SIR: As I know that you will have pleasure from the great victory which
our Lord hath given me in my voyage, I write you this, by which you
shall know that in thirty-three days I passed over to the Indies with
the fleet which the most illustrious King and Queen, our Lords, gave me;
where I found very many islands peopled with inhabitants beyond number.
And, of them all, I have taken possession for their Highnesses, with
proclamation and the royal standard displayed; and I was not gainsaid.
To the first which I found, I gave the name Sant Salvador, in
commemoration of His High Majesty, who marvellously hath given all this:
the Indians call it Guanaham.[263-1] The second I named the Island of
Santa Maria de Concepcion, the third Ferrandina, the fourth, Fair
Island,[263-2] the fifth La Isla Juana; and so for each one a new name.
When I reached Juana, I followed its coast westwardly, and found it so
large that I thought it might be mainland, the province of Cathay. And
as I did not thus find any towns and villages on the sea-coast, save
small hamlets with the people whereof I could not get speech, because
they all fled away forthwith, I went on further in the same direction,
thinking I should not miss of great cities or towns. And at the end of
many leagues, seeing that there was no change, and that the coast was
bearing me northwards, whereunto my desire was contrary, since the
winter was already confronting us, I formed the purpose of making from
thence to the South, and as the wind also blew against me, I determined
not to wait for other weather and turned back as far as a port agreed
upon; from which I sent two men into the country to learn if there were
a king, or any great cities. They travelled for three days, and found
innumerable small villages and a numberless population, but nought of
ruling authority; wherefore they returned.[264-1] I understood
sufficiently from other Indians whom I had already taken, that this
land, in its continuousness, was an island;[264-2] and so I followed its
coast eastwardly for a hundred and seven leagues as far as where it
terminated; from which headland I saw another island to the east,
eighteen leagues distant from this, to which I at once gave the name La
Spanola.[264-3] And I proceeded thither, and followed the northern
coast, as with La Juana, eastwardly for a hundred and eighty-eight great
leagues in a direct easterly course, as with La Juana. The which, and
all the others, are most fertile to an excessive degree, and this
extremely so. In it, there are many havens on the sea-coast,
incomparable with any others that I know in Christendom, and plenty of
rivers so good and great that it is a marvel. The lands thereof are
high, and in it are very many ranges of hills, and most lofty mountains
incomparably beyond the island of Tenerife,[264-4] all most beautiful in
a thousand shapes, and all accessible, and full of trees of a thousand
kinds, so lofty that they seem to reach the sky. And I am assured that
they never lose their foliage; as may be imagined, since I saw them as
green and as beautiful as they are in Spain during May. And some of them
were in flower, some in fruit, some in another stage according to their
kind. And the nightingale was singing, and other birds of a thousand
sorts, in the month of November, there where I was going. There are
palm-trees of six or eight species, wondrous to see for their beautiful
variety; but so are the other trees, and fruits, and plants therein.
There are wonderful pine-groves, and very large plains of verdure, and
there is honey, and many kinds of birds, and many various fruits. In the
earth there are many mines of metals; and there is a population of
incalculable number.[265-1] Espanola is a marvel; the mountains and
hills, and plains, and fields, and the soil, so beautiful and rich for
planting and sowing, for breeding cattle of all sorts, for building of
towns and villages. There could be no believing, without seeing, such
harbors as are here, as well as the many and great rivers, and excellent
waters, most of which contain gold. In the trees and fruits and plants,
there are great diversities from those of Juana. In this, there are many
spiceries, and great mines of gold and other metals. The people of this
island, and of all the others that I have found and seen, or not seen,
all go naked, men and women, just as their mothers bring them forth;
although some women cover a single place with the leaf of a plant, or a
cotton something which they make for that purpose. They have no iron or
steel, nor any weapons; nor are they fit thereunto; not because they be
not a well-formed people and of fair stature, but that they are most
wondrously timorous. They have no other weapons than the stems of reeds
in their seeding state, on the end of which they fix little sharpened
stakes. Even these, they dare not use; for many times has it happened
that I sent two or three men ashore to some village to parley, and
countless numbers of them sallied forth, but as soon as they saw those
approach, they fled away in such wise that even a father would not wait
for his son. And this was not because any hurt had ever been done to any
of them:--on the contrary, at every headland where I have gone and been
able to hold speech with them, I gave them of everything which I had, as
well cloth as many other things, without accepting aught therefor;--but
such they are, incurably timid. It is true that since they have become
more assured, and are losing that terror, they are artless and generous
with what they have, to such a degree as no one would believe but him
who had seen it. Of anything they have, if it be asked for, they never
say no, but do rather invite the person to accept it, and show as much
lovingness as though they would give their hearts. And whether it be a
thing of value, or one of little worth, they are straightways content
with whatsoever trifle of whatsoever kind may be given them in return
for it. I forbade that anything so worthless as fragments of broken
platters, and pieces of broken glass, and strap buckles,[266-1] should
be given them; although when they were able to get such things, they
seemed to think they had the best jewel in the world, for it was the hap
of a sailor to get, in exchange for a strap,[266-1] gold to the weight
of two and a half castellanos,[266-2] and others much more for other
things of far less value; while for new blancas[266-3] they gave
everything they had, even though it were [the worth of] two or three
gold castellanos, or one or two arrobas of spun[266-4] cotton. They took
even pieces of broken barrel-hoops, and gave whatever they had, like
senseless brutes; insomuch that it seemed to me bad. I forbade it, and I
gave gratuitously a thousand useful things that I carried, in order that
they may conceive affection, and furthermore may become Christians; for
they are inclined to the love and service of their Highnesses and of all
the Castilian nation, and they strive to combine in giving us things
which they have in abundance, and of which we are in need. And they knew
no sect, nor idolatry; save that they all believe that power and
goodness are in the sky, and they believed very firmly that I, with
these ships and crews, came from the sky; and in such opinion, they
received me at every place where I landed, after they had lost their
terror. And this comes not because they are ignorant: on the contrary,
they are men of very subtle wit, who navigate all those seas, and who
give a marvellously good account of everything, but because they never
saw men wearing clothes nor the like of our ships. And as soon as I
arrived in the Indies, in the first island that I found, I took some of
them by force, to the intent that they should learn [our speech] and
give me information of what there was in those parts. And so it was,
that very soon they understood [us] and we them, what by speech or what
by signs; and those [Indians] have been of much service. To this day I
carry them [with me] who are still of the opinion that I come from
Heaven [as appears] from much conversation which they have had with me.
And they were the first to proclaim it wherever I arrived; and the
others went running from house to house and to the neighboring villages,
with loud cries of "Come! come to see the people from Heaven!" Then, as
soon as their minds were reassured about us, every one came, men as well
as women, so that there remained none behind, big or little; and they
all brought something to eat and drink, which they gave with wondrous
lovingness. They have in all the islands very many _canoas_,[267-1]
after the manner of rowing-galleys,[267-2] some larger, some smaller;
and a good many are larger than a galley of eighteen benches. They are
not so wide, because they are made of a single log of timber, but a
galley could not keep up with them in rowing, for their motion is a
thing beyond belief. And with these, they navigate through all those
islands, which are numberless, and ply their traffic. I have seen some
of those _canoas_ with seventy and eighty men in them, each one with his
oar. In all those islands, I saw not much diversity in the looks of the
people, nor in their manners and language; but they all understand each
other, which is a thing of singular advantage for what I hope their
Highnesses will decide upon for converting them to our holy faith, unto
which they are well disposed. I have already told how I had gone a
hundred and seven leagues, in a straight line from West to East, along
the sea-coast of the Island of Juana; according to which itinerary, I
can declare that that island is larger than England and Scotland
combined;[268-1] as, over and above those hundred and seven leagues,
there remain for me, on the western side, two provinces whereto I did
not go--one of which they call Avan, where the people are born with
tails[268-2]--which provinces cannot be less in length than fifty or
sixty leagues, according to what may be understood from the Indians with
me, who know all the islands. This other, Espanola, has a greater
circumference than the whole of Spain from Col[ibre in Catal]unya, by
the sea-coast, as far as Fuente Ravia in Biscay; since, along one of its
four sides, I went for a hundred and eighty-eight great leagues in a
straight line from west to east.[268-3] This is [a land] to be
desired,--and once seen, never to be relinquished--in which (although,
indeed, I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses, and
all are more richly endowed than I have skill and power to say, and I
hold them all in the name of their Highnesses who can dispose thereof as
much and as completely as of the kingdoms of Castile) in this Espanola,
in the place most suitable and best for its proximity to the gold mines,
and for traffic with the mainland both on this side and with that over
there belonging to the Great Can,[268-4] where there will be great
commerce and profit, I took possession of a large town which I named the
city of Navidad.[268-5] And I have made fortification there, and a fort
(which by this time will have been completely finished) and I have left
therein men enough for such a purpose, with arms and artillery, and
provisions for more than a year, and a boat, and a [man who is] master
of all seacraft for making others; and great friendship with the king of
that land, to such a degree that he prided himself on calling and
holding me as his brother. And even though his mind might change towards
attacking those men, neither he nor his people know what arms are, and
go naked. As I have already said, they are the most timorous creatures
there are in the world, so that the men who remain there are alone
sufficient to destroy all that land, and the island is without personal
danger for them if they know how to behave themselves. It seems to me
that in all those islands, the men are all content with a single wife;
and to their chief or king they give as many as twenty. The women, it
appears to me, do more work than the men. Nor have I been able to learn
whether they held personal property, for it seemed to me that whatever
one had, they all took share of, especially of eatable things. Down to
the present, I have not found in those islands any monstrous men, as
many expected,[269-1] but on the contrary all the people are very
comely; nor are they black like those in Guinea, but have flowing hair;
and they are not begotten where there is an excessive violence of the
rays of the sun. It is true that the sun is there very strong, although
it is twenty-six degrees distant from the equinoctial line.[269-2] In
those islands, where there are lofty mountains, the cold was very keen
there, this winter; but they endure it by being accustomed thereto, and
by the help of the meats which they eat with many and inordinately hot
spices. Thus I have not found, nor had any information of monsters,
except of an island which is here the second in the approach to the
Indies, which is inhabited by a people whom, in all the islands, they
regard as very ferocious, who eat human flesh. These have many canoes
with which they run through all the islands of India, and plunder and
take as much as they can. They are no more ill-shapen than the others,
but have the custom of wearing their hair long, like women; and they use
bows and arrows of the same reed stems, with a point of wood at the top,
for lack of iron which they have not. Amongst those other tribes who are
excessively cowardly, these are ferocious; but I hold them as nothing
more than the others. These are they who have to do with the women of
Matinino[270-1]--which is the first island that is encountered in the
passage from Spain to the Indies--in which there are no men. Those women
practise no female usages, but have bows and arrows of reed such as
above mentioned; and they arm and cover themselves with plates of copper
of which they have much. In another island, which they assure me is
larger than Espanola, the people have no hair. In this there is
incalculable gold; and concerning these and the rest I bring Indians
with me as witnesses. And in conclusion, to speak only of what has been
done in this voyage, which has been so hastily performed, their
Highnesses may see that I shall give them as much gold as they may need,
with very little aid which their Highnesses will give me; spices and
cotton at once, as much as their Highnesses will order to be shipped,
and as much as they shall order to be shipped of mastic,--which till now
has never been found except in Greece, in the island of Xio,[270-2] and
the Seignory sells it for what it likes; and aloe-wood as much as they
shall order to be shipped; and slaves as many as they shall order to be
shipped,--and these shall be from idolaters. And I believe that I have
discovered rhubarb and cinnamon, and I shall find that the men whom I am
leaving there will have discovered a thousand other things of value; as
I made no delay at any point, so long as the wind gave me an opportunity
of sailing, except only in the town of Navidad till I had left things
safely arranged and well established. And in truth I should have done
much more if the ships had served me as well as might reasonably have
been expected. This is enough; and [thanks to] Eternal God our Lord who
gives to all those who walk His way, victory over things which seem
impossible; and this was signally one such, for although men have talked
or written of those lands,[271-1] it was all by conjecture, without
confirmation from eyesight, amounting only to this much that the hearers
for the most part listened and judged that there was more fable in it
than anything actual, however trifling. Since thus our Redeemer has
given to our most illustrious King and Queen, and to their famous
kingdoms, this victory in so high a matter, Christendom should have
rejoicing therein and make great festivals, and give solemn thanks to
the Holy Trinity for the great exaltation they shall have by the
conversion of so many peoples to our holy faith; and next for the
temporal benefit which will bring hither refreshment and profit, not
only to Spain, but to all Christians. This briefly, in accordance with
the facts. Dated, on the caravel, off the Canary Islands,[271-2] the 15
February of the year 1493.
At your command,