, presented to the sovereigns by Columbus.
Wheat, introduced into Hayti.
Wolves, sea, several killed on the coast of Hispaniola.
Woman, account of a very strong, of Guadaloupe; taken to Columbus's ship;
falls in love with Caonabo, and refuses to return on shore.
Women, origin of, according to the Haytiens.
Writing, fear of the Indians of Cariari at seeing the Spaniards write.
X.
Xagua, gulf of.
Xaragua, domain of, an account of; description of its inhabitants; Roldan
takes possession of; massacre at.
Xerif al Edrizi, his description of the Atlantic.
Ximenes, cardinal; prohibits licenses to import slaves from Africa to the
colonies.
Y.
Yanique, river of.
Z.
Zemes, inferior deities of the Haytiens.
Zipangu (Japan), Marco Polo's account of.
Zones, the, observations relative to.
Footnotes
[1]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. iv.
[2]: Ibid., lib. v.
[3]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v.
[4]: Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, lib. ii. p. 147. Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo,
lib. vi. § 6.
[5]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v.
[6]: "These serpentes are lyke unto crocodiles, saving in bygness; they
call them guanas. Unto that day none of owre men durste adventure to taste
of them, by reason of theyre horrible deformitie and lothsomnes. Yet the
Adelantado being entysed by the pleasantnes of the king's sister,
Anacaona, determined to taste the serpentes. But when he felte the flesh
thereof to be so delycate to his tongue, he fel to amayne without al
feare. The which thyng his companions perceiving, were not behynde hym in
greedynesse: insomuche that they had now none other talke than of the
sweetnesse of these serpentes, which, they affirm to be of more pleasant
taste, than eyther our phesantes or partriches." Peter Martyr, decad. i.
book v. Eden's Eng. Trans.
[7]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., tom. i. cap. 113.
[8]: Ibid, lib. i. cap. 114.
[9]: P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Of the residence of Guarionex, which must
have been a considerable town, not the least vestige can be discovered at
present. Vol. II.--2.
[10]: Escritura de Fr. Roman, Hist. del Almirante.
[11]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix.
[12]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 121.
[13]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 65. Peter Martyr, decad. vi. lib.
v.
[14]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7.
[15]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib.
iii. cap. 6.
[16]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. v. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 6.
[17]: Ramusio, vol. iii. p. 9.
[18]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 1.
[19]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 118.
[20]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 73.
[21]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 73.
[22]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 74.
_Extract of a letter from T. S. Heneken, Esq.,_ 1847.--Fort
Conception is situated at the foot of a hill now called Santo Cerro. It is
constructed of bricks, and is almost as entire at the present day as when
just finished. It stands in the gloom of an exuberant forest which has
invaded the scene of former bustle and activity; a spot once considered of
great importance and surrounded by swarms of intelligent beings.
What has become of the countless multitudes this fortress was intended to
awe? Not a trace of them remains excepting in the records of history. The
silence of the tomb prevails where their habitations responded to their
songs and dances. A few indigent Spaniards, living in miserable hovels,
scattered widely apart in the bosom of the forest, are now the sole
occupants of this once fruitful and beautiful region.
A Spanish town gradually grew up round the fortress; the ruins of which
extend to a considerable distance. It was destroyed by an earthquake, at
nine o'clock of the morning of Saturday, 20th April, 1564, during the
celebration of mass. Part of the massive walls of a handsome church still
remain, as well as those of a very large convent or hospital, supposed to
have been constructed in pursuance of the testamentary dispositions of
Columbus. The inhabitants who survived the catastrophe retired to a small
chapel, on the banks of a river, about a league distant, where the new
town of La Vega was afterwards built.
[23]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 74.
[24]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 74. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 7.
[25]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 118.
[26]: Ibid., cap. 119.
[27]: Las Casas. Herrera. Hist. del Almirante.
[28]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 8.
[29]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., cap. 121, MS. Peter Martyr, decad. i. cap. 5.
[30]: The particulars of this chapter are chiefly from P. Martyr, decad. i.
lib. vi.; the manuscript history of Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 121; and
Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 8, 9.
[31]: Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 149,150. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap.
12. Hist, del Almirante, cap. 77.
[32]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 153.
[33]: Hist, del Almirante, cap. 78.
[34]: In one of these ships sailed the father of the venerable historian
Las Casas, from whom he derived many of the facts of his history. Las
Casas, lib. i. cap. 153.
[35]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 157.
[36]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 78.
[37]: Ibid., cap. 79. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap 13.
[38]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 153.
[39]: Ibid., cap. 158.
[40]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 79.
[41]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 80.
[42]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[43]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[44]: Herrera, decad. I. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[45]: Idem. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 38.
[46]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[47]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii cap. 16.
[48]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[49]: Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, lib. vi. § 50.
[50]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 84.
[51]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[52]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 83,
84.
[53]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[54]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 16.
[55]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 3.
[56]: Las Casas.
[57]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 4. Muñoz, Hist. N.
Mundo, part in MS. unpublished.
[58]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 84.
[59]: Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.
[60]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 169, MS.
[61]: Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan.
[62]: Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 169.
[63]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 5.
[64]: Lag Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 170, MS. Herrera, decad. i. lib.
iv. cap. 7.
[65]: Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan. Hist, del Almirante,
cap. 84.
[66]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 85.
[67]: Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished.
[68]: Las Casas, lib. i.
[69]: Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. 6.
[70]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 7.
[71]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib i. cap. 169. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad.
i. lib. iv. cap. 8.
[72]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 179.
[73]: Las Casas, ubi sup. Herrera, ubi sup.
[74]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 85. Las Casas. Herrera, ubi sup.
[75]: Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan.
[76]: Ibid.
[77]: Letter of Columbus to the nurse of Prince Juan.
[78]: Idem. Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv.
[79]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 9. Letter to the nurse of Prince
Juan.
[80]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180.
[81]: Idem, lib. i. cap. 180.
[82]: Peter Martyr mentions a vulgar rumor of the day, that the admiral,
not knowing what might happen, wrote a letter in cipher to the Adelantado,
urging him to come with arms in his hands to prevent any violence that
might be contrived against him; that the Adelantado advanced, in effect,
with his armed force, but having the imprudence to proceed some distance
ahead of it, was surprised by the governor, before his men could come to
his succor, and that the letter in cipher had been sent to Spain. This
must have been one of the groundless rumors of the day, circulated to
prejudice the public mind. Nothing of the kind appears among the charges
in the inquest made by Bobadilla, and which was seen, and extracts made
from it, by Las Casas, for his history. It is, in fact, in total
contradiction to the statements of Las Casas, Herrera, and Fernando
Columbus.
[83]: Charlevoix, in his History of San Domingo (lib. iii. p. 199), states
that the suit against Columbus was conducted in writing; that written
charges were sent to him, to which he replied in the same way. This is
contrary to the statements of Las Casas, Herrera, and Fernando Columbus.
The admiral himself, in his letter to the nurse of Prince Juan, after
relating the manner in which he and his brothers had been thrown into
irons, and confined separately, without being visited by Bobadilla, or
permitted to see any other persons, expressly adds, "I make oath that I do
not know for what I am imprisoned." Again, in a letter written some time
afterwards from Jamaica, he says, "I was taken and thrown with two of my
brothers in a ship, loaded with irons, with little clothing and much
ill-treatment, without being summoned or convicted by justice."
[84]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 10. Oviedo, Cronica. lib. iii. cap.
6.
[85]: Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part unpublished.
[86]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.
[87]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180, MS.
[88]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 180, MS.
[89]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 86.
[90]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 182.
[91]: Oviedo, Cronica, lib. iii. cap. 6.
[92]: Las Casas, lib. i. cap. 182. Two thousand ducats, or two thousand
eight hundred and forty-six dollars, equivalent to eight thousand five
hundred and thirty-eight dollars of the present day.
[93]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 10.
[94]: Peter Martyr, decad. i. lib. ix.
[95]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 12. Muñoz, Hist. N. Mundo, part
unpublished.
[96]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 2. Muñoz, part unpublished.
[97]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 2 Muñoz, part unpublished.
[98]: Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, vol. iii. p. 7. Vol. II.-9
[99]: Lafiteau, Conquetes des Portugais, lib. ii.
[100]: Robertson, Hist. America, book ii.
[101]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3.
[102]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 1, MS.
[103]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind. lib. ii. cap. 3, MS.
[104]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iv. cap. 12.
[105]: Muñoz, part inedit. Las Casas says the fleet consisted of thirty-two
sail. He states from memory, however; Muñoz from documents.
[106]: Muñoz, H. N. Mundo, part inedit.
[107]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3, MS.
[108]: Garibay, Hist. España, lib. xix. cap. 6. Among the collections
existing in the library of the late Prince Sebastian, there is a folio
which, among other things, contains a paper or letter, in which is a
calculation of the probable expenses of an army of twenty thousand men,
for the conquest of the Holy Land. It is dated in 1509 or 1510, and the
handwriting appears to be of the same time.
[109]: Columbus was not singular in his belief; it was entertained by many
of his zealous and learned admirers. The erudite lapidary, Jayme Ferrer,
in the letter written to Columbus in 1495, at the command of the
sovereigns, observes: "I see in this a great mystery: the divine and
infallible Providence sent the great St. Thomas from the west into the
east, to manifest in India our holy and Catholic faith; and you, Señor, he
sent in an opposite direction, from the east into the west, until you have
arrived in the Orient, into the extreme part of Upper India, that the
people may hear that which their ancestors neglected of the preaching of
St. Thomas. Thus shall be accomplished what was written, _in omnem
terram exibit sonus eorum_." ... And again, "The office which you hold,
Señor, places you in the light of an apostle and ambassador of God, sent
by his divine judgment, to make known his holy name in unknown
lands."--Letra de Mossen, Jayme Ferrer, Navarrete, Coleccion, tom. ii.
decad. 68. See also the opinion expressed by Agostino Giustiniani, his
contemporary, in his Polyglot Psalter.
[110]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 4. Las Casas specifics the vicinity of
Nombre de Dios as the place.
[111]: Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. ii. p. 145.
[112]: A manuscript volume containing a copy of this letter and of the
collection of prophecies is in the Columbian Library, in the Cathedral of
Seville, where the author of this work has seen and examined it since
publishing the first edition. The title and some of the early pages of the
work are in the handwriting of Fernando Columbus; the main body of the
work is by a strange hand, probably by the Friar Gaspar Gorricio, or some
brother of his Convent. There are trifling marginal notes or corrections,
and one or two trivial additions in the handwriting of Columbus,
especially a passage added after his return from his fourth voyage, and
shortly before his death, alluding to an eclipse of the moon which took
place during his sojourn in the island of Jamaica. The handwriting of this
last passage, like most of the manuscript of Columbus which the author has
seen, is small and delicate, but wants the firmness and distinctness of
his earlier writing, his hand having doubtless become unsteady by age and
infirmity.
This document is extremely curious as containing all the passages of
Scripture and of the works of the fathers which had so powerful an
influence on the enthusiastic mind of Columbus, and were construed by him
into mysterious prophecies and revelations. The volume is in good
preservation, excepting that a few pages have been cut out. The writing,
though of the beginning of the fifteenth century, is very distinct and
legible. The library-mark of the book is Estante Z. Tab. 138, No. 25.
[113]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 4.
[114]: These documents lay unknown in the Oderigo family until 1670, when
Lorenzo Oderigo presented them to the government of Genoa, and they were
deposited in the archives. In the disturbances and revolutions of after
times, one of these copies was taken to Paris, and the other disappeared.
In 1816 the latter was discovered in the library of the deceased Count
Michel Angelo Cambiaso, a senator of Genoa. It was procured by the king of
Sardinia, then sovereign of Genoa, and given up by him to the city of
Genoa in 1821. A custodia, or monument, was erected in that city for its
preservation, consisting of a marble column supporting an urn, surmounted
by a bust of Columbus. The documents were deposited in the urn. These
papers have been published, together with an historical memoir of
Columbus, by D. Gio. Battista Spotorno, Professor of Eloquence, etc. in
the University of Genoa.
[115]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88.
[116]: Señor Navarrete supposes this island to be the same at present
called Santa Lucia. From the distance between it and Dominica, as stated
by Fernando Columbus, it was more probably the present Martinica.
[117]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88.
[118]: Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom.
i.
[119]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 5.
[120]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 3.
[121]: Las Casas, cap. 5.
[122]: Las Casas, cap. 5.
[123]: Las Casas ubi sup.
[124]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 5. Hist. del Almirante, cap.
88.
[125]: Supposed to be the Morant Keys.
[126]: Called in some of the English maps Bonacca.
[127]: Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.
[128]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 20. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.
[129]: Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[130]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 90.
[131]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 80.
[132]: Letter from Jamaica. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[133]: Las Casas, lib ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91.
[134]: P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv. These may have been the lime, a
small and extremely acid species of the lemon.
[135]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91. Journal
of Porras.
[136]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91.
[137]: Letter from Jamaica.
[138]: Note.--We find instances of the same kind of superstition in the
work of Marco Polo, and as Columbus considered himself in the vicinity of
the countries described by that traveler, he may have been influenced in
this respect by his narrations. Speaking of the island of Soccotera
(Socotra), Marco Polo observes: "The inhabitants deal more in sorcery and
witchcraft than any other people, although forbidden by their archbishop,
who excommunicates and anathematizes them for the sin. Of this, however,
they make little account, and if any vessel belong to a pirate should
injure one of theirs, they do not fail to lay him under a spell, so that
he cannot proceed on his cruise until he has made satisfaction for the
damage; and even although he should have a fair and leading wind, they
have the power of causing it to change, and thereby obliging him, in spite
of himself, to return to the island. They can, in like manner, cause the
sea to become calm, and at their will can raise tempests, occasion
ship-wrecks, and produce many other extraordinary effects that need not be
particularized."--Marco Polo, Book iii. cap. 35, Eng. translation by W.
Marsden.
[139]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante cap. 91.
[140]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91. Letter of
Columbus from Jamaica.
[141]: In some English maps this bay is called Almirante, or Carnabaco Bay.
The channel by which Columbus entered is still called Boca del Almirante,
or the mouth of the Admiral.
[142]: Journal of Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.
[143]: P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. v.
[144]: Columbus' Letter from Jamaica.
[145]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 92.
[146]: Idem.
[147]: Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i. Vol.
II.--12.
[148]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist. del Almirante.
[149]: Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv.
[150]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 92.
[151]: Las Casas. lib. ii. cap. 23. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 92.
[152]: It appears doubtful whether Columbus was acquainted with the exact
particulars of that voyage, as they could scarcely have reached Spain
previously to his sailing. Bastides had been seized in Hispaniola by
Bobadilla, and was on board of that very fleet which was wrecked at the
time that Columbus arrived off San Domingo. He escaped the fate that
attended most of his companions, and returned to Spain, where he was
rewarded by the sovereigns for his enterprise. Though some of his seamen
had reached Spain previous to the sailing of Columbus, and had given a
general idea of the voyage, it is doubtful whether he had transmitted his
papers and charts. Porras, in his journal of the voyage of Columbus,
states that they arrived at the place where the discoveries of Bastides
terminated; but this information he may have obtained subsequently at San
Domingo.
[153]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 24. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 90.
[154]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 94.
[155]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 94.
[156]: A superstitious notion with respect to gold appears to have been
very prevalent among the natives. The Indians of Hispaniola observed the
same privations when they sought for it, abstaining from food and from
sexual intercourse. Columbus, who seemed to look upon gold as one of the
sacred and mystic treasures of the earth, wished to encourage similar
observances among the Spaniards; exhorting them to purify themselves for
the research of the mines by fasting, prayer, and chastity. It is scarcely
necessary to add, that his advice was but little attended to by his
rapacious and sensual followers.
[157]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.
[158]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.
[159]: Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv.
[160]: Letter of the Admiral from Jamaica.
[161]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 25. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 95.
[162]: Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.
[163]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 96.
[164]: Letter from Jamaica.
[165]: Equivalent to one thousand two hundred and eighty-one dollars at the
present day.
[166]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 98. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 27. Many of
the particulars of this chapter are from a short narrative given by Diego
Mendez, and inserted in his last will and testament. It is written in a
strain of simple egotism, as he represents himself as the principal and
almost the sole actor in every affair. The facts, however, have all the
air of veracity, and being given on such a solemn occasion, the document
is entitled to high credit. He will be found to distinguish himself on
another hazardous and important occasion in the course of this
history.--Vide Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[167]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 98. Las Casas, lib. ii. Letter of Columbus
from Jamaica. Relation of Diego Mendez, Navarrete, tom. i. Journal of
Porras, Navarrete, tom. i.
[168]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 99.
[169]: Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.
[170]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 99, 100. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 29.
Relacion por Diego Mendez. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica. Journal of
Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[171]: Hist. del Almirante. Letter from Jamaica.
[172]: Journal of Porras, Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[173]: Letter from Jamaica.
[174]: Testimony of Pedro de Ledesma. Pleito de los Colones.
[175]: Letter from Jamaica.
[176]: Idem.
[177]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 100. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.
[178]: Hist. del Almirante. Journal of Porras.
[179]: Relacion por Diego Mendez. Navarrete, torn. i.
[180]: Relacion por Diego Mendez. Navarrete, Colec, torn. i.
[181]: Joachim, native of the burgh of Celico, near Cozenza, traveled in
the Holy Land. Returning to Calabria, he took the habit of the Cistercians
in the monastery of Corazzo, of which he became prior and abbot, and
afterwards rose to higher monastic importance. He died in 1202, having
attained 72 years of age, leaving a great number of works; among the most
known are commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse. There are
also prophecies by him, "which," (says the Dictionnaire Historique,)
"during his life, made him to be admired by fools, and despised by men of
sense; at present the latter sentiment prevails. He was either very weak
or very presumptuous, to flatter himself that he had the keys of things of
which God reserves the knowledge to himself."--Dict. Hist., tom. 5, Caen,
1785.
[182]: Hist, del Almirante, cap. 101.
[183]: Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.
[184]: Letter of Columbus to his son Diego. Navarrete, Colec. Vol. II.-15
[185]: Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.
[186]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 32. Hist, del Almirante, cap.
102.
[187]: Hist, del Almirante, cap. 102.
[188]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 32.
[189]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 102. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 32.
[190]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 103. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap.
33.
[191]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 104.
[192]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33.
[193]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 33. Hist. del Almirante cap.
103.
[194]: Las Casas, ubi sup. Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.
[195]: Not far from the Island of Navasa there gushes up in the sea a pure
fountain of fresh water that sweetens the surface for some distance: this
circumstance was of course unknown to the Spaniards at the time. (Oviedo,
Cronica, lib. vi. cap. 12.)
[196]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 105. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 31.
Testament of Diego Mendez. Navarrete, tom. i.
[197]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 106.
[198]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 106. Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 35.
[199]: At present Mammee Bay.
[200]: Hist. del Almirante, ubi sup.
[201]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 107. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib ii. cap.
35.
[202]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 35.
[203]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 32.
[204]: Some brief notice of the further fortunes of Diego Mendez may be
interesting to the reader. When King Ferdinand heard of his faithful
services, says Oviedo, he bestowed rewards upon Mendez, and permitted him
to bear a canoe in his coat of arms, as a memento of his loyalty. He
continued devotedly attached to the admiral, serving him zealously after
his return to Spain, and during his last illness. Columbus retained the
most grateful and affectionate sense of his fidelity. On his death-bed he
promised Mendez that, in reward for his services, he should be appointed
principal Alguazil of the island of Hispaniola; an engagement which the
admiral's son, Don Diego, who was present, cheerfully undertook to
perform. A few years afterwards, when the latter succeeded to the office
of his father, Mendez reminded him of the promise, but Don Diego informed
him that he had given the office to his uncle Don Bartholomew; he assured
him, however, that he should receive something equivalent. Mendez shrewdly
replied, that the equivalent had better be given to Don Bartholomew, and
the office to himself, according to agreement. The promise, however,
remained unperformed, and Diego Mendez unrewarded. He was afterwards
engaged on voyages of discovery in vessels of his own, but met with many
vicissitudes, and appears to have died in impoverished circumstances. His
last will, from which these particulars are principally gathered, was
dated in Valladolid, the 19th of June, 1536, by which it is evident he
must have been in the prime of life at the time of his voyage with the
admiral. In this will he requested that the reward which had been promised
to him should be paid to his children, by making his eldest son principal
Alguazil for life of the city of San Domingo, and his other son lieutenant
to the admiral for the same city. It does not appear whether this request
was complied with under the successors of Don Diego.
In another clause of his will, he desired that a large stone should be
placed upon his sepulchre, on which should be engraved, "Here lies the
honorable Cavalier Diego Mendez, who served greatly the royal crown of
Spain, in the conquest of the Indies, with the admiral Don Christopher
Columbus, of glorious memory, who made the discovery; and afterwards by
himself, with ships at his own cost. He died, &c., &c. Bestow in charity a
Paternoster, and an Ave Maria."
He ordered that in the midst of this stone there should be carved an
Indian canoe, as given him by the king for armorial bearings in memorial
of his voyage from Jamaica to Hispaniola, and above it should be engraved
in large letters the word "CANOA." He enjoined upon his heirs to be loyal
to the admiral (Don Diego Columbus), and his lady, and gave them much
ghostly counsel, mingled with pious benedictions. As an heirloom in his
family, he bequeathed his library, consisting of a few volumes, which
accompanied him in his wanderings; viz. "The Art of Holy Dying, by
Erasmus; A sermon of the same author, in Spanish; The Lingua, and the
Colloquies of the same; The History of Josephus; The Moral Philosophy of
Aristotle; The Book of the Holy Land; A Book called the Contemplation of
the Passion of our Savior; A Tract on the Vengeance of the Death of
Agamemnon, and several other short treatises." This curious and
characteristic testament is in the archives of the Duke of Veragua in
Madrid.
[205]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 6.
[206]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 14, MS.
[207]: Idem, ubi sup.
[208]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.
[209]: Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12.
[210]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.
[211]: Charlevoix, Hist. San Domingo, lib. xxiv. p. 235.
[212]: Relacion hecha por Don Diego Mendez. Navarrete, Col., tom. i. p.
314.
[213]: Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12. Las Casas, Hist.
Ind., lib. ii. cap. 9.
[214]: Oviedo, Cronica de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. 12.
[215]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 8.
[216]: Las Casas, ubi. sup.
[217]: Las Casas, ubi. sup.
[218]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 17, MS.
[219]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 18.
[220]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 36.
[221]: Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, Seville, Nov. 21, 1504.
Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[222]: Letter of Columbus to his son Diego, dated Seville, 3d Dec., 1504.
Navarrete, tom. i. p. 341.
[223]: Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii. decad. 151, 152.
[224]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. v. cap. 12.
[225]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108. Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii.
cap. 36.
[226]: Let. Seville, 13 Dec., 1504. Navarrete, v. i. p. 343.
[227]: The dying command of Isabella has been obeyed. The author of this
work has seen her tomb in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Granada, in
which her remains are interred with those of Ferdinand. Their effigies,
sculptured in white marble, lie side by side on a magnificent sepulchre.
The altar of the chapel is adorned with bas reliefs representing the
conquest and surrender of Granada.
[228]: Elogio de la Reina Catolica por D. Diego Clemencin. Illustration 19.
[229]: Letter to his son Diego, Dec. 3,1504.
[230]: Letter of December 21,1504. Navarrete, torn. i. p. 346.
[231]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 37. Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad.
i. lib. vi. cap. 13.
[232]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind, lib. ii. cap. 37, MS.
[233]: Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[234]: Diego, the son of the admiral, notes in his own testament this
bequest of his father, and says, that he was charged by him to pay Beatrix
Enriquez 10,000 maravedis a year, which for some time he had faithfully
performed; but as he believes that for three or four years previous to her
death he had neglected to do so, he orders that the deficiency shall be
ascertained and paid to her heirs. Memorial ajustado sobre la propriedad
del mayorazgo que foudo D. Christ. Colon, § 245.
[235]: Cura de los Palacios, cap. 121.
[236]: Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 38. Hist, del Almirante, cap.
108.
[237]: D. Humboldt. Examen Critique.
[238]: Cladera, Investigaciones historias, p. 43.
[239]: Navarrete, Colec., tom. ii. p. 365.
[240]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. ii. lib. vii. cap. 4.
[241]: Extracts from the minutes of the process taken by the historian
Muñoz, MS.
[242]: Further mention will be found of this lawsuit in the article
relative to Amerigo Vespucci.
[243]: Charlevoix, ut supra, v. i. p. 272, id. 274.
[244]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 49, MS.
[245]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 49, MS.
[246]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. vii. cap, 12.
[247]: Idem.
[248]: Charlevoix, Hist. St. Domingo, p. 321.
[249]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad i. lib. ix. cap. 5.
[250]: Idem.
[251]: Herrera, decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 7.
[252]: Idem, decad. 1. lib. x. cap. 16.
[253]: Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming., lib. v.
[254]: Herrera, decad. ii. lib. ix. cap. 7.
[255]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. iii. lib. iv. cap. 9.
[256]: Idem, decad. iii. lib. v. cap. 4.
[257]: Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming., lib. Ti.
[258]: Herrera, decad. Hi. lib. Tut. cap. 15.
[259]: Memorial ajustado sobre el estado de Veragua.
Charlevoix mentions another son called Diego, and calls one of the
daughters Phillipine. Spotorno says that the daughter Maria took the veil;
confounding her with a niece. These are trivial errors, merely noticed to
avoid the imputation of inaccuracy. The account of the descendants of
Columbus here given, accords with a genealogical tree of the family,
produced before the council of the Indies, in a great lawsuit for the
estates.
[260]: Herrern, decad. iv. lib. ii. cap. 6.
[261]: Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming., lib. vi. p. 443.
[262]: Idem, tom. i. lib. vi. p. 446.
[263]: Spotorno, Hist. Colom., p. 123.
[264]: Bossi, Hist. Colom. Dissert., p. 67.
[265]: Idem, Dissert. on the Country of Columbus, p. 03.
[266]: Bossi, Dissertation on the Country of Columbus.
[267]: Spotorno, p. 127.
[268]: Literally, in the original, _Cazador de Volateria_, a Falconer.
Hawking was in those days an amusement of the highest classes; and to keep
hawks was almost a sign of nobility.
[269]: Herrera, decad. i. lib. i. cap. 7.
[270]: Dissertation, &c.
[271]: Bossi. French Translation, Paris, 1824, p. 09.
[272]: Idem.
[273]: Correspondence Astronom. Geograph. &c. de Baron du Zach, vol. 14,
cabier 6, lettera 29. 1826.
[274]: Felippo Alberto Pollero, Epicherema, cioe breve discorso per difess
di sua persona e carrattere. Torino, per Gio Battista Zappata. MCDXCVI.
(read 1696) in 40. pag. 47.
[275]: Spotorno, Eng. trans., pp. xi, xii.
[276]: Bossi, French trans., p. 76.
[277]: Idem, p. 88.
[278]: Cura de los Palacios, MS., cap. 118.
[279]: Alex. Geraldini, Itin. ad. Reg. sub. Aquinor.
[280]: Antonio Gallo, Anales of Genoa, Muratori, tom. 23.
[281]: Senarega, Muratori, tom. 24.
[282]: Foglieta, Elog. Clar. Ligur.
[283]: Grineus, Nov. Orb.
[284]: "Item. Mando el dicho Don Diego mi hijo, á la persona que heredare
el dicho mayorazgo, que tenga y sostenga siempre en la ciudad de Genova
una persona de nuestro linage que tenga alli casa é muger, é le ordene
renta con que pueda vivir honestamente, como persona tan llegada á nuestro
linage, y haga pie y raiz en la dicha ciudad como natural della, porque
podrá baber de la dicha ciudad ayuda e favor en las cosas del menester
suyo, _pues que della sali y en ella naci_."
[285]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 1.
[286]: Duke of Calabria was a title of the heir apparent to the crown of
Naples.
[287]: Colenuccio, Hist. Nap., lib. vii. cap. 17.
[288]: Zurita, Anales de Aragon, lib. xx. cap. 64.
[289]: Obras de Gareta de Resende, cap. 58, Avora, 1554.
[290]: Marco Antonio Coccio, better known under the name of Sabellicus, a
cognomen which he adopted on being crowned poet in the pedantic academy of
Pomponius Lætus. He was a contemporary of Columbus, and makes brief
mention of his discoveries in the eighth book of the tenth Ennead of his
universal history. By some writers he is called the Livy of his time;
others accuse him of being full of misrepresentations in favor of Venice.
The older Scaliger charges him with venality, and with being swayed by
Venetian gold.
[291]: Bandini vita d'Amerigo Vespucci.
[292]: Cosm. Munst., p. 1108.
[293]: These particulars are from manuscript memoranda, extracted from the
royal archives, by the late accurate historian Muñoz.
[294]: Bartolozzi, Recherche Historico. Firenze, 1789.
[295]: Panzer, tom. vi. p. 33, apud Esame Critico, p. 88, Antazione 1.
[296]: This rare book, in the possession of O. Rich, Esq., is believed to
be the oldest printed collection of voyages extant. It has not the pages
numbered; the sheets are merely marked with a letter of the alphabet at
the foot of each eighth page--It contains the earliest account of the
voyages of Columbus, from his first departure until his arrival at Cadiz
in chains. The letter of Vespucci to Lorenzo de Medici occupies the fifth
book of this little volume. It is stated to have been originally written
in Spanish, and translated into Italian by a person of the name of
Jocondo. An earlier edition is stated to have been printed in Venice by
Alberto Vercellese, in 1504. The author is said to have been Angelo
Trivigiani, secretary to the Venetian ambassador in Spain. This Trivigiani
appears to have collected many of the particulars of the voyages of
Columbus from the manuscript decades of Peter Martyr, who erroneously lays
the charge of the plagiarism to Aloysius Cadamosto, whose voyages are
inserted in the same collection. The book was entitled, "_Libretto di
tutta la navigazione del Re de Espagna, delle Isole e terreni nuovamente
trovati._"
[297]: Letter of Vespucci to Soderini or Renato--Edit. of Canovai.
[298]: Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. i. p. 351.
[299]: Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. v. Eden's English trans.
[300]: En este viage que este dicho testigo hizo trujo consigo a Juan de la
Cosa, piloto, e Morego Vespuche, e otros pilotos.
[301]: Per la necessitá del mantenimento fummo all' Isola d'Antiglia
(Hispaniola) che é questa che descoperse Cristoval Colombo piú anni fa,
dove facemmo molto mantenimento, e stemmo due mesi e 17 giorni; dove
passammo moti pericoli e travagli con li medesimi christiani que in questa
isola stavanno col Colombo (credo per invidia). Letter of Vespucci.--Edit.
of Canovai.
[302]: Preguntado como lo sabe; dijo--que lo sabe porque vió este testigo
la figura que el dicho Almirante al dicho tiempo embió á Castilla al Rey e
Reyna, nuestros Señores, de lo que habia descubierto, y porque este
testigo luego vino á descubrir y halló que era verdad lo que dicho tiene
que el dicho Almirante descubrió MS. Process of D. Diego Colon, Pregunta
2.
[303]: Este testigo escrivió úna carta que el Almirante escriviera al Rey a
Reyna N. N. S. S. haciendo les saber las perlas e cosas que habia hallado,
y le embió señalado con la dieba carta, en una carta de marear, los rumbos
y víentos por donde habia llegado á la Paria, e que este testigo oyó decir
como pr. aquella carte se habían hecho otras e por ellas habian venido
Pedro Alonzo Merino (Niño) e Ojeda e otros que despues han ido á aquellas
partes. Process of D. Diego Colon, Pregunta 9.
[304]: Idem, Pregunta 10.
[305]: Que en todos los viages qne algunos hicieron descubriendo en la
dicha tierra, ivan personas que ovieron navegado con el dicho Almirante, y
a ellos mostró muchas cosas de marear, y ellos por imitacion é industria
del dicho Almirante las aprendian y aprendieron, e seguendo ag°. que el
dicho Almirante les habia mostrado, hicieron los viages que desenbrieron
en la Tierra Firma. Process, Pregunta 10.
[306]: The first suggestion of the name appears to have been in the Latin
work already cited, published in St. Diez, in Lorraine, in 1507, in which
was inserted the letter of Vespucci to king René. The author, after
speaking of the other three parts of the world, Asia, Africa, and Europe,
recommends that the fourth ehall be called Amerigo, or America, after
Vespucci, whom he imagined its discoverer.
_Note to the Revised Edition, 1848._--Humboldt, in his Examen
Critique, published in Paris, in 1837, says: "I have been so happy as to
discover, very recently, the name and the literary relations of the
mysterious personage who (in 1507) was the first to propose the name of
America to designate the new continent, and who concealed himself under
the Grecianized name of Hylacomylas." He then, by a long and ingenious
investigation, shows that the real name of this personage was Martin
Waldseemüller, of Fribourg, an eminent cosmographer, patronized by René,
duke of Lorraine; who no doubt put in his hands the letter received by him
from Amerigo Vespucci. The geographical works of Waldseemüller, under the
assumed name of Hylacomylas, had a wide circulation, went through repeated
editions, and propagated the use of the name America throughout the world.
There is no reason to suppose that this application of the name was in any
wise suggested by Amerigo Vespucci. It appears to have been entirely
gratuitous on the part of Waldseemüller.
[307]: An instance of these errors may be cited in the edition of the
letter of Amerigo Vespucci to king René, inserted by Grinæus in his Novus
Orbis, in 1532. In this Vespucci is made to state that he sailed from
Cadiz May 20, MCCCCXCVII. (1497,) that he was eighteen months absent, and
returned to Cadiz October 15, MCCCCXCIX. (1499,) which would constitute an
absence of 29 months. He states his departure from Cadiz, on his second
voyage, Sunday, May 11th, MCCCCLXXXIX. (1489,) which would have made his
second voyage precede his first by eight years. If we substitute 1499 for
1489, the departure on his second voyage would still precede his return
from his first by five months. Canovai, in his edition, has altered the
date of the first return to 1498, to limit the voyage to eighteen months.
[308]: Gomara, Hist. Ind., cap. 14.
[309]: Navigatio Christophori Columbi, Madrignano Interprete. It is
contained in a collection of voyages called Novus Orbis Regionum, edition
of 1555, but was originally published in Italian as written by Montalbodo
Francanzano (or Francapano de Montaldo), in a collection of voyages
entitled Nuovo Mundo, in Vicenza, 1507.
[310]: Girolamo Benzoni, Hist, del Nuevo Mundo, lib. i. fo. 12. In Venetia,
1572.
[311]: Padre Joseph de Acosta, Hist. Ind., lib. i. cap. 19.
[312]: Juan de Mariana, Hist. Espana, lib. xxvi. cap. 3.
[313]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. ii. lib. iii. cap. 1.
[314]: Commentarios de los Incas, Lib. i. cap. 3.
[315]: Names of historians who either adopted this story in detail, or the
charge against Columbus, drawn from it.
Bernardo Aldrete, Antiguedad de España, lib. iv. cap. 17, p. 567.
Roderigo Caro, Antiguedad, lib. iii. cap. 76.
Juan de Solorzano, Ind. Jure, tom. i. lib. i. cap. 5.
Fernando Pizarro, Varones Ilust. del Nuevo Mundo, cap. 2.
Agostino Torniel, Annal. Sacr., tom. i. ann. Mund., 1931, No. 48.
Pet. Damarez or De Mariz, Dial. iv. de Var. Hist., cap. 4.
Gregorio Garcia, Orig. de los Indies, lib. i. cap. 4, 1.
Juan de Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. xviii. cap. 1.
John Baptiste Riccioli, Geograf. Reform., lib. iii.
To this list of old authors may be added many others of more recent date.
[316]: "Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Presbitero, Sevillano, escribio con
elegante estilo acerca de las cosas de las Indies, pero dexandose llevar
de falsas narraciones." Hijos de Sevilla, Numero ii. p. 42, Let. F. The
same is stated in Bibliotheca Hispaña Nova, lib. i. p. 437. "El Francisco
Lopez de Gomara escrivio tantos borrones é cosas que no son verdaderas, de
que ha hecho mucho daño a muchos escritores e coronistas, que despues del
Gomara han escrito en las cosas de la Nueva España ... es porque les ha
hecho errar el Gomara." Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Hist. de la Conquest de
la Nueva España, Fin de cap. 13.
"Tenía Gomara doctrina y estilo ... per empleose en ordinar sin
discernimiento lo que halló escrito por sus antecesores, y dió credito á
petrañas no solo falsas sino inverisimiles." Juan Bautista Muñoz, Hist. N.
Mundo, Prologo, p 18.
[317]: Vasconcelos, lib. 4.
[318]: Murr, Notice sur M. Behaim.
[319]: Barros, decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 1. Lisbon, 1552.
[320]: Investigations Historicas, Madrid, 1794.
[321]: Cladera, Investig. Hist., p. 115.
[322]: Forster's Northern Voyages, book ii. chap. 2.
[323]: This account is taken from Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 123. The passage
about gold and other metals is not to be found in the original Italian of
Ramusio, (tom. ii. p. 23,) and is probably an interpolation.
[324]: Hakluyt, Collect., vol. iii. p. 127.
[325]: Malte-Brun, Hist, de Geog., tom. i. lib. xvii.
[326]: Idem, Geog. Unirerselle, tom. xiv. Note sur la decouverte de
l'Amerique.
[327]: Gosselin, Recherches sur la Geographic des Anciens, tom. i. p. 162,
&c.
[328]: Memoirs de l'Acad. des Inscript., tom. xxvi.
[329]: Capmany, Questiones Criticas, Quest. 6.
[330]: Archives de Ind. en Sevilla.
[331]: Capmany, Queat. Crit.
[332]: The author of this work is indebted for this able examination of the
route of Columbus to an officer of the navy of the United States, whose
name he regrets the not being at liberty to mention. He has been greatly
benefited, in various parts of this history, by nautical information from
the same intelligent source.
[333]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. ix. cap. 10.
[334]: In the first chapter of Herrera's description of the Indies,
appended to his history, is another scale of the Bahama islands, which
corroborates the above. It begins at the opposite end, at the N. W., and
runs down to the S.E. It is thought unnecessary to cite it particularly.
[335]: See Caballero Pesos y Medidas. J. B. Say. Economic Politique.
[336]: In preparing the first edition of this work for the press the author
had not the benefit of the English translation of Marco Polo, published a
few years since, with admirable commentaries, by William Marsden, F. R. S.
He availed himself, principally, of an Italian version in the Venetian
edition of Ramusio (1606), the French translation by Bergeron, and an old
and very incorrect Spanish translation. Having since procured the work of
Mr. Marsden, he has made considerable alterations in these notices of
Marco Polo.
[337]: Ramusio, tom. iii.
[338]: Bergeron, by blunder in the translation from the original Latin, has
stated that the Khan sent 40,000 men to escort them. This has drawn the
ire of the critics upon Marco Polo, who have cited it as one of his
monstrous exaggerations.
[339]: Hist. des Voyages, tom, xxvii. lib. iv. cap. 3. Paris, 1549.
[340]: Ramusio, vol. ii. p. 17.
[341]: Mr. Marsden, who has inspected a splendid fac-simile of this map
preserved in the British Museum, objects even to the fundamental part of
it: "where," he observes, "situations are given to places that seem quite
inconsistent with the descriptions in the travels, and cannot be
attributed to their author, although inserted on the supposed authority of
his writings." Marsden's M. Polo, Introd., p. xlii.
[342]: Hist, des Voyages, torn. xl. lib. xi. ch, 4.
[343]: Another blunder in translation has drawn upon Marco Polo the
indignation of George Hornius, who (in his Origin of America, IV. 3)
exclaims, "Who can believe all that, he says of the city of Quinsai? as,
for example, that it has stone bridges twelve thousand miles high!" &c. It
is probable that many of the exaggerations in the accounts of Marco Polo
are in fact the errors of his translators.
Mandeville, speaking of this same city, which he calls Causai, says it is
built on the sea like Venice, and has twelve hundred bridges.
[344]: Sir George Staunton mentions this lake as being a beautiful sheet of
water, about three or four miles in diameter; its margin ornamented with
houses and gardens of Mandarines, together with temples, monasteries for
the priests of Fo, and an imperial palace.
[345]: Supposed to be those islands collectively called Japan. They are
named by the Chinese Ge-pen; the terminating syllable _go_, added by
Marco Polo, is supposed to be the Chinese word _kue_, signifying
kingdom, which is commonly annexed to the names of foreign countries. As
the distance of the nearest part of the southern island from the coast of
China near Ning-po is not more than five hundred Italian miles, Mr.
Marsden supposes Marco Polo, in stating it to be 1500, means Chinese miles
or li, which are in the proportion of somewhat more than one-third of the
former.
[346]: Aristot., 2 Met. cap. 5.
[347]: Pliny, lib. i. cap. 61.
[348]: Feyjoo, Theatre Critico, tom. iv. d. 10, § 29.
[349]: Lib. iv. de la Chancelaria del Key Dn. Juan II, fol. 101.
[350]: Torre do Tombo. Lib. das Ylhas, f. 119.
[351]: Fr. Gregorio Garcia, Origen de los Indios, lib. i. cap. 9.
[352]: Sigeberto, Epist. ad Tietmar. Abbat.
[353]: Nuñez de la l'ena. Conquist de la Gran Canaria.
[354]: Ptolemy, lib. iv. tom. iv.
[355]: Fr. D. Philipo, lib. viii. fol. 25.
[356]: Hist. Isl. Can., lib. i. cap. 28.
[357]: Nuñez de la Pena, lib. i. cap. 1. Viera, Hist Isl. Can., tom. i.
cap. 28.
[358]: Nuñez, Conquista le Gran Canaria. Viera, Hist. &c.
[359]: Viera, Hist. Isl. Can., tom. i. cap. 28.
[360]: Idem.
[361]: Viera, Hist. Isl. Can., tom. i. cap. 28.
[362]: Viera, ubi sup.
[363]: Theatro Critico, tom. iv. d. x.
[364]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 10.
[365]: Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. iv. cap. 4. Origen de los Indios
por Fr. Gregorio Garcia, lib. iv. cap. 20.
[366]: Barros, Asia, decad. i. lib. i. cap. 3.
[367]: Navarrete, Colec. Viag., tom. i. Introd. p. lxx.
[368]: T. A. Llorente, Oeuvres de Las Casas, p. xi. Paris, 1822.
[369]: Herrera clearly states this as an expedient adopted when others
failed. "Bartolomé de las Casas, viendo que sus conceptos hallaban en
todas partes dificultad, i que las opiniones que tenla, por mucha
familiaridad que havia seguido i gran credito con el gran Canciller, no
podian haber efecto, _se volvio a otros expedientes, &c_."--Decad.
ii. lib. ii. cap. 2.
[370]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. iii. lib. ii. cap. 4.
[371]: Idem, decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 20.
[372]: Idem, decad. ii. lib. iii. cap. 8.
[373]: 1 Herrera, d. i. lib. vi. cap. 20.
[374]: Idem, d. i. lib. viii. cap. 9.
[375]: Idem, d. i. lib. ix. cap. 5.
[376]: Robertson, Hist. America, p. 3.
[377]: Porque como iban faltando los Indios i se conocia que un negro
trabajaba, mas que quatro, por lo qual habia gran dem anda de ellos,
parccia que se podia poner algun tributo en la saca, de que resultaria
provecho á la Rl. Hacienda. Herrera, decad. ii. lib. ii. cap. 8.
[378]: De Marsolier, Hist. du Ministere Cardinal Ximenes, lib. vi.
Toulouse, 1694.
[379]: In this notice the author has occasionally availed himself of the
interesting memoir of Mon. J. A. Idorente, prefixed to his collection of
the works of Las Casas, collating it with the history of Herrera, from
which its facts are principally derived.
[380]: Navarrete, Colec. de Viag., tom. i. p. lxxv.
[381]: Opus Epist. P. Martyris Anglerii, Epist. 131.
[382]: Opus Epist. P. Martyris Anglerii, Epist. 134.
[383]: Opus Epist. P. Martyrin Anglerii, Epist. 135.
[384]: Idem, Epist. 141.
[385]: Idem, Epist. 147.
[386]: Cura de los Palacios, cap. 7.
[387]: Bibliotheca Pinello.
[388]: Herrera, decad ii. lib. ii. cap. 3.
[389]: Idem, decad. iii. lib. iv. cap. 3.
[390]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. iii. lib. i. cap. 15.
[391]: Idem, decad. iii. lib. iv. cap. 3.
[392]: Salazar, Conq. de Mexico, lib. i. cap. 2.
[393]: Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. iii. lib. i. cap. 1.
[394]: Idem, decad. iii. lib. iv. cap. 3.
[395]: Gosselin, Recherches sur la Geog. des Anciens, tom. i.
[396]: Feyjoo, Theatro Critico, lib. vii. § 2.
[397]: Herodot., lib. iii. Virg. Georg. i. Pomp. Mela, lib. iii. cap. 10.
[398]: St. August., lib. ix. cap. 6. Sup. Genesis.
[399]: St. Basíllíus was called the great. His works were read and admired
by all the world, even by Pagans. They are written in an elevated and
majestic style, with great splendor of idea, and vast erudition.
[400]: St. Ambros., Opera. Edit. Coignard. Parisiis, MDCXC.
[401]: Paradisus autem in Oriente, in altissimo monte, de cujus cacumine
cadentes aquos, maximum faciunt lacum, que in suo casu tantum faciunt
strepitum et fragorem, quod ornnes incolæ, juxta prædictum lacum nascuntur
surdi, ex immoderato sonitu seu fragore sensum auditus in parvulis
corrumpente. _Ul dicit Basilius in Hexameron, similiter et Ambros._
Ex illo lacu, velut ex uno fonte, procedunt ilia flumina quatuor, Phison,
qui et Ganges, Gyon, qui et Nilus dicitur, et Tigris ac Euphrates. Bart.