The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci, and Other Documents Illustrative of His Career

CHAPTER CLXIX.

Chapter 810,715 wordsPublic domain

Roldan took leave of Hojeda, believing that everything that glittered was gold, and Hojeda, having got the bread about which he had arranged, instead of taking the road to Santo Domingo to see the Admiral, and give an account to him of what he had done during his voyage, as he had promised to Roldan, and to report the news from Castille, went with his four ships towards the west, in the direction of the gulf and port of Xaragua. The Christians who were living there, in the villages of the Caciques, received him with joy, and gave him and his people all they needed, although not from the sweat of their own brows, but from that of the Indians, for of the latter the Spaniards are accustomed to be very liberal. As one of their caravels was very unseaworthy, and could no longer be kept above water, they made the Indians work, and they gave much help until she was repaired, assisting in every other way that was needed. While he was there he found that there were people who regretted the free life they had been so recently leading under Roldan, who were ill-disposed towards the affairs of the Admiral, and who were discontented because they could not now do as they pleased. One of their most common complaints was that their wages were not paid. Hojeda, moved either by the disposition he found in these people, or by the expectation of profit for himself, began to encourage the discontent, saying that he would join with them, and, uniting them with his own people, that he would go to the Admiral and demand payment in the name of the Sovereigns, and force him to pay, even if he did so unwillingly. He declared that he had powers from the Sovereigns to do this, and that he and Alonso de Carvajal had received them, when the Admiral returned in the year 1498, that they might come and constrain him to make the payments. He added many other arguments, according to what they said, in great prejudice of the Admiral, and to excite the people against him, to which the greater part inclined, being unprincipled men, friends of turbulence and unrest, and without fear either of God or of the mischief that would follow in that island, both to Christians and Indians.

There were some, however, who did not wish to join in the foolish and evil deeds of Hojeda. These were in a certain farm or village near Xaragua. For all were scattered among the Indian villages, to be fed and maintained by the natives, which could not be done if they all remained together. As these men refused their approval when they were incited, either by letters or by word of mouth, or because they had among them some one who was obnoxious to Hojeda in times past, he arranged one night, in concert with those who had joined him, to attack the loyal men and wreak his vengeance on them, or do them some other injury; and this was done, with the result that several men were killed and wounded on both sides.

This caused great scandal in the land, among Indians as well as Christians, so that disturbances even worse than those of Roldan, recently appeased, would have arisen if God, using the same Roldan as His instrument, had not obviated the danger. Roldan now returned from Santo Domingo to Xaragua. Either because the Admiral suspected that Hojeda would return and cause injury, both to Christians and Indians, and wished to be certain that he had left the island; or because he had received intelligence from the Christians who remained loyal of what was taking place, for they sent messages by Indians every eight days, he finally despatched Roldan to Xaragua, who heard on the road of the scandals and mischief done by Hojeda, and of the object he announced. Roldan then sent to one Diego de Escobar, a leading man among those who had always followed him, ordering him to collect as large a force as possible from among those who had not been influenced by Hojeda, and to come with them to Xaragua. He collected all he could from the villages in which the Christians were scattered, and both arrived at Xaragua on two successive days. Hojeda had by that time returned to his ships.

Francisco Roldan wrote a letter to Hojeda, pointing out the scandals, deaths, and mischief he had caused, the disservice that the Sovereigns would receive from such conduct, the disturbance caused in the colony, the good will which the Admiral entertained towards him, and urging him not to adopt a course which would cause loss to all. In order that the evils might be forgotten, as what was done could not be helped, he proposed that Hojeda should at least come and excuse himself. Hojeda would not place himself in such peril, for he knew Roldan to be an astute and resolute man, and with no small intelligence. Roldan then sent Diego de Escobar to confer with Hojeda, who was not less able than the other two. I knew him well during many years. Escobar set before Hojeda the heinous character of what he had done as strongly as he could, and urged him to come to Roldan. Hojeda replied that it was what he wished to do. Escobar returned without having been able to make a definite arrangement. But Roldan, believing that Hojeda would agree, sent one Diego de Truxillo, who, as soon as he came on board the ship, was seized and put in irons. Hojeda then landed and marched to Xaragua with twenty armed men. He found there one Toribio de Linares, whom I also knew well. He was seized and taken to the ships, where he was put in irons. These proceedings were reported by the Indians to Roldan, who was then at a distance of a league from Xaragua. Roldan quickly set out in pursuit with the men he had with him, well equipped, but Hojeda was already out of his reach. He then sent one Hernando de Estepa, whom I also knew well, to whom Hojeda said that unless one Juan Pintor, who had left the ship, was given up (a man whom I also knew, and who only had one hand), he swore he would hang the two prisoners he had in irons. What harm had these done to merit hanging, because Juan Pintor had deserted! Hojeda got under weigh with his ships, and proceeded along the coast to some villages and a province called Cahay, where there is a charming country and people, ten or twelve leagues from Xaragua. Here he landed with forty men, and seized all the provisions he wanted by force, especially yams and sweet potatoes, for here are the best and finest in the island, leaving both Christians and Indians in great want. Seeing that he had made sail, Roldan sent Diego de Escobar along the sea-shore in pursuit with twenty-five men. But as they arrived at night, Hojeda had already returned to his ships. Soon afterwards, Roldan followed in pursuit with twenty men, and, having arrived at Cahay, he found there a letter which Hojeda had written to Diego de Escobar, declaring that he would hang his two prisoners if his man, Juan Pintor, was not restored. Roldan then ordered Diego de Escobar to get into a canoe, manned, as the sailors say, by Indian rowers, and to go within hail of the ships. He was to tell Hojeda, on the part of Roldan, that as he would not trust him and come to speak with him, he was willing to come to the ships, trusting in his honour, and asking that he would send a boat with this object. Hojeda perceived that his game was now made; but another thought occurred to him, which was that Francisco Roldan had brought his drums on his back, as the saying is. Hojeda sent a very good boat, for he had only one such, with eight very valiant seamen, with their lances, swords, and shields. Coming within a stone's-throw of the beach, they called out that Roldan should embark. Roldan asked, "How many did the captain say were to come with me." They answered, "Five or six men." Roldan presently ordered that Diego de Escobar should get in first, then Pero Bello, Montoya, and Hernan Brabo, and Bolanos. They would not consent that any more should get into the boat. Then Roldan said to one Pedro de Illanes that he must take him to the boat on his back, and as he wanted some one else at his side, he took another man named Salvador. Having all got into the boat, Roldan dissimulated, saying to those who were rowing that they should row towards the land. They did not wish to do so. He and his men put their hands to their swords, and laid about them with such effect that some were killed, others jumped overboard, and all were made prisoners, as well as an Indian archer kidnapped from the islands, only one escaping by swimming. They were brought on shore, and thus Hojeda was left without his best boat, of which he had much need, and also without quite so much pride and insolence. Hojeda, seeing that his artifice had failed, and his intentions were frustrated, resolved to resume the negotiation with more humility. So he got into a small boat with Juan de la Cosa, his principal pilot, a gunner, and four more, and pulled towards the shore. Francisco Roldan, knowing him to be reckless and valiant, and even thinking that he might venture to attack, got ready the large boat with seven rowers and fifteen fighting men, and a good canoe capable of holding fifteen more, all "_a pique_", as the sailors say. Being on the water, as soon as they were within hailing distance, Hojeda said that he wished to speak with Francisco Roldan. Coming nearer, Francisco Roldan asked him why he had perpetrated those scandalous and culpable acts. He replied that it was because they told him that the Admiral had given orders to apprehend him. Roldan assured him that it was false, and that the Admiral had no intention of doing him harm, but rather to help him and do him honour, and that if he would come to Santo Domingo he would find this to be true by his own experience. Finally Hojeda asked that his boat and men might be restored, no longer caring about Juan Pintor, representing that he could not return to Spain without his boat. Francisco Roldan saw the difficulty in which Hojeda was placed--for there had been a terrible gale just before, and Hojeda's largest ship had dragged her anchors, and had been driven more than two cross-bow shots nearer the shore, where there was danger of ship and crew being lost; also because if Hojeda remained on the island there would be greater confusion caused by him than had previously been caused by Roldan himself. For these reasons Roldan decided to restore the boat with the men, if Hojeda would restore the two prisoners he had seized and ill-treated. This was arranged. He departed to make an incursion, which he said he had to make, and according to what a clergyman who was with him said, and two or three other honest men who were left, the raid that he sought to make was what he intended to do against the person and affairs of the Admiral, and I firmly believe that he had means of knowing that the Sovereigns were considering the removal of the Admiral from his place. For Hojeda was in favour with the Bishop Fonseca, and, on the other hand, the same Bishop always viewed the Admiral with disfavour, justly or unjustly, as to men I say, "God knows."

According to what I suspect, when Hojeda left Espanola he went to load his ships with Indians, either in some part of that island, or in the Island of San Juan,[154] or in some of the neighbouring islands, for he brought to Spain and sold at Cadiz 222 slaves, as Americo confessed in his first _Navigation_. This, with the other injuries and outrages perpetrated on Christians and Indians by Hojeda, was his cargo. From what has been seen in this chapter, the falsehoods of Americo are apparent, and the tyrannies committed in this his first voyage, when he accompanied Hojeda, as well as the way in which he confused the events of the two voyages, are now made as evident as that the sun shines. Americo says, respecting the scandals of Hojeda which took place during the first voyage, but which he places in the second, as follows:

"We departed, and, for the sake of obtaining many things of which we were in need, we shaped a course for the island of Antiglia, being that which Christopher Columbus discovered a few years ago. Here we took many supplies on board, and remained two months and 17 days. Here we endured many dangers and troubles from the same Christians who were in this island with Columbus. I believe this was caused by envy; but to avoid prolixity I will refrain from recounting what happened. We departed from the said island on the 22nd of July."

All this is false. He says that he does not describe the troubles they suffered, to avoid prolixity, giving to understand that they suffered unjustly; and he does not tell the cause, or what were the outrages that they committed. Moreover, to place these scandals in the second voyage is also false, as has already been sufficiently shown. To state that the date of departure was the 22nd of July is still more false. For that date was almost at the end of February in the year 1500, and I even believe in March, as appears from the letters which I saw and had in my possession. I know the handwriting of Francisco Roldan, who wrote every eight or fifteen days to the Admiral, when he went to watch Hojeda. The fact is that the date which should belong to the second he put in the first voyage; and the outrages and harm those who were with him did in the first, he referred to as injuries done to them, without provocation, in the second voyage.

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EVIDENCE OF WITNESSES (IN THE LAWSUIT) RESPECTING THE VOYAGE OF PINZON AND SOLIS.[155]

_Antonio Garcia_, a pilot, saw the drawing of what had been discovered by Juan Diaz, and it is all one coast.[155]

_Vicente Yanez Pinson_ deposed that this witness and Juan de Solis went by order of their Highnesses, and discovered all the land that up to this time has been discovered from the island of Guanaja to the province of Camarona, following the coast _towards the east_ as far as the provinces of Chabaca and Pintigron, which were discovered by this witness and Juan de Solis, who likewise discovered, in following along the coast, a great bay to which they gave the name of the Bay of the Nativity. Thence this witness discovered the mountains of _Caria_,[156] and other land further on.[157]

_Rodrigo de Bastidas_ said that Yanez and Juan Diaz de Solis went to discover below Veragua. He did not know how much they discovered, but it is all one coast with that which was first discovered by the Admiral.

_Nicolas Perez_ said that the Admiral, in that voyage when he went to Veragua, discovered Cape Gracias a Dios, and that all beyond that is discovered, was discovered by Yanez and Juan Diaz de Solis; that this appears by the sea-chart drawn by them, and that by it all who go to those parts are guided.

_Pedro de Ledesma_,[158] pilot, said that he went in company of Vicente Yanez and Juan Solis by order of their Highnesses, and saw what Vicente Yanez and Juan de Solis discovered beyond the land of Veragua, in a part towards the north,[159] all that which has been made known up to the present time, from the island of Guanaja towards the north; and that these lands are called Chabaca and Pintigron, and that they reached in a northerly direction as far as 23-1/2 degrees, and that in this part the said Don Cristobal Colon neither went, nor discovered, nor saw.

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LAS CASAS ON THE VOYAGE OF PINZON AND SOLIS.[160]

After the Admiral left the solitude and the hardships he suffered in Jamaica and came to Castille, it being known what he had discovered, there presently agreed together one Juan Diaz de Solis and Vicente Yanez Pinzon (brother of Martin A. Pinzon, of whom we said that he helped the Admiral to fit out in the town of Palos, and went with him, taking Vicente Yanez and another brother, when he sailed on the first voyage to discover these Indies, as has been explained in the first book) to set out and discover, and to continue the route which the Admiral had left on his fourth and last voyage of discovery. These went to take up the thread from the island or islands of Guanajes, which we said that the Admiral had discovered in his last voyage, and they turned to the east.[161]

These two discoverers sailed[162] (as may be gathered from the statement of witnesses called by the Fiscal in the lawsuit with the second Admiral) towards the west from the Guanajes, and must have arrived near the Golfo Dolce, although they did not see it because it is concealed, but they saw the openings made by the sea into the land, which contains the Golfo Dolce and that of Yucatan, and it is like a great gulf or bay. (The mariners give the name of bay to the sea that is between two lands in the form of an open port, which would be a port if it was not that it is very large, but being very capacious and not closed, they call it a bay, the _i_ and _a_ in _bahia_ being pronounced separately.) Thus, as they saw that great angle made by the sea between the two lands, the one which is on the left hand having its back to the east, and this is the coast which contains the port of Caballos and in front of it the Golfo Dolce, and the other on the right hand, which is the coast of the province of Yucatan. It appeared to them to be a great bay, and Vicente Yanez, therefore (in the sworn deposition he made in the said lawsuit, when he was called a witness by the Fiscal), said that, sailing from the island of Guanajes, the coast stretching along, they discovered a great bay to which they gave the name of the "Great Bay of the Nativity", and thence they discovered the hills of Caria,[163] and other lands further on. According to the other witnesses, they then turned north.[164] From all this it appears certain that they then discovered a great part of the kingdom of Yucatan, but as afterwards there was no one who would continue that discovery, nothing more was known of the edifices of that kingdom, whence the territory and grandeur of the kingdoms of New Spain might easily have been discovered. But they were found by chance from the island of Cuba, as, please God, will be set forth in Book III of this history.

And it must here be remarked that these discoverers were chiefly actuated in their enterprize by emulation of the Admiral, and of what he had discovered before, in the service of the Sovereigns. As if the Admiral had not been the first to open the gates of the ocean which had been closed for so many thousands of ages before, and had not shown the light by which all might see how to discover. The Royal Fiscal devoted all his studies to prove that the parts of the mainland discovered by the other explorers were distinct from those which the Admiral had discovered, and he would make a point that the mainland was not so long; his object being to diminish the Admiral's credit, and to make out that the Sovereigns were less obliged to recognise the inestimable services he had performed, and to fulfil the promises they had made, and by which they were bound so justly and with such good reason. This was a great injustice.

With reference to this design, the Fiscal put the question whether the witnesses knew that the discoveries made by others were distinct from those made by the Admiral. For the most part he got the answers he wanted from the sailors, who said it was a different land. But they were not asked if it was all one mainland, nor did they deny that. But others, especially two honourable men whom I knew well, the one Rodrigo de Bastidas, of whom we have already treated, the other a pilot named Andres de Morales, understanding the injury that the prosecutor was trying to do the Admiral, deposed many times, on different occasions in the course of the lawsuit, that the lands others had discovered were to the west of those discovered by the Admiral, but that the whole was one continuous land. True that Vicente Yanez and Juan de Solis went to discover beyond Veragua, along that coast, but all the land that they or any others discovered of the region called the main was all one coast, and continuous with what the Admiral discovered first. Others, besides these two, say it is all one coast from Paria, though provinces have different names, and there are also different languages. This was then declared by witnesses who had been there, and knew it well by having used their own eyes, and now it would be needless to seek further for witnesses than in the grocers' shops in Seville. Thus it cannot be denied to the Admiral, except with great injustice, that as he was the first discoverer of those Indies, so he was also of the whole of our mainland, and to him is due the credit, by discovering the province of Paria, which is a part of all that land. For it was he that put the thread into the hands of the rest, by which they found the clew to more distant parts. Consequently, his rights ought most justly to be complied with and respected throughout all that land, even if the region was still more extensive, just as they should be respected in Espanola and the other islands. For it was not necessary for him to go to every part, any more than it is necessary in taking possession of an estate, as the jurists hold.

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INDEX

=AEthiopia=, coast of, 35, 41, 43, 53 =Africa=, west coast, Vespucci on, xli, 35, 43, 53 =Africus=, a course, 52 =Albizi=, Francisco degli, a tall man, natives compared to, 27 =Alseshij=, a name in the Vianelo letter, 59 =Altitudes= of heavenly bodies, observations, 44 =America=, objection of Las Casas and Herrera to the name, xxxix, 76 =Animals= enumerated as seen in the first voyage, 17, 87 =Antarctic Circle=, approach to, 39, 45 =Antiglia=, or Antilla, xxiv, xxxvi _n._, 29, 83, 107 (see =Espanola=) =Astrolabe=, 45, 65 =Atlantic=, passages across, 3, 21, 36, 43, 53 =Ayarayte=, cacique, 96 =Azores=, xlii, 41

=Badajoz= commission, viii _n._, xv =Bahamas=, xxvii =Bahia=, xliii, 53 =Balboa=, Vasco Nunez de, xv =Bandini=, his Life of Vespucci, ii =Baptisms= performed by Vespucci and his companions, 17; comments of Las Casas, 88 =Bastidas=, Rodrigo de, evidence respecting the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, 109, 113 =Bello=, Pero, one of Roldan's boat's crew, 105 =Benvenuti=, Benvenuto di Domenico, requested Vespucci to write to Soderini, bearer of the letter, 2, 56 =Berardi=, Juan, employed Vespucci, iv, 31; his contract to supply ships, iv, v; suggestion that his ships were used for the voyage of Vespucci, xxv =Bermuda= (see =Iti=), first appearance on the map, xxxviii; discovered by Juan Bermudez, _ib._ =Besechiece=, on the coast of Africa, xli, 35 (see =Biseghier=) =Birds= seen in the first voyage, 17; comments of Las Casas, 88 =Biseghier=, or Bezequiche, 43 =Bobadilla=, xv =Bolanos=, one of Roldan's boat's crew, 105 =Book= of Vespucci (see _Four Voyages_) =Brabo=, Hernan, one of Roldan's boat's crew, 105 =Brasil= in Espanola, Hojeda at, 80, 97, 98 =Brazil=, coast of, Vespucci on, xii, xli, 36; natives, 36, 37, 45, 46; cannibals, 37, 38, 47; trees, 39, 48; fort built, 55

=Cabot=, Sebastian, as to observations of Vespucci, viii _n._ =Cabral=, Pedro Alvarez, met Portuguese expedition on return from India, xli _n._ =Cadiz=, Vespucci sent as a commercial agent to, iv; departure of Vespucci from, 3, 4, 21, 75; return to, 21, 30; return of Hojeda to, 34; slaves sold at, 19, 21 =Cahay=, 104 =Calicut=, 53 =Camarona=, province, Pinzon and Solis at, 109 =Canaria Gran=, Vespucci at, distance from Lisbon, 4, 21; Hojeda touched at, 32, 85; Vespucci at, with the Portuguese, 35, 43 =Cancer=, Tropic of, 17 =Canna fistola=, tree, 39 =Cannibals=, 32, 37, 38, 47 =Canoe=, chase of, in the Gulf of Paria, 23 =Canopus=, 49 =Canovai=, Life of Vespucci by, iii =Cape Verde=, 43, 44 =Cape Verde Isles=, 21, 28, 53, 69 =Capricorn=, Tropic, 39, 48 =Carabi=, a native word mentioned by Vespucci, xxiii, xxix, 17, 89 =Caria=, mountains, xxxiii, 109, 112 =Cariaco=, gulf, x, 92 =Caribs=, 32 =Carnesecchi=, priest who brought news of Geronnica Vespucci, iv =Carvajal=, Alonso de, 102 =Cassia= trees, 29 =Cazabi=, food of natives, xxiii, xxx, 11 =Cerezo=, Maria, wife of Vespucci, pension, xv =Chabaca=, Pinzon and Solis voyage, xxxiii, 109-10 =Chart=, 45 (see =Padron Real=), 64, 65 =Climates= as divisions of the globe referred to by Vespucci, 4, 17, 35 =Coelho=, Gonzalo, expedition to Brazil, Vespucci not with him, xlii, 52 _n._ =Columba=, name proposed by Las Casas instead of America, 76 =Columbus=, Christopher: Government broke faith with, v Vespucci contracted for voyages of, vi Mentioned once by Vespucci, vi, xii, 29 Letter to his son in which Vespucci is mentioned, 57 True discoverer of the mainland, 68, 69, 75, 78, 113, 114 At San Domingo when Hojeda arrived on the coast, 98 =Columbus=, Diego, lawsuit, efforts made to show that others made discoveries besides the Admiral, xxxiv; proofs of his father's discoveries, xii, 73, 96 =Columbus=, Fernando, possessed a copy of the printed letters of Vespucci, xxxv, 84 =Coquibacoa=, province, 33, 91, 96, 98 =Cosa=, Juan de la, with Hojeda, viii, 31, 71, 73, 85, 96; account of a voyage in Vianelo's letter, xiii, xiv, 58-61; called "Juan Vizcaino", 81, 100; in a boat to parley with Roldan, 105; map, xi; evidence against Vespucci from map of, xxxv _Cosmographiae Introductio_, xviii =Course= (see =Winds=) =Crocodiles= (see =Lagartos=) =Cumana=, 91 =Cuquibacoa= (see =Coquibacoa=) =Curacoa=, isle (see =Isla de los Gigantes=), 33

=Dante=, quoted by Vespucci, vii, 3 =D'Avezac=, his opinion of Vespucci, i =Dominica= (see =Iti=) =Drago=, Boca del, x, 30, 32, 72, 79, 87; on the map of Juan de la Cosa, xi

=Escobar=, Diego de, sent by Roldan to negotiate with Hojeda, 103, 104 =Espanola=, arrival of Vespucci at, 29; Hojeda at, x, 33, 98, 106 =Ethiopia=, coast, 35, 41, 43, 53 =Ethiopic Promontory=, so called by Ptolemy, 43

=Ferdinand=, King, alleged to have sent Vespucci, 2, 3, 35, 72; his bad appointments, xiv, xv =Fernando Noronha=, isles, shipwreck at, xlii, 53, 54 =Fish=, loaves made of, 14, 87 =Fishery= of "parchi" on the African coast, 35 "=Flechado=," Puerto, of Hojeda, 33 =Florida=, concession to Ponce de Leon, evidence against Vespucci from, xxxviii =Fonseca=, Bishop of Palencia, sent Hojeda, vii, 31, 70, 77; his licence to Hojeda, 77, 101, 106; his opinion of Vespucci, viii; his bad appointments, xv; maps shown to Peter Martyr by, xxxvii, xxxviii =Food= of natives, 11 =Fortunate Isles=, 4, 43 _Four Voyages_, book supposed to have been written by Vespucci, xxi, 11, 16, 39, 51, 55 =Fruits=, 17, 88; beer made from, 24 =Fuoco=, isle, 21

=Galitut= (see =Calicut=) =Garcia=, Antonio, a pilot, his evidence, 109; Cristoval of Palos' evidence, 30 _n._ =Gigantes=, Islas de, xi, 31, 33; same as Curacoa, 33; on map of Juan de la Cosa, xi (see =Island of Giants=) =Giocondo=, Giuliano di Bartolomeo di, sent to bring Vespucci to Portugal, xi, 35; translated Medici letter into Latin, xv, 52; not mentioned in Portuguese archives, xi =Goes=, Damian de, silence respecting Vespucci, xl =Golfo Dolce=, 111 =Gomara=, his statement that many vessels took advantage of the concession in breach of the rights granted to Columbus, v;

statement that Pinzon was on the Honduras coast before Columbus, xxxii =Goree=, or =Besechiece= (which see), 35 _n._ =Gracia=, name given by Columbus, 68, 70 =Gracias a Dios=, Cape, 109 =Guadalupe= (see =Iti=) =Guanaja=, isle, Pinzon and Solis at, xxxiii, 108, 110, 111 =Guarapiche=, river, 32

=Harrisse=, Mr., unable to find entries respecting Vespucci, referred to by Munoz, v _n._; established the correct date and direction of the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, xxxiii =Hatteras=, Cape, xxvii =Herrera=, on the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, xxxii; protest against the name of America, xxxix =Hispaniola= (see =Espanola=) =Hojeda=, Alonso de, his evidence respecting his voyage, 30; dispatch of his expedition, vi, 31, 85; had the chart of Columbus, 32; voyage, x, 32, 34; dispute with Roldan, 34; sent out by Fonseca, 31, 70, 79; date of his departure, 78; Las Casas on his voyage, 85, 91; conduct at Espanola, x, 98-106; intrigues at Xaragua, 101, 102; kidnapping natives, 10, 11; outwitted by Roldan, 105 =Honduras= coast reached by Pinzon and Solis, xxxiii =Humboldt=, opinion of Vespucci, i =Hylacomylus= (see =Waldzeemueller=)

=Ignami=, name of native food, xxiii, xxx, 11, 13, 14 =Iguana=, description of, 14 =Illanes=, Pedro de, one of Roldan's boat's crew, 105 =Indians=, Vespucci's account of, at his first landfall, 5; appearance, arms, wars, women, large houses, 8, 9; burial, food, cannibals, 10, 11; dealings with, at a village like Venice, 12; encounter with, 13; hospitality, curiosity, 16; at the "finest harbour in the world", 18; encounters with, at Iti, 19, 20, 94; carried off to sell as slaves, 21, 95; at Trinidad, 24; habit of chewing leaves, 25, 26; make beer from fruit, 24; on the Isle of Giants, 27 (see =Brazil=) =Irving=, Washington, opinion of Vespucci, i =Island=, natives chewing green leaves on, 25, 26; of Giants, natives, adventure with, xxiv, 27, 96 =Iti=, islands, 19; encounters with natives, 19, 20, 94; name, 19 _n._; natives carried off as slaves, 21, 95; loss of Spaniards at, 21; believed by Las Casas to be Dominica or Guadalupe, 93; supposed by Varnhagen to be Bermuda, xxvii

=Jocundus= (see =Giocondo=) =Juca=, name of food of natives, xxiii, xxx, 11 (see =Yoca=)

=La Ballena=, Gulf of, 68 (see =Paria=) =Lagartos=, or crocodiles, 91 =Landfall= of alleged first voyage, 4; of Hojeda's voyage, 21, 22; of Portuguese voyage, 35, 36, 44 =Lariab=, name in Italian edition for _Parias_, xxiii, xxx, xxxi, 17 =Las Casas= on the alleged first voyage of Vespucci, i, 68; objection to the name America, xxxix, 76; proofs of the untruthfulness of Vespucci, viii, xxxix, 83, 87, 89, 93, 97, 107; comments on baptisms by Vespucci, 88; his account of the conduct of Hojeda at Espanola, x, 98-106; evidence from Roldan that the encounter, when one Spaniard was killed and about twenty wounded, was during Hojeda's voyage, xxix, 81; on the voyage of Pinzon and Solis, xxxii, 111 =Latitude= of Canaria, of landfall on first voyage, 4; of land reached in first voyage, 17; of landfall on second voyage, 22; wrong latitude for coast of Spanish main, 29; of Besechiece, 35; of landfall on coast of Brazil, 36; of Cape St. Augustine, viii _n._, 38; beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, 39, 45; of land sighted far south, 40; marvellous latitude for Malacca, 53; of the fort on the coast of Brazil, 55 =Lawsuit= of Diego Columbus, evidence of Hojeda, 30; of Pinzon, 109; of Ledesma, xxxii, 110; of Antonio Garcia, 109; of Bastidas, 109; of Nicolas Perez, 109 =Leaves=, habit of chewing, 25, 26 =Ledesma=, Pedro de, his age, xxxiii; statement that Pinzon and Solis went north, xxxiii, 110; account of, 110 _n._ =Leon=, Ponce de, concession to discover Florida, xxxviii =Linares=, Toribio de, detained Hojeda, 104 =Lisbon=, Vespucci at, when he wrote to Soderini, vii, 2; distance from Gran Canaria, 4; Vespucci sailed from, xi, 35; return, 41; sailed a second time, xlii, 52; return, 56; distance to equator, 50; Vespucci at, when the Cantino map was drawn, xxxvi =Longitude=, alleged observation for, landfall for first voyage, 4 =Lorraine=, Duke of (see =Rene=)

=Malacca=, departure of Vespucci to discover, 53; latitude, 53 _n._ =Mandraga=, 43 =Manoel=, King of Portugal, voyage of Vespucci by order of, 2 =Maracaibo= (see =San Bartolome=) =Maracapana=, 91, 96 =Margarita=, isle, x, 30, 72, 73, 89, 91, 96; on the map of Juan de la Cosa, xi =Martyr=, Peter, direction of the voyage age of Pinzon and Solis fixed by his mention of Chabaca and Pintigron, xxxiv; evidence of, 74, 79; opinion of Vespucci, viii; evidence that Vespucci helped in the Cantino map, xxxvii _n._ =Mecaenas=, alluded to by Vespucci, vii, 2 =Medici Letter=, xii, xv, 42; editions, xvii, xviii =Medici=, Lorenzo Pietro Francesco, iv, xii, xv, 42 =Melaccha= (see =Malacca=) =Mendez=, Diego, 57 =Mini=, Lisabetta, mother of Vespucci, iii =Montoya=, one of Roldan's boat's crew, 105 =Morales=, Andres de, evidence of, 96, 97, 113 =Munoz=, opinion of Vespucci, i; mention of entries respecting Vespucci, v =Myrrh=, 39

=Natives= (see =Indians, Brazil=) =Nativity=, Bay of, named by Pinzon and Solis, 109, 112 =Navarrete=, opinion of Vespucci, i; suggested Tristan d'Acunha as the southern land of Vespucci, 40 _n._ =New World=, coast of Brazil so called by Vespucci, xvi-xviii, 42 =Niccolini=, Donato, sent to Spain with Vespucci, iv

=Orinoco=, Hojeda off the mouth of, x =Ovando=, xiv =Oviedo=, statement that Pinzon was on the Honduras coast before Columbus, xxxii; discrepancy between his statement and that of Vespucci respecting the number of ships, supposing Vespucci to have sailed with Pinzon and Solis, xxxiii

=Padron Real=, chart so called, corrected periodically, to be kept at Seville for reference, 65 =Parchi= (see =Fishery=) =Paria=, visited by Hojeda, x, 30, 31; discovered by Columbus, 68, 71, 73, 75, 79, 80; gulf of, 32; on the map of Juan de la Cosa, xi; Pinzon and Solis sailed towards, xxxiv =Parias=, name of a province visited by Vespucci in his alleged first voyage, 17; question of the names _Parias_ and _Lariab_, xxiii, xxx, 74 _n._, 87 =Pearls=, 29, 48, 76, 91 =Pedrarias=, xiv; Giovanni Vespucci as pilot with, xv =Penalosa=, Francisco de, uncle of Las Casas, 77 =Perez=, Nicolas, evidence of, 109 =Pilot Major=, appointment of Vespucci, xiv, 64; to teach the pilots, 64 =Pilots=, with Hojeda, 31; orders respecting, 64, 65; qualifications of, ix; Giovanni Vespucci appointed, xv =Pinelo=, Treasurer, receipt for Vespucci, of money to pay sailors, 5 =Pintigron=, in voyage of Pinzon and Solis, xxxiii, 109, 110 (see =Martyr=, Peter) =Pintor=, Juan, a deserter from Hojeda, 104, 106 =Pinzon=, Vicente Yanez, evidence at the lawsuit, xxxii, 109, 111, 113; direction of voyage, xxxiv; projected voyage with Vespucci, xiii; date of voyage with Solis, xxxiii =Pliny=, quoted by Vespucci, vii, 2, 48 =Policletus=, vii, 48 =Portugal=, King of (Manoel), sent for Vespucci, xi, 34 (see =Vespucci=); Vespucci hoped the King would return his journal, 51 =Portuguese= called Espanola by the name of _Antilla_ or _Antiglia_, xxxvi _n._, 29 _n._, 107; archives silent respecting Vespucci, xl; voyages of Vespucci with, xl-xliii, 34-56 =Ptolemy=, Vespucci mentions him as having called Cape Verde the "Ethiopic Promontory", 43 =Puerto Flechado=, x

=Rene II=, Duke of Lorraine, Latin edition of the Vespucci letter dedicated to, xii, xviii, 1 _n._, 69, 71, 84 =Ringmann=, xliii =Rivers=, inundated mouths, at landfall of Hojeda's voyage, 22, 32 =Robertson=, opinion of Vespucci, i =Roldan=, Bartolome, with Hojeda, 71 =Roldan=, Francisco, dispute with Hojeda, 34, 78, 80-81; report to Columbus, 81; sent by Columbus to watch Hojeda, 98; outwits Hojeda, 105; evidence as to killed and wounded in Hojeda's voyage, xxix, 81 =Roquemes=, in the Canaries, 96

=Salvador=, one of Roldan's boat's crew, 105 =St. Augustine=, Cape, xli, viii _n._, 38, 39 =San Bartolome=, Gulf, 33 =San Domingo=, Bartolome Roldan a citizen of, 71; Andres de Morales at, 96; news of Hojeda brought to Columbus at, 98, 101; arrival of ships of Hojeda at San Domingo does not refer to the first voyage, when Vespucci was with him, 30 _n._ (see =Espanola=, =Antilla=) =San Lucar=, 69, 75 =San Roman=, Cape, 33 =Santa=, isles, name given by Columbus, 68, 70 =Santa Maria=, Port of, 70 =Santarem=, Visconde, found no trace of the name of Vespucci in Portuguese archives, xi, xl _n._ =Serra Leone=, xlii, 41, 53 =Seville=, Vespucci at, iv, xi, xii, 34, 35; pilots to be taught at, 64; Hojeda known at, 70, 78; Ledesma born at, 110 _n._ =Soderini=, Pietro, Gonfaloniere of Florence, xii, xviii, 1, 2 =Solis=, Juan Diaz de, voyage with Pinzon, xiv, xxxii, xxxiii, 107, 110, 111, 113; pension of Vespucci's widow paid out of salary, xv =South Georgia=, supposed to have been sighted by Vespucci, xlii _n._, 40 =Stars=, observations in the South Hemisphere, 39, 41; southern stars, 40; _Canopus_, 49

=Tampico=, Varnhagen places Vespucci at, xxxvi =Trees= in Brazil, xli (see =Cassia=, =Canna fistola=, =Brazil=) =Trinidad=, isle discovered by Columbus, 68, 72; visited by Hojeda, 30, 32 =Tristan d'Acunha=, xlii _n._, 40 _n._ =Truxillo=, Diego de, detained by Hojeda, 104

=Ulysses=, death of, in Dante, referred to by Vespucci, 3 =Ursa= Major and Minor lost sight of, 39, 40

=Varnhagen=, his work to rehabilitate Vespucci, ii, xxvi, xxvii, xxxviii, xliv; purchase of Italian edition of Vespucci's letter, xix; his theory of Vespucci's first voyage, xxvi; theory that _Iti_ was Bermuda disproved, xxvii; theory about Little Venice disproved, xxviii; theory about Lariab, xxx; theory about the voyage of Pinzon and Solis disproved, xxxii-xxxiv; theory that Vespucci remained out after Hojeda returned disproved, 30 _n._ =Vela=, Cabo de la, Hojeda's furthest point, x, 33, 90, 96, 97; on the map of Juan de la Cosa, xi =Velasquez=, Juan, 81, 100 =Venecia=, Gulf of, 31, 33 =Venezuela=, x, 33, 91, 96, 98 =Venice=, village built on piles like, xxviii, 12, 86 =Veragua=, 109, 110, 113 =Verde=, Cape, xli, 43, 53 =Vespucci=, Amerigo, texts of his letters published by Varnhagen, ii; life by Bandini, ii; life by Canovai, iii; Latin letter to his father, iii; family, iii, iv; employed by Medici and sent to Spain, employed to wind up affairs of Berardi, iv; provision contractor, v; resolution to give up commercial pursuits and go to sea, vi, 2, 3, 71; address to Soderini, 1; promoter of the voyage of Hojeda, vii, 21; smattering of classical learning, vii; character, viii; no claim to be considered a pilot, ix; not mentioned in Portuguese archives, xi; interview with Columbus, xii, xiii, 57; spurious letters of, iii _n._, xii _n._; book alleged to have been written by, xxi, 11, 16, 39, 51, 55; summary of alleged first voyage, xxii; course and distance, first voyage, 4; excursion into the interior, 15; statement as to latitudes and distances run, 17; sojourn in the "finest harbour in the world", 18; account of proceedings at Iti, 19-21; return from first voyage, 21; second voyage, vi, 21; adventure on the Isle of Giants, 27, 28; arrival at "Antiglia" (Espanola), 29; complaint of treatment at Espanola, 30, 83, 107; with Hojeda, viii, 31, 69, 71, 72, 73, 85; sent for by the King of Portugal, 34; sailed from Lisbon, 35; return, 41; letter to Medici, 42; boasts of his knowledge, of cosmography, 44; fanciful account of stars, 50; desire that the King of Portugal would return his journal, 51; departure on last Portuguese voyage, 52; abuse of his commander, 53, 56; mistake of Vianelo respecting, xiii, 58; letter of naturalization, xiii, 61; appointment as chief pilot, xiv, 63-67; Las Caras on his first voyage, 68, 69; injury to Columbus, 82, 83, 85; accounts of natives fictitious, 86; account of visit to Espanola false, 96, 107, 108; projected voyage with Pinzon, xiii; Hispanicisms in his letter, xix, xx; silence respecting comrades, xx; evidence against first voyage, xxv, xxxiv, xxxv-xxxvi; death of, xv =Vespucci=, Nastagio (Anastasio), father of Amerigo, iii =Vespucci=, Antonio, brother, iv, xv, 56 =Vespucci=, Bartolomeo, nephew, iv =Vespucci=, Giorgio Antonio, friar of St. Mark, master of Amerigo and Soderini, iii, 2 =Vespucci=, Geronimo, brother, iv =Vespucci=, Giovanni, nephew, became a pilot, iv; evidence as to his uncle's observations, viii _n._; appointed pilot, xv; Peter Martyr intimate with, xxxviii =Vianelo=, Hieronimo, Venetian Ambassador, letter giving an account of a voyage of Juan de la Cosa, xiii, 58-61 _Voyages_ (see _Four Voyages_)

=Waldseemueller=, Martin, or =Hylacomylus=, the editor of _Cosmographiae Introductio_, suggested the name of America, xviii, xliii =Winds=, term used for courses, 19

=Xaragua=, Hojeda at, 83, 100; Roldan at, 100, 103

=Yaquimo=, port in Espanola, Hojeda at, 33, 80, 97, 98 =Yuca=, xxiii, xxx, 11, 13, 14 (see =Juca=) =Yucatan=, iii, xxxii

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _Amerigo Vespucci, son caractere, ses ecrits (meme les moins authentiques), sa vie, et ses navigations._ Par F. A. de Varnhagen, Ministre du Brazil en Perou. (Lima, 1865.)]

[Footnote 2: _Vita e lettere d'Amerigo Vespucci, Gentiluomo Florentino, raccolte ed illustrate dall' Abate Angelo Maria Bandini._ (4to, Firenze, 1745.)]

[Footnote 3: _Viaggi d'Amerigo Vespucci con la vita, l'elogio, e la dissertazione justicativa di questo celebre navigatore_, del Padre Stanislao Canovai, delle scuole pie, pubblico professore di Matematico. Opera postuma. (Firenze, 8vo, 1817.)]

[Footnote 4: The first of these letters was published by Bandini from a manuscript found in the Riccardi Library at Florence. It is intended to describe the voyage with Hojeda in 1499. The second appeared in the edition of Marco Polo by Baldelli in 1827, and was also found in the Riccardi Library. It describes an imaginary voyage to the East Indies. The third describes a Portuguese voyage, and was published by Bartolozzi in 1789. It was discovered in the archives of the old Secretariat of State at Florence, among papers which belonged to the Strozzi Library. All three profess to be addressed to Lorenzo di Medici. They are reprinted by Varnhagen, pp. 69-86.]

[Footnote 5: Bandini, _Vita_, xxiv.]

[Footnote 6: There are sixty-eight letters to him, 1483-91, chiefly on business matters.]

[Footnote 7: _Nav._, iii, 316.]

[Footnote 8: Four sailed for Espanola, under the command of Aguado, on 5th August 1495. Others were probably used for the voyage of Pero Alonzo Nino, which sailed on June 15th, 1496; and for the third expedition of Columbus in 1498.]

[Footnote 9: On the authority of Munoz, quoted by Navarrete (iii, 317 _n._). More recent researches have failed to discover these entries seen by Munoz in the second book of _Gastos de las armadas de las Indias_ of the "Casa de Contratacion"; and Mr. Harrisse, therefore, assumes that they never existed. This does not follow, and the evidence of so high an authority as Munoz cannot so lightly be set aside. It is true, however, that the evidence of Munoz is not conclusive without documents, and in that case the last date on which Vespucci is mentioned as being at Seville is January 12th, 1496.]

[Footnote 10: Pliny the elder was born thirty-one years after the death of Mecaenas.]

[Footnote 11: "The sculptures of Polycletus and the paintings of Apelles." (Macaulay.)]

[Footnote 12: Letter to Solderini, p. 3.]

[Footnote 13: Chap. clxvi, end.]

[Footnote 14: Letter to Medici, p. 4.]

[Footnote 15: Letter to Solderini, Fourth Voyage, p. 53.]

[Footnote 16: _Ibid._, p. 56.]

[Footnote 17: _Ibid._, Second Voyage, p. 27.]

[Footnote 18: Sebastian Cabot only knew of the qualifications of Vespucci from the report of his nephew Giovanni and others. He said, in his evidence before the Badajoz Commission (13th November 1515), that Vespucci took the altitude at Cape St. Augustine, and that he was expert in taking observations. Giovanni Vespucci also said that his uncle took sights and kept a journal. Nuno Garcia gave similar evidence. (Extracts by Munoz from the _Registro de copias de cedulas de la Casa de la Contratacion_, Nav., iii, 319.)]

[Footnote 19: See p. 44.]

[Footnote 20: See pages 99 to 106.]

[Footnote 21: Las Casas thinks that the islands where the natives were kidnapped, called _Iti_ by Vespucci, were Dominica and Guadalupe. See p. 93.]

[Footnote 22: These dates make the voyage mentioned in an alleged letter of Vespucci, recently found in Holland, quite impossible. This fabulous voyage from Lisbon to Calicut covered the time from March 1500 to November 15th, 1501. The letter was printed in Dutch by Jan van Doesborch at Antwerp, on December 1st, 1508 (twelve leaves). Mr. Coote (in the _Athenaeum_, Jan. 20, 1894) has suggested that the date is a mistake, and that it should be 1505-1506, the date of the Portuguese voyage of Almeida; having found that some incidents in the spurious letter occur also in the account of the voyage of Almeida. But the suggested dates are equally impossible so far as Vespucci is concerned, for he was certainly in Spain during the whole of 1505 and 1506. The letter is clearly a fabrication.]

[Footnote 23: _Nav._, iii, 292.]

[Footnote 24: _Ibid._, 294-95, 302.]

[Footnote 25: See p. 58.]

[Footnote 26: _Nav._, iii, 299.]

[Footnote 27: _Nav._, iii, 305, 308.]

[Footnote 28: On her death, in 1524, her pension was passed on to her sister Catalina. (_Nav._, iii, 324.)]

[Footnote 29: _Ibid._, 306.]

[Footnote 30: See page 35.]

[Footnote 31: See page 42.]

[Footnote 32: See pp. 44, 45.]

[Footnote 33: Varnhagen thought, from the places and dates of other pamphlets bound up in the same volume with his copy, that it was printed by Piero Paccini, at Pescia, in 1506.]

[Footnote 34: The Spanish _traer_ is used for the Italian _portare_ four times, _cansado_ for _stanco_ three times, _disnudi_ for _ignudi_ three times, _salir_ for _escire_ twice, _allargar_ for _allungare_ twice, _dismanparate_ for _abbandonate_ twice, _largi_ for _lontani_ twice, and _ruego_ for _priego_ twice. Other Hispanicisms occur once, namely:--

_Usado_ for _Ardito_. _Patagna_ " _Frivolezza_. _Circa_ " _Vecino_. _Brava_ " _Selvaggio_. _Dispedino_ " _Licenziano_. _Madiana_ " _Mediocra_. _Formosa_ " _Bella_. _Levono_ " _Portano_. _Vaciare_ " _Votare_. _Scusono_ " _Ricusano_. _Dolentia_ " _Infirmita_. _Relato_ " _Raccontato_. _Profito_ " _Utilita_. _Dimostra_ " _Indizio_. _Folgato_ " _Spassato_. _Di basso_ " _Sotto_. _Sabiduria_ " _Sapienza_. _Corregemo_ " _Racconciamo_. _Difesono_ " _Impedirono_. _Uorata in un rio_. " _Incagliata in un fiume_. _Dispopolato_ " _Disabitato_. _Damnato_ " _Damaggiato_.]

[Footnote 35: He calls a bay _ensenada_ instead of _seno_, _surgemo_ for _gettamo_ (_l'ancora_), _calefatar_ and _brear_ instead of _spalmare_ and _impeciare_, _aquacero_ for _rovescio_, _serrazon_ for _oscurezza_, _tormento_ for _tempesta_, _palo_ for _legno_, _riscatto_ for _comprato_. He uses the Spanish phrase _doblare un cabo_, and the Portuguese word _fateixa_ for a boat's anchor.]

[Footnote 36: See p. 11.]

[Footnote 37: See pp. 16, 17.]

[Footnote 38: See p. 39.]

[Footnote 39: See p. 55.]

[Footnote 40: In his second voyage he calls the cannibal tribe _Cambali_. Columbus, in the Journal of his first voyage, frequently mentions the Caribas or Canibas.]

[Footnote 41: See p. 11.]

[Footnote 42: The name of Columbus is not once mentioned in the _Cosmographiae Introductio_, containing the Latin version of Vespucci. It occurs only once in the letter of Vespucci, where, in his second voyage, he mentions his arrival at Antiglia, formerly discovered by Columbus.]

[Footnote 43: See also _Navarrete_, iii, 474. Peter Martyr says, "in the year before the expedition of Nicuesa and Hojeda", which was in 1509.]

[Footnote 44: Ledesma was aged 37 in March 1513. (_Nav._, iii, 539.)]

[Footnote 45: A study of Harrisse, and reference to the original authorities (after writing the note on the Pinzon and Solis voyage at p. 284 of my _Life of Columbus_), has led me to make several corrections, especially as regards the date of 1506 given by Herrera. The true date of the voyage was 1508.]

[Footnote 46: _Dec. II._ Lib. vii, pp. 85-6, of Eden's translation (Willes' ed.).]

[Footnote 47: "That is, the Prince of Chiauaccha, for they call princes or kings _Chiaconus_."]

[Footnote 48: "The first year before the departing of the captains Nicuesa and Fogeda" (Hojeda), which was in 1509.]

[Footnote 49: Names on the coast-line from Paria to Cabo de la Vela:--

J. DE LA COSA. CANTINO MAP.

m. de S. eufemia. Tamarique. soto de uerbos. ilha Rigua. C. de la Vela. boacoya. aguada. lago venecuela. golfo del unficismo. almedabra. _m. alto._ _montansis albissima._ C. de espera. _y. de Brasil._ _ylha do Brasil._ _y. de gigantes._ _ylha do Giganta._ C. de la mota. Costa de gente brava. p. flechado. aldea de turma. costa pareja. Rio de fonseca. m. tajado. 3 echeo. Cabo de las Perlas. Campina. Ilha de la Rapossa. ylhas de Sana. _G. de las Perla._ _Golfo de las Perlas._ Margaleda. terra de paria. _tres hr._ _I tres testigos._ _boca del drago._ _boca del drago._

Six of the names are the same, all the rest are different. Juan de la Cosa gives twenty-two, the Cantino map fifteen names.]

[Footnote 50: Vespucci calls Espanola by the name used in Portugal--Antilla. On the Cantino map the West Indian Islands are called Antillas.]

[Footnote 51: _Dec. II_, Lib. x (p. 92 in Eden's translation):--

"From the tyme, therefore, that I fyrste determined to obeye theyr requestes who wylled me fyrst in your name to wryte these thinges in the Latine tongue, I did my endevour that al things myght come foorth with due tryal and experience; whereupon I repayred to the Bishop of Burgos, beyng the cheafe refuge of this navigation. As we were therefore secretely togeather in one chamber, we had many instruments parteining to these affaires, as globes, and many of those mappes which are commonly called the shipmans cardes, or cardes of the sea. Of the which, one was drawen by the Portugales, wherunto Americus Vesputius is said to have put his hande, beyng a man most experte in this facultie, and a Florentine borne, who also under the stipende of the Portugales had sayled towarde the South pole many degrees beyonde the Equinoctial. In this carde we founde the first front of this lande to be broder then the kynges of Uraba had persuaded our men of theyr mountaynes."]

[Footnote 52: The Viscount Santarem, principal archivist of Portugal in 1826, searched all the original correspondence of King Emanuel from 1495 to 1503 inclusive, and many thousands of documents of that time in the Torre de Tombo at Lisbon, and at Paris, but never once came across the name of Vespucci.]

[Footnote 53: Beseneque (?).]

[Footnote 54: A Portuguese pilot, who wrote an account of the voyage of Pedro Alvarez Cabral to India, says that on their return, on reaching the land near Cape Verde, called Beseneque, they met three Portuguese ships sent to discover the new land found by Cabral on the voyage out (_Coleccion de Noticias, etc._, Lisboa, 1812, cap. 21). It is very suspicious that Vespucci should not mention this meeting if he was on board one of these three ships. (_Nav._, iii, 310.)]

[Footnote 55: Varnhagen supposes this land to be South Georgia, in 54 deg. S., discovered by Captain Cook in 1776. Navarrete suggested Tristan d'Acunha.]

[Footnote 56: Goes mentions an expedition to Brazil commanded by Gonzalo Coelho, which sailed from Lisbon on June 10th, 1503, and consisted of six ships. But Coelho returned safely with four out of his six ships, while Vespucci asserts that the commander perished, in the expedition in which he served.]

[Footnote 57: Latin edition: "To the most illustrious Rene, King of Jerusalem and Sicily, Duke of Lorraine and Bar."]

[Footnote 58: Supposed to be Pietro Soderini, Gonfaloniere of the Republic of Florence in 1504, who had studied with Vespucci. See _Bandini_, p. xxv.]

[Footnote 59: Fernando is never called King of Castille in any document of the period.]

[Footnote 60: The Latin version has 20th.]

[Footnote 61: _Inferno_, Canto 26, l. 116:

"Non vogliate negar l' esperienza Diretro al Sol, del mondo senza gente."]

[Footnote 62: The third climate of Hipparchus was between the parallels of Syene and Alexandria.]

[Footnote 63: The distance shows that, like Columbus, he reckons four miles to a league.]

[Footnote 64: "Ponente figliando una quarta di libeccio." Varnhagen makes this 0-1/4 S. O. A course W.S.W. for 1,000 leagues would have taken him to the Gulf of Paria, which is a little over 900 leagues W.S.W. from Grand Canary. He would not have reached land in 16 deg.[68] N. and 70 deg. W. even if he had steered the right course, and there had been no intervening land, by going 1,000 leagues. Such a distance would have left him 930 miles short of that position.]

[Footnote 65: Twenty-seven days (Latin version).]

[Footnote 66: Equal to 1333-1/3 leagues of three geographical miles.]

[Footnote 67: 70 deg. W. of Canaria, or 85 deg. W. of Greenwich, would be in the Pacific Ocean; but this is a specimen of Vespucci's romancing. There was no observation for longitude with instruments in those days. Columbus observed the time occasionally, when there was an eclipse, comparing it with the time at some place given in his almanac, but the result was too rough to be of any use.]

[Footnote 68: The part of the mainland in 16 deg. is in the Gulf of Honduras. In his second voyage he alleges that he reached 15 deg., which is probably the reason why he chose 16 deg. for a landfall on this voyage.]

[Footnote 69: Bombix.]

[Footnote 70: _Coltroni_. Varnhagen suggests the Spanish word _colchones_, mattresses; but _coltroni_ is a good Italian word, and suitable.]

[Footnote 71: _Yuca_ is a word in the language of the West Indian islanders for the root of _Jatophra Manihot_.]

[Footnote 72: _Cazabi_, the bread made from the same root.]

[Footnote 73: _Inhame_ (Port.), _Name_ (Sp.), a word of African origin. Yam.]

[Footnote 74: _Zibaldone_ (Lat. _Libellum_).]

[Footnote 75: _Cani alani_.]

[Footnote 76: This is a description of the iguana, which Vespucci would have seen on the coast of Venezuela.]

[Footnote 77: _Lariab_ in the Italian edition.]

[Footnote 78: _Maestrale_.]

[Footnote 79: He says he left Cadiz on 10th May 1497. According to this it was then 10th June 1498.]

[Footnote 80: I am indebted to Mr. Quaritch's translation for the suggestion that the word _allogiate_ may be _allegiate_ for _allegerite_ ("lightened").]

[Footnote 81: _I.e._, the course. _Infra Greco e Levante_.]

[Footnote 82: _Iti_ (sing. _Ito_), an old Italian word, meaning "gone". Here he gives it as the name of an island. In the second voyage he uses it for "gone"--"Dipoi che fumo _iti_ circa di una legua." It is probably a name invented by himself. Navarrete suggests it may be _Ha-iti_, the native name for Espanola, which he adopted for his imaginary island.]

[Footnote 83: Two hours, in the Latin edition.]

[Footnote 84: Latin edition has 25.]

[Footnote 85: Both editions agree as to this number "222".]

[Footnote 86: This is untrue. There were four ships. See _Las Casas_, chap. 165.]

[Footnote 87: He uses the word "wind" for rhumb or course.]

[Footnote 88: Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria.]

[Footnote 89: _Braccia_ is a yard, a measure of three spans.]

[Footnote 90: _Mirabolani_.]

[Footnote 91: Alonso Nino and Cristobal Guerra, in their voyage in 1500, observed the same practice among the natives, and said it was to keep their teeth white. (_Nav._, iii, p. 15.)]

[Footnote 92: Further on he says that the kinds of animals on the island were varied and numerous.]

[Footnote 93: _Iti_, an old Italian word for "gone"--"Dipoi che fumo _iti_ circa di una legua."]

[Footnote 94: The island of Curacoa.]

[Footnote 95: This is untrue, as Las Casas has proved.]

[Footnote 96: It should be 13 deg. The coast explored by Hojeda is, in no part, north of 13 deg.]

[Footnote 97: _Conta_, a Portuguese word.]

[Footnote 98: The island of Espanola, so called by the Portuguese.]

[Footnote 99: September 5th, 1499, to November 22nd, 1499.]

[Footnote 100: A false date. It should be November 22nd. He gives the _day_ correctly.]

[Footnote 101: These dates are shown by Las Casas to be false. Amerigo does not give any year; but the date of arrival at Cadiz was really about February 1500. Varnhagen (p. 107 _n._) suggested that Hojeda and La Cosa arrived first at Espanola, while Vespucci remained on the coast of the mainland for some months. He refers to the evidence of one Cristobal Garcia of Palos, given on October 1st, 1515, to the effect that, he being at San Domingo, Hojeda and La Cosa arrived there in a small bark, having lost their ships, and with only fifteen or twenty men, the rest being dead (_Nav._, iii, 544). But this cannot refer to the voyage of 1499, when Hojeda had not lost his ships, and did not go to San Domingo. The evidence, of course, relates to his disastrous second voyage. The narrative of Roldan, quoted by Las Casas, proves that Hojeda came to Espanola with all his ships, that Vespucci was not left behind on the coast of the mainland, and that the dates given by Vespucci are false, either through carelessness or design.]

[Footnote 102: _Nav._, iii, 544.]

[Footnote 103: Vespucci.]

[Footnote 104: Casas and Herrera.]

[Footnote 105: In one of the forged letters published by Bandini. See p. 75 of Varnhagen.]

[Footnote 106: Only mentioned in the three instructions given by Hojeda in his second voyage, to his nephew Pedro de Hojeda and Vergara to search for the vessel _Santa Ana_, to Vergara to go to Jamaica to buy provisions, and to Lopez to go in search of Vergara.]

[Footnote 107: _Vita del Ammiraglio_, cap. 84.]

[Footnote 108: One of the forged letters in Bandini.]

[Footnote 109: _Beze quiche_, now Goree. _Biseghier_ in the Medici letter. _Besilieca_ in the Latin ed.]

[Footnote 110: S.W. 1/4 S.]

[Footnote 111: C. S. Roque.]

[Footnote 112: "_Traeua_ un gran palo", which is Spanish. In Italian, "portava un legno".]

[Footnote 113: _Fateixa (fatesce)_, a boat's anchor in Portuguese.]

[Footnote 114: St. Augustine's Day, 28th August.]

[Footnote 115: Lat. 26 deg., not 32 deg.]

[Footnote 116: _Verzino._]

[Footnote 117: Varnhagen thinks this was South Georgia, so named by Cook in Jan. 1775, in 54 deg. S. Navarrete suggests Tristan d'Acunha. Vespucci says that 50 deg. was the furthest limit he reached to the south, along the coast, in the Medici letter, but that he then sailed to within 17 deg. 30' of the S. Pole, or 73 deg. 30' S.!! See p. 45.]

[Footnote 118: 10th of March in the other letter.]

[Footnote 119: This should be ten months, according to the other letter.]

[Footnote 120: Seven days, according to the other letter.]

[Footnote 121: 17th of August in the other letter.]

[Footnote 122: 150 leagues, according to the other letter.]

[Footnote 123: In the other letter he tells a very different story.]

[Footnote 124: In 73 deg. 30' S.! There is no such statement in the other letter.]

[Footnote 125: Policletus was not a painter.]

[Footnote 126: He may mean their orbits, not the stars themselves; but in either case he is talking nonsense.]

[Footnote 127: _Zenit_ in the Italian version.]

[Footnote 128: Gonzalo Coelho, according to Damian de Goez, sailed from Lisbon on an expedition to Brazil, with six ships, on June 10th, 1503.]

[Footnote 129: This may mean either 33 deg. S. lat.; or 33 deg. from the Pole, which would be 57 deg. S. lat. Malacca is in 2 deg. 14' N. lat.]

[Footnote 130: Fernando Noronha is probably intended.]

[Footnote 131: Bahia.]

[Footnote 132: If this is intended for Gonzalo Coelho, the only Portuguese commander who is recorded to have sailed from Lisbon for Brazil in 1503, the statement is false. He returned safely with four out of his six ships.]

[Footnote 133: _Navarrete_, i, 351.]

[Footnote 134: In the library of San Marco at Venice, in the books of notes of correspondence of Venetian diplomatists with the Secretary Marino Sanuto, near the end of vol. vi. (Varnhagen, _Nouvelles Recherches_, p. 12.)]

[Footnote 135: Juan de la Cosa.]

[Footnote 136: Vianelo was misinformed as to Vespucci having accompanied Juan de la Cosa on this voyage in 1506. There are documentary proofs that Vespucci was in Spain during the whole of that year. There was an intention of sending him, with Vicente Pinzon, in search of the Spice Islands by the west, and he was consulted on the subject in August 1506, but the intention was abandoned. The account given by Vianelo of the voyage (especially the stories about the dragons and the gold) may have been furnished by Vespucci. It is quite in his manner.]

[Footnote 137: Sp., a sort of whale.]

[Footnote 138: _Vernicare_, "to varnish".]

[Footnote 139: _Assassimo_ (?).]

[Footnote 140: _Nav._, iii, 292, from the Archives of Simancas.]

[Footnote 141: It has been pretended that John Cabot had sighted the continent in the previous year, but this is not so. He only sighted Cape Breton and other islands. In his second voyage he sighted the continent (1498), but the month is unknown.]

[Footnote 142: Las Casas only knew the Latin version.]

[Footnote 143: Juan de la Cosa was called "Vizcaino" (Biscayan) by his contemporaries; but he was a native of Santona, in the province of Santander, a place which was not then, and never had been, in Biscay, or in the Basque country.]

[Footnote 144: The words "other pilots" are to be coupled with Juan de la Cosa, certainly not with Vespucci, who then went to sea for the first time, in advanced middle age, and could in no sense be called a pilot.]

[Footnote 145: So in the Latin edition. In the Italian version _L_ is substituted for _P_, and _b_ for _s_, making _Lariab_. This may be a misprint, but in the absence of the manuscript it is not possible to be sure whether the original word was _Parias_, or _Lariab_, or something else. Las Casas bases part of his argument on the use of the word _Paria_ by Vespucci; but the case against the Florentine's alleged first voyage is quite conclusive, without this fact. If Vespucci did use the word _Lariab_, it must have been invented by him, like _Iti_. It is in favour of _Lariab_ that the Italian version only passed from manuscript to print, while the Latin version was translated first into French, and thence into Latin, before it was printed. On the other hand, there is evidence that the editors of the Latin version were unacquainted with the details of the third voyage of Columbus, in which the word _Paria_ first occurs. It, therefore, is not possible that the word can have been inserted mistakenly by them. It seems, therefore, that _Lariab_ is a misprint of the Italian compositors, and that _Parias_ was the word in the manuscript of Vespucci.]

[Footnote 146: This is so. The departure, in the Latin version, is on May 20th, 1497; in the Italian it is May 10th, 1497. The date of the return is 1499 in the Latin, and 1498 in the Italian edition.]

[Footnote 147: Columbus arrived at Santo Domingo, on his third voyage, after discovering Trinidad and the mainland of America, on August 31st, 1498. He found Francisco de Roldan in open rebellion against his brother, the Adelantado. On October 18th, 1498, he sent five ships to Spain with a cargo of dyewood, and 600 slaves. By these ships the Admiral despatched his chart of the new discoveries, with a report, and two long letters giving an account of the rebellion of Roldan and the state of the colony. Las Casas believes that letters full of complaints of the Admiral were also sent home by Roldan and his accomplices. The father of Las Casas, who had gone out with Columbus in 1493, returned to Spain by this opportunity.]

[Footnote 148: Port of Jacmel in Espanola.]

[Footnote 149: Juan de la Cosa.]

[Footnote 150: Latin version. The Italian version has thirty-seven days.]

[Footnote 151: Jacmel.]

[Footnote 152: Jacmel.]

[Footnote 153: Juan de la Cosa.]

[Footnote 154: Puerto Rico.]

[Footnote 155: _Nav._, iii, p. 558.]

[Footnote 156: _Paria._]

[Footnote 157: _Navarrete_, iii, 558. Peter Martyr (Dec. I, Lib. x) says that Yanez turned his course to his left hand, by the east, to Paria, and among the princes who came to him were Chiauaccha and Pintguanus.]

[Footnote 158: Pedro de Ledesma (being 37 in March 1513, _Nav._, iii, 539) was born at Seville in 1476. Gregorio Camacho heard him say that he accompanied Columbus in his first voyage (_Nav._, iii, 588) when he would have been aged 16. He was with Columbus in the fourth voyage, serving as a seaman in the _Vizcaina_, under Bartolome Fieschi, 1503-1504, aged 27. He very gallantly swam on shore over a bar to get tidings at Veragua, but joined the mutineers at Jamaica, and was very severely wounded. In his evidence he said he was Captain and Pilot, which is false. He was pilot with Pinzon and Solis in 1510, and pilot 1511-14. He sailed with Solis to Rio de la Plata, and was drowned on the voyage home in 1516. Las Casas says he was stabbed to death in a street in Seville (iii, 180).]

[Footnote 159: A mistake for east.]

[Footnote 160: Lib. 11, chap. xxxix.]

[Footnote 161: See also _Peter Martyr_, Dec. II, Lib. vii, p. 85.]

[Footnote 162: In 1510, according to Peter Martyr.]

[Footnote 163: Paria.]

[Footnote 164: Statement of Ledesma, which is erroneous.]

* * * * *

=Transcriber's Notes:=

Inconsistencies in the usage of capitalization, accents and spelling are preserved as printed. As remarked upon in several footnotes, these variations reflect linguistic differences present in the original material from which this text was translated and which have been retained as part of the translation process.

Minor obvious typographic errors have been corrected.