Chapter 34

[319-2] This clause is probably an explanatory remark by Las Casas. It is misleading. The war in Naples growing out of the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. of France, in which Ferdinand had taken an active part against the French, had been brought to a close so far as concerned France and Spain by a truce in March, 1497. The treaty of peace was signed August 5, 1498.

[320-1] Funchal.

[320-2] This positive assertion that Columbus had lived in Funchal, Madeira, has been overlooked by Vignaud and Harrisse. Vignaud, _Etudes Critiques sur la Vie de Colomb avant ses Decouvertes_ (Paris, 1905), p. 443, note 9, rejects as unauthenticated the tradition that Columbus lived in Madeira, without adequate grounds it seems to me. Diego Columbus told Las Casas in 1519 that he was born in the neighboring island of Puerto Santo and that his father had lived there. Las Casas, _Historia de las Indias_, I. 54. This passage is not noted by Vignaud.

[320-3] One of the Canary Islands.

[321-1] The Adelantado was Bartholomew Columbus. The title Adelantado was given in Spain to the military and political governors of border provinces. In this use it was transplanted to America in the earlier days. _Cf._ Moses, _The Establishment of Spanish Rule in America_, pp. 68-69.

[321-2] Beatrix Enriquez.

[321-3] This Juan Antonio Columbo seems to have been a first cousin of the admiral. _Cf._ Markham, _Christopher Columbus_, pp. 2 and 187. It is to be noted that he retained in Spain his family name and did not follow the discoverer in changing his name to Colon. On this change of name, see above, p. 77, note 2.

[321-4] _I.e._, west by south.

[321-5] Porto Rico.

[321-6] Founded in the summer of 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus in accordance with the directions of the Admiral to establish a new settlement on the south side of the island. Las Casas, II. 136.

[322-1] "This Espanola," so frequently repeated, is one of the indications that Las Casas was writing in Espanola.

[322-2] _Canibales_, here used still as a tribal name equivalent to Caribbees.

[322-3] The correct form of this name is Gargades. Columbus's knowledge of them was derived indirectly from Pliny's _Natural History_, book VI., XXXVII., through Cardinal d'Ailly's _Imago Mundi_. _Cf._ Columbus's marginal note to ch. XXXXI. of that work: "_De situ Gorgodum insule nunc de Capite Viride vel Antonii dicitur." Raccolta Colombiana_, parte I., vol. II., p. 395. According to Pliny's location of them they were probably the Canaries. Pliny's knowledge of the location of the Hesperides is naturally vague, but his text would support their identification with the Cape Verde Islands.

[323-1] In this Columbus was mistaken, although he had no means of knowing it in 1498. Vasco da Gama had sailed in that sea the preceding summer. _Cf._ Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 72.

[323-2] Ferro.

[323-3] August 16, 1494, the sovereigns included in the letter despatched to Columbus by Torres the essential articles of the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed June 7, 1494, and asked him if he could not co-operate in locating the Demarcation Line. Navarrete, _Coleccion de Viages_, II. 155; Harrisse, _Diplomatic History of America_, pp. 80-81.

[323-4] Columbus's illness began in September, 1494, and it was five months before he was fully recovered. Ferdinand Columbus, _Historie_, ed. 1867, p. 177. The death of Prince John took place October 4, 1497. No actual scientific conference to locate the line took place till that at Badajoz in 1524. See Bourne, _Essays in Historical Criticism_, pp. 205-211.

[324-1] _Mayordomo._

[324-2] _Escribano de la hacienda._ In 1497 Rodrigo Affonso, a member of the king's council, was granted the northern of the two captaincies into which Sao Thiago was divided and also the wild cattle on the island of Boavista (Buenavista in Spanish). D'Avezac, _Ils de l'Afrique_ (Paris, 1848), p. 218. The word _mayordomo_, translated "steward," here stands for the high Portuguese title of honor _Mordomo mor da Casa Real_, a title in its origin similar to the _majores domus_ or mayors of the palace of the early French kings. _Escribano de la hacienda del Rey_ means rather the king's treasurer.

[324-3] This account of Boavista and its lepers is not noticed in the histories of the Cape Verde Islands so far as I know.

[324-4] From Pliny's time through the Middle Ages the name Ethiopia embraced all tropical Africa. He calls the Atlantic in the tropics the "Ethiopian Sea." Pliny's _Natural History_, book VI., chs. XXXV. and XXXVI.

[325-1] A remark by Las Casas, of which many are interspersed with the material from Columbus's Journal of this voyage.

[326-1] The Tordesillas line was 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands alone.

[326-2] This reason for the desire of King John of Portugal to have the Demarcation Line moved further west has escaped all the writers on the subject. If Columbus reported the king's ideas correctly, we may have here a clew to one of the reasons why Cabral went so far to the southwest in 1500 that he discovered Brazil when on his voyage to India, and perhaps also one of the reasons why Vasco da Gama struck off so boldly into the South Atlantic. _Cf._ Bourne, _Spain in America_, pp. 72, 74.

[327-1] Sierra Leone.

[328-1] As one faces north.

[329-1] On Hanno's voyage see _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ under his name. There was no Greek historian Amianus; the name should be Arrianus, who wrote the history of Alexander the Great's expedition to India and a history of India. The reference is to the latter work, ch. XLIII., sects. 11, 12.

Ludovico Celio: Ludovico Ricchieri, born about 1450. He was for a time a professor in the Academy at Milan. He took the Latin name Rhodiginus from his birthplace Rovigo, and sometimes his name appears in full as Ludovicus Coelius Richerius Rhodiginus. His _Antiquarum Lectionum Libri XVI._ was published at Venice in 1516, at Paris in 1517, and in an extended form at Basel, 1542. It is a collection of passages from the classical authors relating to all branches of knowledge, with a critical commentary.

[329-2] The Guards, "the two brightest stars in Ursa Minor." (Tolhausen.)

[329-3] _Grajos._ The meaning given in the dictionaries for _grajo_ is "daw."

[329-4] This word, as a name of a fish, is Portuguese. It means "blunted."

[329-5] See Pliny, _Natural History_, book IV., ch. XXXVI. The Cassiterides are commonly identified with the Scilly Islands.

[329-6] The fifth clime or climate is a term in Ptolemy's geographical system. The fifth climate was a strip 255 Roman miles in width lying between 41 deg. and 45 deg. north latitude. _Cf._ _Raccolta Columbiana_,[TN-7] Parte I., Tomo 2, p. 293. The latitude of the Azores is about 37 deg.-40 deg..

[330-1] The names are _alcatraz_ and _rabihorcado_. See above, note to Journal of First Voyage, p. 98, note 1, and p. 103, note 1.

[330-2] Huelva, near Palos.

[331-1] Trinidad.

[331-2] Salve Regina, one of the great hymns to the Virgin in the Catholic service. "The antiphon said after Lauds and Compline from Trinity Sunday to Advent." Addis and Arnold, _Catholic Dictionary_.

[331-3] _I.e._, that his will was not to serve the sovereigns but to advance himself.

[332-1] Cape of the Galley. To-day, Cape Galeota.

[332-2] The last of the canonical hours of prayer, after sunset or early evening.

[334-1] Sandy Point.

[334-2] Of the whale.

[334-3] One of the native names of the Orinoco, here referring to one of the northern branch mouths. A detailed map of the region is given Winsor's _Columbus_, p. 353.

[336-1] "A sort of veil, or head attire used by the Moorish women, made of thin silk, striped of several colors, and shagged at the ends, which hangs down on the back." John Stevens, _A New Dictionary, Spanish and English_, etc. (London. 1726.)

[337-1] The exploration of the west coast of Africa, the only equatorial regions then known to Europeans, had led to the conclusion that black was the natural color of the inhabitants of the tropics.

[337-2] The Navidad referred to by Las Casas was near the Gulf of Paria. (Thacher.)

[337-3] _Poner a monte carracas._ _Poner a monte_ is not given in the Spanish dictionaries, and is apparently a sea phrase identical with the Portuguese "por um navio a monte," to beach or ground a vessel. The translator went entirely astray in this passage. See Thacher's _Columbus_, II. 388. The figure here given and the use of word _pasos_, normally, a land measure of length, instead of _braza_, "fathom," would seem to indicate that the 65 paces refers to the extent of shore laid bare, and not to the height of the tide. The corresponding passage in the _Historie_ reads: "so that it seemed a rapid river both day and night and at all hours, notwithstanding the fact that the water rose and fell along the shore (_per la spiaggia_) more than sixty paces between the waves (_alle marette_) as it is wont to do in San Lucar di Barrameda where the waters [of the river] are high since although the water rises and falls it never ceases to run toward the sea," _Historie_ (London ed.), p. 229. In this passage _maree_, "tides," should be read instead of _marette_.

[338-1] Accepting the emendation of de Lollis which substitutes _fructas_ for _fuentes_, "springs."

[339-1] _I.e._, north by east.

[339-2] _Loma._

[340-1] Las Casas here quotes Columbus's letter to Ferdinand and Isabella on this voyage. See Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, p. 123.

[340-2] Serpent's mouth. The name is still retained.

[340-3] _Lapa_ means barnacle; _caracol_, periwinkle; and _delfin_, dolphin.

[340-4] Dragon's mouth. The name is still retained.

[340-5] _I.e._, along the south shore of the peninsula of Paria in the Gulf of Paria.

[341-1] The grammatical form of this sentence follows the original, which is irregular.

[341-2] See p. 311, note 2.

[341-3] _Galos paules_ (Cat-Pauls). A species of African monkey was so called in Spain. The name occurs in Marco Polo. On its history and meaning, see Yule's _Marco Polo_, II. 372.

[342-1] Im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_, p. 193, says, "Indians after babyhood are never seen perfectly naked."

[343-1] _Flechas con hierba muy a punto_, literally, arrows with grass very sharp. Gaffarel, _Histoire de la Decouverte de l'Amerique_, II. 196, interprets this to mean arrows feathered with grass; but _hierba_ used in connection with arrows usually means poison. _Cf._ Oviedo, lib. IX., title of cap. XII., "_Del arbol o mancanillo con cuya fructa los indios caribes flecheros hacen la hierba con que tiran e pelean_."

[343-2] _Hureyos_ is _Tureyos_ in the printed edition of Las Casas, an obvious correction of the manuscript reading. On _turey_, see above, p. 310.

[343-3] See above, p. 336, note 1.

[344-1] Needle. Alcatrazes, to-day. (Navarrete.)

[344-2] Gardens.

[344-3] _Ojas de oro._ The translator took _ojas_ (_hojas_) for _ojos_ and rendered it "eyes of gold." See Thacher, _Columbus_, II. 393.

[345-1] _I.e._, in Espanola.

[346-1] Irregularly shaped pearls, seed pearls.

[346-2] "Keep your eyes open."

[347-1] Isabela in the printed text.

[348-1] The north wind.

[348-2] Pliny, _Natural History_, book IX., ch. LIV.

[348-3] The name is still used. It is the _Rhicopharia mangle_. See the description of it in Thompson's Alcedo's _Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies_, Appendix.

[349-1] Las Casas here inserts a long disquisition on pearls which is omitted. It covers pp. 246-252 of the printed edition, Vol. II.

[350-1] _I.e._, the western end of the Gulf of Paria.

[350-2] These mouths of the Orinoco supplied the fresh water, but they can hardly be the streams referred to by the sailors who explored the western end of the Gulf of Paria. Las Casas had no good map of this region.

[352-1] Columbus elaborated this point in his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella. Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, p. 113. Columbus's estimate of the sacrifice of lives in the exploration of the west coast of Africa must be considered a most gross exaggeration. The contemporary narratives of those explorations give no such impression.

[352-2] _Cf._ Columbus's letter to the sovereigns, "Your Highnesses have here another world." Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, p. 148, and the letter to the nurse of Prince John, p. 381, _post_. "I have placed under the dominion of the King and Queen our sovereigns another world." These passages clearly show that Columbus during and after this voyage realized that he accomplished something quite different from merely reaching Asia by a western route. He had found a hitherto unknown portion of the world, unknown to the ancients or to Marco Polo, but not for that reason necessarily physically detached from the known Asia. For a fuller discussion of the meaning of the phrase "_another world_," "_New World_," and of Columbus's ideas of what he had done, see Bourne, _Spain in America_, pp. 94-98, and the facsimile of the Bartholomew Columbus map, opposite p. 96.

[352-3] A noteworthy prediction. In fact the discovery of the New World has effected a most momentous change in the relative strength and range of Christianity among the world-religions. During the Middle Ages Christianity lost more ground territorially than it gained. Since the discovery of America its gain has been steady.

[352-4] Such in fact their Highnesses' grandson, Charles I. (V. as Emperor), was during his long reign, and such during a part of his reign if not the whole, was their great-grandson Philip II. See Oviedo's reflections upon Columbus's career. Bourne, _Spain in America_, p. 82.

[353-1] Las Casas here comments at some length on these remarks of Columbus and the great significance of his discoveries. The passage omitted takes up pp. 255 (line six from bottom) to 258.

[353-2] Las Casas explains _leste_, which would seem to have been either peculiar to sailors or at least not in common usage then for "east."

[353-3] Probably _gatos_ in the sense of _gatos paules_, monkeys, noted above, p. 341, as very plentiful.

[353-4] Port of the Cabins.

[353-5] The _Catholicon_ was one of the earliest Latin lexicons of modern times and the first to be printed. It was compiled by Johannes de Janua (Giovanni Balbi of Genoa) toward the end of the thirteenth century and first printed at Mainz in 1460, and very frequently later.

[354-1] The third of the canonical hours of prayer, about nine o'clock in the morning.

[355-1] _El agua les es medicina_, _i.e._, a means of curing the ill.

[355-2] _Abajo._ Las Casas views the mainland as extending up from the sea. Columbus was going west along the north shore of the peninsula of Paria.

[355-3] _I.e._, to go west along the north shore of this supposed island until looking south he was to the right of it and abreast of the Gulf of Pearls.

[355-4] Three of the greatest known rivers, each of which drained a vast range of territory. This narrative reveals the gradual dawning upon Columbus of the fact that he had discovered a hitherto unknown continental mass. In his letter to the sovereigns his conviction is settled and his efforts to adjust it with previous knowledge and the geographical traditions of the ages are most interesting. See Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, pp. 134 _et seqq._ "Ptolemy," he says, on p. 136, "and the others who have written upon the globe had no information respecting this part of the world, for it was most unknown."

[356-1] The Witnesses.

[358-1] The reference is to _II. Esdras_, VI. 42, in the Apocrypha of the English Bible. The Apocryphal books of I. and II. Esdras were known as III. and IV. Esdras in the Middle Ages, and the canonical books in the Vulgate called I. and II. Esdras are called Ezra and Nehemiah in the English Bible. II. Esdras is an apocalyptic work and dates from the close of the first century A.D. The passage to which Columbus referred reads as follows: "Upon the third day thou didst command that the waters should be gathered in the seventh part of the earth; six parts hast thou dried up, and kept them, to the intent that of these some being planted of God and tilled might serve thee."

[358-2] The reference is wrong, as Las Casas points out two or three pages further on (II. 266); it should be to the treatise _De Bono Mortis_, cap. 10

[359-1] Francis de Mayrones was an eminent Scotist philosopher. He died in 1327. Columbus here quotes from his _Theologicae Veritates_ (Venice, 1493). See _Raccolta Colombiana_, Parte I., tomo II., p. 377. Las Casas (II. 266) was unable to verify the citation from St. Augustine.

[359-2] The passage omitted, Las Casas, II. 265-307, consists first, pp. 265-267, of his comments on these words of Columbus, and second, pp. 268-274, of a criticism of Vespucci's claim to have made a voyage in 1497 to this region of Paria, and of his narratives and the naming of America from him. This criticism is translated with Las Casas's other trenchant criticisms of Vespucci's work and claims by Sir Clements R. Markham in his _Letters of Amerigo Vespucci_ (London, 1894), pp. 68 _et seq._[TN-8] These passages are very interesting as perhaps the earliest piece of detailed critical work relating to the discoveries, and they still constitute the cornerstone of the case against Vespucci. The third portion of the omitted passage, pp. 275-306, is a long essay on the location of the earthly paradise which Columbus placed in this new mainland he had just discovered. _Cf._ Columbus's letter on the Third Voyage. Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, pp. 140-146.

[360-1] On the Roldan revolt, see Irving, _Christopher Columbus_, II. 199 _et seqq._

[360-2] April 10, 1495, the sovereigns authorized independent exploring expeditions. Columbus protested that such expeditions infringed upon his rights, and so, June 2, 1497, the sovereigns modified their ordinance and prohibited any infringements. Apparently Las Casas is in error in saying the permission had not been recalled in 1498, but the independent voyages of Hojeda and Pinzon, who first explored the northern coast of South America (Paria) in 1499-1500, may have led him to conclude that the authorization had not been recalled.

[361-1] See Journal of First Voyage, December 25.

[362-1] The passage omitted, II. 309-313, of the printed edition, gives an account of the voyage and arrival of the vessels which came to Espanola directly from the Canaries.

[363-1] Northwest by north.

[363-2] Northeast in the printed text.

[363-3] The circle of the horizon, represented by the compass card, was conceived of as divided into eight winds and each wind into halves and quarters, the quarters corresponding to the modern points of the compass, which are thirty-two in number. The declination observed was two points of the compass, or 22 deg. 30'.

[363-4] See above, p. 329, note 2.

[364-1] An arroba was twenty-five pounds.

[364-2] _Estoraque_, officinal storax, a gum used for incense.

[364-3] _Cf._ Marco Polo, bk. III., ch. II.

[364-4] Pita, the fibre of the American agave.

[365-1] _Cf._ the letter on the Third Voyage, Major, _Select Letters of Columbus_, p. 140, for Columbus's reasoning and beliefs about the Earthly Paradise or Garden of Eden; for Las Casas's discussion of the question, see _Historia de las Indias_, II. 275-306.

[365-2] High sail.

[366-1] The rack was used to bend the crossbow.

LETTER OF COLUMBUS TO THE NURSE OF PRINCE JOHN

INTRODUCTION

This letter was addressed by Columbus to Dona Juana de Torres, who had been a nurse of the lately deceased royal prince John, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and who was the sister of Antonio de Torres, who had accompanied Columbus on his second voyage and was subsequently a commander in other voyages to the New World. It was probably written on shipboard when Columbus was sent back to Spain in irons in the autumn of the year 1500. It is at once a cry of distress and an impassioned self-defence, and is one of the most important of the Admiral's writings for the student of his career and character.

In the letter to Santangel the discoverer announces his success in his long projected undertaking; in the letter to the nurse he is at the lowest point in the startling reverse of fortune that befell him because of the troubles in Santo Domingo, and in the letter on the fourth voyage he appears as one struggling against the most adverse circumstances to vindicate his career, and to demonstrate the value of what he had previously accomplished, and to crown those achievements by actually attaining the coast of Asia. Columbus regarded his defence as set forth in this letter as of such importance that he included it in the four codices or collections of documents and papers prepared in duplicate before his last voyage to authenticate his titles and honors and to secure their inheritance by his son. The text of the letter from which the present translation was made is that of the Paris Codex of the _Book of Privileges_, as it is called. This is regarded by Harrisse as the best. The translation is by George F. Barwick of the British Museum, and was originally published in _Christopher Columbus, Facsimile of his Own Book of Privileges_, 1502, edited by B.F. Stevens (London, 1903). The letter remained unpublished until it was printed in Spotorno's _Codice Diplomatico_ in 1822. In 1825 it appeared again in Navarrete's _Viages_, in a slightly varying text. It was first published in English in the translation of the _Codice Diplomatico_ issued in London in 1823 under the title of _Memorials of Columbus_, etc.

E.G.B.

TRANSCRIPT OF A LETTER WHICH THE ADMIRAL OF THE INDIES SENT TO THE NURSE OF PRINCE DON JOHN OF CASTILE

IN THE YEAR 1500 WHEN HE WAS RETURNING FROM THE INDIES AS A PRISONER

_Most virtuous Lady_:--

Though my complaint of the world is new, its habit of ill-using is very ancient. I have had a thousand struggles with it, and have thus far withstood them all, but now neither arms nor counsels avail me, and it cruelly keeps me under water. Hope in the Creator of all men sustains me; His help was always very ready; on another occasion, and not long ago, when I was still more overwhelmed, he raised me with his right arm, saying, O man of little faith, arise, it is I; be not afraid.[371-1]

I came with so much cordial affection to serve these Princes, and have served them with such service, as has never been heard of or seen.

Of the new heaven and earth which our Lord made, when Saint John was writing the Apocalypse,[371-2] after what was spoken by the mouth of Isaiah,[371-3] he made me the messenger, and showed me where it lay. In all men there was disbelief, but to the Queen my Lady He gave the spirit of understanding, and great courage, and made her heiress of all, as a dear and much loved daughter. I went to take possession of all this in her royal name. They sought to make amends to her for the ignorance they had all shown by passing over their little knowledge, and talking of obstacles and expenses. Her Highness, on the other hand, approved of it, and supported it as far as she was able.

Seven years passed in discussion, and nine in execution.[372-1] During this time very remarkable and noteworthy things occurred whereof no idea at all had been formed. I have arrived at, and am in such a condition that there is no person so vile but thinks he may insult me; he shall be reckoned in the world as valor itself who is courageous enough not to consent to it.

If I were to steal the Indies or the land which lies towards them,[372-2] of which I am now speaking, from the altar of Saint Peter, and give them to the Moors, they could not show greater enmity towards me in Spain. Who would believe such a thing where there was always so much magnanimity?