1498.

May 30th, Columbus sailed from St. Lucar in bad health, when he would rather have remained on shore. To avoid a French fleet

Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 190.

my own house; for being called out of England, by the commandment of the Catholic King of Castile, after the death of Henry King of England, the Seventh of that name, he was made one of our council and assistance, as touching the affairs of the New Indies, looking daily for ships to be furnished for him to discover this hid secret of nature. This voyage is appointed to be begun in March, in the year next following, being the year of Christ 1516. What shall succeed, your holiness shall be advertised by my letters, if God grant me life. Some of the Spaniards deny that Cabot was the first finder of the land of Baccallaos, and affirm that he went not so far westward. But it shall suffice to have said thus much of the gulfs and straights, and of Sebastian Cabot."

The following extract, relative to Sebastian Cabot's voyage, is from Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 190.

"The next voyage made for discovery was by Sebastian Cabot, the son of John, concerning which all our writers have fallen into great mistakes, for want of comparing the several accounts we have of this voyage, and making proper allowances for the manner in which they were written; since I cannot find there was ever any distinct and clear account of this voyage published, though it was of so great consequence. On the contrary, I believe that Cabot himself kept no journal of it by him; since, in a letter he wrote on this subject, he speaks doubtfully of the very year in which it was undertaken; though, from the circumstances he relates, that may be very certainly fixed. On the 3d of February, in the 13th year of the reign of King Henry the VIIth., a new grant was made to John Cabot, by which he had leave given him to take ships out of any of the ports of England, of the burden of 200 tons, to sail upon discoveries; but before this could be effected, John Cabot died; and Sebastian, his son, applied himself to the King, proposing to discover a North-West Passage, as he himself tells us and for this purpose he had a ship manned and victualled at the King's expense, at Bristol; and three or four other ships were fitted out at the expense of some merchants of that city, particularly Mr. Thorne and Mr. Hugh Elliot. But whereas Sebastian Cabot himself says that

MS. Conde's Library.

he made this voyage in the summer of 1496, he must be mistaken; and he very well might, speaking from his memory only; and to prove this, I need only observe, that this date will not at all agree, even with his own account of the voyage; for he says expressly, it was undertaken after his father's death; who, as we have shewn, was alive in the February following: so that it was the summer of the year 1497 in which he made this voyage, and what he afterwards relates of his return, proves this likewise.

"But we have a direct and clear authority as to this fact, which is that of Robert Fabian, who fixes this voyage of Sebastian Cabot's to the month of May, 1497. And on the 11th of June, the same year, he sailed as high as 67° 30', finding the sea still open; and he thought that he might this way have passed through into the South Seas, but his crew mutinied; which forced him to return into the latitude of 56°, and from thence he ran down to 38°, along the coast of the Continent of America; which, as he expressly says, was afterwards called Florida; where provisions growing short, he returned into England, touching by the way at Newfoundland. On his return, he says, he found the nation in much confusion, and great preparations making for a war in Scotland; which agrees exactly with Grafton's Chronicle, who places these preparations under the mayoralty of William Purchase; that is, to the year before mentioned: and Robert Fabian says farther, that in the 14th year of King Henry the VIIth., there were three men brought to the King, taken in the new-found island, which he before mentioned, who were clothed in beasts' skins, ate raw flesh, spoke a strange uncouth tongue, and were very brutish in their behaviour; but he afterwards adds, that he saw these people himself two years afterwards, and that they were then clothed like Englishmen, and he could not have known them to be otherwise, if he had not been informed that these were the men brought over by Sebastian Cabot.

"Thus, with the utmost exactness I could ase, I have set this matter in its true light, and have thereby shewn, that he was not only the first person who attempted a NorthWest Passage, and shewed, thereby, that he

which was cruising for him off Cape St. Vincent, he did not shape a direct course for Madeira. From the Canaries he sent part of his fleet, by the nearest route, to Española; and with one ship and two caravelas stood to the southward, intending to reach the equator, and then steer west. He said the Cape de Verd Islands were falsely named, for he did not see a green thing upon them: his crews being sickly, he dared not remain there. Four hundred and eighty miles to the S.W., he found the altitude of the north star to be 5°. Here, in a calm, he expected the heat would set the vessels on fire: the men were alarmed, and dared not go below, though the stores were spoiling. This weather lasted eight days; the first only was clear, the seven following it rained: had all been as hot as the first, Columbus says, nothing could have saved them; he, therefore, got to the westward as fast as he could. For seventeen days they had a fair wind; and upon Tuesday, July 31st, Alonzo Perez saw the land, three mountains, from the mast-head. Hymns were immediately sung by the crews; and Columbus performed his vow, by naming the island Trinidad. At the hour of complines, they were off a cape, which Columbus named Galera, from a small island near it, which resembles a ship. They saw houses and inhabitants, and a country green and beautiful, Columbus said, as the prospects of Valencia in March. Not finding anchorage, he ran five leagues to the westward, and then came-to, in good ground.

On the 1st of August he sailed farther west, in search of fresh water; and near a cape, which he called " Playa," the crew filled some casks with water, "probably from the river Meruga:" but as

Munoz, vol. i. p. 472.

understood Columbus's principles, but was likewise the first discoverer of the Continent of America, which Columbus did not see till a year after, as well as the first discoverer of Florida, which country was not so called till the year 1512; when, as we have before shewn, it was visited by John Ponce de Leon, who took possession of it for the King of Spain, and usually passes for the first discoverer. It may not be amiss to observe, that Sebastian Cabot clearly affirms, that his voyage was made to discover a North-West Passage; which notion of his gave light, as is acknowledged even by foreign authors, to Ferdinand Magellan ; and induced him confidently to affirm, that such a passage might be found to the south, which he happily effected, twenty-two years after this attempt made to the north by Sebastian Cabot.

"I cannot say that any great use can be made of this kind of knowledge; but there seems to be no reason why we should not pique ourselves upon knowing these matters with as much exactness as strangers; who, by dipping into our accounts, pretend

to great knowledge of these matters, and very often impose upon such as will not rake into their old musty antiquities, but pay an implicit regard to the bold assertions of modern authors. By taking the contrary method, and resolving to be satisfied even in trifles, we come to judge accurately and truly of the deserts both of our own and of foreign nations; so as to yield the preference to some, and maintain our just rights against others. As, for instance, though we cannot dispute with the Spaniards the actual discovery of America; yet we may fairly deny, what the present geographer of his Catholic Majesty asserts, that we rejected Columbus's proposal; and we may likewise call him to a severe account for placing the voyages of Sebastian Cabot to Florida, twenty-six years later than he should have placed them, from the accounts given by Ramusio, Gomara, Peter Martyr, and other authors, whom he either had read, or ought to have read, before he took upon him to write upon this subject; of which, though he writes sensibly, yet this will not excuse his writing untruths."

the place was inconvenient, and without inhabitants, he sailed to the S.W. point, which sheltered them from the eastward, and where there was good anchorage: here they came-to; and upon the 1st of August, Europeans landed, for the first time, upon the Continent of the New World. They took in wood and water, caulked the vessels, and refreshed the men. Columbus named the cape "Punto del Arenal." The next day, a large canoe, with twenty-four fine young men, armed with bows and arrows, came within hail they were whiter than any inhabitants Columbus had seen in the Indies, very well shaped, and with long black hair, cut in the Spanish fashion. During two hours signs were made for them to come on board; then Columbus ordered some boys to dance upon the poop, to the sound of a tambourin: this the Indians mistook for the signal for battle, let go their oars, seized their bows and arrows, and square shields ("tablachina"), and discharged a volley of arrows. The Spaniards left off dancing and fired some crossbow shot at them: the Indians ran under the stern of the other caravel, whose pilot jumped into the canoe, and gave the principal man a doublet and a bonnet, and thought he had succeeded in making them understand that he would go on shore with them; but when they saw him go on board the admiral's ship, to ask leave, they all got into their canoe, and rowed off as fast as they could.

Columbus named the land La Tierra de Gracia; from the whirlpools and the roaring of the waters, which, he supposed, were occasioned by the sea breaking over rocks, he thought it impossible to proceed; and, against a current as furious as the Guadalquiver in a flood, equally so to return. As he was walking the deck about midnight, he heard a loud noise, and saw the sea to the westward like a hill as high as the ship, with a curling edge and terrific roaring, gradually approaching. Columbus expected it would upset the ship: she floated safe, and it passed on to the boca. The next day the boats sounded, and found six and seven fathoms in the boca. It pleased God, Columbus said, to give him a fair wind, as he stood to the northward, towards a high mountain, twenty-six leagues from Punta del Arenal: in crossing, he tasted the water, and found it fresh. Opposite this mountain there was a higher one, on the Tierra de Gracia, and between them another boca, which he named La Boca del Drago, narrower than that by Punta del Arenal, which he called Boca de la Sierpe, with the same whirlpools and roarings of the sea. Not having obtained any information from the inhabitants, and in hopes of finding a better channel to the north, Columbus stood to the westward. The farther they went, the less salt they found the water; he anchored off some cultivated lands, and sent a party on shore: they saw innumerable monkeys, but no inhabitants. Columbus was too unwell to go himself, therefore Pedro de Terreros performed the ceremony of taking possession of the country. When the boats

returned, the ships stood along shore, and anchored again in a river, where several natives came on board; they called the country Paria, and said the inhabitants were more numerous to the westward. Columbus detained four of them; and, eight leagues to the westward, anchored off a point, which he named " De la Aguja." Multitudes of canoes came off, large and well made, and each with a cabin a-midships. The natives were a fine race of people. When the Spaniards landed, two chiefs, who appeared like father and son, received and conducted them to a large house, with several seats: the men sat at one end of the house, and the women at the other. Bread was brought, and a variety of fruits and wines, of two colours, red and white, not made of grapes, but of different fruits. Some of the natives wore beautifully-wrought cloths round their heads, and larger ones round their waists; pieces of gold about their necks, and, because many wore pearls on their arms, the admiral called the bay "Golfo de Perlas;" he called the country "Jardines;" for it deserved the name, he said. All the natives agreed in stating, that the gold came from the west, where the men were cannibals; and the pearls from the N.W.

Columbus complains that his vessel was too large for such service. After vespers they stood to the westward: the next day, at high water, they were in three fathoms water. Columbus, expecting the land was an island, sent the "Sotil" (caravel) to find the channel: she stood into the gulf; and instead of a channel, found a large fresh-water river. On the 11th she returned. Columbus was much disappointed: he could neither get out to the southward or to the westward; and therefore stood back to the "Boca del Drago." The fresh-water current carried him rapidly, and he came to an anchor off Cape Lapa.

For thirty-three days Columbus had been without sleep, and the complaint in his eyes distressed him. The next day they sailed into the Boca, and were becalmed; but the impetuous current carried them through all the men expected the vessels would be dashed to pieces against the rocks. The following day, which was that of Our Lady in August, from the hour of mass to "Complines," the vessels ran sixty-five leagues, four miles to each league, though there was not much wind. Columbus said, that the north star described a circle of 5° diameter: he observed it for many nights with a quadrant, and the plumb-line always fell to the same point. In the Boca del Sierpe, the altitude of the star was 5°; and in the Boca del Drago, 7°, he said.

An island twenty-six leagues to the north, Columbus named Ascencion (Grenada), and another, Concepcion. He pursued his course to Cape Tres-puntas, supposing Paria was part of the continent of Asia, and wishing to coast it farther; but concern for the colony, the turbulence of the crews, and the complaint in his eyes, obliged him to alter his course: he passed between the

Munoz, vol. i.
P. 484.

Testigos and Margarita', naming them, and Romero, Les Guardas, Martinete, Cubague, and Cochon.

Columbus supposed that Trinidad once joined the " Tierra de Gracia," where the bocas are: the loud roarings he attributed to the conflict between the fresh water rushing out and the salt water flowing in. The earth, he thought, was shaped like a pear, and was higher under the equinoctial line, but rose in one part, "Como una teta de Muger:" upon the summit of this he supposed Paradise stood; and from thence those mighty streams of fresh water came, which he found off the "Tierra de Gracia." support of his theory, he quotes the Holy Bible, St. Isidore, Bede, Strabo, "el Maestro de la Historia Scolastica," St. Ambrose, and Scotus.

In

When in the open sea, in five days, Columbus sailed 200 leagues to the N.W.

On the night of the 19th, they made Española, fifty leagues to leeward of the Ozama; and the next morning he anchored at Beata.

On the third day of the calends of September, seven days after they first anchored, Columbus landed at Santo Domingo: he was pleased with its situation and its harbour, and delighted to meet his brother. But Roldan's rebellion had desolated whole provinces. Upon the 1st of September, Pedro de Arana arrived with three vessels at Xaragua. Roldan, and some of his adherents, went on board, and gave out that the adelantado had stationed him there: he contrived to procure a supply of swords and cross-bows before the real state of affairs was discovered. Carvajal, with the hope of coming to some terms with Roldan, remained behind, and sent Juan Antonio Colombo, with the artificers, to go by land to Santo Domingo. The next day, thirty-four of them deserted to Roldan, and Colombo returned on board with the remaining six. Carvajal succeeded so far as to induce the insurgents to consider him as a mediator, and to approach San Domingo: he himself arrived there soon after Arana.

The mischiefs this disorderly gang committed in the dominions of Bohechio, were not so soon perceived; where the Indians were

Herrera, 1. 3. 11. Munoz, vol. i. p. 484.

"The denomination of Guayquerias, like those of Peru and Peruvian, owes its origin to a mere mistake. The companions of C. Columbus, coasting along the island of Margarita, where still, on the northern coast, resides the noblest portion of the Guayqueria nation, met a few natives, who were harpooning fish, by throwing a pole tied to a cord, and terminated by an extremely sharp point. They asked them, in the Hayti language, their name; and the Indians, thinking that the question of the strangers related to their harpoons, formed

Peter Martyr, 39. Munoz, vol. i. p. 495.

palm-tree, answered, guaike, guaike, which signifies pointed pole."— Humboldt's Personal Narrative, vol. ii. p. 199.

2 Peter Heylyn, in his Cosmographia, 3d edition, London, 1665, folio, p. 1001, has made a mistake in considering the city of St. Domingo as the same place as the city of Isabella. Speaking of Columbus, he says, "In this second voyage, he discovered the Islands of Cuba and Jamaica, and built the town of Isabella, (afterwards better known by the name of Domingo,) in Hispaniola."