TO THE SAME CARDINAL LUDOVICO D'ARAGON
On the third day of the calends of June, 1498,[1] Columbus sailed from
the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, which is situated at the mouth
of the Guadalquivir not far from Cadiz. His fleet consisted of eight
heavily freighted ships. He avoided his usual route by way of the
Canaries, because of certain French pirates who were lying in wait for
him. Seven hundred and twenty miles north of the Fortunate Isles he
sighted Madeira, which lies four degrees to the south of Seville; for
at Seville, according to the mariners' report, the north star rises
to the 36th degree, whereas at Madeira it is in the 32d. Madeira was,
therefore, his first stop, and from thence he despatched five or six
ships loaded with provisions directly to Hispaniola, only keeping for
himself one ship with decks and two merchant caravels. He laid his
course due south and reached the equinoctial line, which he purposed
to follow directly to the west, making new discoveries and leaving
Hispaniola to the north on his starboard side. The thirteen islands
of the Hesperides lie in the track of this voyage. They belong to the
Portuguese, and all, save one, are inhabited. They are called the Cape
Verde islands, and are distant only a day's sail from the western part
of Ethiopia. To one of these islands the Portuguese have given the
name of Bona Vista[2]; and each year numerous lepers are cured of
their malady by eating the turtles of this island.
[Note 1: The date was May 30, 1498, and the number of ships under
his command was six, instead of eight. Much delay had occurred in
fitting out the fleet for the voyage, owing to the poor management of
the royal functionaries, especially the Bishop of Burgos, whose enmity
towards Columbus was from thenceforward relentless.]
[Note 2: Properly _Boavista_. A leper colony had been established
here by the Portuguese.]
The climate being very bad, the Admiral quickly left the archipelago
behind, and sailed 480 miles towards the west-south-west. He reports
that the dead calms and the fierce heat of the June sun caused such
sufferings that his ships almost took fire. The hoops of his water
barrels burst, and the water leaked out. His men found this heat
intolerable. The pole star was then at an elevation of five degrees.
Of the eight days during which they endured these sufferings only the
first was clear; the others being cloudy and rainy, but not on that
account less oppressive. More than once, indeed, did he repent having
taken this course. After eight days of these miseries a favourable
wind rose from the south-west, by which the Admiral profited to sail
directly west, and under this parallel he observed new stars in the
heavens, and experienced a more agreeable temperature. In fact,
all his men agree in saying that after three days' sailing in that
direction, the air was much cooler. The Admiral affirms that, while
he was in the region of dead calms and torrid heat, the ship always
mounted the back of the sea, just as when climbing a high mountain one
seems to advance towards the sky, and yet, nevertheless, he had seen
no land on the horizon. Finally, on the eve of the calends of July, a
watcher announced with a joyful cry, from the crow's nest, that he saw
three lofty mountains.[3] He exhorted his companions to keep up their
courage. The men were, indeed, much depressed, not merely because they
had been scorched by the sun, but because the water-supply was short.
The barrels had been sprung by the extreme heat, and lost the water
through the cracks. Full of rejoicing they advanced, but as they were
about to touch land they perceived that this was impossible, because
the sea was dotted with reefs, although in the neighbourhood they
descried a harbour which seemed a spacious one. From their ships
the Spaniards could see that the country was inhabited and well
cultivated; for they saw well-ordered gardens and shady orchards,
while the sweet odours, exhaled by plants and trees bathed in the
morning dew, reached their nostrils.
[Note 3: Alonzo Perez Nirando, a sailor from Huelva, made the
joyous announcement, and the sailors sang the _Salve Regina_ in
thanksgiving. Columbus named the island _Trinidad_, having already
decided to dedicate the first sighted land to the Holy Trinity. The
three mountain peaks close together seemed to render the name all the
more appropriate.]
Twenty miles from that place, the Admiral found a sufficiently large
port to shelter his ships, though no river flowed into it. Sailing
farther on he finally discovered a satisfactory harbour for repairing
his vessels and also replenishing his supply of water and wood.
He called this land Punta del Arenal.[4] There was no sign of any
habitation in the neighbourhood of the harbour, but there were many
tracks of animals similar to goats, and in fact the body of one of
those animals, closely resembling a goat, was found. On the morrow, a
canoe was seen in the distance carrying eighty men, all of whom were
young, good-looking, and of lofty stature. Besides their bows and
arrows they were armed with shields, which is not the custom among the
other islanders. They wore their hair long, parted in the middle,
and plastered down quite in the Spanish fashion. Save for their
loin-cloths of various coloured cottons, they were entirely naked.
[Note 4: The narrative at this point is somewhat sketchy, but
the author, doubtless, faithfully recounted the events as they were
reported to him. The ships approached the island from the east, and
then coasted its shore for five leagues beyond the cape named by
Columbus _La Galera_, because of it's imagined resemblance to a galley
under sail. The next day he continued his course westwards, and named
another headland _Punta de la Playa_; this was a Wednesday, August the
first; and as the fleet passed between La Galera and La Playa, the
South American continent was first discovered, some twenty-five
leagues distant. Fernando Columbus affirms that his father, thinking
it was another island, called it _Isla Santa_; but in reality Columbus
named the continent _Tierra de Gracia_. Punta del Arenal forms the
south-western extremity of the island and is separated by a channel,
according to Columbus, two leagues broad.]
The Admiral's opinion was that this country was nearer to the sky than
any other land situated in the same parallel and that it was above the
thick vapours which rose from the valleys and swamps, just as the high
peaks of lofty mountains are distant from the deep valleys. Although
Columbus declared that during this voyage he had followed without
deviation the parallel of Ethiopia, there are the greatest possible
physical differences between the natives of Ethiopia and those of the
islands; for the Ethiopians are black and have curly, woolly hair,
while these natives are on the contrary white, and have long,
straight, blond hair. What the causes of these differences may be, I
do not know. They are due rather to the conditions of the earth than
to those of the sky; for we know perfectly well that snow falls and
lies on the mountains of the torrid zone, while in northern countries
far distant from that zone the inhabitants are overcome by great heat.
In order to attract the natives they had met, the Admiral made them
some presents of mirrors, cups of bright polished brass, bells, and
other similar trifles, but the more he called to them, the more
they drew off. Nevertheless, they looked intently and with sincere
admiration at our men, their instruments and their ships, but without
laying down their oars. Seeing that he could not attract them by his
presents, the Admiral ordered his trumpets and flutes to be played,
on the largest ship, and the men to dance and sing a chorus. He hoped
that the sweetness of the songs and the strange sounds might win them
over, but the young men imagined that the Spaniards were singing
preparatory to engaging in battle, so in the twinkling of an eye they
dropped their oars and seized their bows and arrows, protecting their
arms with their shields, and, while waiting to understand the meaning
of the sounds, stood ready to let fly a volley against our men. The
Spaniards sought to draw near little by little, in such wise as to
surround them; but the natives retreated from the Admiral's vessel
and, confident in their ability as oarsmen, they approached so near to
one of the smaller ships that from the poop a cloak was given to the
pilot of the canoe, and a cap to another chief. They made signs to the
captain of the ship to come to land, in order that they might the more
easily come to an understanding; but when they saw that the captain
drew near to the Admiral's vessel to ask permission to land, they
feared some trap, and quickly jumped into their canoe and sped away
with the rapidity of the wind.
The Admiral relates that to the west of that island and not far
distant he came upon a strong current flowing from east to west.[5] It
ran with such force that he compared its violence to that of a vast
cataract flowing from a mountain height. He declared that he had never
been exposed to such serious danger since he began, as a boy, to sail
the seas. Advancing as best he could amongst these raging waves,
he discovered a strait some eight miles long, which resembled the
entrance of a large harbour. The current flowed towards that strait,
which he called Boca de la Sierpe, naming an island beside it,
Margarita. From this strait there flowed another current of fresh
water, thus coming into conflict with the salt waters and causing such
waves that there seemed to rage between the two currents a terrible
combat. In spite of these difficulties, the Admiral succeeded in
penetrating into the gulf, where he found the waters drinkable and
agreeable.
[Note 5: Columbus was then near the mouth of the Orinoco River.]
Another very singular thing the Admiral has told me, and which is
confirmed by his companions (all worthy of credence and whom I
carefully questioned concerning the details of the voyage), is that he
sailed twenty-six leagues, that is to say, one hundred and forty-eight
miles, in fresh water; and the farther he advanced to the west,
the fresher the water became.[6] Finally, he sighted a very lofty
mountain, of which the eastern part was inhabited only by a multitude
of monkeys with very long tails. All this side of the mountain is
very steep, which explains why no people live there. A man, sent to
reconnoitre the country, reported however that it was all cultivated
and that the fields were sown, though nowhere were there people or
huts. Our own peasants often go some distance from their homes to sow
their fields. On the western side of the mountain was a large plain.
The Spaniards were well satisfied to drop anchor in such a great
river.[7] As soon as the natives knew of the landing of an unknown
race on their coasts, they collected about the Spaniards anxious to
examine them, and displaying not the slightest fear. It was learned by
signs that that country was called Paria, that it was very extensive,
and that its population was most numerous in its western part. The
Admiral invited four natives to come on board and continued his course
to the west.
[Note 6: See _Orinoco Illustrado_, by Gumilla, 1754, also
Schomburgk's _Reisen in Guiana und Orinoco_. The fresh waters of the
estuary are in fact driven a considerable distance out to sea.]
[Note 7: This was the first landing of the Spaniards on the
American continent, but Columbus, being ill, did not go on shore.
Pedro de Torreros took possession in the Admiral's name (Navarrete,
tom. iii., p. 569). Fernando Columbus states that his father suffered
from inflamed eyes, and that from about this time he was forced to
rely for information upon his sailors and pilots (_Storia_, cap.
lxv.-lxxiii.). He seemed nevertheless to divine the immensity of the
newly discovered land, for he wrote to the sovereigns _y creo
esta tierra que agora, mandaron discrubir vuestras altezzas sea
grandissima_.]
Judging by the agreeable temperature, the attractiveness of the
country, and the number of people they daily saw during their voyage,
the Spaniards concluded that the country is a very important one, and
in this opinion they were not wrong, as we shall demonstrate at the
proper time. One morning at the break of dawn the Spaniards landed,
being attracted by the charm of the country and the sweet odours
wafted to them from the forests. They discovered at that point a
larger number of people than they had thus far seen, and as they were
approaching the shore, messengers came in the name of the caciques
of that country, inviting them to land and to have no fears. When
Columbus refused, the natives urged by curiosity, flocked about the
ships in their barques. Most of them wore about their necks and arms,
collars and bracelets of gold and ornaments of Indian pearls, which
seemed just as common amongst them as glass jewelry amongst our
women. When questioned as to whence came the pearls, they answered by
pointing with their fingers to a neighbouring coast; by grimaces and
gestures they seemed to indicate that if the Spaniards would stop with
them they would give them basketfuls of pearls. The provisions which
the Admiral destined for the colony at Hispaniola were beginning to
spoil, so he resolved to defer this commercial operation till a more
convenient opportunity. Nevertheless he despatched two boats loaded
with soldiers, to barter with the people on land for some strings of
pearls and, at the same time, to discover whatever they could about
the place and its people. The natives received these men with
enthusiasm and pleasure, and great numbers surrounded them, as though
they were inspecting something marvellous. The first who came forward
were two distinguished persons, for they were followed by the rest of
the crowd. The first of these men was aged and the second younger,
so that it was supposed they were the father and his son and future
successor. After exchanging salutations the Spaniards were conducted
to a round house near a large square. Numerous seats of very black
wood decorated with astonishing skill were brought, and when the
principal Spaniards and natives were seated, some attendants served
food and others, drink. These people eat only fruits, of which they
have a great variety, and very different from ours. The beverages they
offered were white and red wine, not made from grapes but from various
kinds of crushed fruits, which were not at all disagreeable.
This repast concluded, in company with the elder chief, the younger
one conducted the Spaniards to his own house, men and women crowding
about in great numbers, but always in separate groups from one
another.
The natives of both sexes have bodies as white as ours, save those
perhaps who pass their time in the sun. They were amiable, hospitable,
and wore no clothes, save waist-cloths of various coloured cotton
stuffs. All of them wore either collars or bracelets of gold or
pearls, and some wore both, just as our peasants wear glass jewelry.
When they were asked whence the gold came, they indicated with the
finger that it was from a mountainous country, appearing at the
same time to dissuade our men from going there, for they made them
understand by gestures and signs that the inhabitants of that country
were cannibals. It was not, however, entirely clear whether they meant
cannibals or savage beasts. They were much vexed to perceive that the
Spaniards did not understand them, and that they possessed no means of
making themselves intelligible to one another. At three o'clock in
the afternoon the men who had been sent on shore returned, bringing
several strings of pearls, and the Admiral, who could not prolong his
stay, because of his cargo of provisions, raised anchor and sailed. He
intends, however, after putting the affairs of Hispaniola in order,
shortly to return. It was another than he who profited by this
important discovery.
The shallowness of the sea and the numerous currents, which at each
change of the tide dashed against and injured the lesser vessels,
much retarded the Admiral's progress, and to avoid the perils of the
shallows he always sent one of the lighter caravels ahead; this vessel
being of short draught took repeated soundings and the other larger
ones followed. At that time two provinces of the vast region of Paria,
Cumaná and Manacapana, were reached, and along their shores the
Admiral coasted for two hundred miles. Sixty leagues farther on begins
another country called Curiana. As the Admiral had already covered
such a distance, he thought the land lying ahead of him was an island,
and that if he continued his course to the west he would be unable to
get back to the north and reach Hispaniola. It was then that he came
upon the mouth of a river whose depth was thirty cubits, with an
unheard-of width which he described as twenty-eight leagues. A little
farther on, always in a westerly direction though somewhat to the
south, since he followed the line of the coast, the Admiral sailed
into a sea of grass of which the seeds resemble those of the lentil.
The density of this growth retarded the advance of the ships.
The Admiral declares that in the whole of that region the day
constantly equals the night. The north star is elevated as in Paria
to five degrees above the horizon, and all the coasts of that newly
discovered country are on the same parallel. He likewise reports
details concerning the differences he observed in the heavens, which
are so contradictory to astronomical theories that I wish to make some
comments. It is proven, Most Illustrious Prince, that the polar star,
which our sailors call Tramontane, is not the point of the arctic pole
upon which the axis of the heavens turns. To realise this easily,
it is only necessary to look through a small hole at the pole star
itself, when the stars are rising. If one then looks through the same
aperture at the same star when dawn is paling the stars, it will be
seen that it has changed its place; but how can it be in this newly
discovered country that the star rises at the beginning of twilight in
the month of June to a height of only five degrees above the horizon,
and when the stars are disappearing before the sunrise, it should be
found by the same observer to be in the fifteenth degree? I do not at
all understand it, and I must confess the reasons the Admiral gives
by no means satisfy me. Indeed, according to his conjectures, the
terrestrial globe is not an absolute sphere, but had at the time of
its creation a sort of elevation rising on its convex side, so that
instead of resembling a ball or an apple, it was more like a pear, and
Paria would be precisely that elevated part, nearest to the sky.
He has also persisted in affirming that the earthly paradise[8] is
situated on the summit of those three mountains, which the watcher
from the height of the crow's nest observed in the distance, as I have
recounted. As for the impetuous current of fresh water which rushed
against the tide of the sea at the beginning of that strait, he
maintains that it is formed of waters which fall in cascades from the
heights of these mountains. But we have had enough of these things
which to me seem fabulous. Let us return to our narrative.
[Note 8: Speaking of the earthly paradise, Columbus describes it
as _adonde ne puede llegar nadie, sabro par voluntad divina_. Vespucci
it was who thought it would be found in the New World; _se nel mondo e
alcun paradiso terrestre_.]
Seeing his course across that vast gulf had, contrary to his
expectation, been arrested, and fearing to find no exit towards the
north through which he might reach Hispaniola, the Admiral retraced
his course and sailing north of that country he bent towards the east
in the direction of Hispaniola.
Those navigators who later explored this region more carefully believe
that it is the Indian continent, and not Cuba, as the Admiral thought;
and there are not wanting mariners who pretend that they have sailed
all round Cuba. Whether they are right or whether they seek to gratify
their jealousy of the author of a great discovery, I am not bound to
decide.[9] Time will decide, and Time is the only truthful judge. The
Admiral likewise discusses the question whether or not Paria is
a continent; he himself thinks it is. Paria lies to the south of
Hispaniola, a distance of 882 leagues, according to Columbus. Upon the
third day of the calends of September of the year 1498, he reached
Hispaniola, most anxious to see again his soldiers and his brother
whom he had left there. But, as commonly happens in human affairs,
fortune, however favourable, mingles with circumstances, sweet and
pleasant, some grain of bitterness. In this case it was internecine
discord which marred his happiness.
[Note 9: Rivalry and perhaps jealousy existed among the
navigators, each bent on eclipsing the achievements of his fellows,
and the former feeling was a spur to enterprise. Yañez Pinzon, Amerigo
Vespucci, Juan Diaz de Solis all explored the American coasts,
discovering Yucatan, Florida, Texas, and Honduras.]