[283-1] There is a gap here in the text of the original which has been
filled by taking the corresponding words in Bernaldez's text.
[284-1] Major here translated _algun dia_ "one day." It should be "some
days." Bernaldez has _algunos dias_, and Coma says the tarry at Gomera
was nearly six days.
[284-2] _La nao Capitana_ means the flagship. The name of the flagship on
the second voyage was _Marigalante_. _Historie_ of Ferdinand Columbus,
cap. XLV. (London, ed. 1867), p. 137.
[284-3] October 27.
[285-1] The island of Dominica, which is so called from having been
discovered on a Sunday. _Historie_, p. 137.
[285-2] The island Marigalante, which was so called from the name of the
ship in which Columbus sailed. _Historie_, _ibid._
[285-3] Marigalante.
[286-1] One would infer from this that it was the fruit of the
_manzanillo_, which produces similar effects. (Navarrete.) On the
Manzanillo (Manchineel), see Oviedo, lib. IX., cap. XII. He says the
Caribs used it in making their arrow poisons.
[286-2] Guadeloupe.
[288-1] It was Diego Marquez, the inspector, who with eight other men
went on shore into the interior of the island, without permission from
the Admiral, who caused him to be sought for by parties of men with
trumpets, but without success. One of those who were sent out with this
object was Alonzo Ojeda, who took with him forty men, and on their return
they reported that they had found many aromatic plants, a variety of
birds, and some considerable rivers. The wanderers were not able to find
their way to the ships until the 8th of November. [Navarrete, condensed
from Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, II. 7-8.]
[288-2] Tayno was also the tribal name of these people, who
differentiated themselves from the Caribs. Peter Martyr reports the
assertions of the followers of Guacamari that they were Taynos not
Caribs: "Se Tainos, id est, nobiles esse, non Canibales, inclamitant."
_De Rebus Oceanicis_, Dec. I., lib. II., p. 25. (Cologne ed. of 1574.)
[289-1] Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, II. 8, remarks of these
bones, "They must have belonged to lords or persons whom they loved since
it is not probable that they belonged to those they ate, because if they
ate as many as some say, the cabins would not hold all the bones and
skulls, and it seems that after having eaten them there would be no
object in keeping the skulls and bones for relics unless they belonged to
some very notable enemies. The whole matter is a puzzle."
[289-2] The name _Caribe_ here obviously has begun to have the meaning
"cannibal," which is in origin the same word.
[289-3] This practice still survives among the Caribs. Im Thurn describes
it in almost the same words as Dr. Chanca. See _Among the Indians of
Guiana_, p. 192.
[290-1] These are the native names for Dominica (Ceyre) and Guadeloupe
(Turuqueira and Ayay), which consists of two islands separated by a
narrow channel.
[291-1] They left on Sunday, the 10th of November. Las Casas, _Historia_,
II. 9.
[291-2] The island Montserrat. Las Casas, _ibid._
[291-3] The island of St. Martin. Las Casas, _ibid._
[293-1] Dominica.
[293-2] Santa Cruz. November 14. Las Casas, _ibid._
[294-1] The Admiral named the largest of these islands St. Ursula, and
all the others The Eleven Thousand Virgins. Las Casas, _Historia_, II.
10.
[294-2] The island of Porto Rico, to which the Admiral "gave the name of
St. John the Baptist, which we now call Sant Juan and which the Indians
called Boriquen." Las Casas, II. 10.
[295-1] See note to Journal, September 29. Frigate-bird is the accepted
English name; a species of pelican.
[295-2] Porto Rico.
[295-3] On Friday, the 22d of November, the Admiral first caught sight of
the island of Espanola. Las Casas, II. 10.
[295-4] Cape Engano, in the island of Espanola. (Navarrete.)
[295-5] Preserved in the Bay of Samana.
[295-6] See Journal, October 21. and note.[TN-6]
[296-1] Of this voyage of exploration there seems to be no record. Our
natural sources, the _Historie_ and Las Casas, are silent. Columbus
suspended his writing in his Journal from December 11, 1493, till March
12, 1494. Antonio de Torres sailed for Spain February 2, 1494, when Dr.
Chanca sent off his letter. Probably this exploration was begun about
December 20.
[296-2] _Unos gosques grandes_. The French translation has _gros
carlins_, "large pug-dogs." Bernaldez calls these dogs, _gozcos
pequenos_, "small curs." "Cur" is the common meaning for _gozque_ or
_gosque_. See Oviedo, lib. XII., cap. V., for a description of these
native dogs which soon became extinct.
[296-3] Bernaldez, II. 34, supplies the native name, _Utia_. Oviedo, lib.
XII., cap. I., describes the _hutia_. When he wrote it had become so
scarce as to be seen only on rare occasions. It was extinct in Du
Tertre's time, a century later. Of the four allied species described by
Oviedo, the _hutia_, the _quemi_, the _mohuy_, and the _cori_ (agouti),
only the last has survived to the present day.
[296-4] Cabra, or Goat Island, between Puerto de Plata and Cas Rouge
Point. (Major.)
[297-1] Apparently the cayman or South American alligator.
[298-1] The river Yaque.
[298-2] It is only seven leagues. (Navarrete.)
[298-3] This chief's name is Guacanagari in Las Casas, _Historia de las
Indias_, and in the _Historie_ of Ferdinand Columbus, Goathanari in the
Syllacio-Coma letter, Guacanari in Bernaldez and Guaccanarillus in Peter
Martyr's _De Rebus Oceanicis_.
[298-4] The admiral anchored at the entrance of the harbor of Navidad, on
Wednesday, the 27th of November, towards midnight. Las Casas, II. 11.
[299-1] See Journal of First Voyage, December 25.
[299-2] The Bay of Caracol, four leagues west of Fort Dauphin. (Major.)
[299-3] "Toward midnight a canoe came full of Indians and reached the
ship of the Admiral, and they called for him saying 'Almirante,
Almirante.'" Las Casas, II. 11.
[300-1] The hawk bell was a small open bell used in hawking. The
discoverers used hawk bells as a small measure as of gold dust.
[302-1] See above, p. 289, note 1.
[302-2] The mark was a weight of eight ounces, two-thirds of a Troy
pound. The mark of gold in Spain was equivalent to 50 castellanos, or in
bullion value to-day about $150.
[303-1] Melchior Maldonado, apparently the Melchiorius from whom Peter
Martyr derived some of his material for his account of the second voyage.
See his _De Rebus Oceanicis_, ed. 1574, p. 26.
[304-1] The familiar hammock.
[304-2] The original reads "cinco o seiscientos labrados de pedreria,"
which Major translated "five or six hundred pieces of jewellery," and
Thacher "five or six hundred cut stones." The dictionaries recognize
_labrado_ as a noun only in the plural _labrados_, "tilled lands."
Turning to Bernaldez, _Historia de los Reyes Catolicos_, in which Dr.
Chanca's letter was copied almost bodily, we find, II. 27, "cinco o seis
labrados de pedreria," which presents the same difficulty. The omission
of _cientos_ is notable, however. I think the original text of Dr.
Chanca's letter read "cinco 6 seis cintos labrados de pedreria," _i.e._,
five or six belts worked with jewellery. _Cintos_ being written blindly
was copied _cientos_ by Antonio de Aspa, from whom our text of Dr.
Chanca's letter has come down (Navarrete, I. 224), and was omitted
perhaps accidentally in Bernaldez's copy. This conjecture is rendered
almost certain by the _Historie_, where it is recorded that "the Cacique
gave the Admiral eight belts worked with small beads made of white,
green, and red stones," p. 148, London ed. of 1867. This passage enables
us to correct the text of Las Casas, II. 14, changing "ochocientas
cuentas menudas de piedra," "eight hundred small beads of stone," to
"ocho cintos de cuentas menudas," etc., "eight belts of small beads," and
again, _ciento de oro_ to _cinto de oro_. In the Syllacio-Coma letter the
gift is _balteos duodecim_, "twelve belts." Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 235.
_Cf._ Las Casas's description of the girdle or belt that this chief wore
when Columbus first saw him, Dec. 22, above, p. 194.
[305-1] These were not only the first horses seen in the New World since
the extinction of the prehistoric varieties, but the first large
quadrupeds the West Indians had seen.
[306-1] Port Dauphin. (Navarrete.)
[307-1] That is, three months from the time the fleet left Spain,
September 25, 1493. Neither the _Historie_ nor Las Casas mentions the
date of landing. In the Syllacio-Coma letter the date is given as "eight
days from Christmas." See Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 236, 257.
[307-2] Port Isabelique, or Isabella, ten leagues to the east of Monte
Cristi. (Navarrete.)
[308-1] _Cosas introfatibles_ in the Spanish. The translation follows the
French version. The text perhaps is corrupt. The word _introfatibles_ is
not found in any of the Spanish dictionaries nor is it a learned compound
whose meaning is apparent from its etymology. Professor H.R. Lang
suggests that _cosas corruptibles_ may be the proper reading. The
sentence is omitted in the corresponding passage in Bernaldez, II. 30.
[308-2] The river Isabella.
[308-3] I can offer no explanation for this name, which is found only in
Dr. Chanca's letter. Bernaldez, who copied Dr. Chanca, gives Isabela as
the name of the city, II. 30, and the _Historie_ and Las Casas, who
preserve for us the gist of Columbus's own narrative, both say that "he
named the city Isabela in memory of Queen Isabela." Las Casas, II. 21.
_Historie_, p. 150.
[308-4] Yams, the _Dioscorea sativa_. Columbus had seen the yam in Guinea
an applied the African negro name, _igname_, _name_, whence the English,
yam. See note to Journal, November 4.
[326-1] By the Indians Dr. Chanca means the Tainos, the native
inhabitants of Espanola.
[326-2] "Every woman wears a tiny apron called a _queyu_, suspended by
tying its strings around her waist." Im Thurn, _Among the Indians of
Guiana_, 194.
[326-3] On this body painting, see Im Thurn, _ibid._
[310-1] A species of the _N.O. Bombaceae_; perhaps the _Eriodendron
anfractuosum_. (Major.) The English name is silk-cotton tree. The fibre,
however, cannot be woven. Von Martius suggests the _Bombax ceiba_.
[310-2] _Cf._ Hazard, _Santo Domingo_, p. 350, "the cotton plant which
instead of being a simple bush planted from the seed each year, is here a
tree, growing two or three years, which needs only to be trimmed and
pruned to produce a large yield of the finest cotton."
[310-3] Probably the so-called Carnauba wax or perhaps palm-tree wax.
_Cf._ the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, art. "Wax."
[311-1] The Spanish here is _linaloe_, but the reference seems to be to
the medicinal aloes and not to lign aloes. On lign aloes, see Columbus's
Journal, November 12, and note.
[311-2] The myrobolan is an East Indian fruit with a stone, of the prune
genus. Crude or preserved myrobolans were a more important article of
commerce in the Middle Ages than now. There were five varieties, one of
which, the _Mirobalani citrini_, were so named because they were
lemon-colored. Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age_, II.
641. A species of myrobolan grows in South America.
[311-3] The product of the _Bursera gummifera_.
[311-4] _Cf._ Columbus's Journal, November 4, and note.
[311-5] _Agi_, also written _Axi_, is the _Capsicum annuum_ or Spanish
pepper. Most of the cayenne or red pepper of commerce comes from the
allied species, _Capsicum frutescens_. In Mexico the name of this
indigenous pepper plant was Quauhchilli, _Chili_ tree. _Chili_ was taken
over into Spanish as the common name for capsicum and has come down in
English in the familiar Chili sauce. See Peschel, _Zeitalter der
Entdeckungen_, p. 139; De Candolle, _Origin of Cultivated Plants_, pp.
289-290. _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, art. "Cayenne Pepper."
[312-1] _Cf._ Im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_, 266.
[312-2] The Admiral, "having described the country at length and the
condition in which he was and where he had settled for the Catholic
sovereigns and sending them the specimen of gold which Guacanagari had
given him and that which Hojeda had brought, and informing them of all
that he saw to be needed, despatched the twelve ships before mentioned,
placing in command of them all Antonio de Torres, brother of the nurse of
the prince Don Juan, to whom he intrusted the gold and all his
despatches. They made sail the 2d of February, 1494." Las Casas,
_Historia de las Indias_, II. 25-26. Columbus's letter to Ferdinand and
Isabella mentioned here has not been preserved. That part of it which
related to future needs was apparently duplicated in the "memorial" which
he gave to Torres. This document is given in English in Thacher,
_Christopher Columbus_, II. 297-308, and Major, _Select Letters of
Christopher Columbus_, ed. 1870, pp. 72-107. See p. 73, _ibid._, for a
reference to letters of the Admiral no longer extant.
[313-1] Alonso de Hojeda was sent to explore the region of Cibao with
fifteen men. He found Cibao to be fifteen or twenty leagues from
Isabella. The other exploring party was headed by Gines de Gorbalan.
Further details of these expeditions are given in the Syllacio-Coma
letter. Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 258-260. According to Coma, or his
translator Syllacio, Cibao was identified with the Sheba of the Bible.
Columbus, on the other hand, identified Cibao and Cipango. _Cf._, _e.g._,
Peter Martyr, _De Rebus Oceanicis_, ed. 1574, p. 31.
[313-2] "The preceding is the transcript of that part of Doctor Chanca's
letter, which refers to intelligence respecting the Indies. The remainder
of the letter does not bear upon the subject, but treats of private
matters, in which Doctor Chanca requests the interference and support of
the Town Council of Seville (of which city he was a native), in behalf of
his family and property, which he had left in the said city. This letter
reached Seville in the month of [March] in the year fourteen hundred and
ninety-three [four]." This note is no doubt from the hand of Friar
Antonio de Aspa, who formed the collection of papers in which Navarrete
found the text of Dr. Chanca's letter. The collection was made about the
middle of the sixteenth century. See Navarrete, II. 224. The returning
fleet arrived at Cadiz in March, 1494. Bernaldez, _Historia de los Reyes
Catolicos_, (ed. 1870), II. 37.
NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS AS CONTAINED IN LAS CASAS'S
HISTORY