Gives some account of this bay, and of all that is contained in
it, and in its port.
This bay, to which the Captain gave the name of St. Philip and
St. James, because it was discovered on their day, is 1,700 leagues
from Lima, from Acapulco 1,300, from Manilla in the Philippines 1,100
leagues. Its entrance is to the N.W. in 15° S., and the port is in 15°
10' S. The bay has a circuit of 20 leagues, at the entrance 4 leagues
across. The variation of the compass is 7° N.E.
The land which forms the bay runs directly N. on the E. side, with
sloping heights and peopled valleys well covered with trees. This
side ends at the mouth of the bay with a height rising to a peak,
and the coast runs E. and then S.E., but we could not see how it ends.
The other land to the W. runs nearly N.W., and to the point is 11
leagues in length, consisting of a range of hills of moderate height,
which the sun bathes when it rises, and where there are patches
without trees, covered with dried-up grass. Here are ravines and
streams, some falling from the heights to the skirts of the hills,
where many palm groves and villages were seen. From the point on this
side the coast turns to the W.
The front of the bay, which is to the S., is 3 leagues long, and
forms a beach. In the middle there is a river which was judged to be
the size of the Guadalquivir at Seville. At its mouth the depth is
2 and more fathoms; so that boats and even frigates could enter. It
received the name of the "Jordan." On its right is seen the Southern
Cross in the heavens, which makes the spot noteworthy.
To the eastward, at the corner of this bay, there is another
moderate-sized river called "Salvador," into which the boats entered
at their pleasure to get water. The waters of both rivers are sweet,
pleasant, and fresh. The one is distant from the other a league and a
half, consisting of a beach of black gravel, with small heavy stones,
excellent for ballast for a ship.
Between the said two rivers is the port. The bottom is clean,
consisting of black sand, and here a great number of ships would have
room up to 40 1/2 brazas. It is not known whether there are worms. As
the beach is not bare nor driven up, and the herbs are green near the
water, it was assumed that it was not beaten by the seas; and as the
trees are straight and their branches unbroken, it was judged that
there are no great storms. The port was named "Vera Cruz," because
we anchored there on that day.
In the whole bay we did not see a bank, rock, or reef; but it is so
deep that there is no anchorage except at the above port. It is better
to approach near the river Salvador, and there is another moderate
port which is distant 2 leagues from this on the N. to S. coast.
All the said beach is bordered by a dense mass of great trees, with
paths leading from them to the shore. It seemed to serve as a wall,
the better to carry on defensive or offensive operations against other
natives coming to make war. All the rest is a level plain, with hills
on either side. These on the W. side run southward, becoming more
elevated and more massive as their distance increases. As for the
plain, we have not seen where it ends. The earth is black, rich, and
in large particles. It is cleared of wild trees to make room for fruit
trees, crops, and gardens surrounded by railings. There are many houses
scattered about; and wherever a view could be obtained, many fires
and columns of smoke were discerned, witnesses of a large population.
The natives generally seen here are corpulent, not quite black nor
mulatto. Their hair is frizzled. They have good eyes. They cover
their parts with certain cloths they weave. They are clean, fond of
festivities and dancing to the sound of flute and drums made of a
hollow piece of wood. They use shells also for musical instruments,
and in their dances make great shouting at the advances, balances,
and retreats. They were not known to use the herb. [109]
Their arms are heavy wooden clubs, and bows of the same, arrows of
reed with wooden points, hardened in the fire, darts with pieces of
bone enclosed.
Their interments are covered. We saw some enclosed with their oratories
and figures, to which they make offerings. It is, to all appearance,
a people courageous and sociable, but without care for the ills of
their neighbours; for they saw some fighting with us without coming
to help them.
The houses are of wood, covered with palm leaves, with two sloping
sides to the roof, and with a certain kind of outhouse, where they
keep their food. All their things are kept very clean. They also have
flower-pots with small trees of an unknown kind. The leaves are very
soft, and of a yellow-reddish colour.
The bread they use is mainly of roots, whose young shoots climb on
poles, which are put near them for that purpose. The rind is grey,
the pulp murrey colour, yellow, or reddish; some much larger than
others. There are some a yard and a-half in thickness, also two kinds:
one almost round, and the size of two fists, more or less. Their
taste resembles the potatoes of Peru. The inside of the other root
is white, its form and size that of a cob of maize when stripped. All
three kinds have a pulp without fibres, loose, soft, and pleasant to
the taste. These roots are bread made without trouble, there being
nothing to do but to take them out of the earth, and eat them, roast
or boiled. They are very good cooked in pots. Our people ate a great
deal; and, being of a pleasant taste and satisfying, they left off the
ship's biscuit for them. These roots last so long without getting bad,
that on reaching Acapulco those that were left were quite good.
Their meat consists of a great quantity of tame pigs, some reddish,
others black, white, or speckled. We saw tusks 1 1/4 palmos in
length, and a porker was killed weighing 200 lbs. The natives roast
them on hearths, wrapped up in plantain leaves. It is a clean way,
which gives the meat a good colour, and none of the substance is lost.
There are many fowls like those of Europe. They use capons. There
are many wild pigeons, doves, ducks, and birds like partridges, with
very fine plumage. One was found in a lasso, with which the natives
catch them. There are many swallows; we saw a macaw and flocks of
paroquets; and we heard, when on board at early dawn, a sweet harmony
from thousands of different birds, apparently buntings, blackbirds,
nightingales, and others. The mornings and afternoons were enjoyable
from the pleasant odours emitted from trees and many kinds of flowers,
together with the sweet basil. A bee was also seen, and harvest flies
were heard buzzing.
The fish are skate, sole, pollack, red mullet, shad, eels, pargos,
sardines, and others; for which natives fish with a three-pronged dart,
with thread of a fibrous plant, with nets in a bow shape, and at night
with a light. Our people fished with hooks and with nets, for the
most part. In swampy parts of the beach shrimps and mussels were seen.
Their fruits are large, and they have many cocoa-nuts, so that they
were not understood to put much store by them. But from these palms
they make wine, vinegar, honey, and whey to give to the sick. They
eat the small palms raw and cooked. The cocoa-nuts, when green,
serve as cardos [110] and for cream. Ripe, they are nourishment as
food and drink by land and sea. When old, they yield oil for lighting,
and a curative balsam. The shells are good for cups and bottles. The
fibres furnish tow for caulking a ship; and to make cables, ropes,
and ordinary string, the best for an arquebus. Of the leaves they
make sails for their canoes, and fine mats, with which they cover
their houses, built with trunks of the trees, which are straight and
high. From the wood they get planks, also lances and other weapons,
and many things for ordinary use, all very durable. From the grease
they get the galagala, used instead of tar. In fine, it is a tree
without necessity for cultivation, and bearing all the year round.
There are three kinds of plantains: one, the best I have seen,
pleasant to smell, tender and sweet.
There are many "obos," which is a fruit nearly the size and taste
of a peach, on whose leaves may be reared silk-worms, as is done in
other parts.
There is a great abundance of a fruit which grows on tall trees,
with large serrated leaves. They are the size of ordinary melons,
their shape nearly round, the skin delicate, the surface crossed into
four parts, the pulp between yellow and white, with seven or eight
pips. When ripe it is very sweet; when green, it is eaten boiled or
roasted. It is much eaten, and is found wholesome. The natives use
it as ordinary food.
There are two kinds of almonds: one with as much kernel as four nuts
lengthways, the other in the shape of a triangle. Its kernel is larger
than three large ones of ours and of an excellent taste.
There is a kind of nut, hard outside, and the inside in one piece
without division, almost like a chestnut: the taste nearly the same
as the nuts of Europe.
Oranges grow without being planted. With some the rind is very thick,
with others delicate. The natives do not eat them. Some of our people
said there were lemons.
There are many, and very large, sweet canes: red and green, very long,
with jointed parts. Sugar might be made from them.
Many and large trees, bearing a kind of nut, grew on the forest-covered
slopes near the port. They brought these nuts on board as green as
they were on the branches. Their leaves are not all green on one side,
and on the other they turn to yellowish grey. Their length is a jeme,
[111] more or less, and in the widest part three fingers. The nut
contains two skins, between which grows what they call mace like a
small net. Its colour is orange. The nut is rather large, and there
are those who say that this is the best kind. The natives make no use
of it, and our people used to eat it green, and put it into the pots,
and used the mace for saffron.
On the beach a fruit was found like a pineapple. Pedro was asked if
it was eaten, and he replied that only the bark was eaten of the tree
which yielded that fruit.
There were other fruits, like figs, filberts, and albaricoques, which
were eaten. Others were seen, but it was not known what fruits they
were, nor what others grew in that land. To give a complete account of
them and of other things, it is necessary to be a year in the country,
and to travel over much ground.
As regards vegetables, I only knew of amaranth, purslane, and
calabashes.
The natives make from a black clay some very well-worked pots, large
and small, as well as pans and porringers in the shape of small
boats. It was supposed that they made some beverage, because in the
pots and in cavities were found certain sour fruits.
It appeared to us that we saw there quarries of good marble; [112] I
say good, because several things were seen that were made of it and of
jasper. There were also seen ebony and large mother-o'-pearl shells;
also some moderate-sized looms. In one house a heap of heavy black
stones was seen, which afterwards proved to be metal from whence
silver could be extracted, as will be seen further on. Two of our
people said they had seen the footprints of a large animal.
The climate appeared to be very healthy, both from the vigour and size
of the natives, as because none of our men became ill all the time
we were there, nor felt any discomfort, nor tired from work. They
had not to keep from drinking while fasting, nor at unusual times,
nor when sweating, nor from being wet with salt water or fresh, nor
from eating whatever grew in the country, nor from being out in the
evening under the moon, nor the sun, which was not very burning at
noon, and at midnight we were glad of a blanket. The land is shown
to be healthy, from the natives living in houses on terraces, and
having so much wood, and because so many old people were seen. We
heard few claps of thunder, and had little rain. As the rivers flowed
with clear water, it was understood that the rains were over.
It is to be noted that we had not seen cactus nor sandy wastes,
nor were the trees thorny, while many of the wild trees yielded
good fruit. It is also to be noted that we did not see snow on the
mountains, nor were there any mosquitos or ants in the land, which
are very harmful, both in houses and fields. There were no poisonous
lizards either in the woods or the cultivated ground, nor alligators
in the rivers. Fish and flesh keep good for salting during two or
more days. The land is so pleasant, so covered with trees; there are
so many kinds of birds, that, owing to this and other good signs,
the climate may be considered to be clement, and that it preserves
its natural order. Of what happens in the mountains we cannot speak
until we have been there.
As no very large canoes were seen, with so large a population, and
such fine trees, but only some small ones, and the mountain ranges
being so high to W. and E., and to the S., and the river Jordan being
so large, with great trees torn up and brought down at its mouth, we
came to the conclusion that the land must be extensive, and yielding
abundantly; and that consequently the people were indolent, and have
no need to seek other lands.
I am able to say, with good reason, that a land more delightful,
healthy and fertile; a site better supplied with quarries, timber,
clay for tiles, bricks for founding a great city on the sea, with a
port and a good river on a plain, with level lands near the hills,
ridges, and ravines; nor better adapted to raise plants and all that
Europe and the Indies produce, could not be found. No port could
be found more agreeable, nor better supplied with all necessaries,
without any drawbacks; nor with such advantages for dockyards in
which to build ships, nor forests more abundant in suitable timber
good for futtock timbers, houses, compass timbers, beams, planks,
masts and yards. Nor is there any other land that could sustain
so many strangers so pleasantly, if what has been written is well
considered. Nor does any other land have what this land has close by,
at hand, and in sight of its port; for quite near there are seven
islands, with coasts extending for 200 leagues, apparently with the
same advantages, and which have so many, and such good signs, that
they may be sought for and found without shoals or other obstacles;
while nearly half-way there are other known islands, with inhabitants
and ports where anchorages may be found. I have never seen, anywhere
where I have been, nor have heard of such advantages.
I take the port of Acapulco as an example, being well known as such a
principal city of Mexico. I say that if it is good as an anchorage,
it is very bad owing to the frequency of fogs, and the want of a
river and of ballast; also, from being unhealthy most of the year,
and intolerable from the heat and the mosquitos, and other molesting
insects for the rest; also for its inconvenient site near stony and
dry hills, and because provisions have to come from a distance, and
soon turn bad; and finally, because it is dear, and ships have a bad
time from the S.E.
If we look from the Strait of Magellan along its two coasts, on one
side to Cape Mendocino, on the other to Newfoundland, being 7,000 or
8,000 leagues of coast, it will be found that, out of the ports that I
have visited, that of San Juan de Ulloa does not merit the name of a
port, nor its town to be inhabited by people; that Panama and Puerto
Bello have little and bad accommodation; and that Payta, Callao,
Havanna, Carthagena (the two latter being famous), La Guayra and
Santa Martha, and many others, including those of Chile and Brazil,
according to what I have been told, are wanting in many necessary
things. Not one will be found which has all the advantages possessed by
the port and land of which I treat. Being in 15°, more good things may
be expected than from places in 20°, 30°, and 40°, if things turn out
as they promise. I also say that if there is nothing better than what I
have seen, it is sufficient for a principal place that may be settled.
If we look round the coast of Spain, so good a port will not be found;
while its soil only produces thorns, ilexes, and broom, or at best
arbutus and myrtles, and other poor fruits; and he who grows them for
profit has nothing for his pains. April and May failing, the fruits
fail. [113]