Chapter 23

[134-3] Rather, "The text here is corrupt." Las Casas, I. 324, gives the same figures and adds, "yet I think the text is erroneous." Navarrete says the quadrants of that period measured the altitude double and so we should take half of forty-two as the real altitude. If so, one wonders why there was no explanation to this effect in the original journal which Las Casas saw or why Las Casas was not familiar with this fact and did not make this explanation. Ruge, _Columbus_, pp. 144, 145, says there were no such quadrants, and regards these estimates as proofs of Columbus's ignorance as a scientific navigator.

[134-4] In Toscanelli's letter Cathay is a province in one place and a city in another.

[134-5] Boca de Carabelas grandes. (Navarrete.)

[135-1] Punta del Maternillo. (Navarrete.)

[135-2] Las Casas says, I. 326. "I think the Christians did not understand, for the language of all these islands is the same, and in this island of Espanola gold is called _caona_."

[136-1] The last words should be, "distant from the one and from the other." Las Casas, I. 327, says: "Zayton and Quisay are certain cities or provincias of the mainland which were depicted on the map of Paul the physician as mentioned above." These Chinese cities were known from Marco Polo's description of them. This passage in the Journal is very perplexing if it assumes that Columbus was guided by the Toscanelli letter. Again a few days earlier Columbus was sure that Cuba was Cipango, and now he is equally certain that it is the mainland of Asia asserted by Toscanelli to be 26 spaces or 6500 Italian miles west of Lisbon, but the next day his estimate of his distance from Lisbon is 4568 miles. It would seem as if Columbus attached no importance to the estimate of distances on the Toscanelli map which was the only original information in it.

[137-1] _Cf._ p. 134, note 3.

[137-2] The true distance was 1105 leagues. (Navarrete.)

[138-1] _Contramaestre_ is boatswain.

[138-2] "_Bohio_ means in their language 'house,' and therefore it is to be supposed that they did not understand the Indians, but that it was Hayti, which is this island of Espanola where they made signs there was gold." Las Casas, I. 329.

[138-3] Columbus understood the natives to say these things because of his strong preconceptions as to what he would find in the islands off the coast of Asia based on his reading of the Book of Sir John Maundeville. Cf. ch. XVIII. of that work, _e.g._, "a great and fair isle called Nacumera.... And all the men and women have dogs' heads," and ch. XIX., _e.g._, "In one of these isles are people of great stature, like giants, hideous to look upon; and they have but one eye in the middle of the forehead."

[139-1] Las Casas, I. 329, identifies the _mames_ as _ajes_ and _batatas_. The batatas, whence our word "potato," is the sweet potato. _Mames_ is more commonly written _names_ or _ignames_. This is the Guinea Negro name of the _Dioscorea sativa_, in English "Yam." _Ajes_ is the native West Indies name. See Peschel, _Zeitalter der Entdeckungen_, p. 139, and Columbus's journal, Dec. 13 and Dec. 16. _Faxones_ are the common haricot kidney beans or string beans, _Phaseolus vulgaris_. This form of the name seems a confusion of the Spanish _fasoles_ and the Portuguese _feijoes_. That Columbus, an Italian by birth who had lived and married in Portugal and removed to Spain in middle life, should occasionally make slips in word-forms is not strange. More varieties of this bean are indigenous in America than were known in Europe at the time of the discoveries. Cf. De Candolle, _Origin of Cultivated Plants_, pp. 338 ff.

[139-2] The word is _contramaestre_, boatswain.

[141-1] The last line should read, "but that they did not know whether there was any in the place where they were."

[141-2] The last line should read, "with a brand in their hand, [and] herbs to smoke as they are accustomed to do." This is the earliest reference to smoking tobacco. Las Casas, I. 332, describes the process as the natives practised it: "These two Christians found on their way many people, men and women, going to and from their villages and always the men with a brand in their hands and certain herbs to take their smoke, which are dry herbs placed in a certain leaf, also dry like the paper muskets which boys make at Easter time. Having lighted one end of it, they suck at the other end or draw in with the breath that smoke which they make themselves drowsy and as if drunk, and in that way, they say, cease to feel fatigue. These muskets, or whatever we call them, they call _tabacos_. I knew Spaniards in this island of Espanola who were accustomed to take them, who, when they were rebuked for it as a vice, replied they could not give it up. I do not know what pleasant taste or profit they found in them." Las Casas' last remarks show that smoking was not yet common in his later life in Spain. The paper muskets of Las Casas are blow-pipes. Oviedo, lib. V., cap. II., gives a detailed description of the use of tobacco. He says that the Indians smoked by inserting these tubes in the nostrils and that after two or three inhalations they lost consciousness. He knew some Christians who used it as an anesthetic when in great pain.

[142-1] On this indigenous species of dumb dogs, _cf._ Oviedo, lib. XII. cap. V. They have long been extinct in the Antilles. Oviedo says there were none in Espanola when he wrote. He left the island in 1546.

[142-2] This last part of this sentence should read, "and is cultivated with _mames_, kidney beans, other beans, this same panic [_i.e._, Indian corn], etc." The corresponding passage in the _Historie_ of Ferdinand Columbus reads, "and another grain like panic called by them _mahiz_ of very excellent flavor cooked or roasted or pounded in porridge (polenta)," p. 87.

[142-3] The _arroba_ was 25 pounds and the _quintal_ one hundred weight.

[143-1] In Las Casas, I. 339, Bohio is mentioned with Babeque, and it is in Bohio that the people were reported to gather gold on the beach.

[144-1] _I.e._, although the Spaniards may be only fooling with them.

[145-1] An interesting forecast of the future which may be compared with John Cabot's; see one of the last pages of this volume.

[145-2] _Linaloe._ Lignaloes or agallochum, to be distinguished from the medicinal aloes. Both were highly prized articles of mediaeval Oriental trade. Lignaloes is mentioned by Marco Polo as one of the principal commodities exchanged in the market of Zaitun. It is also frequently mentioned in the Bible. _Cf._ numbers xxiv, 6, or Psalm xlv. 8. The aloes of Columbus were probably the Barbadoes aloes of commerce, and the mastic the produce of the _Bursera gummifera_. The last did not prove to be a commercial resin like the mastic of Scio. See _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ under Aloes and Mastic, and Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen Age_, II. 581, 633.

[145-3] The ducat being 9_s._ 2_d._ In the seventeenth century the value of the mastic exported from Chios (Scio) was 30,000 ducats. Chios belonged to Genoa from 1346 to 1566. (Markham.)

[146-1] _Las Sierras del Cristal_ and _Las Sierras de Moa_. (Navarrete.)

[147-1] Puerto de Taxamo, in Cuba. (Navarrete.)

[148-1] _Cf._ Fra Mauro's Map (1457-1459), Bourne, _Spain in America_, 14, and Behaim's Globe, Winsor's _Columbus_, p. 186, or Fiske's _Discovery of America_, I. 422.

[149-1] Las Casas did not know the meaning of this word. In all probability it is the Italian _tasso_, badger. _Cf._ p. 139, note 1. The animal, Cuvier suggested was probably the coati.

[149-2] Cuvier conjectured this to be the trunk fish.

[150-1] The agouti.

[152-1] See p. 134, note 3. The words following "Port of Mares" should be translated "but here he says that he has the quadrant hung up (or not in use) until he reaches land to repair it. Since it seemed to him that this distance," etc. Las Casas omitted to insert the number of degrees in his comment.

[152-2] The sentences omitted are comments of Las Casas on these reflections of Columbus.

[153-1] See p. 138, note 3.

[153-2] _A la hora de tercia_, about 9 A.M. See p. 118, note 1.

[153-3] Cayo de Moa. (Navarrete.)

[154-1] Rio de Moa. (Navarrete.)

[154-2] Punta del Mangle or del Guarico. (Navarrete.)

[154-3] Sierras de Moa. (Navarrete.)

[154-4] "These must have been _margaseta_ stones which look like gold in streams and of which there is an abundance in the rivers of these islands." Las Casas, I. 346.

[155-1] _Madronos._ _Arbutus unedo_ or the Strawberry tree. The California Madrona is the _Arbutus Menziesii_.

[155-2] Rather, "for making sawmills."

[156-1] Among these were the Bay of Yamanique, and the ports of Jaragua, Taco, Cayaganueque, Nava, and Maravi. (Navarrete.)

[156-2] See p. 126, note 1.

[157-1] The original of the words Cannibal and Carib and Caribbean. _Cf._ also p. 138, note 3.

[157-2] The port of Baracoa. (Navarrete.)

[157-3] Monte del Yunque. (Navarrete.)

[158-1] Port of Maravi. (Navarrete.)

[158-2] Punta de Maici. (_Id._)

[158-3] Puerto de Baracoa. (_Id._)

[160-1] With these suggestions for a colonial policy _cf._ Columbus's more detailed programme in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, pp. 273-277 below. In the Spanish policy of exclusion of foreigners from the colonies the religious motive, as here, was quite as influential as the spirit of trade monopoly. Las Casas, in making the same quotation from the Journal, remarks, I. 351: "All these are his exact words, although some of them are not perfect Castilian, since that was not the Admiral's mother tongue."

[161-1] The _fusta_ was a long, low boat propelled by oars or a sail. It is represented in earlier English by "foist" and "fuste."

[161-2] Las Casas, I. 353, remarks, "This wax was never made in the island of Cuba, and this cake that was found came from the kingdom and provinces of Yucatan, where there is an immense amount of very good yellow wax." He supposes that it might have come from the wrecks of canoes engaged in trade along the coast of Yucatan.

[162-1] About 70 feet. Las Casas adds the words, "it was most beautiful," and continues, "it is no wonder for there are in that island very thick and very long and tall fragrant red cedars and commonly all their canoes are made from these valuable trees."

[162-2] Puerto de Baracoa. (Navarrete.)

[163-1] This reef actually exists on the S.E. side of the entrance to this port, which is described with great accuracy by Columbus. (Navarrete.)

[163-2] _Lombarda_ is the same as _bombarda_, bombard, the earliest type of cannon. The name has nothing to do with Lombardy, but is simply the form which was used in Castile in the fifteenth century while _bombarda_ was used elsewhere in the peninsula and in Europe. The average-sized bombard was a twenty-five pounder. _Diccionario Enciclopedico Hispano-Americano_, art. _lombardo_, based on Arautegui, _Apuntes Historicos sobre la Artilleria Espanola en los Siglos XIV y XV_.

[164-1] This line should be, "in which he saw five very large _almadias_ [low, light boats] which the Indians call _canoas_, like _fustas_, very beautiful and so well constructed," etc. "Canoe" is one of the few Arawak Indian words to have become familiar English.

[164-2] Rather, "He went up a mountain and then he found it all level and planted with many things of the country and gourds so that it was glorious to see it." De Candolle believes the calabash or gourd to have been introduced into America from Africa. _Cf._ his _Origin of Cultivated Plants_, pp. 245 ff. Oviedo, however, in his _Historia General y Natural de Indias_, lib. VIII., cap. VIII., says that the _calabacas_ of the Indies were the same as those in Spain and were cultivated not to eat but to use the shells as vessels.

[164-3] Rather, "rods."

[166-1] Rio Boma. (Navarrete.)

[166-2] Punta del Fraile. (_Id._)

[166-3] Punta de los Azules. (_Id._)

[167-1] Las Casas, I. 359, says, "This high and beautiful cape whither he would have liked to go I believe was Point Mayci, which is the extreme end of Cuba toward the east." According to the modern maps of Cuba it must have been one of the capes to the southwest of Point Maici.

[167-2] _Cf._ note 57. Las Casas, I. 359, remarks, "Its real name was Hayti, the last syllable long and accented." He thinks it possible that the cape first sighted may have been called Bohio.

[167-3] Columbus gave Cuba the name Juana "in memory of Prince Juan the heir of Castile." _Historie_, p. 83.

[167-4] "In leaving the cape or eastern point of Cuba he gave it the name Alpha and Omega, which means beginning and end, for he believed that this cape was the end of the mainland in the Orient." Las Casas, I. 360.

[168-1] The port of St. Nicholas Mole, in Hayti. (Navarrete.)

[168-2] Cape of St. Nicholas. (_Id._)

[168-3] Punta Palmista. (_Id._)

[168-4] Puerto Escudo. (_Id._)

[168-5] The channel between Tortuga Island and the main.

[168-6] Tortoise.

[169-1] _Atalayas_, "watchtowers."

[169-2] This method of giving names in honor of the saint on whose day a new cape or river was discovered was very commonly followed during the period of discoveries, and sometimes the date of a discovery, or the direction of a voyage, or other data can be verified by comparing the names given with the calender.

[169-3] This clause should be "It extends in this manner to the south-south-east two leagues."

[169-4] A gap in the manuscript.

[170-1] This is the "Carenero," within the port of St. Nicholas. (Navarrete.)

[171-1] Accepting Navarrete's conjecture of _abrezuela_ or _anglezuela_ for the reading _agrezuela_ of the text.

[171-2] It should be north 11 miles. (Navarrete.)

[171-3] This is an error. It should be 15 miles. (Navarrete.) The direction _al Leste cuarta del Sueste_ is East by South.

[171-4] Puerto Escudo. (Navarrete.)

[172-1] Bahia Mosquito. (Navarrete.)

[172-2] Cuvier notes that neither the nightingale proper nor the Spanish myrtle are found in America.

[172-3] It should be 11 miles. (Navarrete.)

[173-1] _I.e._, Spanish Isle, not "Little Spain," which is sometimes erroneously given in explanation of the Latin Hispaniola. This last is a Latinized form of Espanola and not a diminutive. Las Casas, I. 367, in the corresponding passage, has "Seeing the greatness and beauty of this island and its resemblance to Spain although much superior and that they had caught fish in it like the fish of Castile and for other similar reasons he decided on December 9 when in the harbor of Concepcion to name this island Spanish Island."

At a period some time later than his first voyage Columbus decided that Espanola and Cipango were the same and also identical with the Ophir of the Bible. _Cf._ his marginal note to Landino's Italian translation of Pliny's _Natural History_, "la isola de Feyti, vel de Ofir, vel de Cipango, a la quale habio posto nome Spagnola." _Raccolta Colombiana_, pt. I., vol. II., p. 472.

[174-1] The distance is 11 miles. (Navarrete.)

[175-1] _Camarones._

[175-2] The proper English equivalents for these names in the original are hard to find. The _corbina_ was a black fish and the name is found in both Spanish and Portuguese. _Pampanos_ is translated "giltheads," but the name is taken over into English as "pompano." It must be remembered that in many cases the names of European species were applied to American species which resembled them but which were really distinct species of the same genus.

[177-1] Rather, "bread of _niames_." _Cf._ note, p. 139.

[178-1] Las Casas, I. 373, says that at that season the length of the day in Espanola is somewhat over eleven hours. The correct latitude is 20 deg..

[179-1] Elsewhere called Babeque. (Navarrete.)

[180-1] Paradise Valley.

[180-2] Rather, "There are on the edges or banks of the shore many beautiful stones and it is all suitable for walking." The Spanish text seems to be defective.

[181-1] Diego de Arana of Cordova, a near relation of Beatriz Henriquez, the mother of the Admiral's son Fernando. (Markham.) Alguazil means constable.

[181-2] _Ajes._ The same as _mames_. _Cf._ note, p. 139.

[183-1] This Indian word survives in modern Spanish with the meaning political boss.

[183-2] Diego de Arana.

[184-1] Rodrigo de Escobedo.

[184-2] In Spain in earlier times the Annunciation was celebrated on December 18 to avoid having it come in Lent. When the Roman usage in regard to Annunciation was adopted in Spain they instituted the Feast of our Lady's Expectation on December 18. It was called "The Feast of O because the first of the greater antiphons is said in the vespers of its vigil." Addis and Arnold, _Catholic Dictionary_, under "Mary." The series of anthems all begin with "O."

[186-1] The excelente was worth two castellanos or about $6 in coin value.

[187-1] El Puerto de la Granja. (Navarrete.)

[187-2] The bay of Puerto Margot. (_Id._)

[188-1] Point and Island of Margot. (Navarrete.)

[188-2] _Camino_ for _Cabo_ (?). (Markham.)

[188-3] Mountain over Guarico. (Navarrete.)

[188-4] _Cf._ p. 178, note.

[188-5] Bahia de Acul. (Navarrete.)

[189-1] This conjecture proved to be wrong. The Peak of Teneriffe is over 12,000 ft. high, while 10,300 ft. (Mt. Tina) is the highest elevation in Santo Domingo.

[189-2] This is one of the passages used to determine the date of Columbus's birth. By combining his statement quoted in the _Historie_ of Ferdinand, ch. IV., that he went to sea at 14, and this assertion that he followed the sea steadily for 23 years, we find that he was 37 years old in 1484 or 1485, when he left Portugal and ceased sea-faring till 1492.

[189-3] A gap of a line and a half in the manuscript.

[189-4] Another gap in the manuscript.

[190-1] The mutilation of the text makes this passage difficult. The third line literally is, "and I saw all the east [or perhaps better the Levant, _el Levante_] and the west which means the way to England," etc. After the second gap read: "better than the other which I with proper caution tried to describe." After "world," read: "and [is] enclosed so that the oldest cable of the ship would hold it fast."

[190-2] The distance is six miles. (Navarrete.)

[190-3] Acul. (_Id._)

[191-1] _Gonze avellanada._ The interpretation of the French translators is followed. The word _gonze_ is not given in the dictionaries.

[193-1] "This king was a great lord and king Guacanagari, one of the five great kings and lordships of this island." Las Casas, I. 389.

[194-1] "This girdle was of fine jewellery work, like misshapen pearls, made of fish-bones white and colored interspersed, like embroidery, so sewed with a thread of cotton and by such delicate skill that on the reverse side it looked like delicate embroidery, although all white, which it was a pleasure to see." Las Casas, I. 389. From this we learn that wampum belts were in use among the Indians of Espanola.

[196-1] Port of Guarico. (Navarrete.)

[196-2] This estimate was far too great. The island is about one-third the size of Great Britain and one-half the size of England.

[196-3] Guarico.

[196-4] It is now called San Honorato. (Navarrete.)

[197-1] "The fact is that _Cacique_ was the word for king, and _Nitayno_ for knight and principal lord." Las Casas, I. 394.

[197-2] The similarity between the names and the report of gold made Columbus particularly confident of the identification.

[198-1] Entrance of the Bay of Acul. (Navarrete.)

[198-2] Isla de Ratos. (_Id._)

[199-1] Puerto Frances. (Navarrete.)

[199-2] Perhaps better "a young common sailor."

[200-1] The master, who was also the owner, of the Admiral's ship was Juan de la Cosa of Santona, afterwards well known as a draughtsman and Pilot. (Markham.)

[200-2] Rather, "Then the seams opened but not the ship." That is, the ship was not stove. The word translated "seams" is _conventos_, which Las Casas, I. 398, defines as _los vagos que hay entre costillas y costillas_. In this passage he is using _costillas_ not in the technical sense of _costillas de nao_, "ribs," but in the sense of "planks," as in _costillas de cuba_, "barrel staves."

[202-1] In reality Cibao was a part of Espanola.

[202-2] Made from the manioc roots or _ajes_. Cassava biscuit can be got to-day at fancy grocery stores. It is rather insipid.

[204-1] In reality, three-quarters the size of Portugal.

[204-2] Juan de la Cosa, the master, was a native of Santona, on the north coast of Spain. There were two other Santona men on board and several from the north coast. (Markham.)

[206-1] "He ordered then all his people to make great haste and the king ordered his vassals to help him and as an immense number joined with the Christians they managed so well and with such diligence that in a matter of ten days our stronghold was well made and as far as could be then constructed. He named it the City of Christmas (Villa de la Navidad) because he had arrived there on that day, and so to-day that harbor is called Navidad, although there is no memory that there even has been a fort or any building there, since it is overgrown with trees as large and tall as if fifty years had passed, and I have seen them." Las Casas, I. 408.

[206-2] These were not islands, but districts whose chiefs were called by the same names. _Cf._ Las Casas, I. 410.

[207-1] For Yanez. Vincent Yanez Pinzon.

[208-1] Rather, "For now the business appeared to be so great and important that it was wonderful (said the Admiral) and he said he did not wish," etc.

[208-2] The first suggestion of systematic colonization in the New World.

[209-1] See note 2 under Jan. 9, p. 218.

[210-1] The actual number was 44, according to the official list given in a document printed by Navarrete, which is a notice to the next of kin to apply for wages due, dated Burgos, December 20, 1507. Markham reproduces this list in his edition of Columbus's Journal.

[210-2] Las Casas gives the farewell speech of the Admiral to those who were left behind at Navidad, I. 415. It is translated in Thacher's _Columbus_, I. 632.

[211-1] "It is not known how many he took from this island but I believe he took some, altogether he carried ten or twelve Indians to Castile according to the Portuguese History [Barros] and I saw them in Seville yet I did not notice nor do I recollect that I counted them." Las Casas, I. 419.

[212-1] It is N. 80 deg. E. 70 leagues. (Navarrete.)

[212-2] Los siete Hermanos. (_Id._)

[212-3] Bahia de Manzanillo. (_Id._)

[212-4] Should be S.W. three leagues.

[212-5] Rio Tapion, in the Bahia de Manzanillo. (_Id._)

[212-6] A mistake for three leagues. (_Id._)

[212-7] Should be W.S.W. (_Id._)

[213-1] Isla Cabra. (Navarrete.)

[213-2] Anchorage of Monte Cristi. (_Id._)

[213-3] Punta Rucia. (_Id._)

[214-1] Martin Alonso Pinzon had slipped away during the night of November 21.

[215-1] Here probably the island of Iguana Grande.

[215-2] Jamaica.

[215-3] On this myth see below under January 15.

[215-4] It is remarkable that this report, which refers probably to Yucatan and to the relatively high state of culture of the Mayas, drew no further comment from Columbus. From our point of view it ought to have made a much greater impression than we have evidence that it did; from his point of view that he was off Asia it was just what was to be expected and so is recorded without comment.

[216-1] This is the large river Yaqui, which contains much gold in its sand. It was afterwards called the Santiago. (Navarrete.)

[217-1] Afterwards called the Rio de Santiago. (Navarrete.)

[217-2] This should be 8 leagues. (_Id._)

[217-3] Las Casas, I. 429, says the distance to the mines was not 4 leagues.

[217-4] Punta Isabelica. (_Id._)

[217-5] The distance is 10-1/2 leagues, or 42 of the Italian miles used by Columbus. (_Id._)