hundred leagues to the westward of the Azores, I found the temperature
change: and this is so all along from north to south. I determined,
therefore, if it should please the Lord to give me a favourable wind and
good weather, so that I might leave the part where I then was, that I
would give up pursuing the southward course, yet not turn backwards, but
sail towards the west, moving in that direction in the hope of finding
the same temperature that I had experienced when I sailed in the parallel
of the Canaries,—and then, if it proved so, I should still be able to
proceed more to the south. At the end of these eight days it pleased
our Lord to give me a favourable east wind, and I steered to the west,
but did not venture to move lower down towards the south, because I
discovered a very great change in the sky and the stars, although I found
no alteration in the temperature. I resolved, therefore, to keep on the
direct westward course, in a line from Sierra Leone, and not to change
it until I reached the point where I had thought I should find land,
where I would repair the vessels, and renew, if possible, our stock of
provisions, and take in what water we wanted. At the end of seventeen
days, during which our Lord gave me a propitious wind, we saw land at
noon of Tuesday the 31st of July.[165] This I had expected on the Monday
before, and held that route up to this point; but as the sun’s strength
increased, and our supply of water was failing, I resolved to make for
the Caribee Islands, and set sail in that direction; when, by the mercy
of God, which He has always extended to me, one of the sailors went up
to the main-top and saw to the westward a range of three mountains. Upon
this we repeated the “Salve Regina,” and other prayers, and all of us
gave many thanks to our Lord. I then gave up our northward course, and
put in for the land: at the hour of complines we reached a cape, which I
called Cape Galea,[166] having already given to the island the name of
Trinidad, and here we found a harbour, which would have been excellent
but there was no good anchorage. We saw houses and people on the spot,
and the country around was very beautiful, and as fresh and green as
the gardens of Valencia in the month of March. I was disappointed at
not being able to put into the harbour, and ran along the coast to
the westward. After sailing five leagues I found very good bottom and
anchored. The next day I set sail in the same direction, in search of a
harbour where I might repair the vessels and take in water, as well as
improve the stock of provisions which I had brought out with me. When
we had taken in a pipe of water, we proceeded onwards till we reached
the cape, and there finding good anchorage and protection from the east
wind, I ordered the anchors to be dropped, the water-cask to be repaired,
a supply of water and wood to be taken in, and the people to rest
themselves from the fatigues which they had endured for so long a time.
I gave to this point the name of Sandy Point (Punta del Arenal). All
the ground in the neighbourhood was filled with foot-marks of animals,
like the impression of the foot of a goat;[167] but although it would
have appeared from this circumstance that they were very numerous, only
one was seen, and that was dead. On the following day a large canoe
came from the eastward, containing twenty-four men, all in the prime
of life, and well provided with arms, such as bows, arrows, and wooden
shields; they were all, as I have said, young, well-proportioned, and
not dark black, but whiter than any other Indians that I had seen,—of
very graceful gesture and handsome forms, wearing their hair long and
straight, and cut in the Spanish style. Their heads were bound round
with cotton scarfs elaborately worked in colours, which resembled the
Moorish head-dresses. Some of these scarfs were worn round the body and
used as a covering in lieu of trousers. The natives spoke to us from
the canoe while it was yet at a considerable distance, but none of us
could understand them; I made signs to, them, however, to come nearer
to us, and more than two hours were spent in this manner,—but if by any
chance they moved a little nearer, they soon pushed off again. I caused
basins and other shining objects to be shown to them to tempt them to
come near; and after a long time, they came somewhat nearer than they
had hitherto done,—upon which, as I was very anxious to speak with them
and had nothing else to show them to induce them to approach, I ordered
a drum to be played upon the quarter-deck, and some of our young men
to dance, believing the Indians would come to see the amusement. No
sooner, however, did they perceive the beating of the drum and the
dancing, than they all left their oars, and strung their bows, and each
man laying hold of his shield, they commenced discharging their arrows
at us; upon this, the music and dancing soon ceased; and I ordered a
charge to be made from some of our cross-bows; they then left us, and
went rapidly to the other caravel, and placed themselves under its poop.
The pilot of that vessel received them courteously, and gave to the man
who appeared to be their chief, a coat and hat; and it was then arranged
between them, that he should go to speak with him on shore. Upon this the
Indians immediately went thither and waited for him; but as he would not
go without my permission, he came to my ship in a boat, whereupon the
Indians got into their canoe again and went away, and I never saw any
more of them or of any of the other inhabitants of the island. When I
reached the point of Arenal, I found that the island of Trinidad formed
with the land of Gracia[168] a strait of two leagues’ width from west to
east, and as we had to pass through it to go to the north, we found some
strong currents which crossed the strait, and which made a great roaring,
so that I concluded there must be a reef of sand or rocks, which would
preclude our entrance; and behind this current was another and another,
all making a roaring noise like the sound of breakers against the rocks.
I anchored there, under the said point of Arenal, outside of the strait,
and found the water rush from east to west with as much impetuosity as
that of the Guadalquivir at its conflux with the sea; and this continued
constantly day and night, so that it appeared to be impossible to move
backwards for the current or forwards for the shoals. In the dead of
night, while I was on deck, I heard an awful roaring that came from the
south towards the ship; I stopped to observe what it might be, and I saw
the sea rolling from west to east like a mountain as high as the ship,
and approaching by little and little; on the top of this rolling sea came
a mighty wave roaring with a frightful noise and the same terrific uproar
as the other currents, producing, as I have already said, a sound as of
breakers upon the rocks.[169] To this day I have a vivid recollection
of the dread I then felt, lest the ship might founder under the force
of that tremendous sea; but it passed by, and reached the mouth of the
before-mentioned passage, where the uproar lasted for a considerable
time. On the following day I sent out boats to take soundings, and found
that in the strait, at the deepest part of the embouchure, there were
six or seven fathoms of water, and that there were constant contrary
currents, one running inwards, and the other outwards. It pleased the
Lord, however, to give us a favourable wind, and I passed inwards through
that strait, and soon came to still water. In fact some water which was
drawn up from the sea, proved to be fresh. I then sailed northwards till
I came to a very high mountain, at about twenty-six leagues from the
Punta del Arenal; here two lofty headlands appeared, one towards the
east, and forming part of the island of Trinidad,[170] and the other, on
the west, being part of the land which I have already called Gracia;[171]
we found here a channel still narrower than that of Arenal,[172] with
similar currents, and a tremendous roaring of water; the water here also
was fresh. Hitherto I had held no communication with any of the people of
this country, although I very earnestly desired it; I therefore sailed
along the coast westwards, and the further I advanced, the fresher and
more wholesome I found the water; and when I had proceeded a considerable
distance, I reached a spot where the land appeared to be cultivated.
There I anchored, and sent the boats ashore, and the men who went in them
found the natives had recently left the place; they also observed that
the mountain was covered with monkeys. They came back, and as the coast
at that part presented nothing but a chain of mountains, I concluded that
further west we should find the land flatter, and consequently in all
probability inhabited. Actuated by this thought I weighed anchor, and
ran along the coast until we came to the end of the cordillera; I then
anchored at the mouth of a river, and we were soon visited by a great
number of the inhabitants, who informed us, that the country was called
Paria, and that further westward it was more fully peopled. I took four
of these natives, and proceeded on my westward voyage; and when I had
gone eight leagues further, I found on the other side of a point which
I called Punta de la Aguja (Needle Point)[173] one of the most lovely
countries in the world, and very thickly peopled: it was three o’clock
in the morning when I reached it, and seeing its verdure and beauty, I
resolved to anchor there and communicate with the inhabitants. Some of
the natives soon came out to the ship, in canoes, to beg me, in the name
of their king, to go on shore; and when they saw that I paid no attention
to them, they came to the ship in their canoes in countless numbers, many
of them wearing pieces of gold on their breasts, and some with bracelets
of pearls on their arms; on seeing which I was much delighted, and made
many inquiries with the view of learning where they found them. They
informed me, that they were to be procured in their own neighbourhood,
and also northward of that country. I would have remained here, but the
provisions of corn, and wine, and meats, which I had brought out with so
much care for the people whom I had left behind, were nearly wasted, so
that all my anxiety was to get them into a place of safety, and not to
stop for any thing. I wished, however, to get some of the pearls that I
had seen, and with that view sent the boats on shore. The natives are
very numerous, and all handsome in person, and of the same colour as
the Indians we had already seen; they are, moreover, very affable, and
received our men who went on shore most courteously, seeming very well
disposed towards us. These men relate, that when the boats reached the
shore, two of the chiefs, whom they took to be father and son, came
forward in advance of the mass of the people, and conducted them to a
very large house with façades, and not round and tent-shaped as the
other houses were; in this house were many seats, on which they made our
men sit down, they themselves sitting with them. They then caused bread
to be brought, with many kinds of fruits, and various sorts of wine,
both white and red, not made of grapes, but apparently produced from
different fruits. The most reasonable inference is, that they use maize,
which is a plant that bears an ear like that of wheat, some of which I
took with me to Spain, where it now grows abundantly; the best of this
they seemed to regard as most excellent, and set a great value upon
it. The men remained together at one end of the house, and the women at
the other. Great vexation was felt by both parties that they could not
understand each other, for they were mutually anxious to make inquiries
respecting each other’s country. After our men had been entertained
at the house of the elder Indian, the younger took them to his house,
and gave them an equally cordial reception; after which they returned
to their boats and came on board. I weighed anchor forthwith, for I
was hastened by my anxiety to save the provisions which were becoming
spoiled, and which I had procured and preserved with so much care and
trouble, as well as to attend to my own health, which had been affected
by long watching; and although on my former voyage, when I went out to
discover terra firma, I passed thirty-three days without natural rest,
and was all that time without seeing it, yet never were my eyes so much
affected with bleeding or so painful as at this period. These people, as
I have already said, are very graceful in form,—tall, and lithe in their
movements, and wear their hair very long and smooth. They also bind
their heads with handsome worked handkerchiefs, which from a distance
look like silk or gauze; others use the same material in a longer form,
wound round them so as to cover them like trousers, and this is done
by both the men and the women. These people are of a whiter skin than
any I have seen in the Indies. It is the fashion among all classes to
wear something at the breast, and on the arms, and many wear pieces of
gold hanging low on the bosom. Their canoes are larger, lighter, and
of better build than those of the islands which I have hitherto seen,
and in the middle of each they have a cabin or room, which I found was
occupied by the chiefs and their wives. I called this place “Jardines,”
that is “the Gardens,” for it corresponded to that appellation. I made
many inquiries as to where they found the gold, in reply to which, all
of them directed me to an elevated tract of land at no great distance,
on the confines of their country, lying to the westward; but they all
advised me not to go there, for fear of being eaten, and at the time, I
imagined that by their description they wished to imply, that they were
cannibals who dwelt there, but I have since thought it possible, that
they meant merely to express, that the country was filled with beasts
of prey. I also inquired of them where they obtained the pearls, and
in reply to this question likewise, they directed me to the westward,
and also to the north, behind the country they occupied. I did not put
this information to the test, on account of the provisions, and the
weakness of my eyes, and because the large ship that I had with me was
not calculated for such an undertaking. The short time that I spent with
them was all passed in putting questions; and at the hour of vespers
[six P.M.], as I have already said, we returned to the ships, upon which
I weighed anchor and sailed to the westward. I proceeded onwards on the
following day, until I found that we were only in three fathoms water;
at this time I was still under the idea that it was but an island, and
that I should be able to make my exit by the north. With this view I sent
a light caravel in advance of us, to see whether there was any exit, or
whether the passage was closed. The caravel proceeded a great distance,
until it reached a very large gulf, in which there appeared to be four
smaller gulfs, from one of which debouched a large river. They invariably
found ground at five fathoms, and a great quantity of very fresh water,
indeed, I never tasted any equal to it. I was very disappointed when I
found that I could make no exit, either by the north, south, or west,
but that I was enclosed on all three sides by land. I therefore weighed
anchor, and sailed in a backward direction, with the hope of finding a
passage to the north by the strait, which I have already described; but
I could not return along the inhabited part where I had already been, on
account of the currents, which drove me entirely out of my course. But
constantly, at every headland, I found the water sweet and clear, and we
were carried eastwards very powerfully towards the two straits already
mentioned. I then conjectured, that the currents and the overwhelming
mountains of water which rushed into these straits with such an awful
roaring, arose from the contest between the fresh water and the sea. The
fresh water struggled with the salt to oppose its entrance, and the salt
contended against the fresh in its efforts to gain a passage outwards. I
also formed the conjecture, that at one time there was a continuous neck
of land from the island of Trinidad to the land of Gracia, where the
two straits now are, as your Highnesses will see, by the drawing which
accompanies this letter. I passed out by this northern strait, and found
the fresh water come even there; and when, by the force of the wind, I
was enabled to effect a passage, I remarked, while on one of the watery
billows which I have described, that the water on the inner side of the
current was fresh, and on the outside salt.
When I sailed from Spain to the Indies, I found, that as soon as I had
passed a hundred leagues westward of the Azores, there was a very great
change in the sky and the stars, in the temperature of the air, and in
the water of the sea; and I have been very diligent in observing these
things. I remarked, that from north to south, in traversing these hundred
leagues from the said islands, the needle of the compass, which hitherto
had turned towards the north-east, turned a full quarter of the wind to
the north-west, and this took place from the time when we reached that
line. At the same time an appearance was presented, as if the sea shore
had been transplanted thither, for we found the sea covered all over
with a sort of weed, resembling pine branches, and with fruits like
that of the mastic tree, so thick, that on my first voyage I thought it
was a reef, and that the ships could not avoid running aground; whereas
until I reached this line, I did not meet with a single bough. I also
observed, that at this point the sea was very smooth, and that though the
wind was rough, the ships never rolled. I likewise found, that within
the same line, towards the west, the temperature was always mild, and
that it did not vary summer or winter. While there, I observed that the
north star described a circle five degrees in diameter; that when its
satellites[174] are on the right side, then the star was at its lowest
point, and from this point it continues rising until it reaches the
left side, where it is also at five degrees, and then again it sinks
until it at length returns to the right side. In this voyage I proceeded
immediately from Spain to the island of Madeira, thence to the Canaries,
and then to the Cape Verde islands, and from the Cape Verde islands I
sailed southwards, even below the equinoctial line, as I have already
described. When I reached the parallel of Sierra Leone, in Guinea, I
found the heat so intense, and the rays of the sun so fierce, that I
thought that we should have been burnt; and although it rained and
the sky was heavy with clouds, I still suffered the same oppression,
until our Lord was pleased to grant me a favourable wind, giving me an
opportunity of sailing to the west, so that I reached a latitude where
I experienced, as I have already said, a change in the temperature.
Immediately upon my reaching this line, the temperature became very
mild, and the more I advanced, the more this mildness increased; but I
did not find the positions of the stars correspond with these effects.
I remarked at this place, that when night came on, the polar star was
five degrees high, and then the satellites were over head; afterwards,
at midnight, I found that star elevated ten degrees, and when morning
approached, the satellites were fifteen degrees below. I found the
smoothness of the sea continue, but not so the weeds; as to the polar
star, I watched it with great wonder, and devoted many nights to a
careful examination of it with the quadrant, and I always found that
the lead and line fell to the same point. I look upon this as something
new, and it will probably be admitted, that it is a short distance for
so great a change to take place in the temperature. I have always read,
that the world comprising the land and the water was spherical, and the
recorded experiences of Ptolemy and all others, have proved this by the
eclipses of the moon, and other observations made from east to west, as
well as by the elevation of the pole from north to south. But as I have
already described, I have now seen so much irregularity, that I have
come to another conclusion respecting the earth, namely, that it is not
round as they describe, but of the form of a pear, which is very round
except where the stalk grows, at which part it is most prominent; or
like a round ball, upon one part of which is a prominence like a woman’s
nipple, this protrusion being the highest and nearest the sky, situated
under the equinoctial line, and at the eastern extremity of this sea,—I
call that the eastern extremity, where the land and the islands end.
In confirmation of my opinion, I revert to the arguments which I have
above detailed respecting the line, which passes from north to south, a
hundred leagues westward of the Azores; for in sailing thence westward,
the ships went on rising smoothly towards the sky, and then the weather
was felt to be milder, on account of which mildness, the needle shifted
one point of the compass; the further we went, the more the needle moved
to the north-west, this elevation producing the variation of the circle,
which the north star describes with its satellites; and the nearer I
approached the equinoctial line, the more they rose, and the greater
was the difference in these stars and in their circles. Ptolemy and the
other philosophers, who have written upon the globe, thought that it was
spherical, believing that this hemisphere was round as well as that in
which they themselves dwelt, the centre of which was in the island of
Arin,[175] which is under the equinoctial line between the Arabian Gulf
and the Gulf of Persia; and the circle passes over Cape St. Vincent,
in Portugal, westward, and eastward, by Cangara and the Seras,[176] in
which hemisphere I make no difficulty as to its being a perfect sphere
as they describe; but this western half of the world, I maintain, is
like the half of a very round pear, having a raised projection for
the stalk, as I have already described, or like a woman’s nipple on a
round ball. Ptolemy and the others who have written upon the globe,
had no information respecting this part of the world, which was then
unexplored; they only established their arguments with respect to their
own hemisphere, which, as I have already said, is half of a perfect
sphere. And now that your Highnesses have commissioned me to make this
voyage of discovery, the truths which I have stated are evidently proved,
because in this voyage, when I was off the island of Hargin,[177] and
its vicinity, which is twenty degrees to the north of the equinoctial
line, I found the people are black, and the land very much burnt; and
when after that I went to the Cape Verde islands, I found the people
there much darker still, and the more southward we went, the more they
approach the extreme of blackness; so that when I reached the parallel of
Sierra Leone, where, as night came on, the north star rose five degrees,
the people there were excessively black; and as I sailed westward, the
heat became extreme. But after I had passed the meridian, or line which
I have already described, I found the climate become gradually more
temperate; so that when I reached the island of Trinidad, where the
north star rose five degrees as night came on, there, and in the land
of Gracia, I found the temperature exceedingly mild; the fields and the
foliage likewise were remarkably fresh and green, and as beautiful as
the gardens of Valencia in April. The people there are very graceful in
form, less dark than those whom I had before seen in the Indies, and wear
their hair long and smooth; they are also more shrewd, intelligent, and
courageous. The sun was then in the sign of Virgo, over our heads and
theirs; therefore, all this must proceed from the extreme blandness of
the temperature, which arises, as I have said, from this country being
the most elevated in the world, and the nearest to the sky. On these
grounds, therefore, I affirm, that the globe is not spherical, but that
there is the difference in its form which I have described; the which
is to be found in this hemisphere, at the point where the Indies meet
the ocean, the extremity of the hemisphere being below the equinoctial
line. And a great confirmation of this is, that when our Lord made the
sun, the first light appeared in the first point of the east, where the
most elevated point of the globe is; and although it was the opinion of
Aristotle, that the antarctic pole, or the land under it, was the highest
part of the world, and the nearest to the heavens, other philosophers
oppose him, and say, that the highest part was below the arctic pole, by
which reasoning it appears, that they understood, that one part of the
world must be loftier, and nearer the sky, than the other; but it never
struck them that it might be under the equinoctial, in the way that I
have said, which is not to be wondered at, because they had no certain
knowledge respecting this hemisphere, but merely vague suppositions, for
no one has ever gone or been sent to investigate the matter, until now
that your Highnesses have sent me to explore both the sea and the land.
I found that between the two straits, which, as I have said, face each
other in a line from north to south, is a distance of twenty-six leagues;
and there can be no mistake in this calculation, because it was made
with the quadrant. I also find, that from these two straits on the west
up to the above-mentioned gulf, to which I gave the name of the Gulf of
Pearls,[178] there are sixty-eight leagues of four miles to the league,
which is the reckoning we are accustomed to make at sea; from this gulf
the water runs constantly with great impetuosity towards the east, and
this is the cause why, in these two straits, there is so fierce a turmoil
from the fresh water encountering the water of the sea. In the southern
strait, which I named the Serpent’s Mouth, I found that towards evening
the polar star was nearly at five degrees elevation; and in the northern,
which I called the Dragon’s Mouth, it was at an elevation of nearly seven
degrees. The before-mentioned Gulf of Pearls is to the west of the [179]
of Ptolemy, nearly three thousand nine hundred miles, which make nearly
seventy equinoctial degrees, reckoning fifty-six miles and two-thirds
to a degree. The Holy Scriptures record, that our Lord made the earthly
paradise, and planted in it the tree of life, and thence springs a
fountain from which the four principal rivers in the world take their
source; namely, the Ganges in India, the Tigris, and Euphrates in [180]
which rivers divide a chain of mountains, and forming Mesopotamia, flow
thence into Persia,—and the Nile, which rises in Ethiopia, and falls into
the sea at Alexandria.