.'//v Wlf 
 
 
UNITED STATES 
 COAST AND GEODETIC SUKYEY 
 
 CARLILE P. PATTERSON 
 
 SUPEKINTENDENT 
 
 METHODS AND RESULTS 
 
 AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS 
 
 APPENDIX No, 18-REPORT FOR 1880 
 


 (APPENDIX No. 18, COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY REPORT FOR 1880.) 
 
 AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THE FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS 
 
 IN THE NEW WORLD. 
 
 Jy Capt. Gr. A 7 ". FOX, Assistant Secretary of the ]N"avy from. ]VEay, 18G1, to November, 
 1SGG, Member of tlie Massachusetts Historical Society, etc. 
 
 I. 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is, perhaps, the most important event 
 recorded in secular history. Ancient philosophers had suggested the sphericity of the earth, the 
 zone of water, and the theoretical possibility of reaching the Indies by sailing west 5 and Colum 
 bus recalled these suggestions before the great councils that ridiculed and rejected his proposal. 
 
 The art of navigation is as old as civilization, and the practice of it must have begun when 
 bartering commenced. Its early development in European waters was, probably, in the eastern 
 part of the Mediterranean, with open boats, such as Homer mentions. Vessels of this character 
 could not make a commercial nation like that which throve in Phoenicia. Therefore we find that 
 her ships were large and that they used both sails and oars.^) More than three thousand years 
 ago the sailors of this little state had passed out of the Mediterranean, had founded Cadiz, and 
 were trafficking along the Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa. 
 
 The maritime spirit of the Phoenicians descended upon the Carthagenians, the Italians, and 
 the Portuguese. The last named began that golden age of geographical discovery which charac 
 terized the fifteenth century. 
 
 All navigators antecedent to Columbus followed the same way in searching for new countries. 
 They crept along the shores of contiguous lands making no discoveries beyond unless by chance, 
 through the stress of storms, or by the letting loose of birds. 
 
 The Vikings tribe of Norway were an exception. The area of sheltered fiords in their fretted 
 coast exceeds all the arable land in the country. Hardy venturesome seamen grew here from the 
 law of environment, and their vessels also were evolved in a tempestuous ocean and by means of 
 a business very different from trade. In shape these resembled the present whale-boats,( 2 ) which 
 are proved to be the best type for rough seas. 
 
 A well-preserved specimen, supposed to have been made about the tenth century, w r as dug out 
 of a tumulus at Gogstad, Norway, in tli spring of 1SSO.( 3 ) It is 72 feet long, 17 wide, and it 
 probably drew 5 feet of water. There are twenty benches for rowers. Near the middle is a wooden 
 step for a mast, and indications that this might have been lowered at will. The vessels of the 
 Northmen were obviously good sea-boats and from their light draft and the alternative of oars, 
 they must have been very handy in the neighborhood of land, but under canvas they could make 
 no headway unless by " sailing large." 
 
 The Phoenicians used the Pole Star in navigating and the ancient mariners of Ceylon regu 
 lated their track through the ocean by observing the flight of the birds which they set free at 
 intervals.( 4 ) In this mode, and also from being forced to scud in gales, the Northmen extended 
 
 (') Ezekiel xxvii, 5-7 [about 588 B. C.]. Probably this time was the height of her power. 
 
 C 2 ) See frontispiece. Denmark in the Early Iron Age. London, 1866. C. Eugelhardt. 
 
 ( :) ) See La Nature for 1880. 
 
 (<) History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce. W.S.Lindsay; 4 vols. London, 1874. Vol. I, pp. 14 and 359. 
 
their discoveries until filially, in a storm, they saw Greenland in the ninth century and Labrador 
 in the tenth. There is a sequence of land across, which points out the successive steps they took. 
 West 180 miles from Norway, are the Shetlands; thence west-northwest 170, to the Faroes; 240 
 miles farther, on the same course, lies Iceland; and northwesterly, 165 more, is Greenland. The 
 longest distance is from this to Labrador, 500 miles, whence the coast-line is continuous. 
 
 It is indisputable that the Northmen were the ablest seamen and boldest navigators of ancient 
 times ; but they were neither traders nor colonizers. The lands which they discovered in the west 
 were supposed to be an extension of the European Continent. They derived no advantage from 
 them, neither did the world. In the graceful language of Washington Irving, "If the Norsemen 
 saw the New World, it was but a transient glimpse, leading to no certain or permanent knowledge, 
 and in a little time lost again to mankind^ 1 ) 
 
 Columbus was an efficient seaman and also a religious enthusiast a rare combination. In 
 his correspondence with Toscanelli, in 1474, is the first mention of his decision to seek the Indies 
 by sailing west. Three years afterward he visited the northern regions, Iceland probably, where 
 he must have found the tradition of western discoveries, although the secret of the Sagas was 
 not published until the last half of the sixteenth century. Whatever he learned there had no 
 influence upon his previous resolution. He did not propose to hunt after the lands which the 
 Northmen had discarded. His purpose was to open a way, by water, to the rich and populous 
 countries spoken of by Marco Polo, 4g*i this was linked in his mind with the propagation of the 
 Christian faith and the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre from the Infidels. 
 
 Everything essential to such a voyage had been ready for a long time through the growth of 
 navigation. In the previous century, Edward III, of England, had good, stout, sailing ships and 
 plenty of seamen. The mariner's compass was in use as early as 1100-12 ")0 A. D.( 2 ) Latitude by 
 observation was familiar to sailors (see Appendix D) and "dead reckoning" of some kind had always 
 been practiced. Parallels and meridians were applied in the second century. Columbus himself 
 made maps, and globes are mentioned in his journal. His plan, and the reasoning by which he 
 supported it, seem clear enough now ; but then every council rejected it. In his letter to the King 
 and Queen of Spain, narrating his fourth voyage, the Admiral wrote: "For seven years was I at 
 your royal court, where every one to whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as ridiculous; 
 but now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does not beg to be allowed to become a 
 discoverer."( 3 ) 
 
 His first proposal was to the King of Portugal, to steer west from Lisbon. This would have 
 taken him to America, at a point five miles south of Cape Henlopen ; distance, 3,005 miles. Japan 
 is 9,801 miles west from Lisbon; but along the great circle, which goes through Europe and 
 Siberia, it is only 5,768 miles. 
 
 Columbus gives no reason for going to the Canary Islands to take his final departure. Irving 
 says it was the damaged state of the Pinta's rudder that led him to go there to exchange it;( 4 ) 
 but on the day he sailed from Spain, August 3, 1492, he entered in his journal that he was 
 steering for the Canaries,( 5 ) and the mishap to the Piiita was not till the 6th of Augnst.( G ) Martin 
 Behem's globe and Toscanelli's map agreed in placing Cipango (Japan) due west from the Canaries. 
 Columbus knew these fact/, and his desire to steer across the ocean in the same latitude, was 
 
 ^ / 
 
 accordant to a usage of navigators which has been given up only since the introduction of chro 
 nometers. His going to the Canary Islands was providential, because a west course from there is 
 within the influence of the trade winds, of which he was ignorant, and these wafted him continu 
 ously onward, while his crew were grumbling at his persistence. If he had sailed west from 
 Lisbon, or from Palos, he would have been antagonized by variable, and by westerly winds, thus 
 lengthening the passage and thereby adding to the discontents of the men, all which might 
 have compelled him to abandon his voyage. 
 
 (') living's Columbus. Revised edition, 1854. Vol. I, Introduction, p. 2. 
 
 ( a ; Jlullam's Middle Ages. Vol. Ill, p. 394; and Er*ch mid Griiberx Knnjd. Ill, p. 302. 
 
 ( 3 ) Coleccionde los Viages y Descubrimientos, etc, Narurrele. Madrid, 1825. Tomo I, p. 311. 
 
 ( 4 ) Irring's Columbus. Revised edition, 1854. Vol. 1, p. 130. 
 (*) See Appendix D. 
 
 ( 6 ) See Xavarrete. Toino I, p. 4, August 6; also prologue, pp. 2-3. 
 
In his first log across the Atlantic, he likened the weather to that of Andalusia in April. It 
 lacked nothing, he said, except the songs of the nightingales. Such it has been, where he crossed, 
 for a>ous of time. On this route the vessels of the Crusaders might have gone to America in the 
 twelfth century with less peril than they went from England to Joppa then. 
 
 In recent years small boats from the United States have arrived safe in England, in spite of 
 bnd weather and faulty observations. 
 
 The unfolding of physical laws has dissipated the artificial terrors of the ocean; but in the 
 time of Columbus superstition and ignorance brooded there, making it truly a " sea of darkness," 
 which/fhe imaginatTonlGulv^had pierced. 
 
 The world is not indebted to the wisdom of the learned for the eventful voyage that opened 
 the oceans to commerce, and continents to trade and settlement. To Columbus belongs the merit 
 of this inestimable boon. He inspired the wise and good Queen Isabella^) equally with the humble 
 sailors of Palos to put their trust in his scheme. He was as persistent in maintaining it through 
 the rebuffs of eighteen years as he was steadfast in holding to his predetermined course across 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 It takes not a jot from the glory of his discovery that he underestimated the size of the earth; 
 or that he died in ignorance of the transcendent importance of his deed ; or -that the Northmen 
 had preceded him. The fulfilment of his design, to steer west until he reached the Indies or found 
 intervening land, was the triumph of human reasoning ; it was the soul's work, into which neither 
 chance nor the fickle winds intruded. 
 
 The aim of this monograph is to try to solve the problem of the first landing-place of Colum 
 bus in the Xew World. It is founded, as all others are, upon Las Casas's (abridged) copy of the 
 "log-book", or journal, of Columbus. Nothing has been raked from the arcana of the past to 
 impeach this; and it will continue to be used until the original journal is produced or this copy 
 is shown to be spurious. 
 
 It is manifest that no landfall, or track, can stand which is supported by assertions that are 
 in opposition to Las Casas's narrative. Knowing this to be true I have tested in the following 
 pages every track, by placing paragraphs from each author and from the journal in juxtaposition 
 so that any one, with the help of the correct appendix chart, shall discern the contradictions. 
 * The selection of a new landfall and track through the Bahamas, different from all hitherto 
 
 (04 / c*dL asci> ibed to Columbus, is the natural result of this sifting. The track which I have laid down was 
 7 chosen because it appears to be the only one that can be made to fit the courses, distances, and 
 
 descriptions in the log-book. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 31, 1881. 
 
 (') Columbus wrote Navarrete, Vol. I, p. 266 "In the midst of the general incredulity the Almighty infused into 
 the Queen, my lady, the spirit of intelligence and energy, and while every one else, in his ignorance, was expatiating 
 only on the inconvenience and cost, her Highness approved of it, on the contrary, and gave it all the support in her 
 power." 
 
6 
 
 NARRATIVE AND DISCUSSION. 
 
 Columbus made four voyages to the New World. The first was from the village of Palos, which 
 he left on Friday, the 3d day of August, 1492, with a squadron of three small vessels and about 
 ninety men. The largest vessel was the Santa Maria, his nag-ship; the next, the Piuta, commanded 
 by Martin Alouso Piuzon ; and the smallest, the Nina, under command of Vincente Yafiez Pinzon, a 
 brother of Martin. He went directly to the Canaries, where he arrived August 12, and he refitted 
 and reprovisioned his vessels there. Thursday, the 6th of September, he sailed from the harbor of 
 St. Sebastian, in the island of Gomera, but was becalmed among the Canaries until Saturday night, 
 when he met the usual northeast wind and steered west, his predetermined course for the Indies. 
 He crossed the Atlantic and made the land at 2 a. in., Friday, the 12th of October (old style). (') After 
 sunrise he lauded and took formal possession of a small island of the Lucayos [Bahamas], called by 
 the natives Guanahaui, but named by him San Salvador. The 15th and 16th of October he visited 
 and named the second island Santa Maria de la Coucepcion. The 17th and 18th, and part of the 
 19th, he was at the third, named by him Fernaudiua. Part of the 19th, and to the 24th, he explored 
 the shores of the fourth, which he thought the natives called Saomete, but he gave it the name of 
 Isabella. On the 26th he anchored south of seven or eight islands which he called, Sand Islands. 
 Leaving these early on the 27th he brought his squadron to anchor Sunday, the 28th of October, in 
 a harbor of Cuba; this island he named Juana. From this date until December 5 he examined 
 the northeast coast, and the harbors of Cuba ; then he crossed over to Hayti, which he called 
 Espanola. While exploring the harbors and north shore the Santa Maria was wrecked on the 
 evening of December 24, near the present Laycul Bay. This calamity led Columbus to make a 
 settlement from the crew in this bay. 
 
 He left here on the 4th of January, 1493, and followed the coast to the bay of Samana. Hence, 
 on the 16th of January, he sailed for Spain. On the 18th he arrived at the A/ores, and left there 
 the 24th. On the 4th of March he was compelled by stress of weather to put into Lisbon, lie 
 sailed thence the 13th, and on Friday the 15th of March, after an absence of two hundred and 
 twenty-four days, he returned in the Nina, to Palos. 
 
 He sailed on his second voyage from Cadiz, Wednesday, the 25th of September, 1493, with 
 three large vessels and fourteen small ones, and about 1,500 men. He anchored at the Canaries 
 and remained from the 1st to the 13th of October; thence, steering more to the southward than 
 on his first voyage, on Sunday the 3d of November he discovered an island which he named 
 Dominica. From here he steered to the northward and westward, visited several of the Caribbean 
 Islands, Porto Eico, north side of Hayti, south side of Cuba, Jamaica, the south side of Hayti, 
 around the east end to the north side, thence to the island of Guadaloupe, and on the 10th of 
 March he left there for Spain and anchored at Cadiz June 11, 1490. 
 
 On his third voyage he sailed from San Lucar May 30, 1498, with six vessels ; he touched at 
 Porto Santo, Madeira, the Canaries, and anchored June 27 at the Cape de Verd Islands. He left 
 there July 5 and steered still more to the southward, which brought him on the 31st of July to 
 an island which he named Trinidad. The next day, while coasting the south shore, he discovered 
 the continent of South America. He continued along the main land until August 14, when he 
 stood over to Hayti where he was detained for more than a year by the disorganized condition of 
 affairs. 
 
 On the 23d of August, 1500, a new governor- general, Don Francisco de Bobadilla, arrived. His 
 instructions were so vague that his wicked heart construed them to permit him to put irons upon 
 the limbs of the discoverer of the New World, and in this pitiable condition Columbus arrived at 
 Cadiz on the 25th of November, 1500. 
 
 His fourth and last voyage was also from Cadiz. Leaving there on the 8th of May, 1502, with 
 four small vessels and 150 men he touched on the coast of Morocco, sailed from the Canaries May 
 i'"), and anchored at Martinique ( 2 ) June 15; thence along Santa Cruz and Porto Kico, and on the 29th 
 
 (') If the Gregoiiau Calendar of 1582, but which is reckoned from the Council of Nice, is applied to Columbus'a 
 discovery, it will make the date Friday, the 21st day of October. 
 
 ( 2 ) Irviny and Major say Martinique; Navarrete says Santa Lucia. 
 
of June lie arrived on the south side of Ilayti ; left there July 14, touched at the Morant Cays, and 
 the islands south of Cuba which he had visited on his second voyage, and then to the small island 
 of Guanaja, or Bouacca, from which on the 30th of July, 1502, he saw, for the first time, the continent 
 of North America. He then followed the coast of Central America and the coast of the Isthmus 
 of Panama to the Gulf of Darien until the 1st of May, 1503, when he sailed for Hayti, but owing 
 to the strong westerly current he brought up among the small islands on the south of Cuba where 
 he had anchored the year before. Near the end of June he put into Jamaica, and his vessels being 
 unseaworthy he remained there until June 28, 1504, when he was rescued and taken to Hayti. On 
 the 12th of September he sailed for Spain and arrived at San Lucar November 7, 1504. He died 
 at Valladolid on the 20th of May, 1500. 
 
 From this brief summary of the voyages of Columbus to the New World we learn that he visited 
 and named five islands of the Lucayos on his first voyage, but that he remained among them only 
 fifteen days; all his other voyaging was along the coasts and to the islands which border the Carib 
 bean Sea. He never returned to the Lucayos, nor are they often mentioned in the contemporaneous 
 narrations. Within a few years after the death of Columbus, King Ferdinand authorized the 
 transportation of laborers from them to Ilayti, to work the mines ychere. In this way the whole 
 population perished. In the Bahamas, at the present time, there are no descendants of the simple 
 natives described by Columbus. 
 
 The chart which he made of the Lucayos, the declarations in writing which signified his formal 
 possession of Guauahani, the journal which he kept for u Their Highnesses," and all the original 
 documents essential to authenticate this historical point, have disappeared. 
 
 The contemporaries and acquaintances of Columbus, Peter Martyr, Andres Bernaldes, G. F. de 
 Oviedo, Marco A. Sabelico, Augustus Giustiniani, and his son Fernando, whose writings, or copies 
 thereof, are preserved, give no information which will assist the student to determine the island 
 upon which he first landed. There are four that have been pointed out and argued for most 
 earnestly, which I shall enumerate. Beginning at the southeast the first is Grand Turk Island, in 
 latitude 21 31' north, longitude 71 08' west from Greenwich. It is 5 by 1 miles, has 6.87 square 
 miles, is generally low, with an elevation at the highest part of 70 feet ; bare of trees, and about 
 one-third of the surface is salt and fresh water lagoons. This place is affirmed by Don M. F. de 
 Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los Espanoles desdes fines 
 del siglo, XV, Madrid, 1825, Tomo I, and supported by Samuel Kettell, Personal Narrative of the 
 First Voyage of Columbus to America, Boston, 1827. George Gibbs, Proceedings of the New York 
 Historical Society, 1846, Appendix; and E. H. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, edition of 1847, 
 London. 
 
 The second island is that of Mariguana. The east end is latitude 22 17' north, longitude 
 72 39' west from Greenwich. It is 23 miles long and from 2 to 6 wide; has about 96 square 
 miles, and is low, with the exception of a hill near the middle 101 feet high, and another at the east 
 end 90 feet. There are neither lakes nor lagoons on the island. This is put forward by Fr. Adolph 
 de Varnhagen, who published in Chili, in 1864, a work called LaVerdadera Guanahani de Colon. He 
 republished it in 1869 at Vienna. 
 
 The third is Watling's Island. The latitude of the southeast point is 23 55' north, longitude 
 74 28' west from Greenwich. Length north and south 13 miles, and breadth about 5 to 7. It has 
 60 square miles. Near the center is a hill of 140 feet. A lagoon of brackish water takes up one 
 third of the island. Juan Bautista Muiioz first chose Watling in his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, 
 Madrid, 1793, Tomo I. He is sustained by Capt. A. B. Becher, Royal Navy, author of Land Fall 
 of Columbus, London, 1856. O. Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen, Stuttgart and 
 Augsburg, 1858; and R. H. Major, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. XLI, May 8, 1871, 
 wherein he recants his former approval of Grand Turk and adopts that of Captain Becher. 
 
 The fourth island is that known as Cat, or San Salvador. The southeast end is latitude 24 09' 
 north, longitude 75 18' west from Greenwich. Northwest and southeast it is 43 miles, and the 
 breadth 2 to 3 miles. At the southeast end a part runs west-southwest 10 miles, with a width of 
 3. There are 160 square miles in it. At the northwest end the hills rise to 400 feet, and^are the 
 highest land in the Bahamas. It has neither lakes nor lagoons. The principal writers who have 
 adopted Cat are Catesbj, Njiiural History of Carolina, 1731. A New Collection of Voyages and 
 
8 
 
 Travels, J. Knox, London, 1767. Ail elaborate note in the Second Volume of the French Translation of 
 Xavarrete, p. 339, Paris, 1828; the author of this note is Mr. De La Eoquette. Revue nautique du 
 premier voyage de Christophe Colomb au noxrcaii monde par M. le Baron de Montlezuu, Noncelles 
 Annales des Voyages et des Sciences Gcographiques, Dcuxicme Serie, Tome X, Paris, 1828, and Tome 
 XII, Paris, 1829. Washington Irving, Life and Voyages of Christopher Coluuthus, London, ISi'S, 
 revised edition, New York, 1848; in the third volume of this edition, appendix, p. 380, Irving 
 gives the authorship of his track to the late Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, United 
 States Navy. Baron Alexander von Humboldt argues, most ably, in favor of the route selected 
 by Irving and Mackenzie, in Ejcamcn critique de Vhistoire de la geographic du nouveau continent, 
 1837. 
 
 Irving and Humboldt, as well as some other writers, allege that Cat Island has the sanctity of 
 tradition in favor of it. An impression to this effect certainly prevails, but as those who have 
 adopted it do not give their authority, I can only offer to the reader that which freed my mind from 
 its influence. The Spaniards were the discoverers of the New World ; they made the first maps 
 of the West Indies ; for a long time they were the exclusive explorers there; they obtained, and 
 have now, more of the lore of these regions than can be found among all other nations. If any 
 tradition truly exists it ought to be found in Spain, in the writings of her historians. None of those 
 I have cited mention it. On the contrary, Muiioz and Navarrete, who had access to the documents 
 of Columbus and his contemporaries, and who each pointed out a landfall, differ; neither selecting 
 Cat (ante, p. 7), which is proof that there is no tradition in relation it to in the country which 
 alone could give it legitimate birth. 
 
 It is true that some maps can be referred to in support of a claim for Cat. But the identification 
 of Gnanahani, or San Salvador, with Cat is not earlier than the seventeenth century. Perhaps 
 the first is on Atlas Minor, by Blaeu, West Indies, 1635, which is the same as a map published by 
 Joannes de Laet, at Let/den, 1625, titled, Nicice Wereldt. They are identical also in Jilaeu's Atlas, 
 Tome XII, Continent fie VAmerique, Amsterdam, 1607. In the eighteenth century more maps were 
 published, and the identity of Cat with San Salvador received additional support. See Map of 
 North America by John Senex, Charles Price, and John Maxwell, 1710; North America and West 
 Indies, by Emanuel Bowen, 1733?; D'Anville, Map of 1746; The West India Atlas, by the late 
 Thomas Jefferys, 1775; Laurie and Whittle, 1794; and a Spanish Chart of the Antilles, by Langara, 
 1799.) 
 
 In Major53ftft44i- (pp. 207-210) are collated the ancient and modern names of most of the 
 Bahamas, ten of which he asserts can be identified. I cite only such as I wish to use in my 
 argument: 
 
 He says that Guanahani is the present Watling; Gnauima the present Cat or San Salvador; 
 Mayaguana the present Mariguana; and Samaua, the present Sainana or Atwood Cay. 
 
 He considers that the identification of these four, as well as the other six, involves the whole 
 question of the landfall, and he is so certain of it that he puts Senhor de Varnhageu " out of cour t' 
 (p. 208), because his Mariguana appears on the old maps with Guanahani. 
 
 Major does not furnish 4ke- evidence to enable us to see that Guanahani is Watling. He refers 
 to Herrera's map of 1601, with the expectation that we shall be as easily satisfied as he was. 
 Looking at this map I notice three little islands marked "triangula," and northwest of them is 
 Guanahani. 
 
 Map of New Spain, Nicolas Vallard, 1547, and on plate x and plate ixii of the Munich Collection, 
 1592, this Triango appears. 
 
 Map of America and West Indies, Anthony Jacobsz, 1621, we find Triangulo. 
 
 Dutch Chart, Hesselgerritz, about 1650, and map of 1656, Sanson d'Abbeville, there is 
 Triangulo. 
 
 In Ottens's Atlas Minor, vol. iv, titled Nova Tabula exhibens insulas, etc., there is a map which 
 is the same as a map published by d'Auville in Charlevoix's Hintoire de Pisle Espagnole, Paris, 1730. 
 On these maps we find Triangolo ou Watlins I. 
 
 On Kobt. Sayer's Map, November 1, 1792, and in Jeffertfs Atlas, 1794, there is El triangulo, 
 Watlands or Watling. 
 
 These citations prove that the old maps, and especially Herrera's, to which Major calls atten- 
 
9 
 
 tion, had two islands placed near each other which were called, respectively, Guanahani and 
 triango, or Triangulo. It is the former that Major says is the present Watliug; but from these 
 maps it appears that triango, or Trianyulo, is that now called Watling. 
 
 The earliest date I have found for Guanima [Cat] is a map in the Jomard collection styled 
 Mappe ^^onde Pcinte sur parchmcn par ordre Henri II. Eoi de France (I. Partie). M. D. Ave/ac 
 makes the date of this 1532. Here are Guanima, Maynana [Mariguana], and one little island 
 intermediate, to which are applied the two names of "Guanahani", "Samana." This is remarkable, 
 as showing a connection between them at an early date. 
 
 A great part of the maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have Guauima and Maya- 
 guana as outside islands, with Guanahaui lying between; and inside of these is placed Sam ana. 
 Triangulo or triango appears, but not so often. All this indicates that the information transmitted 
 to the early map-makers included the fact that Guanahaui or San Salvador was an island distinct 
 from Guanima [Cat], Mayaguana [Marigua.ua], Triangulo [Watling], and Samana. This last is 
 asserted to be the present Samana or Atwood Cay but I hope to prove, liifci^ that it was the 
 ancient name of the Crooked Island group, and thus save myself from being, as Major said of Varn- 
 hageii, " put out of court." 
 
 The valuable map of La Cosa, which I shall remark upon, fixed the position of Guanahani 
 about the middle of the northeast side of the Bahamas. Hen-era and others copy it. Such a situa- 
 tion is so mathematically conspicuous, and so easily followed, that we ought to find Guanahani or 
 San Salvador retained here onite maps, in spite of tire-alterations involved in improved cartog 
 raphy. This has been the case. In the absence of determining data as to which one was the true 
 San Salvador, this name has been applied, fortuitously, to several neighboring islands, but with 
 the exception of Xavarrete's chart, the loca&e* is where the companion of Columbus put it. 
 
 The old charts can be appealed to in corroboratiou of parts of this investigation, but consenta 
 neity in respect to the first landfall will never be reached by their evidence. Fortunately a copy 
 of Coliimbus's journal in the Bahamas has been preserved, but it has been construed so differently 
 that all the authors of the four tracks referred to found their arguments upon this document. 
 
 About 1790, Navarrete, a civil officer of the marine department of Spain, found in the archives 
 of the Duke del Infantado a manuscript narrative of the first voyage of Columbus, abridged from 
 the original. It proved to be in the handwriting of Bishop Las Casas, a contemporary and com 
 panion of Columbus, who had visited the new world several times. He wrote a general history of 
 the Indies, in three volumes, from the discovery in 1492 to 1520, which <*"'=< <iy in munnspripf 
 hnt if-, hqri brnn^ nntl in, nnrnnniblc tn nrhnlnm. Las Casas was engaged upon this history from 1527 
 to 15^ and he had before him the original journals of Columbus, his map of the first discovery, 
 and many letters and documents, now lost. In the year 1825 the Spanish Government published 
 this precious narrative, together with other valuable papers relating to Columbus. It is a matter 
 of sincere regret that Las Casas abridged, in any degree, the "log-book" of such an eventful voyage, 
 but we are thankful that he transcribed Columbus's words literally, from the landfall at Guanahani 
 to the 29th of October, because it is only this part that is essential to prove the true landing-place. 
 
 Kettell has translated into English all of Las Casas's abridgement of Colum bus's first voyage, 
 and Irving, Major, and Captain Becher such parts as they considered necessary to their respective 
 arguments. Here will be found the Spanish text from the first edition of Kavarrete, 1825, vol. I, 
 pp. 18^42, in parallel columns with the English by Mr. H. L. Thomas, translator of the United 
 States State Department, at Washington. With respect to the disputed parts of the journal care 
 has been taken to have a strict rendering of the Spanish. 
 App. 18 2 
 
10 
 
 Miercoles 10 de Octubre. 
 
 Xavego al Ouesudueste, anduvieron ii diez 
 inillas por bora y a ratos doce y alguu rato a 
 siete, y entre dia y noche cincuenta y nneve 
 leguas: con to a la gente cuareuta y cuatro 
 leguas no inas. Aqui la gente ya no lo podia 
 sufrir: quejabase del largo viage; pero el Al- 
 mirante los esforzo lo mejor que pudo daudoles 
 buena esperauza de los provechos que podrian 
 baber. Y afiadia que por demas era quejarse, 
 pues que el babia venido a las Indias, y que 
 asi lo babia de proseguir basta ballarlas con el 
 ayuda de imestro Senor. 
 
 Jueves 11 de Octulre. 
 
 .Xavego al Ouesudueste, tuvieron inucha mar 
 in as que en todo el viage babiau tenido. Vie- 
 ron pardelas y un junco verde junto a la nao. 
 Yieron los de la carabela Piuta una cana y un 
 palo, y tomaron otro palillo labrado a lo que 
 pareda con bierro, y un pedazo de cana y otra 
 yerba que nace en tierra, y una tablilla. Los 
 do la carabela Nina tainbien vieron otras sefiales 
 de tierra y un palillo cargado descaramojos( J ). 
 Con estas sefiales respiraron y alegraronse to- 
 dos. Anduvieron en este dia hasta puesto el 
 sol veiute y siete leguas. 
 
 Despues del sol puesto navego a su primer 
 camino al Oueste: andarian doce inillas cada 
 bora, y basta dos boras despues de media nocbe 
 audarian noventa rnillas, que son veinte y dos 
 leguas y media. Y porque la carabela Piuta 
 era mas velera 6 iba delaute del Almirante, 
 hallo tierra y bizo las sefias quel Almirante 
 babia mandado. Esta tierra vido primero un 
 marinero que se decia Rodrigo de Triana ; pues 
 to que el Almirante a las diez de la nocbe, 
 estando en el castillo de popa, vido lumbre, 
 auuque fue cosa tan cerrada que no quiso afir- 
 mar que fuese tierra; pero llamoa Pero Gutier 
 rez, repostero destrados del Key, e dijole, que 
 parecia lumbre, que mirase el, y asi lo hizo y 
 vidola: dijolo tambien a Rodrigo Sancbez de 
 Segovia quel Rey y la Reina enviaban en el 
 armada por veedor, el cual no vido nada porque 
 no estaba en lugar do la pudiese ver. Despues 
 quel Almirante lo dijo se vido una vez 6 dos, y 
 era como una candelilla de cera que se alzaba 
 y levantaba, lo cual a pocos pareciera ser indicio 
 de tierra. Pero el Almirante tuvo por cierto 
 estar junto a la tierra. Por lo cual cuando 
 dijeron la Salve, que la acostumbran decir e" 
 
 (') Por de escarvmujos. 
 
 Wednesday October Wth. 
 
 He sailed west-southwest, at tbe rate of ten 
 miles an bour and occasionally twelve, and at 
 otber times seven, running between day and 
 nigbt fifty nine leagues: he told tbe men only 
 forty four. Here tbe crew could stand it no 
 longer, they complained of tbe long voyage, 
 but tbe Admiral encouraged tbein as best be 
 could giving tbem bopes of the profits that they 
 might have. And be added that it wa.s useless 
 to murmur because he bad come to [in quest off] 
 the Indies, and was so going to continue until 
 be found tbem with God's help. 
 
 Thursday jQetober lit It. 
 
 He sailed to tbe west-southwest, had a high 
 sea, higher than hitherto. They saw parde- 
 las( 1 ) and floating by the vessel a green rush. 
 The men of the Pinta saw a reed and a stick, 
 and got a small stick apparently cut or worked 
 with an iron instrument, and a piece of cane 
 and some other grass which grows on the land, 
 and a small board. Those of the Caravel Nina 
 also saw other indications of land and a little 
 stick loaded with dog' roses. In view of such 
 signs they breathed more freely and grew cheer 
 ful. They ran until sunset of that day twenty 
 seven leagues. After sunset he sailed on his 
 first course to tbe West: they went about 
 twelve miles an bour, and, two hours after mid- 
 night they-faEd~Tuii about ninety miles, that is 
 twenty two and a half leagues. As the Cara 
 vel Pinta was a better sailer and had the lead, 
 she made land and showed the signals ordered 
 by the Admiral. Tbe land was first seen by a 
 sailor called Rodrigo de Triana :(-) as the Ad 
 miral at ten o'clock at night standing on the 
 castle of the poop saw a light, but so indistinct 
 that be did not dare to affirm that it was land ; - 
 yet he called the attention of Pero Gutierrez, a 
 King's butler to it, and told him that it seemed 
 to be a light, and told him to look, he did so and 
 saw it : he did tbe same with Rodrigo Sanchez 
 de Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent 
 with the fleet as supervisor and purveyor, but 
 
 (') Pardelo a name given by the Spanish to a bird 
 of a gray color, or white and black. Doming nez Diction 
 aryMadrid 1878. 
 
 ( 2 ) It was first discovered by a mariner named Rod 
 riguez Bermejo, resident of Triana, a suburb of Seville, 
 but native of Alcala de la Guadaira ; but the reward \\;is 
 afterwards adjudged to the Admiral, for having previously 
 perceived the light. W. Irving's Abridged Columbus. New 
 York, 1847. p. 60. 
 
11 
 
 can tar a su uianera todos los niarineros y se 
 Lallan todos, rogo y auionestolos el Almirante 
 que Licieseii buena guarda al castillo de proa, y 
 miraseii bien por la tierra, y qne al que le dijese 
 primero que via tierra le daria luego un jubon 
 de seda, sin las otras raercedes que los Eeyes 
 Labian prometido, que eran diez mil niaravedis 
 de juro a quieu primero la viese. A las dos 
 Loras despues de media nocbe parecio la tierra, 
 de la cual estarian dos leguas. Amaiiaron( 1 ) 
 todas las velas, y quedaron con el treo( 2 ) que es 
 la vela grande sin bouetas, y pusieronse a la 
 corda( 3 ) temporizando Lasta el dia Yiernes que 
 llegaron a una isl'eta de los Lucayos, que se 
 llainaba en lengua de indios Guanahani^}. Lu 
 ego vieron gente desuuda, y el Almirante salio 
 a tierra en la barca armada, y Martin Alonso 
 Pinzon y Vicente Anes( 5 ), su Lerinano, que era 
 capitau de la Nina. Saco el Abnirante la ban- 
 dera Eeal y los capitaues con dos banderas de 
 la Cruz Verde, que llevaba el Almiraute en 
 todos los navios por sefia con una F y una Y : 
 encinia de cada letra su corona, uua de un cabo 
 
 de la 
 
 y otra de otro. Puestos en tierra 
 
 vieron arboles muy verdes y aguas muclias y 
 frutas de diversas maneras. El Almirante lla- 
 1116 a los dos capitaues y a los demas que salta- 
 rou en tierra, y a Eodrigo Descovedo, Escri- 
 bano de toda el armada, y a Et)drigo SancLez de 
 Segovia, y dijo que le dieseu por fe y testimonio 
 como el por ante todos toinaba, como de Leclio 
 tomo, posesion de la diclia isla por el Eey e por la 
 Eeiua sus sefiores, Laciendo las protestaciones 
 que se .requirian, como mas largo se contiene 
 en los testimonies que alii se Licieron por es- 
 cripto. Luego se ayuiito alii mucLa gente de 
 la isla. Esto que se sigue son palabras fonna- 
 
 (') Amanaron por amainaron. 
 
 (*) Treo, vela cuadrada que se pouia solo cuando habia 
 mal tiempo para correr. 
 
 ( 3 ) Ponerse d la corda, es ponerse al pairo 6 otravesado 
 para no audar ni decaer del punto en que se estii. 
 
 ( 4 ) Exainiuado detenidameute este diario, sus derrotas, 
 recaladas, seuales de las tierras, islas, costas y puertos, 
 parece que esta priinera isla que Colon descubrio y piso, 
 pouie~ndole por uouibre S. Salrador, debe ser la que esta 
 situada mas al Xorte de las turcas llamada del Gran Tnrco. 
 Sus circumstancias conforman con la descripciou que Co 
 lon bace de ella. Su situacion es por el paralelo de 21. 
 30', al Norte de la mediauia de la isla de Santo Domin 
 go- 
 
 ( 5 ) Debe decir Yaiiez. 
 
 lie, not being in a good position for seeing it, 
 saw notliing. After tLe Admiral said tLis it 
 was seen once or twice, and it was like a small 
 wax candle that was being Loisted and raised, 
 whicL would seem to few to be an indication of 
 laud. TLe Admiral Lowever was quite con 
 vinced of tLe proximity of laud. In conse 
 quence of tLat wLen tLey said tLe Salve, wLicL 
 they used to say and sing it in tLeir way, all 
 tLe sailors and all being present, tLe Admiral 
 requested and adinonisLed tLem to keep a sharp 
 look out at tLe castle of tLe bow, and to look 
 well for land, and said tLat Le would give to 
 Lim wLo first saw land a silk doublet, besides 
 tLe otLer rewards that the King and Queen 
 had promised, namely an annual pension of ten 
 thousand maravedis( 1 ) to him. who should see it 
 first. Two hours after midnight the land ap 
 peared, about two leagues off. They lowered 
 all the sails, leaving only a storin square sail, 
 which is^thelnamsail wifhoutbonuets, and lay 
 to until Friday when_they readied a small isl 
 and of tLe LucayoSt^caJIed Guanahani by tLe 
 natives. TLey soon saw people naked, and the 
 AdmiraPweut on shore in the armed boat, also 
 Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vincente Anes,(!) 
 his brother, who was commander of the Nina. 
 The Admiral took the Eoyal standard and the 
 captains with two banners of the Green Cross, 
 which the Admiral carried on all the sliips as a 
 distinguisLing flag Laving an F and a Y: eacL 
 letter surmounted by its crown, one at one arm 
 of tLe cross, and tLe otLer at tLe otLer arm. 
 As soon as tLey Lad landed tLey saw trees of a 
 brilliant green abundance of water and fruits 
 of various kinds. The Admiral called tLeliwo 
 captains and tLe rest wLo had come on shore, 
 and Eodrigo Descovedo, the Notary of all the 
 fleet, and Eodrigo SancLez de Segovia, and Le 
 called tLem as witnesses to certify tLat Le in 
 presence of tLem all, was taking, as Le in fact 
 took possession of said island for tLe King and 
 Queen Lis masters, making tLe declarations tLat 
 were required as tLey will be found more fully 
 in tLe attestations tLen taken down in writing. 
 Soon after a large crowd of natives congregated 
 tLere. WLat follows are tLe Admiral's own 
 words in Lis book on tLe first voyage and dis 
 covery of tLese Indies. "In order to win tLe 
 friendsLip and affection of tLat people, and be. 
 
 (') One cent equals 2.7625 maravedis. Irving' s Colum 
 bus, revised edition 1848. Appendix p. 381. 
 ( 2 ) It ought to be Yanez. Navarrete. 
 
12 
 
 les del Almirante, en su libro de su primera 
 navegacion y descubrimiento de estas Indias. 
 Yo (dice 1) porque nos tuviesen mucha amis- 
 tad, porque conoscf que era gente que inejor se 
 libraria y convertiria a uuestra Sauta Fe" con 
 amor que no por fuerza ; les di a alguuos de 
 ellos uuos bonetes colorados y imas cuentas de 
 vidrio que se ponian al pescuezo, y otras cosas 
 inuchas de poco valor con que hobieron rnucho 
 placer y quedarou tan to nuestros que era mara- 
 villa. Los cuales despues veniau a las barcas 
 de los navios adonde uos estabamos, nadando 
 y nos traian papagoyos y hilo de algodon en 
 ovillos y azagayas, y otras cosas muchas, y nos 
 las trocaban por otras cosas que nos les daba- 
 mos, conio cueutecillas de vidrio y cascabeles. 
 En fin todo toniaban y daban de aquello que 
 tenian de buena voluutad. Mas me parecio que 
 era gente muy pobre de todo. Ellos audan to- 
 dos desnudos como su madre los pario, y tambieu 
 l<is mugeres, aunque no vide mas de una farto 
 moza, y todos los que yo vi eran todos niaucebos, 
 que ninguno vide de edad de mas de treinta 
 afios: muy bien hechos, de muy fermosos cuer- 
 pos, y muy buenas caras: los cabellos gruesos 
 euasi como sedas de cola de caballos, c cortos: 
 los cabellos traen por encima de las cejas. salvo 
 unos pocos de tras que traen largos, que jamas 
 cortan : dellos se pin tan de prieto, y ellos son 
 de la color de los cauarios, ni negros ui blancos, 
 y dellos se piutan de bianco, y dellos de Colo 
 rado, y dellos de lo que fallan, y dellos se pin tan 
 las cams, y dellos todo el cuerpo, y dellos solos 
 los ojos, y dellos solo el nariz. Ellos no tram 
 armas ni las cognocen, porque les amosti'6 es- 
 padas y las tomaban por el filo, y se cortaban 
 con ignorancia. No tieuen algun fierro: sus 
 a/agayas sou unas varas sin fierro, y algunas 
 de ellas tienen al cabo un diente de pece, y 
 otras de otras cosas. Ellos todos a una mano 
 son de buena estatura de grandeza, y buenos 
 gestos, bien hechos; yo vide algunos que teniaii 
 senales de feridas en sus cuerpos, y les hice 
 senas que era aquello, y ellos me amostraron 
 como alii veuian gente de otras islas que estaban 
 acerca y les querian tomar, y se defendian ; y yo 
 crei, e creo, que aqui vienen de tierra firme a 
 tomarlos por captives. Ellos deben ser buenos 
 servidores y de buen ingenio, que veo que muy 
 presto dicen todo lo que les decia, y creo que 
 ligeramente se barian cristianos, que me parecio 
 que ninguna secta tenian. Yo, placiendo a 
 nuestro Senor, levare" de aqui al tiempo de mi 
 partida seis a V. A. para que deprendan fablar. 
 
 cause I was convinced that tbeir conversion 
 to our Holy Faith would be better promoted 
 through love than through force ; I presented 
 some of them with red caps and some strings 
 of glass beads which they placed around their 
 necks, and with other trifles of insignificant 
 worth that delighted them and by which we 
 have got a wonderful hold on their affections. 
 They afterwards came to the boats of the ves 
 sels swimming, bringing us parrots cotton 
 thread in balls and spears, and many other 
 things, which they bartered for others we gave 
 them, as glass beads and little bells. Finally 
 they received every thing and gave whatever 
 they had with good will. But I thought them 
 to be a very poor people. All of them go about 
 naked as when they came into the world, even 
 the women, although I saw but one very young 
 girl, all the rest being young men, none of them 
 being over thirty years of age : their forms being 
 very well proportioned, their bodies graceful 
 and their features handsome : their hair is as 
 coarse as the hair of a horse's tail and cut short: 
 they wear their hair over their eye brows ex 
 cept a little behind which they wear long, and 
 which they never cut : some of them paint them 
 selves black, and they are of the color of the 
 Canary islanders, neither black nor white, and 
 some paint themselves white, and some red, 
 and some with whatever they find, and some 
 paint their faces, and some the whole body, and 
 some their eyes only, and some their noses only. 
 They do not carry arms and have no knowledge 
 of them, for when I showed them the swords 
 they took them by the edge, and through iguo- 
 rance, cut themselves. They have no iron: 
 their spears consist of staffs without iron, some 
 of them having a fish's tooth at the end, and 
 others other things. As a body they are of 
 good size, good demeanor, and well formed ; I 
 saw some with scars on their bodies, and to my 
 signs asking them what these meant, they an 
 swered in the same manner, that people from 
 neighboring islands wanted to capture them, 
 and they had defended themselves ; and 1 did 
 believe, and do believe, that they came from 
 the main land to take them prisoners. They 
 must be good servants and very intelligent, 
 because I see that they repeat very quickly 
 what I told them, and it is my conviction that 
 they would easily become Christians, for they 
 seem not to have any sect. If it please our 
 Lord, I will take six of them from here to your 
 Highnesses on my departure, that they may 
 
13 
 
 Ninguna bestia de ninguna mauera vide, salvo 
 papagayos en esta isla." Todas sou palabras 
 del Alrniraute. 
 
 Sabado 13 de Octubre. 
 
 ,,Luego que amanecio vinieron a la playa 
 iriuclios destos liombres, todos mancebos, como 
 dicho tengo, y todos de buena estatura, gente 
 limy fermosa: los cabellos no crespos, salvo 
 corredios y gruesos, como sedas de caballo, y 
 todos de la frente y cabeza niuy anclia nias que 
 otra generacion que fasta aqui haya visto, y los 
 ojos uiuy fermosos y no pequeuos, y ellos niu- 
 guno prieto, salvo de la color de los canaries, ni 
 se debe esperar otra cosa, pues esta Lesteoueste 
 con la isla del Hierro( 1 ) en Canaria so una linea. 
 Las pieruas miiy derechas, todos a una mano, 
 y no barriga, salvo muy bien hecha. Ellos 
 vinieron a la nao con aluiadias, que sou hechas 
 del pie de un arbol, corao un barco luengo, y 
 todo de un pedazo, y labrado muy a niaravilla 
 segun la tierra, y grandes en que en algunas 
 veniau cuareuta 6 cuarenta y cinco liombres, y 
 otras nias pequenas, fasta haber dellas en que 
 venia un solo hornbre. Eeinaban con una pala 
 como de foruero, y anda a uiara villa; y si se le 
 trastorna luego se echan todos a nadar, y la 
 euderezan y vacian con calabazas que traen 
 ellos. Traian ovillos de algodon filado y papa 
 gayos, y azagayas, y otras cositas que seria 
 tedio de escrebir, y todo daban por cualquiera 
 cosa que se los diese. Y yo estaba atento y 
 trabajaba de saber si liabia oro, y vide que al- 
 gunos dellos traian un pedazuelo colgado en un 
 agujero que tienen a la nariz, y por senas pude 
 entender que yendo al Sur 6 volviendo la isla 
 por el Sur, que estaba alii un Bey que tenia 
 grandes vasos dello, y tenia muy muclio. Tra- 
 baje que fuesen alia, y despues vide que no 
 entendian en la ida. Determine de aguardar 
 fasta niauana en la tarde, y despues partir para 
 el Sudueste, que segun muclios dellos me eusena- 
 rou deciau que habia tierra al Sur y al Sudueste 
 y al Norneste, y questas del Norueste les veniau 
 a combatir muchas veces, y asi ir al Sudueste a 
 biiscar el oro y piedras preciosas. Esta isla es 
 bien grande y muy liana y de ar boles muy 
 verdes, y muchas aguas, y una laguna en medio 
 muy grande, sin uinguna montafia, y toda ella 
 verde, ques placer de mirarla; y esta geute 
 farto inansa, y por la gana de haber de nuestras 
 cosas, y teniendo que no se les ha de dar sin 
 
 (')La verdadeva situaciou de esta isla respecto ;i la del 
 Hierro es 0. 5 S. E. 5 N. 
 
 learn to speak. I have seen here no beasts 
 whatever, but parrots only." All these are 
 the words of the Admiral. 
 
 Saturday October 13th. 
 
 . "At dawn many of these men came down to 
 the shore, all are, as already said, youths ot 
 good size and very handsome : their hair is not 
 wooly, but loose and coarse like horse hair, they 
 have broader heads and foreheads than I have 
 ever seen in any other race of men, and the 
 eyes very beautiful not small, none of them are 
 black, but of the complexion of the inhabitants 
 of the Canaries, as it is to be expected, for it is 
 east [and] west with the island of Hierro in the 
 Canaries in the same line. All without excep 
 tion have very straight limbs, and no bellies, 
 and very well formed. They came to the ship 
 in canoes, made out of trunks of trees all in one 
 piece, and wonderfully built according to the 
 locality, in some of them forty or forty five men 
 came, others werer*smaller, and in some but a 
 single man came. They paddled with a peel 
 like that of a baker, and make wonderful speed ; 
 and if it capsizes all begin to swim and set it 
 right again, and bail out the water with cala 
 bashes which they carry. They brought balls 
 of spun cotton parrots, spears and other little 
 things which would be tedious to describe, and 
 gave them away for any thing that was given 
 to them. I examined them closely and tried to 
 ascertain if there was any gold, and noticed 
 that some carried a small piece of it hanging 
 from a little hole in their nose, and by signs I 
 was able to understand that by going to the 
 south or going around the island to the south 
 ward, there was a king who had large gold 
 vessels, and gold in abundance. I endeavored 
 to persuade them to go there, and I afterwards 
 saw that they had no wish to go. I deter 
 mined to wait until tomorow evening, and then 
 to sail for the southwest, for many of them told 
 me that there was land to the south and to 
 the southwest and to the northwest, and that 
 those from the northwest came frequently to 
 fight with them, and so go to the southwest to 
 get gold and precious stones. This island is 
 very large and very level and has very green 
 trees, and abundance of water, and a very large 
 lagoon in the middle, without any mountain, 
 and all is covered with verdue, most pleasing to 
 the eye; the people are remarkably gentle, and 
 from the desire to get some of our things, and 
 thinking that nothing will be given to them 
 
14 
 
 que cleii algo y no lo tieneu, toman lo que pue- 
 deu y se eclian luego a nadar; mas todo lo que 
 tienen lo dan por cualquiera cosa que les den ; 
 que fasta ios pedazos de las escudillas, y de las 
 tazas de vidrio rotas rescataban, fasta que vi 
 dar diez y seis ovillos de algodou por tres ceo- 
 tis( l ) de Portugal, que es una blaiica de Castilla, 
 y en ellos habria mas de una arroba de algodon 
 lilado. Esto defeudiera y no dejara tomar a. 
 nadie, salvo que yo lo mandara tomar todo para 
 V. A. si hobiera en cautidad. Aqui nace en 
 esta, isla, mas por el poco tiempo no pude dar 
 asi del todo fe, y tambieu aqui nace el oro que 
 traen colgado la nariz; mas por no perder 
 tiempo quiero ir a ver si puedo topar 4 la isla 
 de Oipaugo( 2 ). Agora como fue noche todos se 
 fueron a tierra con sus almadias." 
 
 Domingo 14 de Octubre. 
 
 ,,En amanecieudo maude aderezar el batel de 
 la nao y las barcas de las carabelas, y fue al 
 luengo de la isla, en el camino del Nornordeste, 
 para ver la otra parte, que era de la otra parte 
 del Leste que liabia, y tambien para ver las 
 poblaciones, y vide luego dos 6 tres y la gente, 
 que venian todos a la pi ay a llamandonos y 
 dando gracias a Dios; Ios unos nos traian agua, 
 otros otras cosas de comer; otros, cuaudo veian 
 qne yo no curaba de ir a tierra, se echaban si la 
 mar uadando y venian, y entendiamos que nos 
 preguntaban si eramos venidos del cielo; y viiio 
 iino viejo en el batel dentro, y otros si voces 
 grandes llainaban todos liombres y mugeres: | 
 veuid a ver Ios hombres que vinierou del cielo : 
 traedles de comer y de beber. Viuieron muchos 
 y muclias mugeres, cada uno con algo, daudo ' 
 gracias 4 Dios, echaudose al suelo, y levanta- 
 ban las manos al cielo, y despues a voces nos 
 llamaban que fuesemos d tierra : mas yo temia 
 de ver una grande restinga de piedras que cerca 
 toda aquella isla al rededor, y entre medias 
 queda houdo y puerto para cuantas naos hay 
 en toda la cristiandad, y la entrada dello muy 
 angosta. Es verdad que dentro desta cinta 
 
 () Por Ceuli 6 ccpti, nioneda de Ceuta que corria en 
 Portugal. 
 
 (*) Marco Polo eu el cap. cvi de la relacion de su viage 
 asegura baber visto esta isla, de la cual bace uua larga 
 description, y anade que estaba situada en alta mar, & 
 distancia de 1500 uiillas del contiueute dc la India. El 
 Dr. Robertson dice que probablemente es el Japou. J!c- 
 chirclu's hint, sur I'lndc ancienne, sec. 3. 
 
 unless they give some thing, and having noth 
 ing they take what they can and swim oil' [to 
 the ship]; but all that they have they give for 
 any thing that is offered to them ; so that they 
 bought even pieces of crockery, and pieces of 
 broken glass, and I saw sixteen balls of cotton 
 given for three ceotis( 1 ) of Portugal, which is 
 equivalent to a blauca of Castile, and in them 
 there must have been more than one arroba ( 2 ) of 
 spun cotton. I forbad this and allowed no one 
 to take any unless I ordered it to be taken for 
 your Highnesses should it be found in abund 
 ance. It grows in the island, although on ac 
 count of the shortness of time I could not as 
 sert it positively, and likewise the gold which 
 they carry hanging in their noses is found here; 
 but in order to lose no time I am now going to 
 try if I can find the island of Cipan.u'o. At this 
 moment it is dark and all went on shore in their 
 canoes." 
 
 Sunday October 14. 
 
 "At dawn I ordered the boat of the ship and 
 the boats of the Caravels to be got ready, and 
 went along the island, in a north-northeasterly 
 direction, to see the other side, wliieh was on 
 the other side of the east, and also to see the 
 villages, and soon saw two or three 1 and their 
 inhabitants, coming to the shore calling us and 
 praising God; some brought us writer, some 
 eatables; others, when they saw that I did not 
 care to go on shore, plunged into the sea swim 
 ming and came, and we understood that they 
 asked us if we had come down from heaven; 
 and one old man got into the boat, while others 
 in a loud voice called both men and women say 
 ing: come and see the men from heaven: bring 
 them food and drink. A crowd of men and 
 many women came, each bringing something, 
 giving thanks to God, throwing themselves 
 down, and lifting their hands to heaven, and 
 entreating or beseeching us to land there : but 
 I was afraid of a reef of rocks which entirely 
 surrounds that island, although there is within 
 it depth enough and ample harbor for all the 
 vessels of Christendom, but the entrance is very 
 narrow. It is true that the interior of that belt 
 contains some rocks, but the sea is there as 
 still as the water in a well. And in order to 
 see all this I moved this morning, that I might 
 
 (') Copper coin of the value of balf a maravedi Span 
 ish Dictionary. 
 
 (*) Equal to 25.353145 pounds. Modern 
 Lowis D'A. Jackson : London, p. 310. 
 
15 
 
 hay algunas bajas,mas la mar no se mueve mas 
 quo dentro en un pozo. Y para ver todo esto me 
 movi csta manana, porque supiese dar de todo 
 relacion a vnestras Altezas, y tambien a donde 
 pudiera hacer fortaleza, y vide un pedazo de 
 tierra que se hace como isla, aunque no lo es, 
 en que habia seis casas, el cual se pudiera ata- 
 jar en dos dias por isla; aiinque yo no veo ser 
 necesario, porque esta gente es muy simplice 
 (Mi armas, como reran vuestras Altezas de siete 
 que yo hice toniar para le llevar y deprender 
 nuestra fabla y volvellos, salvo que vuestras 
 Altezas cuando mandareu puedeulos todos 
 llevar a Castilla, 6 tenellos en la misma isla 
 captives, porque con cincuenta hombres los 
 terua, todos sojuzgados, y les hara hacer todo lo 
 que quisiere; y despues junto con la dicha isleta 
 estan huertas de arboles las mas hermosas que 
 yo vi, e tan verdes y con sus hojas como las de 
 Castilla en el mes de Abril y de Mayo, y mucha 
 agua. Yo mire todo aquel puerto, y despues 
 me volvi a la uao y di la vela, y vide tantas 
 islas que yo no sabia deterininarme a cual iria 
 primero, y aquellos hombres que yo tenia to- 
 mado me decian por seiias que eran tautas y 
 tautas que no habia numero, y anombraron por 
 su nombre mas de ciento( 1 ). For ende yo mire 
 por la mas graude( 2 ), y aquella determine andar, 
 y asi hago y sera lejos desta de San Salvador, 
 cinco leguas y las otras dellas mas, dellas me- 
 nos : todas son muy lianas, sin montanas y muy 
 fertiles, y todas pobladas, y se hacen guerra la 
 una 4 la otra, aunque estos son muy simplices 
 y muy lindos cuerpos de hombres." . 
 
 Limes 15 de Octubre. 
 
 Habia temporejado esta uoche con temor de 
 no llegar a tierra a sorgir antes de la manaua 
 por no saber si la costa era limpia de bajas, y 
 en amaneciendo cargar velas. Y como la isla 
 fuese mas lejos de cinco leguas, antes sera 
 siete, y la marea me detuvo, seria medio dia 
 cuando llegue a la dicha isla, y falle que 
 aquella haz, ques de la parte de la isla de San 
 Salvador, se corre Norte Sur, y hay en ella 
 ciuco leguas, y la otra que yo segui se corria 
 Leste Oueste, y hay en ella mas de diez leguas. 
 Y como desta isla vide otra mayor al Oueste, 
 
 ( ! )La multitud de estas islas indica que deben ser las 
 que forman los Caicos, las Inagtias chica y yrande, Midri 
 ff uana, j demas que se hallan al Oeste. 
 
 ( 2 ) Esta isla grande debe ser la que Hainan Gran Caico, 
 y dista de la primera 6^ leguas. 
 
 give an account of everything to your High 
 nesses, and also to see where a fort could be 
 built, and found a piece of land like an island, 
 although it is not one, with six houses on it, 
 which in two days could easily be cut off and 
 converted into an island; such a work however 
 is not necessary in my opinion, because the 
 people are totally unacquainted with arms, as 
 your Highnesses will see by observing the 
 seven whom I have caused to be taken in order 
 to carry them to Castile to be taught our lan 
 guage, and to return them unless your High 
 nesses when they shall send orders may take 
 them all to Castile, or keep them in the same 
 island as captives, for with fifty men all can be 
 kept in subjection, and made to do whatever 
 you desire; and near by the said little island 
 there are orchards of trees the most beautiful 
 that I have seen, with leaves as fresh and green 
 as those of Castile in April and May, and much 
 water. I observed all that harbor, and after- 
 --wards I returned to the ship and set sail, and 
 saw so many islands that I could not decide to 
 which one I should go first, and the men I had 
 taken told me by signs that they were innum 
 erable, and named more than one hundred of 
 them. In consequence I looked for the largest 
 one and determined to make for it, and I am so 
 doing, and it in probably distant five leagues 
 from this of San Salvador, the others some 
 more, some lessTall are^very level, without 
 mountains and of great fertility, and all are in 
 habited, and they make war upon each other, 
 although these are very simple hearted and 
 very finely formed men." 
 
 Monday October loth. 
 
 "I had been standing off and on this night 
 fearing to approach the shore for anchorage 
 before morning not knowing whether the coast 
 would be clear of shoals, and intending to clew 
 up at dawn. And as the island was over five 
 leagues distant, rather seven, and the tide de 
 tained me, it was about noon when I reached 
 the said island, and I found that that side, 
 which is towards the island of San Salvador 
 runs north [and] south, and is five leagues in 
 length, and the other which I followed ran 
 east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues. 
 And as from this island I saw another larger 
 one to the west, I clewed up the sails for I 
 had gone all that day until night, because I 
 could not yet have gone to the western cape, 
 
16 
 
 cargue las velas por aiular todo aquel dia last a 
 la noclie, porque a tin no pudiera haber andado 
 al cabo del Oueste, a la cual puse noinbre la 
 isla de Santa Marta de la Concepcion( { ], y cuasi 
 al poner del sol sorgi acerca del dicho cabo por 
 saber si habia alii oro, porque estos que yo 
 liabia lieclio toiuar en la isla de S. Salvador me 
 decian que abi traiau manillas de oro muv 
 grandes ;i las piernas y a los brazos. Yo bieu 
 crei qne todo lo quo decian era burla para se 
 fugir. Con todo, mi voluntad era dr no pasar 
 por niuguna isla de que no tomase pose*ion, 
 puesto que touiado de una se puede dccir de 
 todas ; y sorgi e estuve hasta boy Martes que 
 en amaneciendo fui a tierra con las barcas ar 
 madas, y sali, y ellos que eran mucbos asi des- 
 nudos, y de la misma coudicion de la otra isla 
 de San Salvador, nos dejaron ir por la isla y uos 
 daban lo que les pedia. Y porque el viento car- 
 gaba a la traviesa Sueste no me quise detener 
 y parti para la uao, y una almadia grande estaba 
 abordo de la carabela Nina, y uno de los liombres 
 de la isla de San Salvador, que en ella era, se 
 echo a la mar y se ftie en ella, y la noclie de antes 
 a inedio ecliado el otro(-) y fue atnis la al 
 
 madia, la cual fugio que jamas fue barca que le 
 pudiese alcanzar, puesto que le teuiamos graiide 
 avante. Con todo dio en tierra, y dejaron la al 
 madia, y alguno de los de mi compafiui salieron 
 en tierra tras ellos, y todosfugeroncomo galliuas, 
 y la almadia que habiaii dejado la llevamos abor 
 do de la carabela Nina, adonde ya de otro cabo 
 venia otra almadia pequena con un liombre qte 
 venia a rescatar un ovillo de algodon, y se 
 ecbaron algunos marineros a la mar porque 61 
 no queria entrar en la carabela, y le tomaron ; y 
 yo que estaba & la popa de la nao, que vide todo, 
 envie por dl, y le di un bonete Colorado y uuas 
 cueutas de vidrio verdes pequeiias que le puse 
 al brazo, y dos cascabeles que le puse a las orejas, 
 y le mande volver su almadia que tambien teuia 
 en la barca, y le envie a tierra ; y di luego la 
 vela para ir a la^otra isla grande que yo via al 
 Oueste, y mande largar tambien la otra almadia 
 que traia la carabela Nina por popa, y vide des- 
 
 (') Esta parece ser la que hoy se llama Caico del Norte; 
 antique con d riouibre de Santa Maria de la Conception 
 comprendio todo el grnpo do las islas immediatas que se 
 Hainan lux Caicos, como se nota mas adelaute en el dia 
 16 de Octubiv. 
 
 ( 2 ) Con la ininteligible escritura de esta palabra en 
 el original, y el vacio 6 hueco que sigue, queda obscuro 
 el sentido del periodo. Acaso quiso decir : y la noche de 
 antes al media se echo el otro a nado, y fue atrds la almadia 
 
 to whicl^ 1 ) I gave the name of the inland of 
 Xaitta- Maria de la Conception^ and about sun 
 set I anchored near said cape in order to 
 learn whether there was gold there, because 
 the men whom 1 had caused to be taken from 
 San Salvador told me that they there wore 
 very large rings of gold on their legs and 
 arms. I well suspected that all they said was 
 deceptive in order to get away from me. Nev 
 ertheless, it Mas my desire not to pass any 
 island without taking possession of it, as one 
 taken possession of the same may be said of all ; 
 and I anchored and remained until to day tues 
 lay when at dawn I went on shore with the 
 boats armed, and got out, and they who were 
 many in number naked, and of the same dispo 
 sition as those of the other island of San Salva 
 dor, allowed us to go over the island and gave 
 us whatever we asked for. And because the 
 wind was increasing across south east( 2 ) I did 
 not like to stay longer so I returned to the ship, 
 and a large canoe was alongside the caravel 
 Nina, and one of the men of the island of San 
 Salvador, who was in it, jumped overboard and 
 escaped in it, and in the middle of the preceding 
 night the other(') and he went after the 
 
 canoe, which tied so swiftly that there was never 
 a boat that could overtake it, although we had 
 a long start. Nevertheless it reached the laud, 
 and the}* left the canoe, and some of my men 
 went on shore after them, and they all ran like 
 hens, and the canoe they had left we took on 
 board the caravel Nina, to which from another 
 quarter another small canoe was coming with a 
 man who came to barter a ball of cotton, and as 
 he refused to go on board the caravel, some 
 sailors plunged into the sea and took him ; and 
 
 ( : ) The pronoun, which, is feminine in Spanish and can 
 not relate to cape which is masculine. It is therefore 
 manifest that Columbus applied the name to the whole 
 island. H. L. T., translator. 
 
 (*) The phrase in the Spanish text is El viento cargaba 
 d la, traviesa Sueste. I find so much diversity in regard to 
 the meaning of d la traviesa, that I venture a nautical 
 explanation, provided he \vas where I put him on the 
 forenoon of the 16th of October N. W. end of Crooked 
 Island. Here the flood tide ran east, on the 16th, from 
 9 h a. m. to 3 b 12 m p. m. see p. 47 His ships were riding 
 at single anchor, to a windward tide, with their heads to 
 the westward; but as the south east wind increased there 
 was the risk of "breaking shear," which the Admiral ob 
 served from the shore ; hence his anxiety to be off. 
 
 ( 3 ) On account of the illegible writing of this word in 
 the original and the blank space. that follows, the meaning 
 of the sentence remains in obscurity. Perhaps he meant : 
 and in the middle of the preceding nitjht the other steam off, 
 and icent behind the canoe, c. Casas. 
 
17 
 
 pues en tierra al tiempo de la llegada del otro a 
 quien yo habia dado las cosas susodichas, y no 
 le habia querido toinar el ovillo de algodon pu- 
 esto quel me lo queria dar ; y todos los otros 
 se llegarou a el, y tenia a gran maravilla 6 bien \ 
 le parecio que eramos buena gente, y que el otro 
 que se habia fugido uos habia hecho algun dailo 
 y que por esto lo llevabamos, y a esta razou use" 
 esto con el de le mandar alargar, y le di las 
 dichas cosas porque nos tuviesen en esta esti- 
 ma, porque otra vez cuando vuestras Altezas ! 
 aqui tornen a enviar no hagan mala coinpania ; 
 y todo lo que yo le di no valia cuatro inara- 
 vedis. Y asi parti, que serian las diez horas, 
 con el viento Sueste y tocaba de Sur para l 
 pasar a estotra isla, la cual es grandisiina, y 
 adonde todos estos hombres que yo traigo de la 
 de San Salvador hacen seiias que hay muy 
 mucho oro, y que lo traen en los brazos en ina- 
 nillas, y a las piernas, y a las orejas, y al nariz, 
 y al pescuezo. Y habia de esta isla de Santa 
 Maria a esta otra nueve leguas Leste Oueste, y 
 se corre toda esta parte de la isla Norueste 
 Sueste, y se parece que bien habria en esta 
 costa mas de veinte y ocho leguas( 1 ) en esta 
 faz, y es muy liana sin montaiia ninguna, asi 
 como aquellas de San Salvador y de Santa 
 Maria, y todas playas sin roquedos, salvo que a 
 todas hay algunas peiias acerca de tierra debajo 
 del agua, por donde es nienester abrir el ojo 
 cuaudo se quiere surgir e no surgir mucho 
 acerca de tierra, aunque las aguas sou siempre 
 muy claras y se ve el fondo. Y desviado de 
 tierra dos tiros de lombarda hay en todas estas 
 Mas tanto foiido que no se puede llegar a el. 
 Son estas Mas muy verdes y fertiles, y cle aires 
 muy dulces, y puede haber niuchas cosas que yo 
 no se, porque no me quiero detener por calar y 
 andar muchas Mas para fallar oro. Y pues 
 estas dan asi estas seiias que lo traen a los 
 brazos y a las piernas, y es oro porque les 
 amostre algunos pedazos del que yo tengo, no 
 puedo errar con el ayuda de nuestro Senor que 
 yo no le falle adonde nace. Y estando a medio 
 golfo destas dos islas es de saber de aquella de 
 Santa Maria y de esta grande, a la cual pongo 
 nombre la Fernandina^}, falle" un hombre solo en 
 nna almadia que se pasaba de la isla de Santa 
 Maria a la Fernandina, y traia un poco de su 
 pan, que seria tanto como el pufio, y una cala- 
 baza de agua, y un pedazo de tierra bermeja 
 
 ( ' ) Son solo 19 leguas. 
 
 ( 2 ) Contfcese ahora con el noinbre de Inagua clrim. 
 
 App. 18 3 
 
 T who from the poop of my ship saw all, sent for 
 him, and I gave him a red cap put around his 
 arm a string of small green glass beads, and two 
 little bells on his ears, and ordered that his ca 
 noe which they also had on board of the vessel, 
 should be returned to him, and thus I sent him 
 on shore ; and soon after I set sail for the other 
 large island that appeared at the west, and I 
 ordered that the other canoe that the Mua had 
 astern should be turned adrift, when the man 
 to whom I made the indicated presents and from 
 whom I had refused the ball of cotton he offered 
 to me reached the land; he was as I saw imme 
 diately surrounded by those on shore, and he 
 thought it a great wonder and thought that we 
 were good people, and that the other man 
 who had fled had probably, been kept by us in 
 consequence of some injury done us, and that 
 was the reason why I gave him presents and or 
 dered his release, my aim being to win thus the 
 respect and esteem of all, and avoid their enmity 
 to the future expeditions your Highnesses may 
 send; and yet all I gave him was not worth four 
 maravedis. And so I left, at about ten o'clock, 
 with a south east wind inclining to the south 
 for the other island, a very large one, where the 
 San Salvador men I have with me assert by 
 signs there exists much gold, and that they wear 
 it in rings around their arms, and legs, and in 
 their ears, and noses, and around their necks. 
 And from this island of Santa Maria to the 
 other one there are nine leagues east [and] west, 
 and all this portion of the island runs north west 
 [and] south east, and it appears that there are 
 on this coast more than twenty eight leagues it 
 is even, and devoid of mountains, like those of 
 San Salvador and Santa Maria, and all its shores 
 are free from reefs, except some sunken rocks 
 near the land which require great watchfulness 
 when one wants to anchor or makes it prudent 
 to anchor some distance from land, although the 
 water is remarkably limpid and the bottom can 
 be seen. And at the distance of two lombard 
 shots there is in all these islands so much bot 
 tom that it cannot be reached. These islands 
 are very green and fertile, and have a balmy 
 atmosphere, they probably contain many things 
 which I do not know of, for I do not wish to 
 stop but to reconnoitre many islands in search 
 of gold. And since these thus give these signs 
 that they wear it on their arms and legs, and it is 
 real gold for I showed them some pieces of that 
 which. I have, I cannot fail God helping find- 
 
18 
 
 heclia en polvo y despues amasada, y unas hojas 
 secas que debe ser cosa inuy apreeiada cut re 
 ellos, porque ya me trujerou en San Salvador 
 dellas en presente, y traia un cestillo a su gnisa 
 en que tenia nn rauialejo de cnenteeillas de 
 vidrio y dos blancas, por las cuales conosci quel 
 venia de la isla de San Salvador, y liabia pasado 
 a aqnella de Santa Maria, y se pasaba ;'i la Fer- 
 nandina, el cnal se llego a la nao ; yo le bice 
 entrar, que asi lo deinandaba el, y le hice poner 
 su almadia en la nao, y guardar todo lo que el 
 traia ; y le mande dar de coiner pan y miel, y de 
 beber; y asi le pasare a la Fernandina. y le dare 
 todo lo suyo, porque de buenas nuevas de nos 
 para a nuestro Sefior aplaeiendo, cuando vues- 
 tras Alte/as envien aea, qne aqne.llos que viuie- 
 ren resciban hoiira, y nos den de todo lo que bo- 
 Were." 
 
 Martes 1C de Octultrc. 
 
 Parti de las Mas de tidnta JI<i> m de In Con- 
 cepcion, (pie seria ya eerea del niedio dia, para 
 la iftla Fernandinftj la eual ainuestra ser grandi- 
 sima al Oueste, y navegue todo aquel dia con 
 calineria; no pude llegar a tiempo de poder ver 
 el foudo para surgir en limpio, porque es en 
 esto imiclio de haber gran diligencia por no per- 
 der las anclas; y asi temporice toda esta noclie 
 li ista el dia que vine a uua poblacion, adonde yo 
 surgi,e adonde liabia venidoa(]uel lioinbrequeyo 
 balle aver en aquella almadia a niedio goltb, el 
 cual liabia dado tautas buenas nuevas de nos 
 que toda esta noche no falto abnadias abordo de 
 la nao, que nos traian agua y de lo que tenian. 
 Yo a cada uno le mandaba dar algo, es a saber al- 
 gunas contecillas, diez 6 doce dellas de vidrio en 
 nn lilo, y algunas sonajas de laton dcstas que va- 
 len en Castilla un maravedi cada una, y algunas 
 agujetas, de (pie todo tenian en grandisima 
 excelencia, y tainbien los mandaba dar para 
 que comiesen cuando venian en la nao miel de 
 aziicar; y despues (i boras de tercia envie el 
 batel de la nao en tierra por agua, y ellos de 
 inuy buena gana le ensenabaii a mi gente 
 adonde estaba el agna, y ellos misuios traian 
 
 ing the place whence it is procured. And being 
 in the gulf midway between these two islands 
 namely that of Santa Maria and this large one, 
 to which I give the name of la l-'crndndina, I 
 found a man who was going from the island of 
 Santa Maria to la Fernandina, he had a small 
 piece of his bread, about the sixe of one's list, a 
 c.ilabash of water, a lump of red earth reduced 
 to powder and afterwards kneaded, and some 
 dry leaves highly prized no doubt among them, 
 for those of San Salvador offered some to me as 
 a present.^) and he carried a little basket in 
 their fashion in which he had a .small string of 
 glass beads and two blancas, by which I knew 
 that he came from the island of San Salvador, 
 had passed to Santa Maria, and was now going 
 tola Fernandina. and he came to the ship: 1 
 bad him taken on board as lie desired, and or 
 dered that his canoe and all that lie had, should 
 be kept in the ship; and had him treated with 
 bread honey, and drink; and 1 will take him to 
 la Fernandiua, giving him back what he has 
 brought, in order that he may give good news 
 concerning us so that God willing, when your 
 Highnesses shall send here, those who shall 
 come may receive honor, aiul that they may give 
 us of all that they have." 
 
 Tuesday October 10/7*. 
 'About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria 
 
 de l<i Concept-ion for the inland <>/ F< rn<i>idin, 
 which appears to be very large to the west, and 
 1 sailed all that day with calm weather ; I could 
 not arrive in time to see the bottom in order to 
 get a clear anchorage, a thing requiring the 
 greatest care in order not to lose the anchors; 
 in consequence 1 waited until daylight when 
 1 anchored near a village, the man whom I found 
 yesterday in his canoe in the gulf had come to 
 that village, and so favorable was the account 
 he had given of us that to night they have 
 been constantly coming to the ship in their 
 canoes, bringing us water and everything they 
 have. I caused some things to be given to 
 every one. such as small beads, ten or twelve of 
 them of glass on a .string, some brass [tin?] 
 rattles like those that in Castile can be had for 
 
 (') Tliis was* probably tobacco. When at Port Xncvi- 
 f :is del Principe. Ciibn, November Otli, the. two messengers 
 lie .sent into the eouinry returned and reported, amonji 
 other things, that the natives, men and women, fumigated 
 themselves by inhaling smoke from tubes tableau made 
 of dried leaves. This is the first record of smoking ci- 
 gais. See XavaiTctc, 1st edition, p. f>l. Note by Las 
 Casas. 
 
19 
 
 los barriles llenos al batel, y so folgaban mueho 
 do nos hacer placer. Esta isla es grandi'sima y 
 tengo determinado de la rodear, porque segim 
 ]">uedo entendor en ella, 6 cerea della, hay inina 
 de oro. Esta isla esta desviada de la de Santa 
 Maria ocho leguas cuasi Lcste Oueste; y este 
 cabo adonde yo vine, y toda esta costa se corre 
 Xornorueste y Sursueste, y vide bieii veinte 
 leguas de ella, mas ahi no acababa. Agora 
 escribiendo esto di la vela con el viento Sur 
 para pujar a rodoar toda la isla, y trabajar 
 liasta que halle Santa of, que es la isla 6 ciudad 
 adonde es el oro, que asi lo diceii todos estos 
 que aqui vioneu en la nao, y nos lo decian los 
 de la isla de San Salvador y de Santa Maria. 
 Esta gente es seinejaiite a aquella de las dicbas 
 islas, y una fabla y unas costumbres, salvo 
 quest os ya me pareceri algun tanto mas domes- 
 tica gente, y de tracto, y mas sotiles, porque 
 veo que ban traido algodou aqui a la nao y otras 
 cositas que saben mejor refetarf 1 ) el pagamento 
 que no hacian los otros; y auu en esta isla vide 
 pafios de algodon fechos como mantillos, y la 
 gente mas dispuesta, y las mugeres traen por 
 delante su cuerpo una eosita de algodou que 
 escasamente les cobija su natura. Ella es isla 
 muy verde y liana y fertilisima, y no pongo 
 duda que todo el afio siembran pauizo y cogen, 
 y asi todas otras eosas; y vide umclios arboles 
 muy disformes de losjiucstros, y dellos muchos 
 que tenian los ramos de muchas maueras y todo 
 en 1111 pie, y uu ramito es de una man era y otro 
 de otra, y tan disforme que es la mayor mara- 
 villa del mundo cuauta es la diversidad de la 
 una inanera a la otra, verbi gracia, un ramo 
 tenia las fojas a manera de can as y otro de ma- 
 nera de lentisco; y asi en un solo arbol de cinco 
 6 seis de estas maneras; y todos tan diversos: 
 ni estos sou enjeridos, porque se pueda decir 
 que el enjerto lo hace, antes son por los montes, 
 ni cura dellos esta geute. No le conozco secta 
 ninguna, y creo que muy presto se tornarian 
 cristianos, porque ellos son de muy bueii euten- 
 der. Aqui son los peees tan disformes de los 
 nuestros ques maravilla. ilay algimos liecbos 
 como gallos de las mas linas colores del inuiulo, 
 azules, amarillos, colorados y de todas colores, 
 y otros pintados de mil maneras; y las colores 
 son tan finas que no liay hombre (pie no se 
 maraville y no tome gran deseanso a verlos. 
 Tambien hay ballenas: bestiasen tierra no vide 
 
 (') Acaso rej'crlar v. a. ant. oontradeeir, repngnar, re- 
 si stir, reusar 6 regatcar. 
 
 one maravedi a piece, and some leather straps, 
 all of which they held in the greatest estima 
 tion, and I also treated those who came to my 
 ship with honey of sugar [molasses ?] ; and after 
 wards at nine o'clock a. m. I sent the ship's 
 boat to the shore for water, and they willingly 
 showed my men where the water was and they 
 themselves brought the casks filled to the boat, 
 and were very glad to be able to oblige us. 
 This island is exceedingly large and I have de 
 termined to go around it, because as I can 
 understand on it or near it, there is a mine of 
 gold. This island lies at a distance from that 
 of Santa Maria of eight leagues almost east 
 [and] west; and this cape to which I have 
 come, and all this coast, runs north-northwest 
 and south-southeast, and I saw fully twenty 
 leagues of it, but this was not the end. Soon 
 after writing this I set sail with a south wind, 
 intending to go around the whole island, and 
 work until I should find Samaot, which is tbe 
 island or city where the gold is, as all those say 
 who have come with, us in the ships, and as was 
 before asserted by those of the island of San 
 Salvador and Santa Maria. The people here 
 are like those of the said islands, and speak the 
 same language and have the same customs, 
 but these look to me as'someAvhat more gentle, 
 of better manners, and of keener intelligence, 
 for I notice that in bartering cotton and other 
 little things they know how to trade, which the 
 others never did ; and also on this island I saw 
 cotton cloth made like mantles, and the people 
 more intelligent, and the women wear in front 
 a small piece of cotton stuff which scarcely 
 covers what decency requires. The island is 
 very green level and exceedingly fertile, and I 
 doubt not that they sow and gather panizo(') 
 and all other things, at all seasons of the year; 
 and I saw many trees whose shape was very 
 different from ours, and many of them which 
 had branches of many kinds although growing 
 from one trunk, and one branch is of one kind 
 and another of another kind, and so different 
 that the diversity of the kinds is the greatest 
 wonder of the world, for instance, one branch 
 had leaves like those of cane and another like 
 those of a mastic; and thus on a single tree 
 
 (') Panicnm an ancient Latin name of the Italian mil 
 let P. Italicitm (now folaria Jtalica) thought to t-onie from 
 panis, bread; some species furnishing a kind of bread 
 corn. Grai/'sXew Lessons and Manual of Botany. Boston, 
 1868. p. 615. 
 
20 
 
 ninguna de ninguna inaiiera, salvo papagayos 
 y lagartos; un mozo me dijo que vido una 
 grande culebra. Ovejas ni cabras ni otra nin- 
 guDa bestia vide; aunque yo he estado aqui 
 rauy poco. que es medio dia, mas si las hobiese 
 no pudiera errar de ver alguna. El cerco desta 
 isla escribire despues queyo la liobierc rodeado." 
 
 Miercoles 17 de Octubre. 
 
 ,, A medio dia parti de la poblacion adonde yo 
 estaba surgido, y adonde tome agna para ir 
 rodear esta isla Fernandina, y el viento era Su- 
 dueste y Sur ; y como mi volnntad fucse de se- 
 guir esta costa desta isla adonde yo estaba al 
 Sueste, porque a si se corre tod a Nornorueste y 
 Sursueste, y queria llevar el diclio camino de 
 Sur y Sueste, porque aquella parte todos estos 
 indios que traigo y otro de quien hobe senas en 
 esta parte del Sur a la isla a que ellos Hainan 
 Samoet, adonde es el oro; y Martin Alonso 
 Pinzon, capitan de la carabela Pinta, en la cual 
 yo mamle" d tres de estos indios, vino a mi y me 
 dijo que uno dellos muy certificadamente le 
 habia dado a entender que por la parte del 
 Xornorueste muy mas presto arrodearia la isla. 
 Yo vide que el vieuto no me ayudaba por el 
 camino que yo queria llevar, y era bueno por el 
 otro: di la vela al Xornorueste, y cuando fue 
 acerca del cabo de la isla, a dos leguas, halle un 
 muy maravilloso puerto con una boca, aunque 
 dos bocas se le puede drcir, porque tiene un isleo 
 en medio, y son ambas muy augostas, y dentro 
 muy ancho para cien( ! ) navios si fuera fondo y 
 limpio, y fondo al entrada: pareciome razon del 
 ver bien y sondear, y asi surgi fuera del, y fui 
 en el con todas las barcas de los navios, y vimos 
 que no babia fondo. Y porque pense cuando yo 
 
 (') En el original dice parecian ; pero es error conocido. 
 
 there were five or six of these kinds; and all so 
 different: nor can it be said that they have 
 been grafted, because those trees grow wild in 
 the field, and nobody cares for them.^) 1 know 
 no sect among them, ami as they are of very 
 good understanding, they would in my opinion 
 soon become Christians. The fishes here are so 
 different from ours that it is a wonder. Some 
 look like cocks of the finest colors in the world, 
 blue, yellow, red and all colors, and others vari 
 egated in a thousand fashions ; their different 
 hues being so exquisite that nobody can con 
 template them without wondering, and feeling 
 great delight in seeing them.( 2 ) There are also 
 whales here: but on shore I saw no beasts 
 whatever, save parrots and lizzards; a young 
 man told me that he had seen a large snake. 
 No sheep nor goats nor any other beast did I 
 see ; although I have only stopped half a day 
 I could not fail in seeing some, should there be 
 any. When I shall have sailed around this isl 
 and I will describe its coast." 
 
 Wednesday October Ilth. 
 At midday I left the village where I had 
 anchored and taken in water, in order to sail 
 around this island of Fernandina, the wind was 
 southwest and south; and as my wish was to 
 follow the coast of the island where I was to the 
 southeast, because it all runs to the north-north 
 west and south-southeast, and I desired to take 
 the said route of south and south-east, because 
 that part all these Indians whom I have 
 on board and another from whom I received 
 signs in this part of the south on the island 
 which they call Samoet, [is] where the gold is; 
 and Martin Alonso Pinzon, cjiptain of the cara 
 vel Pinta, into which I sent three of these In 
 dians, came to me and said that one of them 
 had very positively given him to understand 
 that I should round the island much the quick 
 est by the north-northwest. 1 saw that the 
 wind was not favorable to my intended course, 
 
 (') The flora which Columbus saw has probably disap 
 peared before the reckless firing aud wasteful cultivation 
 which characterizes the agriculture of the Bahamas. 
 There are, however, now found there, besides the Epi 
 phytes or air plants, many of a parasitic nature and I \vu, 
 Wild fig (Ficus pedunculata) and Scotch attorney (cluxcn 
 rosea) which, springing from chance seed lodged in the 
 branches of trees throw their roots to the ground and 
 join their foliage as if belonging to the same trunk. 
 
 ( 2 ) This vivid description applies to the fishes which 
 are now found on the Bahama banks. 
 
21 
 
 le vi que era boca de algun rio habia mandado 
 llevar barriles para tomar agua, y en tierra 
 halle unos oeho 6 diez hoinbres que luego vinie- 
 ron a nos, y nos amostraron alii cerca la pobla- 
 cion, adonde yo en vie la gente por agua, una 
 pane con armas otros con barriles, y asi la to- 
 maron; y porque era lejuelos me detuve por 
 espacio de dos boras. En este tiempo anduve 
 asi por aquellos arboles, que era la cosa mas 
 fermosa de ver que otra que se haya visto; 
 veycndo tanta verdura en tant-o grado como en 
 el mes de Mayo en el Andalucia, y los arboles 
 todos estan tan disformes de los nuestros como 
 el dia de la noche; y asi las frutas, y asi las 
 yerbas y las piedras y todas las cosas. Verdad 
 es que algunos arboles eran de la naturaleza de 
 otros que bay en Castilla, por ende habia muy 
 gran diferencia, y los otros arboles de otras 
 maneras eran tantos que no bay persona que lo 
 pueda decir ui asemejar a otros de Castilla. La 
 gente toda era una con los otros ya dicbos, de 
 las inismas condiciones, y asi desnudos y de la 
 misma estatura, y daban de lo que tenian por 
 cualquiera cosa que lea diesen ; y aqui vide que 
 unos mozos de los navios les trocarou azagayas 
 por unos pedazuelos de escudillas rotas y de 
 vidrio, y los otros que fuerou por el agua me 
 dijeron como babian estado en sus casas, y que 
 emu de deutro muy barridas y limpias, y sus 
 camas y paranieutos de cosas que son coino 
 redes de algodoi^ 1 ) : ellas las casas son todas a 
 manera de alfaneques, y muy altas y buenas 
 cbimeneas( 2 ) ; mas no vide entre niucbas po- 
 blaciones que yo vide ninguna que pasase de 
 doce basta quince casas. Aqui fallaron que las 
 inugeres casadas traian bragas do algodon, las 
 mozas no, sino salvo algunas qne eran ya de 
 edad de diez y ocbo afios. Y ahi babia perros 
 mastines y brancbetes, y abi fallaron uno que 
 babia al nariz uii pedazo de oro que seria como 
 la mitad de un castellano, en el cual vieron 
 letras : refii yo con ellos porque no se lo resga- 
 taron y dieron cuanto pedia, por ver que era y 
 cuya esta moiieda era ; y ellos me respondierou 
 que nunca se lo oso resgatar. Despues de to- 
 mada la agua volvf a la nao, y di la vela, y sali 
 al Xorueste tan to que yo descubri toda aquella 
 parte de la isla basta la costa que se corre 
 Leste Oueste, y despues todos estos indios tor- 
 
 ( 1 ) I, lain a use Hamacas. 
 
 ( 2 ) Estas chimeneas no son para humeros, siuo iiuas 
 coronillas que tienen encima las casas de paja de los In 
 dios. For esto lo dice, puesto que dejan abierto por 
 arriba algo para que saiga el huino. Casas. 
 
 and was to tbe otber: so I sailed to tbe north - 
 nortb west, and when I was near the end of tbe 
 island, two leagues off, I found a very marvel 
 lous port with an entrance, although it may be 
 said that there are two entrances, because it 
 has a rocky islet in the middle, and both are 
 very narrow, but within it there is ample room 
 for one hundred ships, if it had sufficient depth 
 of water, and was clear, and had also a deep 
 entrance : I thought it worth while to examine 
 and sound it, and so I anchored outside of it, 
 and went in with all tbe boats of the ships, and 
 saw that there was not bottom. And because 
 I thought when I saw it that it was the mouth 
 of some river I bad tbe casks sent on shore for 
 water, and on shore I found eight or ten men 
 who soon approached us, and showed us tbe 
 village near by, to which I sent my men for 
 water, some armed, and others with the casks, 
 and thus they got it ; and because it was rather 
 far I was detained for the space of two hours. 
 During this time I walked among those trees, 
 which were the most beautiful things that were 
 ever seen; so much verdure being visible and in 
 | as high a degree as in the month of May in Au- 
 dalucia, and all these trees as different from 
 ours as day is from night ; the same was the 
 case with the fruits, grass stones and all things. 
 It is true that some trees were of the same fam 
 ily as others in Castile, however there was a 
 very great difference, and the other trees of 
 other kinds were so many that there is no per 
 son that can compare them to others in Castile. 
 The people were all like those aforementioned, 
 they have the same dispositions, go about naked 
 and are of the same size, and gave of what they 
 bad for anything that was given to them ; and 
 here I saw that some young men of the vessels 
 obtained spears from them for some little pieces 
 of broken crockery and glass, the men I sent 
 for water told us that tbe bouses which they 
 had entered were well swept and perfectly 
 clean, and that their beds and coverings looked 
 like cotton nets:( l ) the bouses are like tents, 
 very high and have good chimneys ;( 2 ) but 
 among the many villages which I saw none 
 had over twelve or fifteen houses. Here they 
 found that the married women wore cotton 
 
 (') Which they called Hamacas. Nararretc. This is 
 th<; first mention of the hammock. 
 
 ( 2 ) These are not chimneys for emitting smoke but are 
 crowus on top of the straw huts, he called them chim 
 neys because something is left open on top in order that 
 the smoke may get out. Casas. 
 
22 
 
 naron 11 decir quo esta isla era mas pequefia 
 que no la isla Samoet, y que seria bien volvcr 
 atras por ser en ella uias presto. El viento alii 
 luego mas calmo y coinenzo a ventar Onesnoru- 
 cste, elTiual era contrario para donde habiainos 
 venido, y asi tome la vuelta y navegue toda esta 
 noche pasada al Lestesueste, y cuando al Leste 
 todo y enando al Sueste; y esto para apartarme 
 de la tierra porque hacia muy gran cerrazou y el 
 tiempo muy cargado: el era poco y no 'me dejo 
 llegar a tierra a snrgir. Asi que esta noclie 
 llovio muy fuerte despues de media noclie hasta 
 cuasi el dia, y aim esta nublado para Hover ; y 
 nos al cabo de la isla de la partc del Sueste 
 adonde espero surgir fasta que aclare/ca para 
 ver las otras islas adonde tengo de ir; y asi 
 todos estos dias despues que en estas Indias 
 estoy ha llovido poco 6 muclio. Crean vue.stras 
 Altezas que es esta tierra la mejor e mas fertil, 
 y temperada, y liana, y buena que haya en el 
 mundo." 
 
 Jucves 18 de Octulrc. 
 
 Despues que aclarescio segui el viento, y 
 fui en derredor de la isla cnaiito pude, y surgf 
 al tiempo que ya no era de navegar; mas no 
 fui en tierra, y en ainaneciendo di la vela." 
 
 Yicnics 19 fie Octitbre. 
 
 ,,En ainaneciendo levantd las anclas y emir 
 la carabela Pinta al Leste y Sueste y la cara- 
 bela Nina al Sursueste, y yo con la nao i'ni al 
 Sueste, y dado orden que llevasen aquella 
 vuelta t'a.sta niedio dia, y despues que ambas se 
 mudasen las derrotas y se recogieran para mi; 
 y luego antes que andasemos tres boras vimos 
 
 breeches, the young girls not, except a lew who 
 were already of the age of eighteen years. 
 And they had there dogs mastines( l ) and bran- 
 ehetes,( 2 ) and here they found one wearing in 
 his nose a piece of gold of the size of half a 
 castillano,( :! ) on which they saw letters: I 
 scolded them for not having got it by giving 
 whatever he asked, in order to see what it was 
 and if coin whose coin it was; but they an 
 swered that he did not dare to barter it. After 
 getting in water I returned to the ship, and set 
 sail, and sailed to the northwest until I discov 
 ered all that part of the island as far as the 
 coast which runs east [and] west, and after 
 wards these Indians again said that this island 
 was smaller than the island of tfanwet, and that 
 it would be well to go back as we would thus. 
 reach it sooner. The wind then ceased and 
 then sprang np from west-northwest, which 
 was contrary to our course, and so 1 turned 
 around and sailed all the past night to the east- 
 southeast, and sometimes wholly east, and some 
 times to the. southeast ; this 1 did in order to 
 keep oft' the land for the atmosphere was very 
 misty and the weather threatening: it [the wind | 
 was light and did not permit me to reach the 
 land in order to anchor. So that this night it 
 rained very hard after midnight until almost 
 day. and is still cloudy in order to rain ; and we 
 [are] at the southeast cape of the island where 
 1 hope to anchor until it gets clear in order to 
 see the other islands where I have to go; ever 
 since I came to these Indies it has been raining 
 much or little. I beg your Highnesses to be 
 lieve however that this land is the richest, the 
 mildest in temperature, and the most level and 
 wholesome in the world.' 7 
 
 Thursday October ISM. 
 
 "After it cleared up I followed the wind, and 
 went around the island as much as I cquld, and 
 I anchored when it was no longer possible to 
 sail; but I did not go on shore, and at dawn I 
 set sail." 
 
 Friday, October 19M. 
 
 "At dawn I weighed anchor and sent the 
 caravel Pinta to the cast and southeast and 
 the caravel Nifia to the south-southeast, and I 
 
 (') Mustincs mastil)'. 
 
 (*) Brnnchi'tos proluilily a .smiting dog. 
 ( ;i ) One castillano of gold equal to H.iif, ; ; r . Irring'x 
 Columbus, revised edition, J848. Note. Vol. JJ, p, 49. 
 
23 
 
 una isla al Leste, sobre la cual descargamos, y 
 llegamos a ella todos tres navios antes de meclio 
 dia a la puuta del Xorte, adoude liace 1111 isleo 
 y una restinga de piedra fuera de el al Xorte, y 
 otro outre el y la isla grande; la cual anornbra- 
 ron estos liombres de San Salvador, que yo 
 traigo, la isla Saoniete, a la cual puse noinbre 
 la Isabela( l ). El viento era Xorte, y quedaba el 
 dicho isleo en derrota de la isla Fernandina, de 
 adonde yo liabia partido Leste oueste, y se cor- 
 ria despnes la costa desde el isleo al Oueste, y 
 liabia en ella doce leguas fasta un cabo, a quien 
 yo llanie el Cabo hermoso, que es de la parte 
 del Oueste; y asi es ferinoso, redoudo y muy 
 fondo, sin bajas fnera de el, y al comienzo es de 
 piedra y bajo, y mas adentro es pi ay a de arena 
 como cuasi la dieha costa es, y alii surgi esta 
 noche Yiernes hasta la mafiana. Esta costa 
 toda, y la parte de la isla que yo vi, es toda 
 cuasi playa, y la isla mas fermosa cosa que yo 
 vi; que si las otras son muy liermosas, esta es 
 mas: es de muclios arboles y muy verdes, y 
 muy grandes; y esta tierra es mas alta que las 
 otras islas falladas, y en ella algun altillo, no 
 qne se le pueda llamar montana, mas cosa que 
 afermosea lo otro, y parece de muclias aguas 
 alia al medio de la isla; de esta parte al Xor- 
 deste hace una grande angla, y ha muclios 
 arboledos, y muy espesos y inuy grandes. Yo 
 quise ir a surgir en ella para salir a tierra, y ver 
 tanta fermosura; mas era el fondo bajo y no 
 podia surgir salvo largo de tierra, y el viento 
 era muy bueno para venir a este cabo, adonde 
 yo surgi agora, al cual puse nombre Cabo Fer- 
 moso, porq'ue asi lo es; y asi no surgi en aquella 
 angla, y aim porque vide este cabo de alia tan 
 verde y tan ferinoso, asi como todas las otras 
 cosas y tierras destas islas que yo no se adonde 
 me vaya primero, ni me se cansar los ojos de 
 ver tan fermosas verduras y tan diversas de las 
 nuestras, y aim creo que ha en ellas muchas 
 yerbas y muchos arboles, que valen inucho en 
 Espana para tiiituras y para mediciuas de es- 
 peceria, mas yo no los cognozco, de qne llevo 
 grande pena. Y llegando yo aqui a este cabo 
 vino el olor tan bueno y suave de flores 6 ar 
 boles de la tierrra que era la cosa mas dulce del 
 mundo. De manaua antes que yo de aqui vaya 
 ire en tierra a A'er que es aqui en el cabo; no es 
 la poblacion salvo alia mas adeutro adoude di- 
 
 (') Pai'ece qne la Isalida corrcsponde a la isla qne nliora 
 so conoce con el noinbre do Inagua grande, y los indios 
 llamaban Saometo. 
 
 with the ship went to the southeast, having 
 given orders that they should keep that course 
 until midday, and then that both should change 
 their course and return to me; and then before 
 we had gone three hours we saw an island to 
 the east, to which we directed our course, and 
 all the three vessels reached it before midday 
 at its northern extremity, where there is a rocky 
 islet and a ridge of rocks outside it to the north, 
 and another between it and the large island; 
 which the men of San Salvador, that I brought 
 ' with me, called Saometo, to which I gave the 
 name of la Isabcla. The wind was north, and 
 the said islet lay from the island of Fernandina, 
 whence I had come east [and] west, and the 
 coast afterwards ran from the rocky islet to the 
 westward, and there was in it twelve leagues 
 as far as a cape, which I called Cape Beautiful, 
 which is in the west; and so it is beautiful, 
 round and [the water?] very deep and free 
 from shoals, at first it is rocky and low, but 
 farther in it is a sandy beach as it is along most 
 of the coast, and it is here that I have to-night 
 Friday, anchored until morning. This coast all, 
 and the part of the island that I saw, is nearly 
 all a beach, and the island the most beautiful 
 thing I have seen; if the others are very beau 
 tiful this is still more so: it has many trees 
 very green, and very large; and this land is 
 higher than that of the other islands I have 
 discovered, although it cannot be called moun 
 tainous, yet gentle hills enhance with their con 
 trasts the beauty of the plain, and there appears 
 to be much water in the middle of the island; 
 northeast of this cape there is an extensive 
 promontory, and there are many groves, very 
 thick and very large. I wished to anchor oft' it 
 in order to land, and visit so handsome a spot; 
 but it was shallow and I could not anchor ex 
 cept far from land, and the wind was very 
 favorble to come to this cape, where I have now 
 anchored, and which I have called Cape Beauti 
 ful, because it is so; and so I did not anchor off 
 that promontory, because I saw this cape so 
 green and so beautiful, as are all the other 
 things and lands of these islands so that I do 
 not know to which to go first, nor do my eyes 
 grow tired with looking at such beautiful verd 
 ure, so different from our own, and I even be 
 lieve that among it there are many grasses or 
 herbs, and many trees which would be of great 
 value in Spain for dyes and medicines, but I 
 do not know them, which I greatly regret. And 
 
24 
 
 cen estos hombres que yo traigo, que esta el 
 Key y que trae mucho oro; y yo de man ana 
 quiero ir tanto avante que halle la poblaciou, y 
 vea 6 hay a lengua coii este Key, que segim estos 
 dan las senas e"l seuorea todas estas islas comar- 
 eanas, y va vestido, y trae sobre si mucho oro; 
 aunque no doy ruucha fe a sus decires, asi por 
 no los entender yo bien, como en cognoscer 
 ()iiellos son tan pobres de oro que cualquiera 
 poco que este Key traiga les parece ft ellos mu 
 cho. Este a quien yo digo Cabo Fermoso creo 
 que es isla apartada de Saometo, y aim hay \ a 
 otra eutremedias pequeiia: yo no euro asi de 
 ver tanto por meuudo, porque no lo podia facer 
 en cincuenta aiios, porque quiero ver y descubrir 
 lo inas que yo pudiere para volver a vuestras 
 Altezas, a nuestro Seiior aplaciendo, en Abril. 
 Verdad es que fallaudo adonde haya oro 6 espe- 
 ceria en cantidad ine deterue fasta que yo haya 
 dello cuanto pudiere ; y por esto no f ago siuo 
 andar para ver de topar en ello." 
 
 Sabado 20 de Octubre. 
 
 ,,Hoy al sol salido levante las anclas de 
 donde yo estaba con la nao surgido en esta isla 
 de Saometo al cabo del Sudueste, adonde yo 
 puse nombre el Cabo de la Laguna y ft la isla la 
 Isabela, para navegar al Nordeste y al Leste de 
 la parte del Sueste y Sur, adonde entendi de 
 estos hombres que yo traigo que era la poblaciou 
 y el Key de ella; y falle todo tan bajo el fondo 
 que no pude entrar ni navegar ft ello, y vide 
 que siguiendo el cainino del Sudueste era muy 
 gran rodeo, y por esto determine de me volver 
 por el camino que yo habia traido del Xornord- 
 este de la parte del Oueste, y rodear esta isla 
 para(') el viento me fue tan escaso que yo no 
 nunca pude haber la tierra al longo de la costa 
 salvo en la noche; y por ques peligro( 2 ) surgir 
 en estas islas, salvo en el dia que se vea con el 
 ojo adonde se echa el ancla, porque es todo 
 manchas, una de limpio y otra de non, yo me 
 
 (') Igual vacio en el original. Parece falta reconoctrla. 
 (*) Asi el original : parece ha de docir peligroso. 
 
 when I reached this cape the odor came so 
 good and sweet from flowers or trees on the 
 laud that it was the sweetest thing in the 
 world. To-morrow before leaving here I will go 
 on shore to see what there is on this cape; there 
 is no population except farther inland where 
 according to the information received from these 
 men whom I have on board, their king lives 
 and has much gold ; I intend to proceed to-mor 
 row until I find the population, and see or con 
 verse with this king, who, according to the 
 signs made by these men is master of all these 
 neighboring islands, and goes clothed, and 
 wears much gold on his person ; although I 
 place little confidence in their assertions, both 
 because I do not understand well and because 
 I see that they are so poor in gold that any 
 small quantity worn by this King would seem 
 to them to be a great deal. I believe that this 
 Cape Beautiful is a separate island from Saomcto, 
 and even that there is another small one be 
 tween: for that reason I do not care to examine 
 so much in detail, because I could not do it in 
 fifty years, because I desire to see and discover 
 the most that I can, in order to return to your 
 Highnesses, God willing, in April. It is true 
 that I will stop wherever I may find gold or 
 spices in large quantities and get as much of 
 each as possible; I am constantly sailing in 
 order to find some." 
 
 Saturday, October 20th. 
 
 "At sunrise I weighed anchor from the place 
 where I was with the vessel anchored at this 
 island of Saometo at the southwest cape, which 
 I named the Cape of the Lagoon and I called the 
 island la Isabela, in order to sail to the north 
 east and to the east towards the southeast and 
 south, where I understood from these men whom 
 I have with me that the population and their 
 king were; and so I found the bottom so shallow 
 that I could not enter or sail to it, and I saw 
 that by following a southwestern route it would 
 be a long way around, and consequently I de 
 termined to return by the course I had come 
 from the north-northeast toward the west, and 
 to go around this island in order ( ] ) The 
 
 wind, however, was so scant that I was never 
 able to have the land along the coast except at 
 night; and because it is dangerous to anchor 
 among these islands, save in the day-time when 
 
 (') A Wank in the original, probably to reconuoiter it. 
 Navarrete. 
 
25 
 
 ptise a tempoivjar a la vela toda esta uocbe del 
 Domingo. Las carabelas surgieron porque se 
 hallarou en tierra temprano, y pensaron que a 
 sus seiias, que eran costuinbradas de hacer, iria 
 a surgir; urns no quise." 
 
 Domingo 21 de Octubre. 
 ,, A las diez horas llegue aqui a este cabo del 
 isleo, y stirgi y asimismo las carabelas; y des- 
 pues de haber eomido fui en tierra, adonde aqui 
 no habia otra poblaciou que una easa, en la cual 
 no falle 4 nadie que creo que con temor se 
 liabian fugido porque en ella estaban todos sus 
 aderezos de casa. Yo no les dej6 tocar nada, 
 salvo que me sali con estos capitanes y gente a 
 ver la isla; que si las otras ya vistas son nmy 
 fermosas y verdes y fertiles, esta es inucho mas 
 y de grandes arboledos y niuy verdes. Aqui es 
 uuas grandes lagunas, y sobre ellas y a la rueda 
 es el arboledo en maravilla, y aqui y en toda la 
 isla son todos verdes y las yerbas como en el 
 Abril en el Andalucia ; y el cantar de los paja- 
 ritos que parece que el koinbre nunca se querria 
 partir de aqui, y las manadas de los papagayos 
 que ascurecen el sol; y aves y pajaritos de tan- 
 tas maneras y tan diversas de las nuestras que 
 es maravilla; y despues ha drboles de mil ma 
 neras, y todos de su manera fruto, y todos 
 liuelen que es maravilla, que yo estoy el mas 
 peuado del muudo de no los cognoscer, porque 
 soy bien cierto que todos son cosa de valia, y 
 de ellos traigo la deniuestra, y asimismo de las 
 yerbas. Andando asi en cerco de una destas 
 lagunas vide una sierpe('), la cual inatamos y 
 traigo el cuero 4 vuestras Altezas. Ella como 
 nos vido se echo en la laguna, y nos le seguimos 
 dentro, porque no era nmy fonda, fasta que con 
 lanzas la matamos; es de siete palmos en largo; 
 creo que destas semejantes hay aqui en esta 
 laguna muchas. Aqui cognosci del linaloe, y 
 mauana he deterniiuado de hacer traer a la nao 
 diez quiu tales, porque me dicen que vale mucho. 
 Tainbien andaudo en busca de muy buena agua 
 fuimos a una poblacion aqui cerca, adonde estoy 
 surto media legua; y la gente, della conio nos 
 sintieron dieron todos a fugir, y dejaron las 
 casas, y escondierou su ropa y lo que tenian por 
 el nionte; yo no deje tomar nada ni la valia de 
 un alfiler. Despues se llegaron a nos unos 
 honibres de'llos, y uno se llego del todo aqui: 
 
 (') Ytiana (Iguana) debio de ser esta. Casas. 
 App. 18 4 
 
 one sees with the eye where the anchor is cast, 
 because it is all spots, one clean the other not, 
 I stood off and on all this night of Sunday. 
 The caravels anchored because they reached 
 the land early, and thought that I would do the 
 same at sight of their customary signals ; but I 
 did not wish to." 
 
 Sunday October 2 1st. 
 
 "At ten o'clock I arrived here at this end of 
 the rocky islet, and I anchored as did the 
 caravels ; and after taking my dinner I went on 
 shore, I found there only a house, in which I 
 found no person and I believe that they had 
 fled through fear because all their household 
 goods were there. I did not allow them to 
 touch anything, except that 'I went with the 
 captains and men to see the island ; if the others 
 appeared beautiful, green, and fertile, this one 
 with its majestic and luxuriant forests surpasses 
 them all. Here are some large lagoons, and 
 around them are the trees so that it is a marvel, 
 and here and throughout the island they are 
 all green and the grass is like it is in April in 
 Andalucia; and the songs of the little birds so 
 that it seems as if a man could never leave 
 here, and the flocks of parrots which darken 
 the sun; and birds and little birds of so many 
 kinds and so different from ours that it is a 
 marvel; and then there are trees of a thousand 
 kinds, all bearing fruit of their own kinds, and 
 all smell so that it is a marvel, so that I felt the 
 greatest regret in the world not to know them, 
 because I am very certain that they are all 
 things of value, and I bring the samples of 
 them, and also of the grasses. While going 
 around one of these lagoons I saw a serpent^) 
 which we killed and I bring the skin to your 
 Highnesses. When it saw 'us it plunged into 
 the lagoon, and we followed it in, because it 
 was not very deep, until we killed it with our 
 lances; is of seven palmos ( 2 ) in length; I believe 
 
 (') This should be Yiiana (Iguana) Casas. 
 
 ( 2 ) Library of Universal Knowledge. N. Y. 1881. Vol. 
 XI, p. 2?5. Spanish Palino Major is given as 8.3450 
 inches, English. Spanish Palino Minor is given as 2.7817 
 inches, English. Either of these dimensions might apply 
 to the Ignaua, but in Columbus's letter to the King and 
 Queen concerning his fourth voyage, Navarrete, p. 450, 
 he wrote of a harbor in Veragua, '' bien que a" la eutrada 
 no teuio salvo diez palmos de fondo." He used the same 
 word, " palmos," for the depth of the harbor's entrance, 
 as he used for the length of the Iguano. As neither of 
 the above dimensions can express his meaning in both 
 quotations I leave the original word, palraos. 
 
26 
 
 yo di unos cascabeles y unas cuentecillas de 
 vidrio, y quedo muy eoutento y muy alegre, y 
 porque la amistad creciese mas y los requiriese 
 algo le liice pedir agua, y ellos despues que fui 
 en la nao viuieron luego a la playa con sus cala- 
 bazas llenas y folgaron mucho de dtirnosla, y 
 yo les mand dar otro ramalejo de cuentecillas 
 de vidrio, y dijeroii que de maiiana verniaii aca. 
 Vo queria hinchir aqui toda la vasija de los 
 navios de agua; por ende si el tiempo nie da 
 lugar luego me partire a rodear esta isla fasta 
 que yo haya lengua con este Eey, y ver si puedo 
 haber de"! el oro que oyo que trae, y despues 
 partir para otra isla grande mucho, que creo 
 que debe ser Cipango, segun las senas que me 
 dan estos indios que yo traigo, a la cual ellos 
 llaman Colba( l ), en la cual dicen que ha naos y 
 mareantes muchos y muy grandes, y de esta 
 isla otra que llaman Bosio( 2 ) que tambien dicen 
 que"s muy grande, y a las otras que son entre- 
 medio ver6 asi de pasada, y segun yo fallare 
 recaudo de oro 6 especeria determinare lo que 
 he de facer. Mas todavia tengo determinado 
 de ir a la tierra firme y a la ciudad de Guisay, 
 y dar las cartas de vuestras Altezas al Gran 
 Can, y pedir respuesta y venir con ella." 
 
 Lunes 22 de Octubre. 
 
 ,,Toda esta noche y hoy estuve aqui aguar- 
 dando si el Key de aquf 6 otras personas traerian 
 oro 6 otra cosa de sustancia, y vinieron muchos 
 de esta gente, semejautes a los otros de las 
 otras islas, asi desnudos, y asi pintados dellos 
 de bianco, dellos de Colorado, dellos de prieto, 
 
 (') Parece error en el original por Cw&a, como se com- 
 prueba raas adelaute. 
 ( 2 ) Acaso Bolrio, como dice despues. 
 
 that there are many like this in this lagoon. 
 Here I found the aloe tree, and as I have been 
 told that it is very valuable I shall to-morrow, 
 have ten quintals of it brought to the ship. 
 While looking for good water we went to a vil 
 lage, distant half a league from my anchoring 
 place; and the people fled at our approach, 
 abandoning their houses, and hiding their wear 
 ing-apparel and what they had in the woods; 
 and I did not allow them to take anything not 
 even the value of a pin. Afterwards some of 
 the men came to us, and one came quite up to 
 us : I gave him some little bells and some glass 
 beads, which satisfied and gladdened him very 
 much, and in order that our friendship might 
 increase and that I might ask something of 
 them I asked for some water, which they after 
 I had gone on board the ship brought to the 
 beach with their calabashes filled, and were very 
 much pleased to give it to us, I had them pre 
 sented with another small string of glass beads, 
 and they said they would come the next day. 
 I wanted to have all the casks in the ship sup 
 plied with water; consequently the weather 
 permitting I shall sail at once in order to go 
 until I get an interview with this king, to see 
 if I can get from him the gold which I hear that 
 he wears, and afterwards to sail for another 
 very large island, which I think must be Ci- 
 panyo, according to the signs given me by those 
 Indians whom I have on board, and which they 
 called Colba,( l ) and where they say there are 
 large ships and many merchants, and from it to 
 another island named Bosio( 2 ) which they also 
 say is very large, taking a passing notice of 
 others between, and shaping my future conduct 
 in accordance with the quantities of gold or 
 spices that I may find. I have also decided to 
 go to the mainland to the city of Guisay, pre 
 sent there the letters of your Highnesses to the 
 Grand Khan, ask for an answer and come away 
 with it." 
 
 Monday October 22d. 
 
 "All last night and to day I have remained 
 here expecting the king or other persons to 
 come with gold or some other valuable things, 
 many of these people came naked, like those of 
 the other islands, painted some white, some 
 red, some black, and so on in many ways. They 
 
 (') It seems to be mistaken for Cuba in the original, as 
 is shown further on. Casas. 
 (-) Perhaps Hohio, :is he calls it afterwards. Casas. 
 
27 
 
 v asi do iniichas maiieras. Traian a/agayas y 
 algtnios ovillos de algodon a resgatar, el cual 
 trocabau aqui con algunos marineros por peda 
 zos de vidrio, de tazas quebradas, y por pedazos 
 de escudillas de barro. Algunos dellos traiau 
 algunos pedazos de oro colgado al nariz, el cual 
 de buena gana daban por un cascabel destos de 
 pie de gavilano y por cuentecillas de vidrio: 
 mas es tan poco, que no es nada: que es verdad 
 que cualquiera poca cosa que se les de ellos 
 tambien tenian a gran mara villa nuestra venida, 
 y creian que eramos venidos del cielo. Tonia- 
 mos agua para los navios en una lagima que 
 aqui esta acerca del ccibo del isleo, que asi la 
 nombre"; y en la dicha laguna Martin Alonso 
 Pinzon, capitan de la Pinta, mato otra sierpe 
 tal como la otra de ayer de siete palmos, y flee 
 tomar aqui del liualoe cuanto se fallo." 
 
 Maries 23 de Octubre. 
 
 
 
 ,,Quisiera hoy partir para la isla de Cuba, que 
 creo que debe ser Cipango segun las seiias que 
 dan esta gente de la graudeza della y riqueza, 
 y no me deterne" mas aquini( 1 ) esta isla al rede- 
 dor para ir a la poblacion, como tenia determi- 
 nado, para haber lengua con este Key 6 Seiior, 
 que es por no me detener mucho, pues veo que 
 aqui no hay mina de oro, y al rodear de estas 
 islas ha inenester rnuchas inaneras de viento, y 
 no vieuta asi como los honibres querrian. Y 
 pues es de andar adonde haya trato graude, 
 digo que no es razon de se detener salvo ir 4 
 camino, y calar mucha tierra fasta topar en 
 tierra muy provechosa, aunque mi enteuder es 
 questa sea muy provechosa de especeria; mas 
 que yo no la cognozco que llevo la mayor pena 
 del immdo, que veo mil maneras de arboles que 
 tieneu cada uno su manera de fruta, y verde 
 agora como en Espaiia en el mes de Mayo y 
 Junio, y mil maneras de yerbas, eso mesmo con 
 tiores, y de todo no se cognoscio salvo este lina- 
 loe de que hoy mande" tambien traer a la nao 
 mucho para llevar a vuestras Altezas. Y no he 
 dado ni doy la vela para Cuba, porque no hay 
 viento, salvo calma muerta y llueve mucho; y 
 llovio ayer mucho sin hacer ningun frio, antes 
 el dia hace calor, y las noches temperadas como 
 en Mayo en Espaiia en el Andalucia." 
 
 Igual vacfo en el original. 
 
 brought spears and some balls of cottou to 
 barter, which they exchanged here with some 
 sailors for pieces of glass, broken cups, and 
 pieces of earthenware. Some of these few wore 
 pieces of gold in their noses, which they gladly 
 gave away for a small bell such as is attached 
 to the leg of a hawk:( J ) but it is so little that 
 it is nothing: it is true that for any little thing 
 that was given them they marveled greatly at 
 our coming, and thought that we had come 
 down from heaven. We took water for the 
 vessels from a lagoon which is near to the Cape 
 of the rocky island, so named by me; and in the 
 said lagoon Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of 
 the Pinta, killed another serpent like that of 
 yesterday of seven palmos, I caused to be taken 
 on board all the aloes that could be found." 
 
 Tuesday October 23d. 
 
 u I should like to sail to day for the island of 
 Cuba, which from the description about its size 
 and riches given by these people I infer to be 
 Cipango, I will not stop here longer nor( 2 ) 
 around this island to go to the inhabited portion, 
 as I had determined, in order to have an inter 
 view with this king or lord, this is in order 
 not to stop much, because I see that there is no 
 mine of gold here, and to go around these 
 islands requires many different winds, and they 
 do not blow as men would wish. And therefore 
 the most important thing is to go where there 
 is a great trade, I say that it is not right to 
 stop, but to continue on one's course to examine 
 many lands until one reaches some very profitable 
 land, although my idea is that this is very rich 
 in spices; but I grieve exceedingly that I have 
 no knowledge of them, because I see a thousand 
 kinds of trees having each one its own kind of 
 fruit, and green now as in Spain in the month 
 of May and Juue, and a thousand kinds of 
 herbs, with flowers, of all of which none was 
 known save this aloe of which I have had 
 quantities brought on board the ship for your 
 Highnesses. And I have not sailed nor do I 
 sail for Cuba, because there is no wind, but a 
 dead calm and much rain ; yesterday it also 
 rained much yet it was not cold, on the contrary 
 it is warm during the day, and the nights are 
 as mild as those of Andalucia in Spain in May.' 
 
 (') On the plains of Assyria and Babylonia the Arabs 
 use hawks for hunting purposes, to the legs of which are, 
 sometimes, fastened small bells. Layard's Nineveh and 
 Balylon, p. 412. 
 
 (*) Blank space in the original. Navarrete. 
 
28 
 
 Miercoles 24 de Octubre. 
 
 ,,Esta iioche a media iiocbe levant^ las anclas 
 de la isla Isabela del cabo del foleo, ques de la 
 parte del Norte & doude yo estaba posado para 
 ir a la isla de Cuba, a donde oi desta gente que 
 era muy grande y de gran trato, y habia en ella 
 oro y especerias y naos grandes y mercaderes 5 y 
 me amostro que al Ouesudueste iria a ella, y yo 
 asi lo tengo, porque creo que si es asi corno por 
 senas que me hicieron todos los indios de estas 
 islas y aquellos que llevo yo en los navios, por 
 que por lengua no los entiendo, es la isla de 
 Cipango de que se cuentan cosas maravillosas, 
 y en las esperas que yo vi y en las pinturas de 
 mapamundos es ella en esta comarca, y asi nave- 
 gue" fasta el dia al Ouesudueste, y amaneciendo 
 calmo el viento y Ilovi6, y asi casi toda la 
 noche ; y estuve asi con poco viento fasta que 
 pasaba de medio dia y entonces torno a ventar 
 muy amoroso, y llevaba todas mis velas de la 
 nao, maestra, y dos bonetas, y trinquete, y ce- 
 badera, y mezana, y vela de gavia, y el batel 
 por popa ; asi anduve al camino fasta que ano- 
 checio y entonces me quedaba el Cabo Verde de 
 la isla Fernandina, el cual es de la parte de Sur 
 a la parte de Oueste, me quedaba al Norueste, 
 y hacia de mi a.el siete leguas. Y porque ven- 
 taba ya recio y no sabia yo cuanto camino ho- 
 biese fasta la dicha isla de Cuba, y por no la ir a 
 demandar de noche, porque todas estas islas son 
 muy fond as a, no hallar fondo todo en derredor, 
 salvo a tiro de dos lombardas, y esto es todo 
 manchado un pedazo de roquedo y otro de 
 arena, y por esto no se puede seguramente sur- 
 gir salvo a vista de ojo, y por tanto acorde" de 
 amainar las velas todas, salvo el trinquete, y 
 andar con 61, y de a un rato crecia mucho el 
 viento y hacia raucho camino de que dudaba, y 
 era muy gran cerrazon, y llovia : mande amai 
 nar el trinquete y no anduvimos esta noche dos 
 leguas &c." 
 
 Jueves 25 de Octubre. 
 
 Navego despues del sol salido al Oueste 
 Sudueste hasta las nueve horas, andarian cin- 
 co leguas: despues mudo el camino al Oueste: 
 andaban ocho millas por hora hasta la uua 
 despues de medio dia, y de alii hasta las tres, y 
 andarian cuarenta y cuatro millas. Entonces 
 
 October 24th. 
 11 At midnight I weighed anchor from the isl 
 and of Isabela the cape of the rocky 'islet, which 
 is on the northern side where I was lying in 
 order to go to the island of Cuba, which I heard 
 from these people was very large, having much 
 trade and that there was in it gold and spices 
 and large ships and merchants; and they told 
 me that I should go to it by the west-southwest, 
 and so I think, because I believe that if it is as 
 all the Indians of these islands and those whom 
 I have on board told me by signs, because I do 
 not understand their language, it is the island 
 of Cipango of which marvellous things are re 
 lated, and on the globes which I have seen and 
 on the maps of the world it is in this region, 
 and thus I sailed until day to the west-south 
 west, and at dawn the wind calmed and it 
 rained, and so almost all night ; and I remained 
 with little wind until after midday and then the 
 wind began to blow very lovely, and I carried 
 all the sails of the ship, the mainsail, two bon 
 nets, the foresail, and spritsail, and the mizzen, 
 and the main-topsail, and the boat astern; thus 
 I followed my course until nightfall and then 
 CapeVerde of the island of Fernandina, which is 
 towards the south towards the west, remained 
 to the northwest of me, and there was from me 
 to it seven leagues.^) The wind was blowing 
 hard and I knew not how far off the island of 
 Cuba was, and in order not to approach it at 
 night, because all these islands are so deep that 
 no bottom can be found all around them, save 
 at two lombard shots, and this is all spotted, 
 one piece of rock another of sand, and conse 
 quently it is impossible to anchor safely except 
 where you can see, and therefore I determined 
 to lower all the sails, except the foresail, and to 
 sail with that, and suddenly the wind grew very 
 strong and I made much headway of which I 
 was doubtful, and it was very misty, and rained : 
 I had the foresail taken in and we did not go 
 this night two leagues, &c." 
 
 Thursday October 25th. 
 
 He afterwards sailed from sunrise west-south 
 west until nine o'clock, making about five 
 leagues: afterward he changed course to the 
 west : they went eight miles an hour until one 
 
 (') That is, Cape Verde, the southwest endof Fernaudiua, 
 bore northwest seven leagues distant (2/2.3 nautical miles). 
 
29 
 
 vieron tierra, y erau sicte a ocho islas( ] ), en 
 1 uen go todas de Xorte a Sur : distabau de cllas 
 cinco leguas c. 
 
 Viernes 26 cle Octubre. 
 
 Estuvo de las dicbas islas de la parte del Sur ? 
 era todo bajo cinco 6 seis leguas, surgio por alii. 
 Dijcron los indios que llevaba que babia dellas 
 ii Cuba andadura de dia y medio con sus alma- 
 dias, que SOD navetas de un madero adonde no 
 llevan vela. Estas son las canoas. Partio de 
 alii para Cuba, porque por las sefias que los 
 iudios le daban de la grandeza y del oro y per- 
 las della pensaba que era ella, conviene & saber 
 Cipanyo. 
 
 Sabado 27 de Octubre. 
 
 Levanto las anclas salido el sol de aquellas 
 islas, que llamo las islas de Arena por el poco 
 fondo que tenian de la parte del Sur basta seis 
 leguas. Auduvo ocbo millas por bora basta la 
 uua del dia al Sursudueste, y babrian andado 
 cuarenta millas, y basta la noche andariaii 
 veinte y ocbo inillas al mesmo camino, y antes 
 de nocbe vieron tierra. Estuvieron la nocbe al 
 reparo con mucba lluvia que llovio. Anduvi- 
 eron el Sabado fasta el poner del sol diez y 
 siete leguas al Sursudueste. 
 
 Domingo 28 de Octubre. 
 
 Fue de alii en demanda de la isla de Cuba al 
 Sursudueste, a la tierra della mas cercana, y 
 entro en un rio muy hermoso y muy sin peli- 
 gro de bajas ui otros inconvenientes, y toda la 
 costa que anduvo por alii era muy bondo y 
 muy limpio fasta tierra : tenia la boca del rio 
 doce brazas, y es bien ancha para barloveutear; 
 surgio dentro, diz que -A tiro de lombarda. Dice 
 el Almirante que nunca tan bermosa cosa vido, 
 lleno de arboles todo cercado el rio, fermosos y 
 verdes y diversos de los nuestros, con flores y 
 con su fruto, cada tino de su manera. Aves 
 muchas y pajaritos que cantaban muy dulce- 
 mente: babia gran cantidad de palmas de otra 
 manera que las de Guinea y de las nuestras; de 
 una estatura mediana y los pies sin aquella 
 
 C 1 ) Deben ser los Cayos orientales y ineridionales del 
 Gran Banco de Bahama, que despiden placer de sonda al 
 Sur, y donde estuvo fondeado Colon el dia 26 de Octubre, 
 partiendo desde alii para dar vista & Cuba; como en 
 efecto la vio entrando el dia -J8 eh el puerto de Nipe. 
 
 o'clock p. in., and tbence until tbrec o'clock, 
 and they made about forty-four miles. At that 
 time they saw land, and there were seven or 
 eight islands, all extending from north to south: 
 distant from them five leagues, &c. 
 
 Friday October 26th. 
 
 He was on the southern side of said islands, 
 all was shallow for five or six leagues, be an 
 chored there. The Indians he had with him 
 told him that to reach Cuba with their canoes 
 
 
 
 from those islands would take them a day and 
 half, these canoes are small vessels of one piece 
 of wood and have no sail. These are the canoes. 
 He sailed thence for Cuba, because from the 
 signs which the Indians gave him of the size 
 and of its gold and pearls he thought that was 
 the one, that is to say Cipango. 
 
 Saturday October 2^th. 
 
 At sunrise he weighed anchor from those isl 
 ands, which he called las islas de Arena [Sand 
 Islands] on account of the little bottom they 
 had for six leagues to the south. He ran south- 
 southwest at the rate of eight miles an hour 
 until one o'clock in the afternoon, making about 
 forty miles, and up to nightfall they had made 
 about twenty-eight miles on the same course, 
 and before night they saw the land. They were 
 on the lookout during the night with much 
 rain which it rained. They ran on Saturday 
 until sunset seventeen leagues south-southwest. 
 
 Sunday October 28th. 
 
 He went thence in search of the island of 
 Cuba to the south-southwest, to the land near 
 est to it [him?], and entered a very beautiful 
 river very free from danger of shoals and other 
 inconveniences, and all the coast that he passed 
 there was very deep and very clear as far as 
 the land: the mouth of the river had twelve 
 fathoms, and is very wide in order to tack in; 
 he anchored within, he said at the distance of a 
 lombard shot. The Admiral says that he never 
 saw such a beautiful thing, the banks of the 
 river being covered with trees, which were 
 beautiful and green and different from ours, 
 with flowers and with their fruit, each one after 
 its kind. Many birds and little birds which sang 
 very sweetly: there was a great quantity of 
 palms different from those of Guinea and from 
 ours; of medium height and the feet without 
 that shirt,^) and the leaves very large, with 
 
 ( l ) He probably found a species of palm that was with 
 out the reticulnui. 
 
30 
 
 cam is: i. y las hojas inuy grandes, eon las males 
 cobijan las casas ; la tierra muy liana : salto el 
 Almirante eu la barca y fue a tierra. y llego d 
 dos casas que creyo ser de Pescadores y que con 
 temor se huyeron, en una de las cuales hallo un 
 perro que nuuca ladro, y eu ambas casas hallo 
 redes de hilo de palma y cordeles, y anzuelo de 
 cuerno, y fisgas de hueso y otros aparejos de 
 pescar, y rauchos huegos dentro, y creyo que en 
 cada uua casa se juntan muchas personas: man- 
 % do que no se tocase en cosa de todo ello, y asi 
 se hizo. La yerba era grande como en el An- 
 dalucia por Abril y Mayo. Hallo verdolagas 
 muchas y bledos. Toruose & la barca y anduvo 
 por el rio arriba un buen rato, y diz que era gran 
 placer ver aquellas verduras y arboledas, y de 
 las aves que no podia dej alias para se volver. 
 Dice que es aquella isla la rnas hermosa que 
 ojos hayan visto, llena de muy buenos puertos 
 y rios hondos, y la mar que parecia que nunca 
 se debia de alzar porque la yerba de la playa 
 llegaba hasta cuasi el agua, la cual no suele 
 llegar donde la mar es brava: hasta entonces 
 no habia experimentado en todas aquellas islas 
 que la mar fuese brava. La isla, dice, ques 
 llena de montauas muy hermosas, aunque no 
 son muy grandes en longura salvo altas, y toda 
 la otra tierra es alta de la manera de Sicilia: 
 llena es de muchas aguas, segun pudo enteuder 
 de los indios que consigo lleva, que tomo en la 
 isla de Guanahani, los cuales le dicen por senas 
 que hay diez rios grandes, y que con sus canoas 
 no la pueden cercar en veinte dias. Cuando 
 iba a tierra con los navios salieron dos alma- 
 dias 6 canoas, y como vieron que los marineros 
 entraban en la barca y remabau para ir a ver 
 el fondo del rio para saber donde habian de 
 surgir, huyeron las cauoas. Decian los indios 
 que en aquella isla habia minas de oro y perlas, 
 y vido el Almirante lugar apto para ellas y 
 almejas, ques seiial dellas, y entendia el Almi 
 rante que alii venian naos del Gran Can, y 
 graudes, y que de alii 4 tierra firme habia Jor 
 nada de diez dias. Llamo el Almirante aquel 
 rio y puerto de San Salvador ( l ). 
 
 (!) Con6cese con el nombre de Puerto 6 Sahia de Nlpe, 
 & seis legnas al S. 8. E. de la punta de Mulas. 
 
 which they eover their houses ; the land is very 
 level: the Admiral jumped into the ship's boat 
 and went on shore, and came to two houses 
 which he thought to be those of fishermen and 
 which ran away in fear, they found in one of 
 them a dog which never barked, and in both 
 houses he found nets of palm thread and cords, 
 and horn fish-hooks, bone harpoons and other 
 fishing-gear, and numerous sets within, and he 
 believed that each house was occupied by many 
 persons: he ordered that nothing in them 
 should be touched, and nothing was. The grass 
 was high as in Andalucia in April and May. 
 He found much purslain and wild amaranth. 
 He returned to the boat and went up the river 
 for a good while, and he said that it was a great 
 pleasure to see that verdure and those groves, 
 and of the birds that he could not leave them 
 in order to return. He says that that island is 
 the most beautiful that eyes ever beheld, full of 
 good ports and deep rivers, and it seemed to 
 him that the sea must never be high there for 
 the grass of the beach almost reached the water, 
 which rarely happens where the sea is rough ; 
 until then he had not experienced a rough sea 
 in all those islands. The island, he says, is full 
 of very beautiful mountains, though they are 
 not very long but lofty, and all the laud is high 
 like that of Sicily : full of much water, as he 
 could understand from the Indians with him, 
 whom he took from the island of Guanahani, 
 who tell him that there are ten large rivers, and 
 that with their canoes they cannot go around 
 it in twenty days. When he went to the land 
 with the vessels two canoes approached, and 
 when they saw that the sailors entered the boat 
 and rowed in order to go to see the bottom of 
 the river in order to know where they were to 
 anchor, the canoes fled. The Indians said that 
 in that island there were mines of gold and 
 pearls, and the Admiral saw place suitable for 
 them and shell-fish, which is a sign of them, 
 and the Admiral understood that ships of the 
 Grand Khan came there, and large ones, and 
 that from there to the main laud was a run of 
 ten days. The Admiral called that river and 
 port San Salvador. 
 
 Next to this text in entirety, it is indispensable to every thorough discussion of the first land 
 fall that the student should have before him a correct chart, since an imperfect one is inadequate 
 to the settlement of a problem, the proof of which are certain brief courses. The chart in the 
 appendix was prepared in the office of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, from the English Ad 
 miralty surveys of 1832-1830, and such Spanish charts as were available. The Bahamas, dependent 
 upon the English surveys, are accurate. Some of the harbors, and perhaps part of the coast line 
 of Cuba and Hayti, may be a little in error in longitude. 
 
31 
 
 The five tracks from five different islands t8 Cuba are 
 
 1st. Navarrete's from^be Grand Turk. 
 
 2d. Irving's from Oat. 
 
 3d. Captain lecher's from WatliAg. 
 
 4th. Varnhageu's from Mariguana. 
 
 5th. G. V. Fox's from Samaua, of Atwood, Gay. 
 
 Although the authorities heretofore mentioned concurred on the first four islands, respectively, 
 it is only those noted here that have laid down a continuous track from the first landfall they claimed 
 for Columbus, to Cuba. With this authentic chart and Las Casas's copy of Columbus's journal, 
 each of these tracks, and the arguments of their supporters, can be tried. 
 
 THE TRACK OF NAVARRETE. 
 
 Navarrete said, 1st: Columbus sighted the east side of the Grand Turk while steering a course 
 W. by S. f S. and from there he went around by the north, to the west side of the island. 
 
 ANSWER. The journal of October 11 says that at sunset on that day the sun set at 5 U 41 m 
 apparent time Columbus steered west and made the land at 2 a. m. the next day. On the 13th 
 Columbus wrote : " I determined to wait until to-morrow evening, and then to sail for the south, 
 west." On the 14th he wrote that he went with the boats "along the island in a north-northeasterly 
 direction, to see the other side," * * * "and afterwards 1 returned to the &hip( l ) and "set sail." 
 
 Navarrete said, 2d : From the west side of the Grand Turk Columbus sailed W. by N. N". 19 
 miles to the Caicos Islands which, together, formed the second, to which he gave the name of Santa 
 Maria de la Conception. (Navarrete, p. 26, note I.) 
 
 ANSWER. Conceding that Columbus went to the north of west when he said, on the 13th, that 
 he would sail " for the southwest," and admitting the probability that in 1492 the Caicos group 
 -was- one island, yet it does not agree with the description of the second island he came to, of which 
 he wrote on the loth : " And I found that that side which is towards the island of San Salvador 
 runs north [and] south, and is five leagues [15.9 nautical miles] in length, and the other which I 
 followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues [31.8 nautical milesj. And as from this 
 one I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails * * * and about sunset I 
 anchored near said cape [the western cape]." The east side of the Caicos is north and south 13 
 miles, which corresponds with the journal; but the north shore is N. W. by W. | W. 38 miles and 
 then S. W. \ W. 38 miles. Or, if the N. E. side of the Caicos group be designated as the east and 
 west side that Columbus followed, it agrees near enough in distance, but varies 2f points in direc 
 tion ; and if we assume the journal to be in error in giving "east [and] west," there is still the 
 insurmountable fact that Columbus wrote three times on the 15th, and twice on the 16th, that the 
 third island bore icest from the second. A vessel anchored at the west cape of the N. E. side of 
 the Caicos group has no laud visible. The island of Mariguana is the nearest, and this is N. W. 
 by W. I W. 43 miles distant. 
 
 ISTavarrete said, 3d : From the second island Columbus sailed to the southward and westward 
 to Little Inagua, the third island, which he named Fernandina. (Navarrete, p. 28, note I.) 
 
 ANSWER. If we take Navarrete's course as it is laid down on the chart, from the west cape of 
 the N. E. side of the Caicos, the course and distance to Little Inagua are S. W. f- W. 60 miles. If 
 we measure from the S. W. Caicos to Little Inagua S. E. side it is about W. S. W. 25 miles. 
 
 On the 15th of October Columbus was at the west cape of his second island and he wrote in 
 regard to the third island, " I saw another larger one to the west * * * an d so I departed at 
 about ten o'clock with a S. E. wind, inclining to the south, for the other island, a very large one.'' 
 * * * And when he came to the third island he said: "All this portion of the island runs N. 
 W. [and] S. E., and it appears that there are on this coast more than 28 leagues [89.1 nautical 
 miles]." On the 16th, after a more careful examination, he wrote: " And this cape to which I have 
 come and all this coast runs N". N. W. and S. S. E. and I saw fully 20 leagues [63.6 nautical miles] 
 of it, but this was not the end." 
 
 (') Italics are by the writer. 
 
32 
 
 This is the description of Ferdinand Island, ft cannot be Little Inagua, as Xavarrete asserts, 
 bemuse this is only 7i miles east and west, and the same X. X. K. and S. S. ^V. 
 
 Xavarrete said, 4th: From the third island, Little Inagua [Santa Maria], Columbus steered 
 to the southward and westward to the fourth island, Great Inagua, which he named Isabels. 
 (Navarrete, p. 33, note I.) 
 
 ANSWER.. When Columbus left the third island on the 19th of October he wrote: "At dawn I 
 weighed anchor and sent the caravel Pinta to the east and southeast, and the caravel Nina to the S. 
 S. E., and I with the ship went to the S.E. * * * And then before we had gone three hours we 
 saw an island to the east,( 1 } to which we directed our course, and all three vessels reached it before 
 midday at its northern extremity, where there is a rocky islet. * * * And the said islet lay 
 from the island of Fernaudina, whence I had come, east [and] west." 
 
 Navarrete said, 5th: From the fourth island, Great Inagua [Isabella], Columbus steered X. 
 by E. 11 miles W. X. 56 miles W. by X. % ST. 61 miles and S. by W. 4 W. 61 miles to Port 
 Xipe, in Cuba. 
 
 ANSWER. Such courses and distances cannot be found in Columbus'^journal. He left the 
 fourth island on the 24th of October and wrote: "At midnight( 2 ) I weighed anchor from the island 
 of Isabella, * * * in order to go to the island of Cuba. * * * And they told me that I 
 should go to it by the W. S. W., and so I think. * * * And thus I sailed until day to the AY. 
 S. W., and at dawn the wind calmed. * * * And I remained with little wind until after mid 
 day and then the wind began to blow very lovely. * * * I followed iny course until nightfall, 
 and the Cabo Verde of the island of Femandina bore X. AV. 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles]."( 3 ) 
 
 On the 25th, still steering W. S. W., Columbus discovered "seven or eight islands, all extend 
 ing from north to south, distant from them five leagues [15.9 nautical miles]." On the 26th the 
 journal reads : " He was on the southern side of said islands, all was shallow for five or six leagues, 
 he anchored there. * * * He sailed thence for Cuba." The journal says, October 27: "At 
 sunrise he weighed anchor from those islands, which he called Sand islands, on account of the 
 little bottom they had for six leagues [19 nautical miles] to the south." Xavarretc wrote, in a note, 
 pp. 39-40, that Columbus anchored on the 26th of October on the eastern and southern shoal of the 
 " Grand Bank of Bahama," and left there for Cuba. Although Xavarrete's track, on the chart, 
 does not reach this bank, we must admit, from this note, that he intended it. But there is no part A 
 of "Columbus Bank" which bears AV. S. W. from Gceat Inagua. Domingo Cay, the most southern 
 part, is W. X. from the most northeastern part of Great Inagua ; and the south Kagged island, 
 south of which he anchored, bears W. by X. $ X. 155 miles from the X. E. end of Great Inagua, 
 and X. AV. by W. W. 133 miles from the S. W. end. The journal evidently omits some of the 
 distances run from Isabella to the Sand Islands; but on the 24th Columbus gives the bearing and 
 distance of the S. W. Cape of Femandina, and this "departure" is put on the chart. Afterward 
 he logs 16 leagues W. S. AV., then he saw the Sand Islands 5 leagues distant, making a total of 21 
 leagues, 66.8 nautical miles. The true course and distance from his "departure" to South Ragged 
 are AV.S. W. 65 miles. This close agreement may be accidental; but if we omit all distances given, 
 yet the courses found in the journal are irreconcilable with any from Great Inagua to the south 
 eastern Bahama Bank. In respect to Port Xipe, which Xavarrete and Captain Becher adopt for 
 Columbus's first anchoring-place in Cuba, see the discussion of Captain Becher's track. 
 
 By selecting Turk for the first landfall, an extreme S. E. island of the Bahamas, Xavarrete 
 confronts Juan de la Cosa and Antonio Herrera ; for on their charts, which will be referred to Ia4s*, 5 u , 
 Guanahani is an island situated near the middle of the X. E. side of the Bahama group. 
 
 THE TRACK OF VARNHAGEN. 
 
 A'arnhagen said, 1st: Columbus made the island of Mariguana steering west; he rounded the 
 east end and anchored on the northeast shore. Hence he steered W. X. 40 miles for Creek Point 
 on Ackliu Island; followed the north and south shore for 13 miles, and the east and west shore -!> 
 miles, and so over to the south cape of Long Island. 
 
 (') Italics are by the writer. 
 
 ( 2 ) It was obviously the midnight which bogan this day. 
 
 ( ;l ) How could Little Inagua bear X. W. of him 22.!} miles f 
 
33 
 
 t 
 
 ANSWER. Varnliagvn, like Xavarrete, ignores the assertion of Columbus of October 13: "I de 
 termined to wait until to-morrow evening and then to sail for the southwest." lie has even omitted 
 this weighty sentence from his Gcschichte dcs Zeitalters der Entdeckungen. 
 
 Conceding that he steered to the westward from Guauahani, yet Columbus said, on the 15th of 
 October, that the second island he steered for was "over 5 leagues distant, rather 7 [22.3 nautical 
 miles]" but Yarnhagen's second island is 40 miles from 4be first. A difference of 79.4 per cent, in 
 such a short run, actually gone over, was not possible with so experienced a navigator. In crossing 
 the Atlantic, a distance of more than 3,000 miles, he overran his log only Hi per cent. In going 
 from Mariguana to Acklin, Columbus went within 5 miles of two islands, each 70 feet high. Accord 
 ing to Varnhagen, Columbus does not mention them. It is not characteristic of his journal to omit 
 all notice of the first islands he came to in the New World. He wrote on the 15th of October: 
 "Nevertheless it was my desire not to pass any island without taking possession of it, as one taken 
 possession of the same may be said of all; and I anchored and remained until to day." 
 
 Columbus did not go along the shore of the second island which runs north and south. He 
 wrote on the 15th of October, " I found that that side which is towards the island of San Salvador 
 runs north [and] south, and is five leagues in length, and the other ivhich lfoUon-cd( ] ) ran east [and] 
 \\cst." 
 
 Varuhagen said, 2d : Columbus went from the south cape, around Long Island and returned 
 to the south cape. 
 
 ANSWER. On the 16th Columbus wrote: "This island is exceedingly large and -I have deter 
 mined to go around it. * * * I set sail with a south wind intending to go around the whole 
 island." * * * 
 
 On the 17th-iip ttTttfaa: "The wind then ceased, and then sprang up from the W. K W.^which 
 was contrary to our course, and so I turned around and sailed all^the past night. * * * And 
 we [are] at the S. E. cape of the island where I hope to anchor until it gets clear." In addition to 
 these decisive words, there is the fact, shown by the chart, that between Exuma and Long Island 
 the water is too shoal for such vessels as Columbus used. This will be spoken of again in discuss 
 ing living's track. 
 
 Varnhagen said, 3d: Columbus sailed from the south cape of Long Island to the N. W. end of 
 Crooked Island, then across the " Columbus bank" to Port Gibara, in Cuba. 
 
 ANSWER. This part of Varuhagen's track comes near to Captain Becher's and the writer's, 
 and therefore need not be considered here except in regard to the harbor of Gibara. In the journal 
 of October 28th we read : "He went thence in search of the island of Cuba, * * * and entered 
 a very beautiful river * * * the mouth of the river had twelve fathoms."( 2 } The port of Gibara 
 is a small basin, exposed to northerly winds, and has only three fathoms at the entrance. 
 
 WASHINGTON IRVING'S TRACK. 
 
 The track of Washington Irving is laid down from his description of the " Koute of Columbus 
 in his first voyage." (Irving's Columbus, revised edition, vol. iii, appendix, pp. 366-380.) 
 
 Irving wrote, 1st: "From Guanahani Columbus saw so many islands that he was at a loss 
 which next to visit. * * * He determined to go to the largest in sight. * * * The island 
 thus selected, it is presumed, was the present island of Conception ; and that the others were that 
 singular belt of small islands known as La Cardena (or the chain) stretching past the island of San 
 Salvador in a S. E. and 1ST. W. direction; the nearest of the group being nearer than Concepcion, 
 while the rest are more distant. * * * We know that in all this'neighborhood the current sets 
 strongly to the W. N. W.; and since Columbus had the current against him he must have been 
 sailing in an opposite direction, or to the E. S. E. * * * Hence it is rendered certain that 
 Columbus did not sail westward in going from San Salvador to Conception; for from the opposi 
 tion of the wind, as there' could be no other cause, he could not sail toward that quarter. * * * 
 Conception situated E. S. E. from San Salvador, and at a corresponding distance of 5 leagues 
 [15.9 nautical miles]." 
 
 (') Italics are by the writer. 
 
 ( 2 ) E. F. Qualtrongh, Master U. S. Navy. Sailors' Handy Book, p. 192, makes the old Spanish braza equal 5.432 
 English feet. Italics are by the writer. 
 
 App. 18 5 
 
34 
 
 ANSWER. Columbus wrote, on the 14th of October: "I returned to the ship and set sail and 
 saw so many islands that I could not decide to which one I should go first." ^Ir. (Jibbs made per 
 sonal observation from the southeast point of Cat island and wrote: " No land can be seen from 
 the highest hills, nor from the mast-head of a vessel lying at Winding Bay or Columbus Point, 
 where he is said to have landed,( ] ) 
 
 The island of Conception is 2 miles long, If broad, and 90 feet high. Near by, on the east 
 side, is Booby Cay, one-third of a mile across and 130 feet high. The reef surrounding both is 8 
 by 5 miles. It is possible that in 1492 an island might have been there of these dimensions. 
 
 On the loth of October Columbus described, the second island thus : " I found that that side 
 which is toward the island of San Salvador runs north [andj south, and is five leagues [15.9 nau 
 tical miles] in length, and the other which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten 
 leagues" 31.8 nautical miles. La Cardeua (the chain of islands stretching away to the north 
 ward and westward from Great Exuma) is, in the uighest part, 36 miles from Cat island, 48 from 
 Columbus Point, and 50 from Conception, and certainly invisible from each. 
 
 The currents in this neighborhood are spoken of by Capt. E. 13 a met in the West India Pilot, 
 3d edition, 1876, p. 431, thus : " In the neighborhood of Conception Island it is said generally to 
 run strong to the N. W. Some observations tend to show that after northers or on the increase of 
 the moon, as it approaches to change, there is a similar set to the southward. There is, however, 
 no certainty in the case, and consequently more than ordinary attention is required when naviga 
 ting among the West India islands." 
 
 There is no foundation that Columbus had "the current against him," except his remark 
 of the 13th of October, "the tide detained me." On the eve of leaving Guanahani he wrote, "1 
 determined to wait until tomorrow evening, and then to sail for the southwest." There is no men 
 tion in the journal of "the opposition of the wind." Columbus does not give its direction until the 
 loth, when he was at the second island, then he records it as being S. E. Conception lies S. S.E. ^ E., 
 19 miles from the southeast point of Cat. 
 
 Irving wrote, 2d: "Leaving Conception on the 16th of October Columbus steered for a very 
 large island seen to the westward nine leagues [28.6 nautical miles] off, and which extended itself 
 28 leagues [89 nautical miles] in a southeast and northwest direction. * * * He named it Fer- 
 nandina. At noon he made sail again, with a view to run round it and reach another island called 
 Samoet; but the wind being at S. E. by S. the course he wished to steer, the natives signified that 
 it would be easier to sail around the island by running to the K. W. with a fair wind. He there 
 fore bore up to the N. W., and having run two leagues [6.4 nautical miles] found a marvelous port 
 with a narrow entrance. * * * Sailing out of this harbor by the opposite entrance at the 
 northwest, he discovered that part of the island which runs east and west. The natives signified 
 to him that this island was smaller than Samoet, and that it would be better to return towards the 
 latter. It had now become calm, but shortly after there sprung up a breeze from the W. N. W., 
 which was ahead for the course they had been steering ; so they bore up and stood to the E. S. E. 
 in order to get an offing; for the weather threatened a storm, which however dissipated itself in 
 rain. The next day, being the 18th of October, they anchored opposite the extremity of Fernan- 
 dina. The whole of this description answers most accurately to the island of Exuma. * * * 
 The identity of the island here described with Exuma is irresistibly forced upon the mind." 
 
 ANSWER. In calling Exuma Fernandina, and anchoring Columbus "opposite the extremity," it 
 is evident that Irving included in this name Little Exuraa, which lies to the southward and east 
 ward of Great Exuma, and Hog Cay lying farther east. These might have formed one island in 
 1492, for the narrow channel between Great and Little Exuma is now almost fordable at low water. 
 On this chart/Crreat "Exuma and Hog CayXo^il^ire*iioted. The laud between is Little Exuma. 
 
 From Conception Irving takes Columbus to a position, whence, by steering at least 6.4 miles 
 N. \V., he came to, entered, and passed through "a marvellous port" (Great Exuma harbor). It 
 is obvious that the opposite of northwest, measured 6.4 miles from the southeast entrance of this 
 harbor, would put a ship on shore; therefore the track on this chart is laid down close to the land., 
 without regard to the course it makes. 
 
 (') Proceedings of the New York Historical Society, 1846. Appendix. 
 
35 
 
 From Conception to the turning-point of Irving, 6.4 miles to the eastward of Great Exuma 
 harbor, the course and distance are S. W. S., 35 miles. AVhile on his way from the second island 
 to the third Conception to Fernandina October 15th, Columbus wrote: "And from this island of 
 Santa Maria to the other one there are 9 leagues [28.6 nautical miles] east [and] west." On 
 the 16th, after arriving at Fernandina, he wrote: "This island lies at a distance from that (f 
 Santa Maria 8 leagues [25.5 nautical miles] almost east [and] west." 
 
 He could not have entered and sailed out of this marvellous port by the opposite entrance, 
 because on the 17th of October he said: "I found a very marvellous port. * * * Within it 
 there is ample room for 100 ships if it had sufficient depth of water and was clear, and also had a 
 deep entrance. I thought it worth while to examine and sound it, and so I anchored outside of it, 
 and went in with all the boats of the ships and saw there was not bottom." Neither could he have 
 discovered that part of Exuma which runs east and west, because no part of it does. Nor could 
 he have anchored opposite the extremity of Fernandina, because there is not sufficient depth of 
 water. 
 
 Irving wrote, 3d: "On the 19th of October the ships left Fernandiua steering S. E., with the 
 wind at north. Sailing three hours on this course they discovered Samoet to the east, and steered 
 for ifc, arriving at its north point before noon. Here they found a little island surrounded by rocks, 
 with another reef of rocks lying between it and Samoet. To Samoet Columbus gave the name of 
 Isabella, and to the point of it opposite the little island, that of Cabo del Isleo ; the cape of the 
 S. W. point of Samoet Columbus called Cabo de Laguna, and off this last his ships were brought 
 to anchor. The island lay in the direction from Fernandina to Isabella, east and west. The coast 
 from the small island lay westerly 12 leagues [38.2 nautical miles] to a cape which Columbus called 
 Formosa, from its beauty; this he believed to be an island apart from Samoet or Isabella, with 
 another between them. Leaving Cabo Laguna, where he remained until the 20th of October, 
 Columbus steered to the N. E. toward Cabo del Isleo, but meeting with shoals inside the small 
 island, he did not come to anchor until the day following. * * * The island of Isabella, <T 
 Samoet, agrees so accurately in its description with Isla Larga [Long Island], which lies east of 
 Exuma, that it is only necessary to read it with the chart unfolded to become convinced of its 
 identity." 
 
 ANSWER. This is the description of that part of the Bahamas which the West India Pilot, vol. 
 ii, p. 444, describes thus: "The west side of Long Island is only navigable for boats and very small 
 coasters, who manage to pick their way across to the Jumento cays." The blank space on this 
 chart from Exuma to Long Island was purposely left so by the English surveyors, because it is 
 unnavigable. There is no ground for believing that the water was deeper in 1492, -fw the wasting of 
 these islands and cays tends to the opposite result. 
 
 Irving makes Columbus leave Exuma [Fernandina] in search of Samoet, which, he says, is 
 Long Island. Now when Columbus was at Conception he had Long Island plainly in sight, for it 
 is only 14 miles from there. In fact, to go from Conception to Exuma, an island he could not see, 
 he had to bend his course to the northward and westward to avoid an island that was visible at 
 his start and for which he was searching. 
 
 Irving wrote, 4th: "Having resolved to visit the island which the natives called Cuba, and 
 described as bearing W. S. W. from Isabella, Columbus left Cabo del Isleo at midnight, the com 
 mencement of the 24th of October, and shaped his course accordingly to the W. S. W. * * * 
 and in the evening Cape Verd, S. W. point of Fernandina [Exuma], bore N. "W". distant 7 leagues 
 [22.3 nautical miles]. * * * At 3 p. m. of the 25th land was discovered, consisting of 7 or 8 keys, 
 lying north and south, and distant 5 leagues [15.9 nautical miles] from the ship. Here he anchored 
 the next-day, south of these islands, which he called Islas de Arena. * * * This sum of 30 leagues 
 [95.5 nautical miles] is about three less than the distance from the S. W. point of Fernandina or 
 Exuma, whence Columbus took his departure, to the group of the Mucarras, which lie east of Cayo 
 Lobo on the grand bank of Bahama, and which correspond to the description of Columbus. * * * 
 The course from Exuma to the Mucarras is about S. W. by W. * * * At sunrise Columbus set 
 sail from the isles Arenas or Mucarras for an island called Cuba, steering S. S. W. At dark, having 
 made 17 leagues [54.1 nautical miles] on that course, he saw the laud and hove his ship to until 
 morning. On the 28th he made sail again at S. S. W. and entered a beautiful river with a fine 
 
36 
 
 harbor, which he named San Salvador. * * * This port of San Salvador we take to be the one 
 now known as Caravelas Grandes." 
 
 ANSWER. Columbus wrote on the 24th of October: "At midnight I weighed anchor from the 
 island of Isabela the cape of the rocky islet, which is on the northern side where I was lying in 
 order to go to the island of Cuba." On the 19th, when he had anchored at this rocky islet, he wrote : 
 " The coast afterwards ran from the rocky islet to the westward, and there was in it twelve leagues 
 as far as a cape, which I called Cape Beautiful, which is in the west." These extracts point out 
 that the rocky islet from which Columbus sailed for Cuba had land stretching from it to the wrst- 
 ward, which terminated in a beautiful cape. Mufioz, Irving, and also M. le Baron de Montlc/un, 
 make this position to be the northwest end of Long Island. ( ] ) But thence no laud runs to the 
 westward, nor could Columbus's vessels go to Cuba from there, because of shallow water. 
 
 The bearing and distance which Columbus gives on the 24th of October, "S. W. cape of Fer- 
 nandina N. W. 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles] " Irving reckons from the southeast end of Exuina. 
 This is marked on the chart "departure." The course to it from the rocky islet northwest end 
 of Long Island is S. by E. When Columbus left the cape of the rocky islet, on the 24th of Oc 
 tober, he wrote: "And thus I sailed until day to the "W. S. W." A course from the northwest 
 end of Long Island to Irving's " departure " passes over the shallow water spoken of, and goes 
 through the solid land which stretches from Long Island. 
 
 From this departure, Irving makes Columbus go straight to the Mucarras Reef. A glance ;it 
 the chart shows the impossibility of such a course. It runs through cays, among "rocky heads," 
 and over that very shoal part of the Bahama bank upon which the experienced seaman hesitates 
 to venture even with a good pilot and a correct chart. 
 
 Columbus's journal does not speak of any shoal water from the cape of the rocky islet to the 
 " Man de Arena." AVhen lie arrived there it reads: "He was on the southern side of said islands, 
 all was shallow for five or six leagues [15.8 to 19.1 nautical miles], he anchored there." According 
 to the chart, there is no shallow water-south of the Mucarras; the deep water of the old Bahama 
 channel runs close to it. 
 
 From Mucarras to the port of Caravelas Graudes it is S. S. W. , W. only 28 miles. Irving 
 admits that Columbus ran on the 27th 17 leagues 54.1 nautical miles and, on the 28th, more on 
 the same course. But fifty-four miles from the Mucarras, in a south-southwest direction, is 2(> miles 
 into the island of Cuba. The port of Caravelas Grandes has 6 feet of water at the entrance and the 
 tide rises 3.J feet. The journal of October 28th reads : " The mouth of the river had twelve fath 
 oms." Even if this is a clerical error it is certain that the flag-ship of Columbus could not enter 
 so shallow a port. (See Appendix E.) 
 
 All that Mniioz wrote in regard to the identity of Watling and Guanahani and the track of 
 Columbus in the Bahamas is this, in volume 1 the only one published, owing to his death pp. 
 8.T-SG : " In my opinion, Guanahani is Watlin. He landed on the S. W. point. He took the boats 
 and reconnoitered by way of the N. N. E. the western coast, and having doubled the northern 
 point, he turned arouiuH>y the eastern coast, which is the largest side and is estimated at having 
 more than 15 leagues^) [47.7 nautical miles]." 
 
 Page 87 : " Having stayed three days at San Salvador, he sailed to a smaller island which 
 he had descried, at the distance of 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles] ; without stopping there, he 
 steered for another and larger one, which seemed to lie at a distance of about 10 leagues [31.8 
 nautical miles] to the west. Here he cast anchor and took possession of the laud, calling it Santa 
 Maria de la Concepcion. * * * Hence continuing 8 leagues [25.4 nautical miles] in a westerly 
 direction, he came upon an island which was considerably larger, level, pleasant, and having a 
 beautiful beach. I think it is the island which is called Gato [Cat], which he called Fernandina," 
 
 Tage 88: "Having turned the prows to the S. E., the fleet passed an island superior to 
 those which they had seen, both in extent and pleasant appearance; it rose higher above the sur 
 face of the sea; the soil was not so uniform as in the others, but varied, with some hills; it 
 abounded in water, many lagoons, and most beautiful meadows and groves. He took possession 
 
 (' ) According to Irving's text, ante, 3d, Columbus's track ou this chart, on the west side of Long Island, shoultf be 
 extended to the "north point." 
 
 (*) To row around Watling island, the distance is 39 nautical miles; around Cat, it is 100. 
 
37 
 
 and changed its former name Samoeto to Isabela. It is probably that which is now called Long 
 Island." 
 
 Page 90 : " He steered to the south, in quest of the large laud which was mentioned by all the 
 people of the Lucayos islands under the name of Cuba. They referred to it with expressions and 
 gestures which seemed to our men to signify abundance of gold and pearls, great nations, power 
 ful kings, many ships, seamen, and merchants. Having compared these circumstances with the 
 place where the map of Toscanelli represented the extreme portion of India and its adjacent isl 
 ands, Columbus and the Piuzous suspected that this Cuba was the famous Cipaugo. They sighted 
 it on the 27th of October, at nightfall, on the northern coast. At dawn on the following day they 
 saw, in taking their first view, a most beautiful country, very remarkable; beautiful rising grounds 
 and mountains, wide-stretching meadow lauds, and rivers of considerable volume. In one of these 
 the fleet anchored," &c. 
 
 Muiloz, probably, had no authentic chart when he wrote the abovo. The east side of Watling 
 is only twelve miles long. If Columbus went from Watling to a smaller island, without stopping 
 at the latter, it was either Conception or Burn Cay. From neither could he have sailed to the west 
 31.8 miles and then taken possession of any land except with some allowance the northwest 
 part of Long Island. From here he could not continue in a iresterly direction 25.4 miles and 
 arrive at Cat, because this lies about north ly icest from that. After leaving Cat, he turns his 
 prows to the southeast, returns, and takes possession of the island he left a few days before. As 
 Mufioz means that Columbus went to Cuba, steering south from the northwest end of Long Island, 
 see the discussion of Irving's track (ante, p. 3G). 
 
 CAPTAIN BECKER'S TRACK. 
 
 Captain A. B. Becher, Royal Navy, published in London, in 185C, an octavo of 37G pages, 
 called the Landfall of Columbus on his first voy aye to America. In the preface he wrote : "The 
 work has cost several years of close application at frequent intervals of rest from the duties of the 
 Hydrographical Office of the Admimlty." In 1856 the accurate Admiralty charts used in this 
 discussion had been published. The office in which Captain Becher served possessed more 
 knowledge about the Bahamas than is known elsewhere, and his position gave him exceptional 
 advantages in seeking information. With such facts it might be expected that his conclusions 
 should be generally accepted. 
 
 Captain Becher first makes Columbus approach Watling steering S. W., and he anchors him 
 on the northeast side, about four miles east-southeast of the northeast end, in a position from 
 which his boats must have rowed northwest "to see the other side." He also takes the squadron 
 around Watliug by the north. 
 
 ANSWER. The journal of October 1L reads: "He sailed to the west-southwest. * * * After 
 sunset he sailed on his first course to the west; they went about 12 miles an hour [9.C nautical 
 miles], and two hours after midnight they had run about 90 miles, thait is, 22.} leagues [71.6 
 nautical miles]. * * * Two hours after midnight the land appeared about two leagues oft' 
 [6.4 nautical miles]." Columbus wrote on the 14th: "At dawn I ordered the boat of the ship and 
 the boats of the caravels to be got ready, and went along the island, in a north-northeasterly direc 
 tion, to see the other side, which was on the other side of the east, and also to see the villages." 
 After he had examined the island in the boats on the 14th, he wrote: "And afterward I returned 
 to the ship and set sail." 
 
 Captain Becher writes, 2d Appendix, page 345, note : " Rum Cay is the name of the small 
 island first steered for by Columbus after leaving Guanahani, and on which he not only did not 
 consider it worth while to land, but even not to bestow a name." 
 
 Pages 111, 112 : "The distance of Rum Cay corresponds with that given by Columbus, but he- 
 was mistaken in respect of its size, and no doubt baffled and deceived from the eft'ects of the cur 
 rent. Yet no sooner does he gain it than, attracted by another large island to the westward, 
 without waiting to land on this, 'the first island steered for,' he continues his course toward that, 
 making all the sail he can, so as to reach it before night." 
 
 Page 116: "But with respect to the size of Rum Cay, it is evidently erroneously stated 
 
38 
 
 in the journal ; perhaps from accident, arising from the blotted and rotten condition of the 
 papers. But Columbus, seeing it was an unimportant island, and that a much larger one was 
 before him, hastens oft* to it, and could not, therefore, say anything for certain about Rum Cay. 
 If he really meant the length of its side next to Guanahani and that lying east and west to be as 
 he gives them, they are greatly in error. But this requires confirmation; and it might be asked 
 how he could have determined the former? All this must have been mere guesswork, lor he 
 could not get to the southward, being prevented by the current." 
 
 ANSWER. Ruin Cay is only 4J miles north and south, and 9 east and west. If the reel' around 
 it is included, it would measure 8 miles north and south and 12i east and west. Columbus wrote 
 of the second island, on the 15th of October: "And I found that that side, Avhich is toward tl e 
 island of San Salvador, runs north [and] south, and is five leagues [15.9 nautical miles] in length, 
 and the other which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues [31.8 nautical 
 miles]. And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails for 1 had 
 gone all that day until night, because I could not yet have gone to the western cape, to which 1 
 gave the name of the island of Santa Maria de la Concepcion, and about sunset I anchored near 
 said cape in order to learn whether there was gold there." 
 
 Columbus said, in his letter to Luis de Santaugel, Navarrete, p. 1.67: "To the first island that 
 I found I gave the name of San Salvador. * * * To the second island I gave the name of Santa 
 Maria de Concepcion ; the third I called Fernandiua; the fourth, Isabela; the fifth, Juana," &<'. 
 These extracts from Columbus and Captain Becher are contradictory. Captain Becher's strain at 
 an agreement is at the expense of Columbus, and his surmises show the insurmountable obstacle 
 of selecting Rum Cay for the second island. The substance of Columbus^journal is this : he sailed 
 over 31 T % miles along a shore of the second island, which ran east and west ; then lie saw a larger 
 island to the west; he took in sail; he named the second island and he anchored at the west eaj e 
 of it, and the next day he went on shore there. 
 
 Captain Becher, Appendix, p. 345, note xxix, translates "Cargne las velas" croicds all sail: 
 the true meaning is, I clewed up the sails. On p. 118 Captain Becher again recognizes the per 
 plexity of his situation, for after saying that Columbus did n8t bestow a name on the second island 
 he writes: "But why should 'Rum Cay' be thus left nameless!" And thereupon he proposes this 
 tampering with the names given by Columbus (p. 118). " The long appellation of Santa Maria de la 
 Concepcion is, therefore, divided between Hum Cay and Long Island; the name Concepcion being 
 assigned to the former, and to the latter, Long Island, Santa Maria, or St. Mary." On page 376 he 
 recalls this extraordinary division, and suggests that the whole of Long Island should be called 
 Coucepcion, and the northwest cape, Santa Maria. Captain Becher asks how Columbus could 
 have determined the length of the side of the island next to Guanahani, as the current prevented 
 his going to the southward, and he remarks that it must have been mere "guesswork." On the 
 15th of October Columbus speaks of being late in arriving at the second island, because "the tide 
 detained me." He says nothing about the "current" preventing his course to the south. Of the 
 two sides of the island he saw, he chose to follow the one running east and west, without giving 
 any reason therefor. His estimate of the length of the side he did not follow was " guesswork." 
 Navigators of the present day necessarily enter upon their log-books a great deal of guesswork, 
 especially in regard to new lands, and they will continue to do so. . 
 
 Captain Becher writes, 3d (p. 118) : " Columbus passed along the northern shore of Rum Cay 
 without landing on it, and continued to the west under all the sail he could set for Cape Santa 
 Maria de la Concepcion." * * * 
 
 Pages 120, 121. " Columbus is now approaching that portion of his discoveries where he has 
 been least understood, and yet where his journal is by no means deficient in clearness and perspi 
 cuity; still his actual proceedings, and their localities, seemed to have escaped the penetration of 
 all who have attempted to connect them. But here in fact, he was deceived himself, believing 
 that he was alluding to one island when/he was really speaking of two, thereby baffling investiga 
 tion without intending to do so, and puzzling effectually the ingenuity of all geographers. Among 
 other reasons, such as the state of the wind, &c., for not delaying his stay at Cape Santa Maria, 
 is the appearance of another large island in the west. He, therefore, makes sail for it, about 10 
 a.m., with a S. E. wind, borrowing, as seamen term it (that is edging) toward the south, that he 
 
39 
 
 might look down along the western shore of the island, as he would open it when rounding Cape 
 Santa Maria." 
 
 Pages 121-122 : " The wind, however, does not allow of his making much progress to the south. 
 It falls in light airs, comes more from the southward against him, so that his course becomes more 
 westerly, and he approaches the southern portion of the Exuma Islands." * * * 
 
 Page 122. "And before he arrives at it, while it is yet before him, he gives it the name of Fer- 
 nandina, not having given any name even to that of Cape Santa Maria." 
 
 Page 120 : " The 17th of October, the Admiral is at anchor off the island called Great Exuma. 
 
 * * * The course which Columbus pursued from Guanahani to Concepcion (considered here to 
 be Euni Cay, although not named by the Admiral), and from thence to Cape Santa Maria de Con 
 cepcion (believed here also to be the north extreme of Long Island), and from this to Exuma, which 
 is agreed on as being Fernaudina, appears on the accompanying chart." 
 
 ANSWER. On the loth of October Columbus was at the western cape of an island which he called 
 Santa Maria de la Concepcion, considered by Captain Becher to be the north end of Long Island. 
 Then, and on that date, Columbus wrote : " From this island I saw another larger one to the west. 
 
 * * * And soon after I set sail for the other large island that appeared at the west. * * * 
 And so I left, at about ten o'clock, with a southeast wind inclining to the south for the other 
 i >laud. * * * And from this island of Santa Maria to the other one there are nine leagues 
 [28.0 nautical miles] east and west." 
 
 On the 10th ho wrote: "About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria de la Concepcion for the 
 inland of Fcrnandina, which appears to be very large to the west, and I sailed all that day with 
 calm weather." On the same date, having arrived at Fernaiidina, he writes: "This island lies at 
 a distance from that of Santa Maria of eight leagues [25.5 nautical miles] almost east [and] west." 
 
 Assuming that the masthead lookout of the flag-ship was 00 feet above the sea, the range 
 of visibility for the horizon is 8.85 nautical miles. There is no part of Great Exuma over 100 feet 
 high, the range of visibility of which is 11.42 nautical miles, total 20.27 miles.(') The land which 
 bears west from the north end of Long Island is the northwest end of Exuma, distant 38 miles, 
 arid it is, of course, invisible. The entrance of Exuma harbor, to which Captain Becher takes Co 
 lumbus, pp. 132-133. is S. W.by W. 21 miles from Cape Santa Maria, and the island about 2 miles 
 farther. At the distance of 20 miles it is below the horizon, but sometimes, especially at night 
 fall, clouds form which make a strong resemblance to land. 
 
 Had Columbus meant to go from Santa Maria to the southward and westward, he might be 
 lieve that he saw land there. But he did not sail in that direction ; he did not " edge" to the south ; 
 he did not "look along the western shore"; he reiterates that he saw laud to the west, and he went 
 there. Captain Becher easily satisfies himself in respect to the views he holds in contradiction to 
 Columbus, by saying that he "deceived himself"; was "baffling investigation," and "puzzling 
 effectually the ingenuity of all geographers." 
 
 Captain Becher w r rites 4th, pages 132-133, that Columbus sailed from Exuma harbor, " where 
 he had now obtained water, * * * about noon of Wednesday, the 17th of October," and " the 
 ships all make sail on a north-northwest course." 
 
 Pages 134-135: "When they were about two leagues from the cape, or extreme of the island, 
 he observes what he supposes to be the mouth of a river, and is induced to anchor his ships off it. 
 
 * * * Instead of a river they find what would be a harbor large enough to contain all the ships 
 of Christendom (a favorite expression of Columbus), if it were not deficient in depth, a 110 less 
 essential quality, indeed, than superficial extent for the formation of a harbor. It is described as 
 having two entrances formed by an island, yet very narrow and with little water in them. The 
 harbor, from this description, seems to correspond with a part of the shore of the island about ten 
 miles to the N. W. of the former harbor (Exuma), but is really nothing more than the low shelving 
 shore of the island covered to the depth of a fen* feet by the sea." 
 
 Page 137 : "After staying a couple of hours at this anchorage and obtaining water, the boats 
 return to their ships, and Columbus continues his north-northwest course along the island. The 
 
 (') From the table of distances at which objects can be seen at sea in nautical miles used by the U. S. Light 
 House Board. 
 
40 
 
 wind meiimvhile seems to have died away, and the ships no sooner arrive off the extreme of the 
 island than they are becalmed; not, however, very long, for soon afterwards it springs up again 
 from the west-northwest, which, as Columbus Observes in his journal, was fair for where they had 
 come from, * * * on which he claps his helm up and stands away to the eastward." 
 
 ANSWER. When Columbus left Santa Maria for Fernandina, on the 16th of October, he wrote: 
 "I could not arrive in time to see the bottom in order to get a clear anchorage, a thing requiring 
 the greatest care in order not to lose the anchors; in consequence I waited until daylight when 1 
 anchored near a village. * * * And this cape to which I have come, and all this coast runs 
 northwest and southeast." October 17th he wrote: "At midday I left the village, where 1 had 
 anchored and taken in water, in order to sail around this island of Fernandina. * * * I sailed 
 to the north-northwest, and when I was near the end of the island, two leagues off [G.4 nautical 
 miles], I found a very marvellous port with an entrance, although it may be said that there are two 
 entrances, because it has a rocky islet in the middle, and both are very narrow, but within it there 
 is ample room for one hundred ships if it had sufficient depth of water and was clear, and also had 
 a deep entrance: I thought it worth while to examine and sound it, and so I anchored outside of 
 it, and went in with all the boats of the ships, and saw that there was not bottom. And because I 
 thought when I saw it that it was the mouth of some river I had the casks sent on shore for water. 
 * * * After getting in water 1 returned to the ship, and set sail, and sailed to the northwest 
 until I discovered all that part of the island as far as the coast which runs east [and] west." 
 
 Captain Becher anchors Columbus off Exuma harbor, where his vessels take in some water. 
 He does not say which entrance, but from his track it appears to be the southeast one. The series 
 of connected harbors formed by Kli/abeth and Stocking islands and the adjacent cays, on the 
 northeast side of Exuma, are the best in the 'Bahamas. They are from ^ to A a mile wide, and 
 have two entrances, 7A miles apart. The southeast one has IS feet at low water and the north 
 west one 21 feet. The tide rises 1'J, feet. Beginning at the southeast is Elizabeth harbor, with 
 from 21 to 23 feet; Stocking with HI; Conch 1,1 to 1*4, and at the northwest Exuma. with ;>1. 
 These harbors are generally known by the name of "Exuma," and they will be so called in this 
 paper. Captain Becher had the Admiralty plans, and the description of each, in his office, and 
 therefore knew that Exuma could not be the "marvellous port" which Columbus examined and 
 found too shoal. Hitherto Columbus had been casting anchor on the reefs surrounding the 
 islands, and his anxiety therefrom found expression in his journal of the 15th and IGth of October. 
 Can anyone be made to comprehend, that when he had "voyaged the unreal, vast, unbounded 
 deep," and arrived off a series of sheltered harbors, lie did not go in and anclwr ; did not 
 even mention them in his journal; but sailed away from these, which had sufficient depth, to 
 the northwest 1.0 miles, where he found a "marvellous port which had ample room for 100 ships" 
 not "all the ships of Christendom," as Captain Becher translates it but was too shallow; and that 
 this "marvellous port" described so minutely by Columbus because a harbor deep enough for his 
 vessels to enter was the necessity of his situation Captain Becher dismisses by saying that it cor 
 responds " with a part of the shore about ten miles to the northwest of the former harbor [Exuma], 
 but is really nothing more than the low shelving shore of the island covered to the depth of a few 
 feet by the sea." 
 
 If Columbus's track had been along the shore of Exuma, as laid down by Captain Becher, he 
 could not have found a port with insufficient water; he would have discovered those excellent harbors 
 ample for his needs, which may be seen on the British Admiralty charts "Special plans of the 
 Bahama Bank" and " Harbors of Great Exuma, number 390 " and he would certainly have anchored 
 therein. 
 
 Captain Becher writes, 5th, pp. 137-140: "But trouble is at hand. Columbus says, he had 
 experienced rain every day more or less since he had been among the islands. He was now to en 
 dure the discomforts of a heavy gale, the first he had met with in the New World. * * * The 
 breeze before which the Admiral bore up soon freshens, and he runs before it to the E. S. E., 
 making good this course, steering sometimes east and sometimes southeast, the first part of it to 
 keep off the land, the courses being altered as necessary. The first part of these courses would 
 take him from his position where he bore up towards and well clear of Cape Santa Maria ; and with 
 
41 
 
 the southeast course his ships would bouml along before the gale at no great distance from the 
 outer shore of Long Island (the wind drawing northerly as he proceeded), while he was under the 
 impression, from the direction in which the southeast part of Exuma Island lies, which he had 
 seen, that the southern part of Long Island was that same Fernandina he had left on the previous 
 day. The deception would be completed in the mind of Columbus, first, by the direction in which 
 Exuina lies, being the same as the southern part of Long Island ; and, next, by losing sight of this 
 island when obscured at intervals of the storm and by the darkness of the night, in which he was 
 either lying by or running to the southward; for the journal tells us that, as the weather per 
 mitted, the ships continued running before the wind towards the southeast point of the island, 
 which having reached they passed round it sufficiently to find shelter, and soon found a smooth 
 anchorage. This mistake of the Admiral in believing that he was now at anchor off the southeast 
 end of Exuma, which he had named Fernandina, when he was really off Long Island, is thus quite 
 admissible. He had undergone the ordeal of a gale accompanied by heavy rain, and in the 
 obscurity of this and the darkness of night he must frequently have lost sight of the laud, anxious 
 as he was to keep it on board, and at the same time fearful of getting too near it. His conclusion 
 was formed on fair grounds, but under circumstances which rendered him very liable to be deceived 
 as he was; for he was now at anchor snugly sheltered from the sea with his fleet under the south 
 east end of Long Island, or, as he supposed, Fernandiua, to which island the name Santa Maria 
 has been assigned, as given by himself to the northwest cape of it, that of Fernandina being left 
 for Exuma, on which island it was undoubtedly bestowed by the Admiral." 
 
 ANSWER. The substance of these extracts is, that from the northwest end of Great Exuma 
 Columbus made good an E. S. E. course to clear Cape Santa Maria, before a wind which fresh 
 ened into a gale ; that during the night of October 17-18 there was a heavy gale accompanied 
 by rain; that the ships rounded the cape and "bound along before the gale at no great distance 
 from the outer shore of Long Island;" that sometimes the land was obscured by the storm and the 
 darkness of the night ; and that finally he arrived safe at the southeast end of the island, but, for 
 reasons given, he believed he was at anchor at the southeast end of Exuma. 
 
 Columbus, under date of October 17, but obviously written on the 18th, said : "And so I turned 
 around and sailed all the past night to the east-southeast, and sometimes wholly east and some 
 times to the southeast ; this I did in order to keep off the land for the atmosphere was very misty 
 and the weather threatening : it [the wind] was light and did not permit me to reach the land in 
 order to anchor. So that this night it rained very hard after midnight until almost day, and is 
 still cloudy in order to rain ; and we [are] at the southeast cape of the island where I hope to 
 anchor until it gets clear in order to see the other islands where I have to go." On the 18th, con 
 tinuing these remark's, he wrote, " After it cleared up I followed the wind, and went around the 
 island as much as I could, and I anchored Avheu it was no longer possible to sail." 
 
 From the northwest end of Great Exuma to the northwest end of Long Island it is east 38 miles, 
 hence about S. E. by S. | S. 57 to the southeast cape and 5 more to the south end ; total 100 miles. 
 The sun rose October 17 at G h 20 m and set at 5 h 40 m apparent time ; twilight lasted l h 19 ra , so that 
 the darkness of that night was very little more than 10 hours. It is essential to Captain Becher's 
 case that the vessels of Columbus shall be gotten to the south cape of Long Island, but he cannot 
 take them the shortest way, between Long Island and Exuma, as Irving did, because the surveys 
 made since he examined the subject show this to be impossible. Therefore he seeks to extricate 
 himself from the dilemma by inventing a storm for the night of October 17-18. 
 
 There is not a word in the journal to authorize Captain Becher's assertion in regard to the 
 weather of this night. Kettell's translation, p. 51, is this : " The weather being cloudy and thick 
 it rained violently from midnight till near day, and the sky still remains cloudy." Major, journal 
 of the Eoyal Geographical Society, volume xli, p. 200: "There was little wind and it did not allow 
 me to put in to anchor. So it rained very heavily fronT midnight till near daybreak." Irving, re 
 vised edition, Life of Columbus, volume iii, appendix: " For the weather threatened a storm, which^ 
 however, dissipated itself in rain." Columbus says of the wind, el erapoco, " it was light." All his 
 other words, and his actions, show the truth of this. He was among islands which he had observed 
 were surrounded by reefs, and at "two lonibard shots" no bottom; he had felt the influence of the 
 tides, and now, at night, wih thick weather, but light win&s, his anxiety " to reach the land in order 
 App. 18 G 
 
42 
 
 to anchor," and thus maintain his position rather than drift, was what might be expected of a pru 
 dent and skilful seaman. 
 
 If Columbus had "made good" a course E. S. E. from the northwest end of Exuma he would 
 have run on shore about 12 miles south of the northwest end of Long Island. Little Exuma, con 
 sidered by Captain Becherto be also Exuma and so allowed in this discussion lies west-northwest 
 and east-southeast, while the south part of Long Island is north-northwest and south-southeast. 
 
 In Captain Becher's track from Kum Cay to Exuma he anchors Columbus, on the evening of 
 October 15, at the northwest end of Long Island. The next morning the Admiral went on shore, but 
 returned and sailed on or before noon. During this short visit he had no opportunity to inspect 
 the shore line of the island, neither could he possibly know the direction of that part which lay 
 beyond the range of visibility from his masthead, a distance only of 8.85 miles (ante, p. 39). 
 
 Although at this time Columbus had been but four days among the Bahamas, he noted in his 
 journal the dangers of the navigation and the care which he took to shun them. 
 
 Captain Becher ought to have reached the conviction that such a seaman and navigator as 
 Columbus would not start his squadron from the northwest end of Great Exuma and steer between 
 Kum Cay and Conception on the one side, and Long Island on the other, and then coast the whole 
 length of the latter 60 miles, 50 of which were unknown to him, in a dark night, during a gale of icind, 
 in thick rainy weather, and so near the coral reefs circling the island that he saw the latter in the inter 
 vals of the storm. 
 
 This night had about ten hours of darkness (ante, p. 41), and the distance run along Captain 
 Becher's track is 100 nautical miles, equal to 10 nautical, or about 12 Italian miles, every hour, an 
 unprecedented speed. This might be conceded, but in no circumstances such as Captain Becher 
 mentions should a seaman attempt to steer for and then haul around Long Island, except there 
 was a light on the northwest end. Neither would a seaman coast the shore of unknown land during 
 darkness and storm, no matter what the urgency might be. The fruit of blundering seamanship 
 like this can be found in the record of shipwrecks along the Bahama reefs.^) 
 
 In navigating among such islands a commander is sometimes compelled to take the present 
 risk in order to escape an impending disaster. But Captain Becher laid no such stress upon 
 Columbus. He "bounds him along" the reef of this coral island and into the unknown darkness, 
 as if it was as easy to do as. to write about. He makes him straddle a strange island during a 
 stormy night, and anchor witlessly at the end of the wrong one in the morning. 
 
 The circumstances in which St. Paul's ship approached an unknown island during a storm and 
 darkness were different from those which Columbus found in the Bahamas, but the narrative of 
 St. Luke, in the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts, is instructive, because it shows an excellent 
 piece of seamanship performed at laud under great strain, by which, although the ship was lost, 
 all hands were saved.( 2 ). These ancient seamen had not learned to "bound along" the shores of 
 unknown lands in a stormy night. Their thoughts at such a time were bent upon saving, not 
 risking. 
 
 Captain Becher writes, 6th : That on the 19th of October Columbus went from the south end 
 of Long Island to the northwest end of Crooked and remained on the west side of that and For 
 tune, until the 24th, when he sailed to the W. S. W., and on the 25th anchored, according to Captain 
 Becher's chart, on the edge of "Columbus Bank," 19 miles E. K from the South Bagged. Hence, 
 on the 27th, he left for Cuba, steering S. S. W., and on the 28th brought his vessels to in the harbor 
 of Nipe. 
 
 Page 131 : Captain Becher speaks of the efforts which Irving and Humboldt made to establish 
 Cat Island as the first landfall, in this way: "In reality they are so many proofs of the want of 
 that patient and discriminate perusal of the journal which it really required." 
 
 Of his own work to the Crooked Island, he writes (pp. 154-155) : "Thus far, then, among the 
 islands which Columbus first discovered, he has here been traced by means of the courses he has 
 given, the corresponding distances and relative positions of those islands from each other on the 
 
 ( l ) "The number of wrecks reported in l858-'64 was 313, of which 259 were total losses." Report on the Bahamas 
 for the year 1864, by Governor E. W. Rawson. 
 
 (*) " Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul", by James Smith, London, 4th edition. Revise... and corrected by Walter 
 E. Smith, 1880, pp. 134-135. 
 
43 
 
 chart, and the descriptions which he has left recorded concerning them with a degree of precision 
 that places his position at any time beyond a doubt." 
 
 Pages 165-167: After arriving in Cuba he writes: "Seiior Navarrete has recorded his opinion 
 that this harbor is that now known as the port of Nipe. Following the Admiral to it, as has now 
 been done, it cannot be any other. His track to it from the bank on which he anchored, the 
 description which he has given of it, and the deep channel into it of twelve fathoms that no other 
 near it possesses, clearly proves that Navarrete was right here when he declared that the port of 
 San Salvador of Columbus in Cuba is in reality the port of Nipe. * * * It was necessary, in 
 order to prove the identity of the landfall, to accompany Columbus from one island to another to 
 compare as he went along his journal with the chart. * * * By the route through which the 
 Admiral has been traced, his statements agree with the chart. The islands mentioned by him can 
 be no other than those here pointed out. The track of the Admiral has been so clearly designated 
 by himself, in direction at least, if not by the very compass point, as well as the distances he gives, 
 which (with slight exceptions, to be attributed to blotted paper) so fairly correspond with those of 
 the chart that the whole result deduced is at once conclusive and satisfactory. * * * A chain 
 of evidence is completed from which there can be no appeal, and which establishes the real laud- 
 all beyond the reach of controversy." 
 
 Finally, speaking of Columbus's journal, Captain Becher writes (p. 174): "That it is not con 
 formable to the ancient opinion of Cat Island being the landfall, but undoubtedly shows that Wat- 
 ling Island was that landfall, and in reality the island on which Columbus first landed in the new 
 world. * * * If the island be now unquestionably pointed out. *. * * If his earliest foot 
 steps in the new world * * * have now for the first time been successfully traced, the diffi 
 cult task is amply rewarded by the harmony now established between the correct chart and the 
 journal of Columbus, and in having finally set at rest the question of the landfall? 
 
 ANSWER. From the south end of Long Island to Crooked and Fortune islands, hence toward 
 the Sand Islands, Captain Becher's track is near to mine and will be referred to subsequently. 
 Columbus did not anchor 19 miles E. f N. of the Sand Islands (Ragged). His journal of October 
 26 reads : " He was on the southern side ( l ) of said islands ; all was shallow for 5 or 6 leagues 
 [15.9 to 19.1 nautical miles]. He anchored there."^) 
 
 I believe he did not go to port Nipe for the following reasons: From the mouth to one mile 
 inside are these soundings in mid-channel, 39 fathoms, 35, 17, 28, 33, 17 and 18. See a Spanish 
 plan published by the British Admiralty, October 25, 1826 ; corrected to 1855. The journal of 
 October 28 reads: " The mouth of the river had 12 fathoms." 
 
 The course from the southern side of Sand Islands to port Nipe, is S. f E. If the "two points 
 of westerly variation," supposed by Captain Becher, be applied to the S. S. W. course steered by 
 Columbus from the Sand Islands to Cuba, he would not have fetched it by three-quarters of a 
 point, and there is/& westerly current\alsojtb overcome. 
 
 The entrance to port Nipe looks east ; it cannot be seen on a southerly course until one gets 
 to it. A seaman would not run into a lee bight unless he was pressed, or acquainted with the 
 land and knew of a harbor at the bottom. Columbus was probably running before the N. E. trades 
 which made this bight a lee shore. His journal tells us that he went "to the land nearest to it" 
 [him]. Such would be the act of a discoverer now. There are two harbors west of Nipe that come 
 nearer to the words of Columbus's journal: Naranjo, with 13 fathoms at the entrance, and Padre 
 with 14. Captain Becher might better have taken either. 
 
 The British Admiralty have begun to adopt the conjectures of Captain Becher on their charts, 
 even to dividing the name of "Santa Maria de la Concepcion," which was given by Columbus. It 
 must have come to pass from the positiveness of his assertions and not on account of his argumen 
 tation. 
 
 This method of applying Columbus's words in detail to refute each of the alleged tracks, and the 
 study that I gave to the subject in the winter of 1878-'79 in the Bahamas, which had been familiar 
 >-^ cruising ground to me, haj^ resulted in the selection of Samana or AtwoodCay for the first landing- 
 place. It is a little island 8.8 miles east and west; 1.6 extreme breadth, and averaging 1.2 
 north and south. It has 8.6 square miles. The east end is in latitude 23 05' N. ; longitude 73 
 
 (^Italics are by the writer. 
 
44 
 
 37' west of Greenwich. The reef 011 which it lies is 15 by 24 miles. On the southeast this reef 
 stretches half a mile from the laud, on the east four miles, ou the west two, along- the north shore 
 one-quarter to one-half of a mile, and on the southwest scarcely one quarter. Turk is smaller 
 than Sam ana, and Cat very much larger. The selection of two so unlike in size shows that dimen 
 sion has not been considered essential in choosing an island for the first landfall^ 1 ) 
 
 When Columbus discovered Guanahaui, the journal called it "little island." After landing 
 he speaks of it as "bien grande," "very large," which some translate, tolerably, or pretty large. 
 November 20, 1492, Navarrete, first edition (p. 61), the journal refers to Isabela, a larger island 
 than Guanahaui, as "little island," and the 5th of January following (p. 125), San Salvador is 
 again called "little island." 
 
 The Bahamas have an area of about 37,000 square miles, 6 per cent, of which may be land 
 enumerated as 36 islands, 687 cays, and 2,414 rocks. The submarine bank upon which these rest 
 ^underlies Florida\also./"But this peninsula is wave-formed upon living corals, whose growth and 
 gradual stretch toward the south has been made known by Agassiz. 
 
 I had an unsuccessful search for a similar story of the Bahamas, to learn whether there were 
 any probable changes within so recent a period as four hundred years. g , 
 
 The common mind can see that all the rock /here is coral, none of which is in position. The . ff 
 surface, the caves, the chinks, and the numerous pot-holes are compact limestone, often quite 
 crystalline, while beneath it is oolitic, either friable or hard enough to be used for buildings. The 
 hills are sand-blown, not upheaved. Ou a majority of the maps of the sixteenth century there 
 were islands on Mouchoir, and on Silver Banks, where now are rocks " awash"; and the Dutch and 
 the Severn Shoals, which lay to the east, have disappeared. 
 
 It is difficult to resist the impression that the shoal banks, and the reefs of the Bahamas, were 
 formerly covered with land ; and that for a geological age waste has been going on, and, perhaps, 
 subsidence. The coral polyp seems to be doing only desultory work, and th^t mostly on the north- ^iS 
 east f r Atlantic side of the islands; everywhere else it has abandoned the field to the erosive 
 action of the waves. 
 
 Columbus said that Guanahani had abundance of water and a very large lagoon in the middle 
 of it. He used the word laguna lagoon, not lago lake. His arrival in the Bahamas was at the 
 height of the rainy season. Governor Rawsou's Report on the Bahamas, 1864, p. 92, Appendix 4, 
 gives the annual rainfall at Nassau for ten years, 1855-'64, as 64 inches. From May 1 to November 
 1 is the wet season, during which 44.7 inches fall; the other six inonthsflO .3\ojil.v./^The most is in 
 October, 8.5 inches. Audros, the largest island, 1,600 square miles, is the only one that has a 
 stream of water. The subdivision of the land into so many islands and cays, the absence of moun 
 tains, the showery characteristic of the rainfall, the porosity of the rock, and the great heat reflected 
 from the white coral, are the chief causes for the want of running water. During the rainy season 
 the "abundance of water" collects in the low places, making ponds ami lagoons that afterward 
 are soaked up by the rock and evaporated by the sun. Turk and Watling have lagoons of a more 
 permanent condition, because they are maintained from the ocean by permeation. The lagoon 
 which Columbus found at Guanahani had certainly undrinkable water, or he would have gotten 
 some for his vessels, instead of putting it off until he reached the third island. There is nothing 
 in the journal to indicate that the lagoon at Guauahani was aught but the flooding of the low j^ 
 grounds by excessive raiiis; and even if it was one communicating with the ocean, its absence ^ frt^ 
 now may be referred to the effect of those agencies which are working incessantly to reshape the 
 soft structure of the Bahamas. 
 
 Samana has a range of hills on the southwest side about 100 feet high, and on the northeast 
 another, lower. Between them, and also along the north shore, the land is low, and during the 
 
 (')I am indebted to T. J. McLain.esq., United States consul at Nassau, for the following information given to 
 him by the captains of this port, who visit Samaua or Atwood Cay. The sub-sketch on this chart is substantially cor 
 rect : Good water is obtained only by sinking wells. The two cays to the east are covered with guano; white boobies 
 hold the larger one, and black boobies the other; neither intermingle. The island is now uninhabited, but arrow 
 heads and stone hatchets are sometimes found ; and in places there are piles of stone supposed to have been made by 
 the aborigines. Most of the growth is scrubby, with a few scattered trees. The Nassau vessels enter an opening 
 through the reef on the south side of the island and find a very comfortable little harbor with from 2 to 2 fathoms of 
 water. From here they send their boats on shore to " strip " gnauo, and cut satin, dye woods, and bark. 
 
45 
 
 season of rains there is a row of ponds parallel to the shore. On the south side a conspicuous 
 white bluff looks to the southward and eastward. The two cays, lying respectively half a mile and 
 3 miles east of the island, and possibly the outer breaker, which is four miles, all might have been 
 connected with each other, and with the island, four hundred years ago. In that event the most 
 convenient place for Columbus to anchor in the strong N. E. trade- wind, was where I have put 
 an anchor on the sub-sketch of Samaua. 
 
 He did not note the direction of the wind while running for, nor when at Guauahani. I feel 
 confident that it was the N. E. trade, since he gives the epood of tko vossole from sunset (5 h 41 m ) eft. 
 until 2 a. m. the next morning October 11-12 as 22 leagues 79 nautical miles which is at the 
 #>- rate of O^miles per hour, an unusual speed, and plainly indicating that he was running with a 
 strong quartering wind under all sail, with fine weather. The "trades" generally freshen near the 
 islands, but they are always in the eastern quarter. In the Bahamas they break up and are very 
 light at east and southeast, but frequently blow strong when they get to the southward and 
 westward, and the circuit ends with heavy squalls from the northward and westward; afterward 
 north and northeast winds and fine weather prevail. 
 
 Columbus had none of the strong winds from a western quarter, because he was steering west. 
 If the weather had not been fine he could not have seen the light at 10 p. m. "like a small wax 
 candle."( v ) Neither could he have discovered the land at -2 a. m., 2 leagues 6.4 miles distant^ 
 Varnhagen (note I, p. 16) says the "moon shown bright, and a sailor saw by its light a white point; 
 fired his lombard ; called out laud." I am greatly indebted to Professor William Harkness, United 
 States Navy, of the Naval Observatory at Washington, for the moon's place. It was full October 
 5, O. S., 1492, at 10 h 58 m p. m., Greenwich mean time. It rose the llth of October at 11 p. m., and 
 at 2 a. m., when the laud was sighted, it was 39 high, latitude 5 S., longitude 106 03'. Those 
 who were admonished by the admiral to keep a sharp lookout from the forecastle were, of course, 
 looking ahead west and the moon, then nearly at &a third quarter, was partly behind them and 
 shone directly upon the white bluff. This was most favorable for seeing the land at night, and it 
 is a memorable fact that Columbus first saw the New World through the light of the moon. 
 
 In the journal of the 14th of October the Admiral wrote that he " went along the island, in a 
 north-northeasterly direction, to see the other side, which was on the other side of the east." The 
 same date he said that iu going along in the boats he " found a piece of land, like an island, although 
 it was not one, with six houses on it, which in two days could easily be cut off' and converted into an 
 island." The first quotation is the language of a seaman who had anchored under a jutting point 
 of land which, stretched to the eastward and was in sight; he could see one side as far as the east 
 end, but he desired to see the other side of the east end. Columbus was at anchor on an open coast ; 
 each vessel had but one boat, see Appendix E, and he took all thfc boats for his exploration of the 
 14th. For this reason, according to the usage of the sea, he ought not to withdraw far from his 
 ships. The second quotation confirms the first, as to his being in the neighborhood of a peninsula. 
 Both agree well with the east end of Samana. The point of land that Columbus said could easily 
 be cut off has already been separated by the erosion of the waves. See sub-sketch of Samana. 
 
 It seems a weighty objection to Samana, that this name appears on the noted map of Juan de 
 la Cosa, together icith Guanahaui. La Cosa was the companion of Columbus seaman, chart- 
 maker, pilot, master, and he made six voyages to the New World. It is said of him in Disquisi- 
 ciones Nauticas, por el Capitan de Navio, Cesareo Fernandez Duro, Madrid, 1876, Tom. I, p. 59 : "In 
 the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, La Cosa went as master of his vessel, the same on which 
 that officer served until it was wrecked in the Antilles : on the second he went likewise on board 
 the caravel Nina styling himself master of chart-making, and in returning from this latter he was 
 obliged to undertake in the port of Santa Maria the long and minute labor of making the chart which 
 was finished in the year 1500." In 1832 Baron de HumboldtB4/B~aron de Walckenaeflfound in the 
 library of/The latter an illuminated map skilfully drawn on an ox-hide. It measured 5 feet 9 
 inches by 3 feet 2 inches, was iu good preservation, and bore the signature of La Cosa, and the 
 
 (') Columbus met at Guanahani with canoes which held 45 men. The natives went in them as far as Cuba; they 
 were fishermen and sailors, and the light of October 11 might have been in a canoe. Irvin^puts it on Watling; but 
 Columbus was steering west, and if a line is drawn east, from the southeast point of Cat, Irving's landfall, it will go 
 through the reefs north of Watling. 
 
date 1500. A fac-simile was printed without notes, in Paris, from 1854-'60, for Jomard's work, titled 
 Les monuments de la geographic, &c. Copies are in the principal libraries of the United States. 
 This map has sustained the scrutiny and disputation of nearly a half a century, and the belief 
 widens that it is the genuine work of Juan de la Cosa ( 1 ). The most suggestive figure thereon is 
 Guanahani, since it has the same relative situation that Sauiaua holds on modern maps; both are 
 little, narrow, east-and-west, outlying islands, such as cannot be found elsewhere in the neighborhood. 
 If La Cosa went with Columbus on the first voyage, he lay three days at Guanahani, and because he 
 was " master of chart-making," his sketch of the first island should be true in respect to comparative 
 size and exceptional position. A line drawn on the Appendix Chart, from the east end of Cuba, 
 north a little easterly, to Samana, touches only Acklin, one of the Crooked island group. A similar 
 line drawn on La Cosa's map, reaches Guanahani by passing through one large roundish island 
 marked Sainaua. Therefore, according to La Cosa, Samana was an interior island, much larger 
 than Guauahani, unlike it in shape, situated near and in a southerly direction from it, about where 
 Crooked and Acklin now are ; whereas Samana on the present charts is applied to the little east- 
 and-west island lying outside of the Crooked group. These facts and the disappearance of Guana 
 hani from modern maps, led me to suspect and search for proofs of a transfer of this strange name 
 of Samana. 
 
 Map of New Spain, by Nicolaus Vallard, of Dieppe, 1547: [reproduction by J. G. Kohl, in the 
 library of the Department of State.] " Gamana " [Samana] is an interior island. 
 
 Theatrum Orbis Terrarum : Abraham Ortelius, Antwerp, 1572. Guanahany is an outside island 
 and southwest of it, among others, is Samana. 
 
 Karte von Thomas Hood, die Ostkiiste von Nordamerika bis zur Landenge von Panama, 1592. 
 Plate XIII. Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas. Am Handschriften der k. Hof- und Staats- 
 Bibliothek etc. Munich. Samana an interior and Guanahani an exterior island. 
 
 Descripcion de las Indias occidentales de Antonio Herrera, &c., Madrid, 1726 30, vol. 1, pp. 6-7 : 
 Here is a map of the Bahamas of the date of 1601, on which Guanahani is an exterior island, and 
 to the southward and westward is Samana, an interior one. 
 
 Karte der Ostkiiste von Amerika von Neubraunschweig bis zum Amazonenstrome. Plate X of 
 Atlas zur Entdeckungsgesch. Am. Munich. "Samano" [Samana] an interior island. 
 
 Carte du Mexique et de la Floride par Guillaume Del'Isle. Paris 1703. Samaua, an interior 
 island. 
 
 Map of North America, by John Senex, Charles Price, John Maxwell, geographers, 1710 : The 
 present group of Crooked and Acklin is marked " Samana or Krooked." Guanahani is a separate 
 island. 
 
 An Accurate Map of North America. * * * Also all the West India Islands, by Eman. 
 Bowen, Geographer to His Majesty; and John Gibson, engraver. 1733? I. Samana, Crooked, 
 Fortune, and Ackliu's form one group. Outside of these is Atwood's Key. This map is in vol. i 
 Old Maps of America, No. 20. Library of Congress. 
 
 Atlas Historique, par Heuri-Abrah. Chatelain, 7 vols. Amsterdam: In vol. vi (1738) the 
 present place of Crooked group is marked u I. Samana." 
 
 d J Anville > 8 Maps of 1731, 1746, and 1794: The present Crooked group is marked "Samana ou 
 Krooked." Guanahani is a separate island. 
 
 G. Delisle and P. Buache. Map of the Bahamas. 1740. In a volume of maps, Library of 
 Congress. I. Croqued, Fortune, and Acklin are strung along northwest and southeast. To the 
 northeast of Croqued is a small island marked "I. Nova." It is near the present place of Samana. 
 I have not met this name before. On page 80 of this volume is a map in which Samana appears 
 as one of the Crooked Island group. 
 
 Bellin. 1750. Authority, J. Carson Brevoort, esq. : " Samana appears to be the northeast 
 part of Crooked I." 
 
 Homann, Johannes Baptista, Atlas Geographicus Major. 2 vols. Nuremberg, 1759. Vol. i, 
 p. 147. The present place of Crooked group is marked Samana I. 
 
 The West-India Atlas, by the late Thomas Jefferys. Geographer to the King. MDCCLXXV. 
 
 (*) In Stevens' s Historical and Geographical Roles, referred to farther on, the reader will find the objections to La 
 Cosa's map satisfactorily answered. 
 
47 
 
 Chart 8. The present Samana is marked "el Terrigo or Atwood's Key, the Samana of the French." 
 To the southwest is "Samana or Crooked Island." 
 
 Tour through the British West Indies, 1802-3, Dan'l McKinnen, London, 1804, p. 149 : "Samana, 
 spell Sumana, ancient Indian name of French charts ; probably the original name of Crooked island." 
 
 These citations might be increased, but are they not enough to prove that the name of Samana 
 has been shifted from an interior to an exterior island, from the present Crooked group to the 
 present Atwood Cay, thus surmounting a scholarly obstacle in the way of selecting Samana for 
 the first landing-place! Columbus does not use this name. It appears first on La Cosa's map ? 
 for the island spoken of above, and also for the name of a bay on the northeast part of Hayti, 
 which retains it now, but Columbus called it Golfo de las Flechas: Navarrete, vol. i, p. 139. An 
 inquiry in regard to this name would be worth pursuing, but it does not belong to a discussion 
 of the first landfall. On the 13th of October, the day before the Admiral left Guanahani, he 
 wrote : "I determined to wait until to-morrow evening, and then to sail for the southwest." This 
 is all the information the journal gives in respect to the course steered from the first island. The 
 inference is that he went as he said he should go, because he understood that gold could be gotten 
 in that direction. But the proof shall be supplied by the subsequent agreements between the journal 
 and the physical facts. 
 
 After he fcpileft Guanahani he saw so many islands that he was undecided which to sail for 
 first, but he determined to make for the largest. A vessel that leaves the east part of Samana and 
 steers to the southward with some westing comes into view of the hills of Plana Cays, Acklin, and 
 Crooked, on bearings from south-southeast to west by south, and to a stranger these hills would 
 appear like so many islands. Aftor Columbus^nchored at the second island he wrote that it was 
 five leagues, rather seven 15.9 or 22.3 nautical miles from the first. The northeast end of Ack- 
 lin bears S. W. by S. J S., 23 nautical miles from the east part of Samana. For this discussion I 
 consider Acklin and Crooked to be one island, under the name of Crooked. The channel which 
 separates them is of modern origin, no doubt/ ,R has the appearance of having been made by ero- 
 sion ; it is so shallow that it can be waded across, even at high water, and it is invisible to a 
 passing vessel. See chart and sub-sketch. 
 
 Columbus wrote that the second island had a north-and-south side 15.9, and one east and west 
 over 31.8 miles long. Crooked has a north-and-south side 13, and another which runs west by 
 north and east by south 29 miles. A navigator of to-day could not come nearer to the truth, in 
 describing the island in like circumstances ; but Columbus kept his time with a sand-glass, and 
 reckoned his speed by the eye. I wish the reader to take heed that it is the second island, and no 
 other, of which the journal records the length and trend of two separate sides ; and that Crooked is 
 the only one in the Bahamas which conforms to this description. 
 
 A seeming objection to Crooked arises from the language in the journal of the 15th of 
 October, that the side -of the second island toward San Salvador ran north and south, whereas the 
 side of Crooked which is in the direction of Samana runs east and west. Columbus could not note 
 this fact at the first island, because Crooked is not visible from bis anchorage there. After leaving 
 Guanahani he saw many islands, and made for the largest. As he stood off and on all night, and 
 the tide detained him on the 15th till about noon, he might have noted the side he then came to. 
 This is the understanding of E. H. Major, who, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 
 xli, p. 198, translates the passage thus: " I found that the face of it, on the side toward San Salva 
 dor [or rather, I would suggest, on the side approached by the ships in coming from San Salvador], 
 ran north and south five leagues, and the other side which I coasted ran east and west ten leagues." 
 
 From the data kindly supplied by the officers of the Naval Observatory in Washington, I learn 
 that the moon crossed the meridian of Crooked Island on the 14th of October, 1492, at 6 h 36 m a. m., 
 Civil time. The British Admiralty Tide Tables for 1881 give VII o'clock for the "Establishment 
 of the Port" at Crooked. Therefore it was high water there on the 14th of October at l h 36 m p. 
 m.; low at 7 h 48 m , high at 2 a. m. on the 15th; low at 8 h 12 m and high at 2 b 24 m p. m. The sun set 
 at 5 b 40 and twilight lasted about l h 19 m . The journal does not give the wind at Guanahani, nor 
 until the 16th, at the second island, when it is entered as S. E. I believe I have proved on p. 45 
 that Columbus made the land on the 12th of October with a strong N. E. trade ; and the invariable 
 circuit of winds alluded to on that page would give light easterly ones, sometime from the 12th to 
 
48 
 
 the 16th. During the regular " trades" the current between Samana and Crooked flows W. N. W. 
 a knot an hour ; but at other times the set and drift are uncertain. On the north side of Crooked 
 the flood tide runs always to the eastward and the ebb contrarily. When Columbus neared the 
 second island he estimated it to be 15.9 miles from the first ; but the next day he called it 22.3. In 
 the mean time he was detained by the tide so that he did not reach it again until about noon. 
 Captain Becher (pp. 111-345) said that this detention was "set of the current"; but Columbus 
 used the word marea, not corrie'nte ; the former signifies tide, flux and reflux; the latter current, 
 progressive motion of the water; a distinction held in both languages and especially among sea 
 men, and one of importance here. 
 
 These facts, in connection with the journal, enable me to offer a reasonable theory as to the 
 movements of his vessels on the 14th and 15th of October. He left the south side of the east 
 part of Samana on the 14th, undoubtedly after noon ; and steered to the southward and west 
 ward, with light easterly winds, for Crooked. Midway he found the usual westerly current, and 
 on the other side he ran into a stronger one setting in the same direction ; but this was the ebb tide 
 which flowed west, along the north shore of Crooked, from l h 36 m to 7 h 48" 1 p. m. He did not reach 
 the land in time to see his anchoring-ground before dark, and the night was moonless. In conse 
 quence, he began, about sunset (5 h 40 m ), to stand off and on ; that is, he beat to the eastward to 
 overcome this westerly set and keep his place until morning, when he intended to run in and an 
 chor. At 7 h 48'" p. m. the tide turned and flowed east until 2 a. m. on the 15th. So that in the 
 darkness of the night he had, unknowingly, six hours and twelve minutes of current, contrary to 
 that for which he was allowing. In this way he got so far to the eastward that it was noon before 
 he reached the island again ; when he coasted the north shore and near sunset anchored at the 
 west end. On the following day, the 16th, he wrote his journal of the 15th, by which time he had 
 observed the distinction between the currents and tides in the neighborhood of Crooked, and he 
 noted the one which caused his detention. 
 
 The second island of Columbus has been such a stumbling-block to investigators that many 
 of them assert that he sighted it, but passed^on without otopping. See translation from Munoz, 
 ante, p. 36, and discussion with Captain Becher, ante, p. 37. Major (p. 198) wrote: "Here I 
 beg to call your attention to the fact that Columbus neither lands upon nor gives any name 
 to the first island which he reaches after leaving Guanahani, a fact which argues its unim 
 portance and sanctions our assuming it to be Eum Cay." The weight of these authorities makes 
 it necessary for me to try to answer them before I go on. The following paragraph from the 
 Spanish text of the journal is the authority upon which Major and Captain Becher found their 
 assertion that Columbus did not land upon the second island (Navarrete, 1st edition, p. 25, Octo 
 ber 15, and ante, p.jfe): " Ycomo desta isla vide otra mayor al Oueste, cargue las velas por andar todo 
 aquel dia fasta la noche, porque aim no pudiera haber andado al cabo del Oueste." Major's transla 
 tion (p. 198) is : "And as from this island I saw another larger one to the .west, I started for the 
 purpose of sailing the whole of that day until night, for otherwise I could not have reached the 
 westernmost cape." Captain Becher (p. 109) renders it: "And as from this island I saw 
 another larger one to the westward, I made sail, continuing on until night ; for as yet I had not 
 arrived at the western cape." Mr. Thomas's translation, which I have adopted, is : " And as from 
 this island I saw another larger one to the west, I cletced up the sails, for I had gone all that day 
 until night, because I could not yet have gone to the western cape." The essential difference is 
 with, cargut las velas. Major makes it, " I started "; Captain Becher, " I made sail" ; and Thomas, 
 "I clewed up the sails." In Diccionario Maritime Espanol, etu.,por D. Jose de Lorenzo, I). Gonznlo 
 de Murga y I). Martin Ferreiro, Empleados en la Direccion de Hidrografiti, Madrid, 1864, the defini 
 tion agrees with that given by Mr. Thomas. So of all other Spanish dictionaries which I can find. 
 I have also submitted the phrase to Spanish officers with like result. The signification is, to clew 
 up, or brail up ; that is, take in sail. A similar expression occurs in the first part of the journal 
 of October 15: "I had been standing off and on this night fearing to approach the shore for 
 anchorage before morning not knowing whether the coast would be clear of shoals, and intending 
 to clew up cargar velas at dawn." If he had been hove to all night he might have written 
 " I will make sail in the morning"; but as he was standing off and on, the two clauses u Fearing 
 
49 
 
 to approach the shore for anchorage before morning," and "Intending to clew up at dawn", are 
 connected, and the meaning of cargar velas in the latter is obviously to take in, not to make sail. 
 
 The proof that he stopped at the second island does not depend upon the signification of any 
 one phrase, but upon the concord existing between the journal and the cartographic facts. Co 
 lumbus promised in his Prologue (see Appendix D) that he would mark "each night my progress 
 during the day and each day the run made during the night.' 7 But it can be readily understood 
 that he had no regular time for writing his journal among, the Bahamas, where the navigation is diffi 
 cult and whore the Indians thronged upon him as coming from heaven. This appears upon read 
 ing the remarks under October 11, the day before seeing Guanahani. All the journal of that day 
 with the exception of the first forty-seven lines refers to transactions which took place on the 
 12th, a date omitted from the journal. From the closing paragraph of the 13th it seems that 
 most of his Guanahani log was written near sunset of that day. He says : "At this moment it is 
 dark and all went on shore in their canoes." The 14th was written in the afternoon, during the 
 leisure which came to him from being at sea, clear of the land and the inhabitants. He wrote 
 then : " I looked for the largest one and determined to make for it, and I am so doing." ( ! ) It is 
 important that I should call attention to the fact that all the journal of the 15th was certainly 
 written on the 16th. He entered no remarks on the loth. Under this date, which was Monday, 
 he wrote: "I anchored and remained until to-day Tuesday^) when at dawn I went on shore with 
 the boats armed." Same date,/farther on, (Jj5thy1ie~ writes : "And soon after I set sail for the other 
 large island." He could not have done so except on the 16th, the day he wrote this. His story in 
 the journal of the 15th is certainly the experience of the 16th. For example : near the close of 
 the remarks of the 15th he writes : "And being in the Gulf midway between these two islands 
 namely that of Santa Maria and this large one, to which I give the name of la Fernandiua." No 
 one can fail to see that this circumstance, and those immediately preceding it, belong to the 16th, 
 although found under date of the 15th. His journal of the 16th begins with the statement that 
 he left Santa Maria for Fernandiua about noon, an assertion repeated twice on the 15th, but which 
 could not have been put into execution until the 16th. A study of the journal of the loth and 
 16th shows that his first leisure was the afternoon of the 16th, in the calm weather between the 
 two islands, and then he wrote the journal of the loth. That of the 16th was not written until the 
 17th, for he writes under the former date about sending the ship's boat on shore for water at 9 
 a. m. certainly on the 17th. A little 4flrte* in the journal of the 16th he says: "Soon after writing 
 this I set sail with a south wind." As he did not arrive at the island to which this refers until 
 the morning of the 17th, see first part of the journal of this day, it is obvious that it was of the 
 17th not the 16th that he was speaking. The student who is attentive to the journal will notice 
 that Columbus wrote it when he could find time to all appearance at one sitting, as a very busy 
 sailor would do. This led him often to set down the matter of several days under one date, and 
 he seems not to have overhauled his log to see whether it was at variance with itself. 
 
 Kemembering, then, that all the things done on the 15th were recorded on the 16th after he 
 fot4 left the second island they might be put into a concise and truthful statement as follows : 
 Columbus explored Guanahani in the boats before noon of the 14th, and sailed after noon to the 
 southward and westward, the direction of the gold. Many islands coming shortly into sight, he 
 made for the largest, but did not reach it in time to see the anchoring-ground before dark. The 
 wind being light from the eastward, and a strong current running west, he decided to stand off 
 and on, or beat to the eastward, to hold his position during the night, that he might anchor in the 
 morning at that part of the island which he had seen before dark. The next forenoon, the 15th, he 
 found himself so far to the eastward that it was noon before he got back. He observed two sides 
 of the island, one north and south, five leagues ; the other, east and west, over ten. He approached 
 the first, but as it was a lee-shore he followed the other all the afternoon, arriving at the western 
 cape about sunset, whence he saw another large island to the west. Not wishing to be under weigh 
 again at night, among the tides and currents, and the wind having canted to the southward and 
 eastward, which gave him a weather shore to anchor under, he clewed up his sails and came to. 
 On the morning of the next day, the 16th, he went on shore to explore the island, but, as the wind 
 increased from the S. E., and his ships were riding to a weather tide, they were liable to be set 
 
 (*) Italics by the writer. 
 App. 18 7 
 
50 
 
 across it and foul their anchors : ante, p. 1C, note 2. The Admiral observing this from the shore, 
 returned and weighed anchor before or at noon, for the island in the west. 
 
 Major, p. 198 (ante, p. 47), and Captain Becher, pp. 108-112 (ante, p. 37), admit, what is ob 
 vious in the journal, that Columbus steered for the second island on the afternoon of the 14th, stood 
 off and on during the night, and the following day he was detained by the tide or current until 
 noon, when he reached this second island, and then he followed that side of it which ran east and 
 west over ten leagues, and came to anchor at sunset, 5 U 40 m . 
 
 My interpretation is that he did not go beyond this second island on the 15th, but that he 
 anchored about sunset at the west cape of the side he had followed. This would make his run 10 
 leagues 31.8 nautical miles in 5 h 40" 1 , equal to 5.G [miles each hour. Major and Captain Becher 
 say that, in addition to coasting this side, he kept on eight leagues 25.5 nautical miles farther, 
 where he came to anchor at sunset, making a sum of 18 leagues 57.3 nautical miles in 5 h 40'", 
 which gives a speed of 10.1 nautical, or 12.7 Italian, miles for every hour greater than is recorded 
 anywhere for his vessels. He must have had a gale of wind all the afternoon of tbe 15th to have 
 been driven at such extraordinary speed; but there is no mention of it in the journal. His log 
 across the Atlantic was 105 nautical miles a day, equal to 4.4 miles every hour. The best day's 
 run was October 4, 200.5 nautical miles, an average of 8.4 each hour. 
 
 Columbus wrote on the 14th of October, in respect to the second island : " I looked for the 
 largest one and determined to make for it, and I am so doing." On the 15th written on the IGth 
 and relating solely to past events he said: "It was about noon when I reached the said island. 
 * * * The other [side] which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten 
 leagues. And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails for 
 I had gone all that day until night [noon to sunset], because I could not yet [otherwise] have gone 
 to the western cape, to which I gave the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion, and about sunset 
 I anchored near said cape in order to learn whether there was gold there." This is the island of 
 which Columbus wrote, in his letter to Santangel (ante, p. 38): "To the second island I gave the 
 namjB of Santa Maria de Concepcion." It lay in the direction of the gold; it was the largest in 
 sight; the Guauahani Indians reported, "That they there wore very large rings of gold on their 
 legs and arms." Columbus wrote that one island taken possession of, the same may be said of all; 
 but it was his desire not to pass any without taking possession, and he did not. After sailing 
 from this island he wrote: "And being in the gulf midway between these two islands namely 
 that of Santa Maria and this large one, to which I gave the name of Fernandina," he found a man 
 in a canoe who had come "from the island of San Salvador, had passed to Santa Maria, and was 
 now going to la Feruaudina," the very sequence he was doing. All who are mindful of these facts 
 from the journal of the 14th, 15th, and ]6th of October, may group them better than this to suit 
 their own mind, but in every aspect they will outweigh the assertion that he did not stop at that 
 second island which he made for on the 14th, and strove for on the 15th. 
 
 Columbus anchored at the northwest cape of Crooked (Santa Maria), at sunset, October 15, and 
 waited there until the following forenoon. He wrote: "And as from this island I saw another larger 
 one to the west, I clewed up the sails." It would appear from this paragraph that the island 
 referred to came into view when he reached the west cape, near sunset. Writing of what took 
 place the next day, he said : " I set sail for the other large island that appeared at the west." 
 He begins the IGth with, "About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria de la Concepcion for the 
 inland of Fernandina, which appears to bevery large to the west." Long Island lies 25 miles west 
 of Crooked, and the range of hills upon it, marked 150 feet high, are two miles farther. The 
 distance of visibility for 150 feet is 14 miles, and for Columbus's lookout, of 60 feet, 4*4* 8.8 miles; 
 total, 22.8 miles. In consequence Long Island cannot be seen from Crooked. 
 
 I have alluded, on page 44, to probable physical changes among the Bahamas in the past, but 
 I shall not appeal to these here. Seamen understand very well that, in favorable circumstances, 
 the appearance of. land is very striking over coral islands which are below the range of visibility 
 from the observer. This is especially. noticeable in the Bahamas, because all the necessary conditions 
 are there: low islands of white coral ; not enough trees or undergrowth to hinder radiation; a high 
 degree of heat, and the air loaded with moisture. When a fall of temperature happens this is precip 
 itated into a cloud cap which often covers the island like a blanket, and outlines it. It is this and 
 
51 
 
 the blending of cloud and land that make/the latter appear, frequently, to be above the horizon 
 when truly below it. (') 
 
 Columbus sailed from the northwest end of Crooked, October 10, either at 10 a. in. or noon, for he 
 gives both times, toward the island which appeared in the west. Calm weather retarded him until 
 daylight of the 17th, when he anchored at a cape of an island, which he named Feruandina. Here, 
 he said, the coast ran north-northwest and south-southeast. On the way over he estimated the 
 distance from the second to the third island -^t nine leagues. After he fe*4 arrived he called it 
 eight leagues 25.5 nautical miles. A course from Crooked W. N. 25 miles strikes a cape cf 
 Long Island where the coast line runs as given by Columbus. See chart and the sub-sketch of 
 Long Island, the latter on a larger scale, which shows the cape and trend of laud more distinctly. 
 The appearance of Long Island (Fernandiua) from Crooked (Santa Maria), the course and dis 
 tance between them, the southeast cape and the trend of the coast of Long Island (Fernandina), all 
 conform accurately to the facts and we need not linger upon them. 
 
 At noon of the 17th of October, Columbus sailed from this southeast cape, steering along the 
 shore to the K. 1ST. W., " the wind being S. W. and S." When he was near the end of the island " two 
 leagues off" he found a marvellous port with two entrances formed by a rocky islet in the middle. 
 Both were narrow, but within w r as ample room for 100 ships, if there had been sufficient depth 
 free from obstructions, with a deep entrance. He was so much impressed 'with this marvellous 
 port that he anchored outside of it and went in with all the boats and sounded it and saw that it 
 was too shoal. This was the first opening into the laud that he had met with and he thought it 
 betokened a fresh- water river, therefore he took in the water casks. His former visit to a tropical 
 country was to Guinea (Africa) where all the openings into the shore are made by fresh- water streams. 
 
 The wind was off the laud, and he remained in this harbor with the boats, getting water, for 
 two hours, when he returned to the vessels and sailed. Columbus wrote that the entrance of this 
 marvellous port was two leagues from the end of the island. The reader will observe how often 
 the journal uses leagues and miles in such a way that an interchange of them was possible on the 
 Admiral's part and very probable with the copyist.( 2 ) If the two leagues of the journal wqge a 
 clerical error for two Italian miles, it corresponds with the chart. See sub-sketch of Clarence Har 
 bor, where the southeast entrance is .two Italian miles (1.6 nautical miles) from Booby Cay, the 
 visible extremity of the island ; and the course to the latter is K. W. He wrote that he sailed on 
 this course until he discovered that part of the island which ran east and west; and afterward the 
 Indians persuaded him to go back, and because the wind ceased and then sprang up from the 
 W. N". W., which was contrary to his course, he turned around. This and the subsequent courses 
 point out that he was following this east-and-west shore on a likely course of W. ]$". W. when the 
 wind came out ahead. After turning around he sailed all night, E. S. E., sometimes E. and also S. E. 
 to clear the land. He wrote that the atmosphere was very misty and the weather threatening, but 
 that the wind was light and it did not permit him to reach the laud to anchor, and that it rained 
 hard after midnight until almost day. He adds, "We [are] at the southeast cape of the island 
 where I hope to anchor until it gets clear." He closes the journal of the 17th with general remarks, 
 which was his frequent habit. It is evident that he wrote this paragraph, and the last observa 
 tions of the 17th, on the morning of the 18th, at the southeast cape of the island, where, as he was 
 exposed to rainy weather and light winds, he desired to anchor. 
 
 (') Since I navigated among the Bahamas alight-house has heen built at the N. W. end of Crooked, and I wrote 
 to T. J. McLain, esq., United States consul at Nassau, asking him to inquire from officials merely whether Long Island 
 could be seen from it. This is his answer: "I saw Capt. W. H. Stuart, who has commanded the light-house yacht 
 Richmond for many years, and who is a most trustworthy person. He agreed to look up the matter and get me reli 
 able information. The Richmond returned lately from a trip to the windward light-houses, and the captain called to 
 day to report. He says he inquired particularly of both the keepers at Bird Rock Tower, and of Mr. Arauha, who is 
 clerk of the board of works at that station, and the three united in saying that Long Island is not visible from Bird 
 Rock light-house, that they have never seen it, even on the clearest day. A gentleman residing near there gays be has 
 seen smoke on it in a clear day. And all four say that they have frequently seen clouds settle over Long Island in 
 still weather like a stretch of land. [Italics by G. V. F.] Captain Stuart says that all his own observations confirm the 
 foregoing statements." 
 
 (*) Navarrete, vol. i, p. 101, December 21, 1492 : On this day he was at the present bay of Acul on the north side of 
 Hayti, and the journal reads : " The distance from the entrance to the bottom of it [Acul] is about five leagues." This 
 is a clerical error for five miles, because the bay of Acul is 25,800 feet deep, equal to 5 Italian miles, 
 
52 
 
 These words imply that he was at the cape from which he had sailed the^day before. In ; t 
 other words, that he had retraced his steps as he was advised to do, and getting back to a familiar / 
 anchorage, with unfavorable conditions for coasting such shores, he wished to anchor and wait for 
 clear weather. 
 
 On page 49 I have asked the student to take heed in adapting the dates in Columbus's journal. 
 The caution is necessary here. The log of the 18th of October opens with a clause which belongs 
 to the remarks quoted above; for he says: "After it cleared up I followed the wind"; the last of 
 this date is, "At dawn I set sail." It is enough to read the journal of the 19th, which was written 
 in the evening of this day, after arririny at the rocky islet, to see that getting under way at dawn 
 of the 18th referred to the same act done at dawn of the 19th. What he did on the 18th is not 
 obscure ; shitting tides and inconstant winds hindered him from following the coast to a favorable 
 anchorage. This appears from his remark on the 18th, I "went around the island as much as I 
 could, and I anchored when it was no longer possible to sail." 
 
 We find recorded in the journal certain physical characteristics concerning the second island 
 which belong/to Crookeor\onlyfTnd in like manner is the third island established. This is so im 
 portant that I briefly recapitulate. Columbus anchored at a cape of the third where the coast line 
 was north-northwest" and south-southeast. He followed it K N. W. until he came to a marvellous 
 port, two leagues [miles?] from the end. He sounded it in the boats and found it capacious, but 
 shallow. He sailed N. W. until he opened that part of the shore which ran east and west; he 
 steered along it W. N. W. till the approach of night and the advice of the Indians caused him to 
 turn about. 
 
 A sailor describing the strange things^seen in new lands is likely to put into his story some of 
 the warmth of his vocation, but not in his log. When he enters the course steered, the depth of 
 water, the trend of the coast, and the speed of his vessel, these are facts which his daily duty 
 calls for, and the safety of his ship may turn upon the accuracy of the record. Columbus's de 
 scription of the shore-lines and harbor of the third island relate to physical facts which he ob 
 served. They are his log, and they cannot be ignored. It is essential, therefore, that a third island 
 shall be found answering to this description. The sub-sketch on the chart shows at a glance that 
 the southeast part of Long Island is the only land and water that will fit. See narrative of Cap 
 tain Becher 17th and 18th of October, ante, for the entanglement arising from using another island 
 for the track of these two days. 
 
 There is an element of time here which is important as it limits the ground passed over on the 
 afternoon of the 17th. The Admiral left the southeast cape at noon and turned around while 
 heading W. N. W., and then he steered an opposite course during the night, to clear the laud. It 
 is fair to select sunset, 5 b 40 m , as the time of his turning. As long as he could see the land and 
 reefs he might keep on, but not after dark. He would choose the day only to explore new shores. 
 In the night he might retrace his steps steering well off, or anchor, or heave to, or stand off and 
 on, nothing else. The distance from the southeast cape past the shallow port and around to the 
 end of the east-and-west side is 22 nautical miles. As he stopped at the above port two hours, he 
 was under way only 3 h 40'". This gives a speed of 6 miles an hour, which is fully as much as his 
 vessels were likely to do. Any track which is longer, or which requires more speed than this, 
 must be very liable to error. 
 
 If Columbus turned at sunset on the 17th and returned to the southeast cape at "almost day" 
 of the 18th he sailed in a night which had ten hours of darkness, the distance he went over in 3 h 40'" 
 of day. This is not strange. In addition to the various courses steered to clear the land, he says ? 
 of this night, that the atmosphere was misty and the weather threatening, but the icind liyht. 
 The fact that he followed this shore at all during such a moonless night is proof that he had gone 
 along it A the day A peKefceai&-and learned the direction of -the shores, so that he retraced his steps 
 without much hazard provided lie steered icell off. This he could do; for in coasting the island tli c 
 ;ilternoon-kefe*e he must have observed that there was no laud on the other side to pick him up. 
 
 Columbus is now at anchor on the southwest side of the south end of the third, or Long Island 
 (Fernandina). He sailed from here at dawn on the 19th. Sunrise was at O h 2L" 1 , twilight I 1 ' J!> "', 
 dawn at 5 1 ' 2'". The flag-ship steered S. E., the Piuta E. and S. E., and the Nifia S. S. E. Three hours 
 had not elapsed when they saw an island to the east for which all the vessels headed, and before. 
 mid-day they arrived at the northern extremity, where there is a rocky islet. I take this to be the 
 
 ' / 
 * 
 
53 
 
 north end of Fortune Island. See chart and sub-sketch of Crooked Island anchorages. Tl e 
 Admiral gives no distances in sailing across. If he was fairly under way at o h 30 m and anchored 
 at ll h 30'", the time was C hours, half of which he steered S. E. and half E., making E. S. E. if each 
 three hours was equal speed. From the south end of Long Island to the north end of Fortune the 
 course and distance are E. by S. f S. 32 nautical miles. This gives a little more than 5.3 miles an 
 hour, which is fair sailing for his vessels. Columbus wrote on the evening of the 19th that this 
 rocky islet "lay from the island of Fernandiua, whence I had come east [and] west, and the coast 
 afterwards ran from the rocky islet to the westward, and there was in it twelve leagues." If the 
 last clause is an error for 12 Italian miles, it agrees with the chart, as the coast inclines from here 
 two points to the west and measures 10.5 nautical miles, or 13.2 Italian miles. 
 
 Long Island is invisible from the rocky islet, and the line between them is not east and west. 
 In steering from Feruandina Columbus spread his vessels from an E. to a S. S. E. course, to get hold 
 of the land ; then he drew them together on one course and afterward anchored. A bearing en 
 tered at this time with reference to an island no longer in sight, and from which they had arrived 
 by steering several courses, might easily be If points in error. 
 
 Fortune is the fourth island of Coluinbus's visitation, the one he named -&8g that manful and 
 lovable queen, Isabela, who sent him on his way when kings and councils rejected him. It will be 
 noticed that the journal makes the third island lie west of the second, and- the fourth east of the 
 third. This brings the second and fourth adjacent to each other, as they are found upon the chart. 
 If a landsman thinks that the Admiral ought to have known that the land now north of him was 
 the same which lay south on the evening of the 15th, it can be^answered 4ruly> that one of the most 
 perplexing things in the vocation of the sea is the recognition of lands or islands that have no con 
 spicuous marks. Light-houses, beacons, and pilotage grew out of this difficulty. Columbus sees 
 the opposite side of Crooked, after an interval during which he was harassed by navigating the shores 
 of the third island. He conies in sight of it for the second time, while steering a course opposite to 
 that which he steered at first; and of all islands to distinguish, one from the other, or the different 
 sides, the Bahamas are the most puzzling, owing to their similarity. Irving, vol. i, p. 433, wrote 
 of the Admiral: "On his second voyage returning from Cuba, he coasted the southern side of his 
 favorite island of Haiti without recognizing it until a cacique came off and addressed him by 
 his title and used several words of Castilian. The news spread joy throughout the ships." The 
 mountains of Haiti are 9,000 feet high and are easily recognized now, for we know their height 
 and have excellent maps; but Columbus was making discoveries where the islands seemed to be 
 innumerable; he was not surveying, nor had he any instruments by which he could lay down accu 
 rately the relative bearings of the lands. 
 
 The first part of the journal of October 20 remarks upon the failure of the vessels to get to the 
 eastward of Isabella, either by the northeast or south, on account of shallow water. This agrees with 
 the present cartography of Fortune Island. My position here derives strength from a statement 
 in the journal of ^November 20. Navarrete, p. 61: On this day the Admiral was 25 leagues 79.6 
 nautical miles N. E. f X. from Puerto del Principe, admitted to be the present Cuban port of 
 Tanamo. The appendix chart has the 20th of ^November laid down at 75 miles only, arising from 
 the use of 3 as a multiplier for leagues, instead of 3.1818. The Admiral said that on this day he 
 was 12 leagues 38.2 nautical miles from Isabella. From here to Fortune Island, which I call 
 Isabella, the distance is 36 miles; but to Great Inagua, Navarrete's Isabella, there are 60 miles; to 
 Long Island, Irving's Isabella, 67, and to Crooked, selected by Captain Becher, 53. The journal 
 adds that he could have anchored at Isabella, but did not wish to, for fear that the Indians he had 
 brought from Guanahaui might escape, as the distance between these two islands was but eight 
 leagues 25.5 nautical miles. Fortune is 36 miles from Samana; Crooked and Watling, the Isa- 
 bella and Guanahani of Captain Becher, are 68 miles apart; Grand Turk and Great Inagua, the 
 Isabella of Navarrete, are 101. 
 
 At the beginning of October 24 Columbus sailed from the rocky islet, at the north end of Fortune, 
 on a predetermined W. S. W. course. The day was characterized by rain, calms, little wind, and 
 then a "lovely" breeze. At nightfall, 5 h 36'", the soutliMiest cape of Fernandina (Long Island) 
 bore N". W. distant 22.3 miles. This is known at sea as "departure." The night of the 24th-25th 
 he had strong winds with rain, and being on uukuowu ground he first reduced, then took in all 
 sail. He said he had made much headway, of which he was doubtful, but he estimated that he 
 
54 
 
 did not go this night two leagues. The direction of the wind is not noted, lie says that it grew 
 strong suddenly, with mist and rain. Such wind and weather are well known among the Bahamas; 
 they are the sudden rain squalls which are common from the northward and westward (ante, p. 45.) 
 At sunrise on the 25th he made sail ;it \Y. S. \\ ., hut at 9 a. in. he steered west no doubt to make 
 the former course good, which he had lost somewhat in the night, by drifting under bare poles. 
 
 At 3 p. in. the Admiral saw land. "There were seven or eight islands, all extending from 
 north to south; distant from them five leagues," 15.9 nautical miles, lie anchored on the 26th of 
 October in the shallow water south of these, which he called Sand Islands. The course and dis 
 tant from the rocky islet to the south sand island are \V. S. W. 82 miles. The same from the 
 "departure" night-fall of October 24th W. S. AY. (15 miles. The journal gives the following 
 distances between " departure " and Sand Islands : Night of the 24th-25th, not two leagues. Five 
 leagues to 9 a. m. on the 25th. From 9 to 3 p. m., 44 miles, and then 5 leagues to the Saud Islands. 
 Ten leagues, 44 Italian miles, are 66.8 nautical miles. This accord between the log and the 
 truth, on thejlargest run the Admiral made in the Bahamas, is not accidental. In the journal of the 
 23d-24th, we see that he is disappointed with the poverty of the land and people, and his ardent 
 temperament seizes upon what the Indians called Cuba, to signify that laud of gold and spices and 
 large ships for which he had sailed from Spain Cipango (Japan), lie carefully notes the direction 
 to it, pointed out by the natives, who would be most likely to indicate the way their canoes went, 
 touching at intermediate land. He believes this course is W. S. W., and to make it good he would 
 put forward all his skill. 
 
 About GO miles IsT. N. E. of the northeast coast of Cuba, a Hue of cays and islands extend X. ]ST. AY- 
 i W. and S. S. E. E. for 21 miles. The principal ones are eight : Nurse, Bouavista, Kacoon, Double 
 Breasted, Maycock, Hog, Great Ragged, and Little llagged. From the southernmost a coral bank 
 stretches 28 miles south, and 30 east, having from 4 to 11 fathoms of water, interspersed with rocky 
 heads and shoal spots. This is known as the "Columbus Bank "; it terminates the Great Bahama 
 Bank on the southeast. Here, then, is the fifth island, or islands, visited by Columbus; and it 
 should be noted that such a string of islands, and bank of shallow water stretching from them, 
 described so correctly in the journal, cannot be found anywhere else in the Bahamas. 
 
 He left this anchorage Saturday, October 27th at sunrise (G h 23"') and steered S. S. W. for 
 Cuba. By sunset (5 h 37 m ) he had made 17 leagues 54.1 nautical miles about 4.8 knots an hour. 
 He saw the land before dark, but kept off "on the look-out during the night with much rain." 
 Sunday he resumed his course S. S. W., striving to reach the nearest laud. Arriving there he 
 entered a beautiful river which had 12 fathoms at the mouth. The courses "logged" from the Sand 
 Islands are S. S. W., and the distance 54.1 miles, which was made by sunset Saturday. In the night 
 he probably held his position. Sunday he again steered S. S. W., but as the time of anchoring is 
 not given, we do not know how much more was made on this course. It is /6ertain7lp_nl^That the 
 distance from the Sand Islands to this Cuban port was more than the run to Saturday night, 54.1 
 miles/ /f he anchored early Sunday, which is probable from the soundings and explorations he 
 made on this day, it did not exceed it but little. 
 
 Columbus designated this beautiful river and port with his favorite title, San Salvador. This 
 name has not been preserved, and each investigator points out his own choice. I select Port 
 Padre. The course and distance on this chart, from the Sand Islands, are S. W. S. 63 miles. 
 Some authorities place Padre ten miles farther west, in which case it Avould be S. W. ^71 miles' 
 The currents here are thus spoken of in the West India Pilot, vol. i, p. 6: " Sometime the current 
 on the north coast of Cuba as far west as Matanzas runs one to four knots to the westward." 
 The vessels of Columbus were under its influence from Saturday afternoon until he entered the 
 river, and as I allow no variation to the compass (see Appendix C), his true course should be as 
 much to the west of S. S. W. as the current drifted him. Port Naranjo answers the description 
 of the journal as well as Padre, but it is S. f W. G2 miles from South liagged, and a vessel could 
 not, of course, get to it steering S. S. W. with a westerly current. I choose Padre because it is the 
 only port west of Naranjo that has depth of water enough at the mouth to satisfy the journal, and 
 in other respects is free of objections. See Sheet II, Harbors and anchorages on the north coast of 
 Cuba, from a Spanish plan, U. S. Hydrographical Office, 1876, which gives the soundings of Port 
 Padre. Outside are S fathoms; at the entrance, 14; then 8, G, 10, and 9, through to the harbor. 
 As a matter of interest, I have laid down a track for the vessels of Columbus from Padro west. 
 
55 
 
 as far as Boca de Guajaba, where lie probably turned. He then coasted the northeast shore of 
 Cuba, crossed to Hayti, and followed the north side to the present bay of Samaria, where his first 
 voyage in the Xew World ended. This track coincides, sometimes, with the track of Navarrete, 
 but both are liable to be inaccurate, owing to the imperfection of the charts of the north coast 
 line of Cuba and Hayti. 
 
 Washington Irving lays so much stress upon Herrera's description of the voyage uf Ponce de 
 Leon through the Bahamas that I am constrained to examine its merit at the hazard of making 
 this paper wearisome to the reader. The translation from, Herrera is in his Columbus, revised 
 edition, vol. i, pp. 378-379 : " Leaving Aguada in Porto Eico they steered to the JS". W. by N. and 
 in five days arrived at an island called El Yiejo in latitude 22 30' X. The next day they arrived 
 at a small island of the Lucayos called Caycos. On the eighth day they anchored at another 
 island called Yaguua in 24, on the eighth day out from Porto Eico. Thence they passed to the 
 island of Manuega, in 24 30', and on the eleventh day they reached Guanahani, which is in 25 40' 
 N. This island of Guanahani was the first discovered by Columbus on his first voyage and which 
 he called San Salvador." 
 
 Irving remarks upon this that the latitudes are placed too high, but that the substance is con 
 clusively in favor of Cat Island. He says Ponce de Leon's first island, El Viejo, must have been 
 Turk's Island. This agrees with the old maps. The second he thinks was one of the, Caycos. 
 There can be no doubt of it. The third, he says, was probably Mariguana. But Herrera gives 
 the third as Yaguna ; and by the old maps this appears to be the present Inagua. Irving calls the 
 fourth island Crooked; Herrera's fourth is Manuega, considered by scholars to be that now known 
 as Mariguana. The fifth island Irving says is Isla Larga (Long Island), and lastly Guauahaui. 
 This would make Guanahani the sixth, but the A narrative ftbovo- gives only five islands touched at. 
 
 It seems more reasonable to believe that Ponce de Leon left Aguado and steered JS". 49 18' 
 W. 287 miles to El Yiejo (Grand Turk). The next day he ran over to one of the southerly Caycos 
 cays some 30 miles to the southward and westward. He arrived on the eighth day at Yaguna, prob 
 ably Little luagua, 75 miles to the westward of his last place. Thence he steered to the north 
 ward 55 miles to Manuega (Mariguana), the fourth island since leaving Porto Eico. From Mari 
 guana his next stopping-place is Guanahani. Herrera writes that on the eighth day out Ponce de 
 Leon was at Yaguna (Little Inagua), and on the llth at Guanahani, having touched at Manuega 
 (Mariguana) on the way. This gives three days from Yaguua (Little luagua) to Guanahani, in 
 cluding one anchorage at Manuega (Mariguana). The distance is 108 miles from Little Inagua 
 to Samana, touching at Mariguana. The same to Watling is 176, and to Cat 213. 
 
 Ponce de Leon was five days from Porto Eico to Grand Turk, 287 miles, equal to 57.4 miles a 
 day, on a straight course, clear of the laud and within the "trades". If we use tliis distance to 
 measure his run from Little Inagua to Guanahaui and we have no other then these two islands 
 were three days apart, 172.2 miles. But he stopped at Manuega (Mariguana) on the way, so we 
 can only reduce this distance by guess. But the less the distance the greater the probability that 
 Guanahaui was, in the opinions of the contemporaries of Columbus, an island not far from Manuega 
 (Mariguana). If Ponce de Leon left Little Inagua, touched at Mariguana, and then anchored at 
 Samana (Guanahani), the sequence is apparent and the distance, 108 miles in three days, including 
 one stop, is fair. But to Cat, 213 miles in the same time, would be greater speed than in any other 
 part of the voyage, and there are several large intervening islands where he was likely to anchor, 
 as he did between Aguado and Manuega (Mariguana). 
 
 ._ Herrera was the official historiographer of the Indies in the sixteenth century, and he had 
 
 fac e. fed exclusive- access to the original documents of Columbus and other explorers. Thereforc^he is a 
 
 good witness to cite against the assertions iu favor of Grand Turk and Mariguana. If Police de 
 
 Leon sailed from each of these islands to Guanahani, neither can be the first landfall of Columbus 
 
 in the view of this historian. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 There is a common belief that the first landing-place is settled by one or another of the 
 authors cited here. Nevertheless, I trust to have shown, paragraph by paragraph, wherein their 
 several tracks are contrary to the journal, inconsistent with the true cartography of the neighbor 
 hood, and to the discredit, measurably, both of Columbus and of Las Casas. The obscurity and 
 
56 
 
 the carelessness which appear in part of the diary through the Bahamas offer uo obstacle to this 
 demonstration, provided that they do not extend to the "log" or nautical part. 
 
 Columbus went to sea when he was fourteen years of age, and served there almost continuously 
 for twenty-three years. The strain of a sea-faring life, from so tender an age, is not conducive to 
 literary exactness. Still, for the very reason of this sea experience, the "log" should be correct. 
 This is composed of the courses steered, distances sailed over, bearings of islands from one another, 
 trend of shores, c. The recording of these is the daily business of seamen, and here the entries 
 were by Columbus himself, chiefly to enable him on his return to Spain to construct that nautical 
 map which is promised in the prologue of the first voyage. 
 
 In crossing the Atlantic the Admiral understated to the crew each day's run, so that they 
 should not know how far they had gone into an unknown ocean. Las Casas was aware of this 
 counterfeit "log," but his abridgment is from that one which Columbus kept for his own use. 
 
 If the complicated courses and distances in this were originally wrong, or if the copy of them 
 is false,' it is obvious that they cannot be "plotted" upon a correct chart. Conversely if they arc 
 made to conform to a succession of islands among w r hich he is known to have sailed, it is evident 
 that this is a genuine transcript of the authentic "log" of Columbus, and, reciprocally, that we 
 have the true track, the beginning of which is the eventful landfall of October 12, 141L'. 
 
 The student or critical reader, and the seaman, will have to determine whether the writer has 
 established this conformity. The public, probably, desires to have the question settled, but it will 
 hardly take any interest in a discussion that has no practical bearing, and which for its elucidation 
 leans*so much upon the jargon of the sea. 
 
 It is not flattering to the English or Spanish speaking peoples, that the four hundredth anni 
 versary of this great event draws nigh, and is likely to catch us still floundering, touching the first 
 landing-place. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 First. There is no objection to Samana in respect to size, position, or shape. That it is a 
 little island, lying east and west, is in its favor. The erosion at the east end by which islets have 
 been formed, recalls the assertion of Columbus that /here it could be cut oil in two days and made 
 into an island. The Nassau vessels still find a sung anchorage here during the N. E. trades. 
 These blew half a gale of wind at the time of the landfall; yet. Navarrete, Varnhagen, and 
 Captain Becher anchored the squadron on the windward sides of the coral reefs of their respective 
 islands, a "lee shore." (See the chart.) The absence of permanent lagoons at Samana I have 
 t.ied to explain on p. 44. 
 
 Second. The course from Samana to Crooked is to the southwest, which is the direction that 
 the Admiral said he should steer " to-morrow evening." The distance given by him corresponds 
 with the chart. 
 
 Third. The second island, Santa Maria, is described as having two sides which made a right 
 angle, and the length of each is given. This points directly to Crooked and Acklin. Both form 
 one island, so fitted to the words of the journal as cannot be done with any other land of the 
 Bahamas. 
 
 Fourth. The course and distance from Crooked to Long Island is that which the Admiral gives 
 from Santa Maria to Feruandina. 
 
 Fifth. Long Island, the third, is accurately described. The trend of the shores "north- 
 northwest and south- southeast" ; the " marvellous port" and " the coast which rims east [and] west," 
 can nowhere be found except at the southeast part of Long Island. 
 
 Sixth. The journal is obscure in regard to the fourth island. The best way to find it, is to 
 "plot" the courses forward from the third island, and the courses and distances backward from the 
 fifth. These lead to Fortune for the fourth. 
 
 Seventh. The Bagged Islands are the fifth. These he named las isla* de Arena Sand Islands. 
 They lie W. S. W. from the fourth, and this is the course the Admiral adhered to. He did not " log" 
 all the run made between these islands ; in consequence the " log" falls short of the true distance, 
 as it ought to. These "seven or eight islands, all extending from north to south," and having 
 shoal water "six leagues to the south" of them are seen on the chart at a glance. 
 
57 
 
 Eighth. The course and distance from these to Port Padre, in Cuba, is reasonable. The west 
 erly current, the depth of water at the entrance of Padre, and the general description, are free of 
 difficulties. The true distance is greater than the "logged" because Columbus again omits part of 
 his run. It would be awkward if the true distances from the fourth to the fifth islands, and from 
 the latter to Padre, had fallen short of the " log," since it would make the unexplainable situation 
 which occurs in Irving's course and distance from Mucaras Eeef to Boca de Caravela (ante, p. .36). 
 
 From end to end of the Samaua track there are but three discrepancies. At the third island 
 (ante, p. 21) two leagues ought to be two miles. At the fourth island (ante, p. 23) twelve leagues 
 ought to be twelve miles. The bearing between the third and fourth islands is not gnjte-gis the chart 
 ka&ifc, nor does it agree with the courses he steered (ante, p. 23). These three are fairly explained, 
 and I think that no others can be mustered to disturb the concord between this track and the journal. ( : ) 
 
 In this paper I mention only the publications containing what was indispensable to the discus 
 sion. The student who is eager to sift the matter further will derive much aid by searching among 
 the following: 
 
 Bartlett, John Russell. Bibliographical notices of rare and curious booTcs relating to America, 
 printed in the XVth andJKYIth Centuries (TdK^-ifim) in the library of the late John Carter Brown, 
 of Providence, E. I. Providence, printed forjxrivate distribution, 1875. 
 
 Harrisse, Henry. Bibliotlieca ^Americana Vetustissima : a description of works relating to 
 America, published between 1492-1551. New York, 1866. 
 
 [idem : containing additions.] Paris, 1872. 
 
 Rich, Obadiah. A^ jcatalogue o looJcs, relating principally to America, arranged under the 
 years in which they were printed. London, 1832. 
 
 , BiMiotheca Americana Nova ; or a catalogue of books in various languages, relating to 
 
 America, printed since the year 1700. Parts I, 1701-1800, and II, 1801-1844. London, 1846. 
 
 Bibliotlieca Americana Vetus : Books relating to America, 1493-1700 [also] Supplement. 
 
 London, 1846. 
 
 Stevens, Henry. Historical and geographical notes on the earliest discoveries in America : 
 1453-1530 [with] fac-similes of many of the earliest maps and charts of America. 4*New Haven and 
 London, 1869. 
 
 Winsor, Justin. Columbus ; a bibliographical note from the catalogue of the TicJcnor collection. 
 Boston Public Library, Bulletin' No. 10, 1876. 
 
 I acknowledge my indebtedness for intelligent help to 
 
 The Superintendent and assistants of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
 
 H. L. Thomas, eso^, translator of the United States State Department. 
 
 Rear- Admiral Jolm Rodgers, United States Navy, Superintendent of the United States Naval 
 Observatory, and his assistants. 
 
 A. R. Spofford, esq., Librarian of Congress. 
 
 J. Carson Brevoort, esq., of Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 T. J. McLain, esq., United States consul at Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. 
 
 Capt. J. C. P. de Krafft, United States Navy, hydrographer to the Bureau of Navigation, 
 Navy Department, and his assistants. 
 
 Commander Juan N. Montajo, Royal Spanish Navy. 
 
 Professor Pedro Moutaldo, Instructor in Spanish at the United States Naval Academy. 
 
 W. H. Tillinghast, esq., graduate of Harvard University, class of 1877. 
 
 Woodbury Lowery, esq., M. A., of Harvard University, class of 1875. 
 
 Theodore F. Dwight, esq., of the State Department. 
 
 Prof. A. M. E. Elliott, of Johns Hopkins University. 
 
 lam also grateful to the Navy Department for assistance, and to the folio wing libraries for invalu 
 able facilities : the Library of Congress, and of the State and of the Navy Department in Washington , 
 the Lenox and Astor Libraries in New York, and the Library of Harvard University in Cambridge. 
 
 ( l ) La Cosa's map preserves the name of Guanahani instead of San Salvador. It is evident that this sturdy old 
 seaman was heedful of the fixed names. There are obvious and strong reasons for saving enchorial names from oblit 
 eration. In this case Guanaliani is the oldest American name we have. It is all that remains from the wreck which the 
 white man made of this gentle race. If ever there shall be any agreement upon Sainaiia, for the first landing-place, 
 I hope that the name of Guanahani may be restored to it. 
 App. 18 8 
 
58 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 AGE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 The range of years ascribed to his birth is from 1435-'36 to 1446-'47. 
 
 For 1435-'36 are Bounefoux, Irving, Bernaldez, Napione. Navarrete, Humbolt, and Luigi Co 
 lombo. 
 
 For 1441, Charlevoix. 
 
 For 1445, Cladera and Bossi. 
 
 For 1446, Muiioz. 
 
 For 1447, Spotorno and Robertson. 
 
 For 144C-'47, see Select Letters of Columbus, 2d edition, by R. H. Major, introduction, pp. xxxii- 
 xxxiv. 
 
 If he was born in 1435 his age was fifty-seven when he discovered the New World ; if in 1447 
 he was forty-five. 
 
 Without attempting an investigation of the question, I refer to the following exploit of Colum 
 bus as bearing upon it, Irviug's revised edition of Columbus, vol. i, pp. 28-20 : 
 
 "The first account of his being engaged in a naval expedition was one fitted in 1459 by John 
 of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, to make a descent upon Naples to recover that kingdom for his father. 
 It lasted [this struggle] four years [until 1463]. During this expedition Columbus was detached on 
 a perilous cruise to cut out a galley from the harbor of Tunis. Columbus himself relates that when 
 he arrived off San Pedro, in Sardinia, he heard that there were two ships and a carrack with the 
 galley, by which information the crew refused to go on, and determined to go to Marseilles for re- 
 enforcements. Columbus apparently acquiesced, but altering the compass-card he so deceived 
 them as to arrive off Tunis instead of Marseilles." 
 
 Columbus wrote to King Ferdinand (Major, introduction, p. xxxvi) : "It happened to me that 
 King R6ne (whom God has taken to himself) sent me to Tunis to capture the galley Fernaudina," 
 &c. If the king sent him on this hazardous and independent enterprise during the last year of 
 the expedition to Naples 1463 he was only sixteen years of age, if born in 1447. The naval pro 
 fession will not admit that any authority, either ancient or modern, would intrust to a boy of sixteen 
 the execution of a deed likely to put to the proof the ability of an able and efficient seaman. 
 
 If we take 1435-'36 for the year of his birth and there the weight of authority lies he was 
 twenty-seven to twenty-eight when he went to Tunis, and fifty-six to fifty-seven when he landed 
 on Guauahani. It is more reasonable to believe that he was fifty to fifty-one, rather than thirty- 
 nine to forty, when he offered his plan to the king and queen of Spain ; and under all the circum 
 stances of his tedious solicitation, that he could not have been fewer than fifty-six to fifty-seven 
 years of age when he saw the New World. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 MILE AND LEAGUE OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 In Navarrete, 1st edition, vol. i, p. 258, Columbus wrote : "56 miles to an equinoctial degree." 
 
 Page 300, fourth voyage : " The world is not so large as the common opinion makes it, one 
 degree of the equinoctial line measuring only 56| miles." 
 
 Page 3, August 3, 1492 : " Steered southward until sunset under a strong sea-breeze, making 
 60 miles, which are 15 leagues." 
 
 On pp. 3-4 is this note of Navarrete : " Columbus used Italian miles, which are shorter than 
 the Spanish, thus four of the former and three of the latter make a league." 
 
59 
 
 I notice that writers multiply the leagues of Columbus by 3 and call the product a geograph 
 ical mile. My search for accuracy, and to see where the multiplier 3 was obtained, is not con 
 clusive. Hear- Admiral John Rodgers, superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, 
 after giving the subject some investigation, is of opinion that the ancient Roman or Italian mile was 
 1,614 English yards. An article in the Penny Cyclopedia (Mile and League) written by Augustus 
 De Morgan, late professor of mathematics in University College, London, calls the ancient Italian 
 mile 1,614 English yards. Hum bold t discusses the subject of leagues, miles, and degrees in his 
 llistory of the Seic Continent (note, vol. ii, p. 216) without bringing their length to any undisputed 
 measure. So with Pigafetta Treatise on Navigation, p. 216. 
 
 Martin Cortes, Breve Compendia tie la Sphcra, tOc., Seville, 1551, English translation, 1561> 
 folio xix, has this table : 
 
 4 grains of barley make a finger. 
 4 fingers a hand or palm. 
 
 4 hands a foot. 
 
 5 feet a geometrical passus. 
 
 2 steps make a passus. 
 
 125 passus a furlong, or stadium (old English furlongs long)('). 
 8 furlongs one mile. 
 1 mile is 1,000 passus. 
 
 3 miles one league; in Germany longer leagues; 
 France, 15 leagues to one degree ; 
 
 Spain, 16 leagues and 17^ for a degree of the Great Circle. 
 Pedro de Medina, Arte de Navega, Valladolid, 1545, prefers 4 miles to a league. 
 Pigafetta says, " shore leagues 3 miles ; nautical, 4." 
 
 On the 9th of December, 1402, Columbus was at the present Bay of Acul, Hayti. The journal 
 reads Navarrete, vol. i, p. 84 : Este pnerto tiene en la loca mil pasos, ques un ouarto de legua 
 " The harbor here is about a thousand paces, or a quarter of a league wide at the mouth." It is 
 evident that with Las Casas 4,000 "pasos" was a nautical league. By using the table above and 
 the note below, this league is found to be 20000.64 English feet. 
 
 Since the Italian mile of Admiral Rodgers and Professor De Morgan is 1,614 yards, or 4,842 
 feet, and Columbus called four of these a league, this was 19,368 English feet, which differs only 
 632.64 feet from that derived from Las Casas's remark and Martin Cortes's table. 
 
 In the computations of this paper the mile of Columbus is 1,614 yards or 4,842 English 
 feet, and his league 6,456 yards or 19,368 English feet. For the geographical or nautical mile or 
 knot, I have adopted Clarke's estimate of one minute of arc on the equator, rejecting a small deci 
 mal. This is 2,029 yards or 6,087 English feet. Where there is an omission to designate the kind 
 of mile this is the one meant. I have tried to prove these measures by comparing them with some 
 of the distances given in the journal, but the result is unsatisfactory. Allowing 3 leagues de, 
 parture from St. Sebastian (Gomera), he sailed, according to his log, 1,111 leagues to Guanahani- 
 = 1178.33 of Clarke's leagues, or 3,535 nautical miles, 3,458 on a straight course. Cat Island is 
 the farthest landing ascribed to him. It is 3,141 miles from Goinera, an overrun of 317 miles. 
 The Grand Turk is the nearest, 2,834 miles ; a difference of 624. 
 
 In Dr. Chanca's narrative of the second voyage of Columbus, Navarrete, vol. i, p. 200, the 
 distance sailed from Ferro to the first land, Dominica, is called 800 leagues, 2545.5 nautical miles. 
 The true distance is 2,529. He remarks that it is 300 more between Ferro and Cadiz, equal to 
 954.6 nautical miles, but the true distance is 774. 
 
 (') Modern Metrology, by Jackson, London : 
 
 Page 41. " The present value of the English furlong adapted to the English statue mile a modern arrangement 
 is 132 paces, but as the old London mile of 1,000 paces was the local form of the Koman mile, its former value was* 125 
 paces." 
 
 Page 66. "Old London mile = 1,000 paces = 5, 000 feet = .9470 mile" of 5,280 feet. This would make the old 
 London mile 5000.16 English feet. 
 
60 
 
 December 5, 1492, the journal has 120 leagues 381.8 miles for the distance he coasted Cuba. 
 From Boca de Guajaba, where he probably turned, to Cape May si, the coast line is 244 miles. In 
 giving a summary of his first voyage to Luis de Santangel, Navarrete, vol. i, p. 1C8, Columbus wrote 
 that he followed the coast of Cuba for 107 leagues 340.5 miles and the coast of la Espafiola for 
 178 " grandes leguas." If these are like the other leagues they equal 500.3 miles. The true distance, 
 along the coast-line of Hayti, between St. Nicolas Mole and Samaua Bay, is 286 miles. Andres 
 Berualdes, Mass. Hist. Col., vol. viii, 3d series, p. 6, said that Columbus went 88 leagues 280 miles 
 in a straight line from west to east, along Hayti. The navigator of these shores still finds the same 
 currents and baffling winds ; but he is spared such errors of distance, because of the perfection of 
 chronometers and of nautical instruments. 
 
 Columbus was very correct in estimating the short runs. He called it ten leagues from 
 Navidad to Isabella, on the north side of Hayti. This is the true distance. Considering the guess 
 work in the distances among the Bahamas, he was surprisingly accurate, as I have shown in the 
 discussion. 
 
 Taking the mile of Columbus at 4,842 feet, his estimate of the circumference of the globe was 
 16227.3 nautical miles. Clarke's circumference, at the equator, is 21,600 nautical miles, each 
 6 J87.ll English feet. The earth wtts- larger around by 33 per cent, than Columbus believed. 
 
 ^ 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 VARIATION OF THE COMPASS IN 1492. 
 
 In Captain Becher's Landfall of Columbus, Appendix, p. 331, is this: "In laying down the 
 track of Columbus from the Crooked Island group, named in the chart the Fragrant Isles, from the 
 journal of the Admiral, it becomes evident from his courses and distances, run as far as Cuba, that 
 it was necessary to allow a considerable amount of variation. In his first voyage he mentioned in 
 his journal that he found above a point of westerly variation, on a meridian a hundred leagues 
 west of the Azores, and in his third voyage, when he is on the coast of Paria, he also mentions 
 having found, to the surprise of the pilots, above a point and a half. And now that his courses 
 and distances run to an anchorage in the bank specified as being at the distance of five leagues 
 from the Arena isles, and from thence to Cuba, it may be safely said that the variation which he 
 found there in 1492 amounted to little short of two points westerly." 
 
 All that Columbus wrote in respect to the deviation of the needles referred to his observations 
 on the Atlantic during his first voyage. Navarrete, 1st edition, vol. i, p. 8, September 13, 1492, 
 Thursday: "On that day, at nightfall, the needles north wested, and in the morning they north - 
 wested somewhat ;" page 9, September 17, 1492, Monday: " The pilots [mates] took the north [star] 
 marking it, and found that the needles north wested a full point, and the sailors feared and were 
 troubled, but did not tell why. The Admiral was aware of it, and ordered that they should again 
 mark the north [star] at dawn, and they found that the needles were all right; the cause was that 
 the star which appears moves and not the needles;" p. 15, September 30, 1492, Sunday: "NOTE. 
 That the stars called las guardias( 1 ), at nightfall, are close to the arm in the west, and at dawn they 
 are in the line below the arm to the northeast, so that it seems that during the whole night they do 
 not advance more than three lines, or nine hours, and this every night: this is what the Admiral 
 says here. Also at nightfall the needles northwest one point, and at dawn they are with the star 
 exactly; from which it appears that the star moves as do the other stars, and the needles always 
 demand the truth;" p. 254: in the letter of Columbus to his sovereigns, giving a narrative of his 
 third voyage : " I remarked that from north to south in traversing these hundred leagues from said 
 islands [one hundred leagues west of the meridian of the Azores], the needles of the compass, which 
 had hitherto northeasted, northwested a full point of the compass, and this took place from the 
 time when we reached that line;" and p. 256: "For in sailing thence one hundred leagues west of 
 
 ( l ) Gtiarclias name given to two pf the most brilliant stars of the constellation Ursa Minor. Dominguez, Span 
 ish Dictionary, 
 
61 
 
 the meridian of the Azores the ships go on rising smoothly toward the sky, and the weather was 
 felt to be milder on account of which mildness the needle shifts one point of the compass, and the 
 farther we went the more the needle northwested, this elevation producing the variation of the 
 circle which the north star describes with las guardas." These last two extracts were written 
 during his third voyage, but they refer obviously to what took place on the first. 
 
 On the 13th September, 1492, Columbus had run 227 leagues 722.3 miles due west from Go- 
 mera, when he discovered that the compasses had westerly variation. By the 17th he had gone 136 
 leagues 432.2 miles more on the same course, when the observation of the pilots showed a full 
 point west variation. At dawn, however, under the direction of the Admiral, they again took the 
 bearing of the north star and found that the needles were "all right." The abridger does not give 
 the words of the Admiral, he interprets them, and they are hardly intelligible. Could Columbus 
 have tampered with the compass- card to allay the fears of his crew, as he did at Sardinia to get 
 his vessel to Tunis (Appendix A) I By September 30 he had sailed 295 leagues 940.2 miles 
 additional; total run from Gomera of 2094.7 miles west, during which he had made but four miles 
 of southing. 
 
 In the letter of Columbus to his sovereigns, quoted above, we have his own words, clear enough 
 as to the deviation of his needles, but not in regard to the cause. He wrote that they changed from 
 easterly to westerly on a meridian one hundred leagues 318.2 miles west of the meridian of the 
 Azores, and thence west the variation increased the farther he went. The meridian of the Azores 
 
 * 
 
 is, probably, that of Corvo, the most western one. The southeast end is in latitude 39 41' north, 
 longitude 31 07' west from Greenwich. 
 
 Captain Becher has evidently taken for granted that by the time Columbus got to the 
 Crooked Islands, which are 972 miles west a little south, of the position of September 30, the 
 deviation had gone on increasing so as to be " little short of two points westerly." Columbus weut 
 fjur times to the West Indies, but he never mentions any deviation there. As already stated, he 
 refers to the north westing of the needles in the Atlantic Ocean after he had crossed the meridian of 
 
 the Azores. Bancroft Library 
 
 If the variation alleged by Captain Becher is applied to Columbus's courses across the Atlantic 
 his track would go south of the Bahamas. Captain Becher steers Columbus S. W. from Watling 
 to Bum Cay. Two points west variation will take a vessel, at least, six miles east of it. He 
 steers him west from the north shore of Kum Cay to the northwest end of Long Island. Two 
 points west variation would put the vessels on shore eleven miles southeast of the cape. From 
 Bird Kock to the anchorage on Columbus Bank, where Captain Becher anchors Columbus, the 
 course is S. W. by W. But Captain Becher, pp. 160, 161, says that Columbus steered W. S. W. ; so 
 here he let him have/one pomt^Ojilj^Fwest variation, and yet he anchors him 19 miles too far to the 
 eastward. If he had given him the two points he says should be allowed /here, the vessels would 
 have made S. W., clearing the bank and going out of sight of the "Sand Islands." Columbus 
 anchored south of these islands (South Bagged). From there Port Nipe bears S. f E.; a course 
 S. S. W., allowiog two points west variation, would not fetch it by three-quarters of a point; and, 
 in addition, there would be the strong westerly current to allow for. It is probable that Captain 
 Becher got his variation from Ferdinand's Discovery of the West Indies by Christopher Columbux. 
 The original of this narrative is lost, and the various versions have no standing among scholars 
 where the statements are unsupported. In an English translation, Collection of Voyages and Travels 
 by Churchill; London, 1732, vol. ii, p. 587, is this: "Yet the Admiral says he could not from 
 this time give such an account as he would wish, because through overmuch watching his eyes 
 were inflamed and therefore he was forced to take most of his observations from the sailors and 
 pilots. He also says that this same night, being Thursday, the 16th of August [1498], the com 
 passes which till now had not varied, did at this time, at least a point and a half, and some of them 
 two points, wherein there could be no mistake because several persons had always watched to ob 
 serve it. Admiring at this and grieved that he had not the opportunity of following the course 
 of the continent, he held on N. W. till on Monday, the 20th of August, he came to an anchor between 
 Beaca and Hispauiola." These alleged observations were taken near the island of Margarita, 
 on the coast of Paria. They are worthless on their face, because, without moving, the variation 
 went from nothing to two points. Ferdinand refers to the third voyage of his father; but 
 
CLvmtt^- 
 
 62 
 
 have quoted^Columbus's own words of the same voyage, from his letter to the king and queen, in 
 which he is not speaking of the variation on the coast of Parla, but of that he found on the A tlantic 
 during his first voyage. 
 
 The compass-cards used by Columbus were divided into points, instead of points and quarters, 
 as now. Sights for taking bearings were not introduced until the next century. It appears from 
 the journal, that he depended upon the north star to find his variation. In 1402 the polar distance 
 of this star was 3 28' ; now it is 1 20'. There is no doubt it that he used the astrolabe and com 
 pass to get its bearing, but the difference of 5 and 10, Navarrete, vol. i, p. 255, proves that accu 
 rate observations for variation were impossible in 1492. His course across the Atlantic, worked 
 from his log, with no variation allowed, is W. 2 49' S. The course from Gomera to Turk Island is 
 W. 8 1' S. Conceding that he landed at this the most southern island ascribed to him, he made 
 5 12' southing, which might have been due to the southwest current, thatis^ is constant between 
 the Canaries and West Indies, rather than to west variation. The courses from Samana or At- 
 wood Cay to Cuba have no allowance for variation. 
 
 When Columbus, on the 5th of December, 1492, stood across from Cuba to Nicolas Mole, Hayti, 
 he gave the course S. E. by E. If he started from an offing of 4 miles to the northeast of Cuba, 
 given on this chart, the true course is S. E. | E. If he steered S. E. by E., he would be set as much 
 as three-quarters of a point to the southward by the current which flows S. W. in the "Windward 
 passage." 
 
 August, 1498 third voyage Columbus sailed from the west side of Margarita Island for the 
 city of St. Domingo, in Hayti. The true course and distance are N. 35 W. 594 miles, but he brought 
 up at Beata, 110 miles west of this city, N. 46 24' W. 558 miles from Margarita. He ascribed his 
 falling to leeward solely to the current; Irving's Columbus, revised edition, vol. ii, p. 124. 
 
 The equatorial current in the Caribbean Sea sets always to the westward ; on the coast of 
 South America it is 1 to 2 miles an hour; in mid-sea, about one mile, or about an average of one 
 mile each hour to a vessel standing across. He was five days making the passage (120 hours), 
 during which he was set to the west 110 miles. On his last voyage he fell to leeward also in cross 
 ing this sea, and it was almost fatal to him. Nowhere does he attribute his westing to any cause 
 but the true one currents. If the compass was flying about as Ferdinand wrote, or if there was 
 any deviation in the West Indies worth noticing, a seaman as accurate as Columbus in noting 
 physical things should have recorded it. 
 
 Expressing my doubts of the correctness of Captain Becher's allowance for variation to the 
 Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, he called upon his assistant, 
 Mr. C. A. Schott, for a scientific examination of the subject. The result was a paper written by 
 him, dated April 8, 1881, which will appear in the report of the United States Coast and Geodetic 
 Survey for 1880, appendix 19. Mr. Schott's deductions are that the deviation in 1492 in the Bahamas 
 did not exceed one-quarter of a point west. 
 
 For the reasons stated here I have allowed fet no deviation of the needle on any course in 1492. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 THE LOG OF COLUMBUS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, 1492. 
 
 Las Casas's abridgment of this is in the first volume of Navarrete, pp. 1-166. Columbus said, 
 in his prologue: "I have decided to write daily and minutely everything that during that cruise 
 I should do and see and how much I should run. * * * In addition to the marking each 
 night my progress during the day, and each day the run made during the night, to construct a 
 new chart," &c. 
 
 Pages 3-4: " We left Friday, 3d day of August, 1492, from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock ; we 
 steered under a strong sea-breeze until sunset to the south sixty miles, which are fifteen leagues ; 
 afterwards southwest and south by west, which was the course for the Canaries." 
 
 I am informed that the Spanish naval service reject days of the week, and use those of the 
 
63 
 
 month only, and that their sea day begins at noon of the civil day. Until 1847 the English and 
 United States naval service kept the usual civil day in port, but at sea the day began at noon, 
 twelve hours before the civil day. 
 
 It is not clear what day Columbus used. His prologue seeins to refer to the ancient sacred 
 day of the Jews, or that of the Church, beginning at sunset. The Athenians, Chinese, Italians, 
 and others reckoned by this. Beading, carefully, all his log, I find days which might furnish argu 
 ments for his use of the present civil day, or that he might have counted either from noon to noon 
 or sunset to sunset. In this paper I shall consider that he used the present way, midnight to mid 
 night. The island of Gomera, from which Columbus sailed, is 14 by 11 miles, nearly a round mass 
 of mountain, rising to 4,400 feet. The harbor of St. Sebastian lies a little south of the east end, 
 and by "Bowditch's Navigator" is placed in latitude 28 6' north, longitude 17 8' west from Green 
 wich. After he fead. left this port he was becalmed until Saturday night, when the first course 
 "logged" is W. Since some departure must be allowed to clear the land, I have put down 3 
 leagues S. W. W., barely enough to enable him to begin a W. course. I do not know whether 
 he went south or north of Gomera ; I make his course south, because the prevailing winds there 
 are from the northward and eastward. 
 
 The most western island of the Canaries is the one called Hierro by the Spanish, and Ferro 
 by the Portuguese. The parallel of 27 44' north, and the meridian of 18 west from Greenwich, 
 pass through the middle of the island. This was the "prime meridian" from Ptolemy until the 
 last century. Hierro is 34 miles S. "W. by W. "W. from Gomera. Columbus left St. Sebastian 
 Thursday morning, September 6,1492. "Directing his course for the voyage * * * he was 
 becalmed all day and night." * * * 
 
 September 7 : " The whole of Friday, and on Saturday until three hours after nightfall, he was 
 becalmed." * * * 
 
 September 8 : "On Saturday three hours after nightfall it began to blow from the northeast, 
 and he resumed his course to the west," &c. 
 
 His voyage began three hours after sunset about 9 h 36 m p. m. Saturday, September 8. The 
 following ai e the dates, courses steered, and distances : 
 
 Date. 
 
 Courses. 
 
 Distance in 
 leagues. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 September 6 to 8, allow 
 
 S.W.4W 
 West 
 
 3 
 9 
 49 
 60 
 40 
 33 
 33 
 20 
 27 
 39 
 50 
 55 
 25 
 7.5 
 13 
 30 
 
 This is the allowance for departure. 
 His predetermined course. 
 
 S8 
 >t 
 
 7> \o 
 
 
 M & 
 
 *~v 
 
 Baffling winds and calms. 
 Contrary wind. 
 
 Some calm and high sea. 
 
 Steered S. W., supposing he saw land. 
 Same reason for going S. W. 
 
 ' 
 
 Sunday, September 
 Sunday, September 
 
 Sunday, September 
 
 9 
 
 do 
 
 10 
 
 ....do 
 
 11 
 
 do 
 
 12 
 
 ....do 
 
 13 
 
 ....do 
 
 14 
 
 ....do 
 
 15 
 
 ....do 
 
 16 
 
 ....do 
 
 17 
 
 ....do 
 
 18 
 
 do 
 
 19 
 
 do 
 
 20 
 21 
 
 W.byN 
 West 
 
 22 
 23 
 
 W.N.W 
 (N.W 
 
 <! N.W.by N 
 
 
 24 
 
 ( West 
 
 22 
 14.5 
 4.5 
 17 
 16 
 15 
 24 
 14 
 24 
 
 West 
 
 zr> 
 
 JWest 
 
 S.AV 
 
 26 
 
 t West 
 
 is. w 
 
 27 
 
 "West 
 
 28 
 
 .. do 
 
 29... 
 
 ...do.. 
 
64 
 
 Date. 
 
 Courses. 
 
 Distance in 
 leagues. 
 
 Ill-marks. 
 
 Sunday, September 30 
 
 West 
 
 14 
 
 
 October 1 
 
 ...do . . 
 
 25 
 
 &* 
 
 2 
 
 do 
 
 39 
 
 
 3 
 
 do ... 
 
 47 
 
 
 4 
 
 ...do 
 
 63 
 
 
 5 
 
 . do 
 
 57 
 
 
 
 
 do 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 t West ... 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I W.S.W 
 
 5 
 
 Steered W. S. W. because flocks of birds (lew in tint direction 
 
 g 
 
 W S W 
 
 11 5 
 
 
 
 {S."W 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 W.byN 
 W.S.W 
 
 5 
 20.5 
 
 Baffling winds. 
 
 10 -. 
 
 W.S.W 
 c W.S.W 
 
 59 
 
 27 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 {West 
 
 17 
 
 Changed bis course to west at sunset- gives no reison for it 
 
 
 i West 
 
 5.5 
 
 
 Friday October 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ ..do 
 
 2 
 
 Discovered land at 2 a. m., two leagues distant 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,111 
 
 Columbus's leagues. 
 
 Allowing for the detention by calms in the Canaries, departure, and difference of time, he was 
 33J days from Gomera to Guanahani. 
 
 In the above log I have not copied his daily remarks during the voyage, for they have no bear 
 ing upon this discussion. I have, however, noted that he never deviated from his predetermined 
 west course, unless constrained by head winds, baffling winds, or the strong appearance of laud 
 to the southward and westward. And the student will take notice that, notwithstanding the 
 observations in regard to the westerly variation, on the 13th, the 17th, and the 30th of September, 
 the Admiral did not alter his courses in order to make true west, but that he held firmly to icest 
 by compass. 
 
 The following is an abstract or "traverse table" of his courses and distances across the 
 Atlantic : 
 
 Courses by compasses. 
 
 Columbia's 
 leagues. 
 
 Nautical 
 leagues. 
 
 Nautical 
 miles. 
 
 Difference of lati 
 tude. 
 
 Departure. 
 
 V. 
 
 S. 
 
 E. 
 
 W. 
 
 S W JW 
 
 3 
 
 882.5 
 12.5 
 
 3.2 
 936 
 13.3 
 55.1 
 40.3 
 130.4 
 
 9.5 
 2,808 
 40 
 165.5 
 121 
 391 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 7.3 
 2, 808 
 39.2 
 152.9 
 85.6 
 361 
 
 West 
 
 
 
 W bvN 
 
 7.8 
 63.3 
 
 
 
 W N W 
 
 52 
 38 
 123 
 
 
 
 S. W 
 
 85.6 
 
 
 "W S W . 
 
 
 149.4 
 
 
 Total . . 
 
 
 
 
 1,111 
 
 1, 178. 35 
 
 3,535 
 
 71.1 
 
 241 
 
 
 3,454 
 
 
 
 If this table is worked out by " Mercator's Sailing^' in " Bowditch's Navigator," which is not so 
 accurate as "plotting" each day on the chart, but is near enough for practical purposes, then his 
 course and distance, by dead reckoning, are W. 2 49' S., 3,458 nautical miles. 
 
 From Gomera to Grand Turk the course and distance are, W. 8 1' S., 2,834 miles ; Gomera 
 to Mariguana, W. 6 37' S., 3,032 miles ; Gomera to Watling, W. 4 38' S., 3,105 miles ; Gomera 
 to Cat, W. 4 20' S.j 3,141 miles; and from Gomera to Samana (Atwood's Cay), W.5 37' S., 3,071 
 miles. 
 
 He overran the distance- between Gomera and Grand Turk by G24 miles; Gomera and Mari 
 guana by 426 miles ; Gomera and Watling by 353 miles ; Gomera and Cat by 317 miles ; and Go 
 mera and Samana by 387 miles. These overruns might have been due to the current between the 
 
65 
 
 Canaries and the West Indies, which always sets to the southward and westward in mid-ocean, and 
 more westerly, near the West Indies. It varies from 9 to 30 miles per day, according to the force of 
 the trade-winds. 
 
 It increases onr estimate of the determined spirit of Columbus that he " logged " believed that 
 he had actually made 3,535 miles directly into the " Sea of darkness," exceeding by 500 miles the 
 distance between New York and Liverpool. 
 
 In 1492 latitude was found by meridian altitude of the sun, or by the north star. 
 
 Major, introduction, p. li, has it, that about 1480, " by the joint labors of Martin Behaim and 
 the Prince's two physicians, Eoderigo and Josef, * * * the astrolabe was rendered serviceable 
 for the purposes of navigation, as by its use the seaman was enabled to ascertain his distance from 
 the equator by the altitude of the sun." 
 
 Humboldt's Cosmos, translated by Ott6, London, 1849, vol. ii, p. 670: "The astrolabe described 
 by Eaymond Lully, in his Arte de Navegar, was almost two hundred years older than that of Martin 
 Behaim." Second volume of Cosmos, p. 630, he speaks of Martin Behaim's invention as " perhaps 
 only a simplification of the meteoroscope of his friend Begiomontannes." 
 
 Bosses Columbus, 2d edition, Paris, 1825, p. 151 : " The astrolabe received in the 13th century 
 its form which made it universally used. Andelone del Nero, of Genoa, wrote upon it, and pub 
 lished it at Ferrara, in 1477." 
 
 Chaucer's treatise on the astrolabe, 1391, edited by Walter W. Skeat, London, 1872, p. xxiv, 
 says that it was well known in India and Persia, by the Arabs, and spoken of by Marco Polo. On 
 p. xxxiii is a description of its powers, among which are the latitude of any place by two obser 
 vations of the pole star, or any circumpolar star, or sun's meridian altitude; can be used to discover 
 approximately the four cardinal points of the compass, and in what part of the heavens the sun 
 rises, &c. 
 
 The longitude was gotten by "dead reckoning." The speed of a vessel was estimated by the 
 eye. There is no mention of the u log-line" until the next century. 
 
 The time was kept by the " sand-glass." 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 THE VESSELS OF COLUMBUS. ,. 
 
 Very little is known in regard to the vessels that took the first discoverers to the New World. 
 Clark's Maritime Discoveries, vol. i, p. xxvii: "The chief characteristics of ships of Da Gaina's 
 age (close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century) were height of poop and prow, 
 squareness of lower yards, taunt masts, and small round tops." 
 
 In Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1732, vol. ii, is Ferdinand Columbus's 
 history (narrative) of the discovery of the West Indies by his father. On p. 586: "The Admiral 
 durst proceed no farther in his ship, which required three fathoms water, being of a hundred tun.'? 
 This refers to the date of August 10, 1498, third voyage, off the coast of Paria. Irving's Columbus, 
 revised edition, vol. i, p. 123: "Peter Martyr, contemporary of Columbus, says: Only one was 
 decked, built up high at the prow and stern, with forecastles at the prow and cabins at the stern." 
 
 Columbus's journal, October 11 : "The Admiral at 10 o'clock at night standing on the castle of 
 the poop;" farther on, he "requested and admonished them to keep a sharp lookout at the fore 
 castle." In the History of the Catholic Sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabela, by Bernaldez, an extract 
 of which is printed in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. viii, third series, pp. 52-53 : 
 "They found themselves in only 2 fathoms of water; * * * the vessels being often 
 aground. * * * They found 2 fathoms and a cubit( ! ) of water and room for the caravels to 
 remain, and they anchored." These extracts refer to the second voyage of the Admiral, when he 
 was among those many islands on the south side of Cuba, which he called the "Queen's Gar 
 dens." On this voyage he had three large ships and fourteen caravels; but in February, 1494, 
 
 (') Cubit is generally stated to be 18 English inches old Paris foot=12.789. F. A. P. Barnard, in Johnson's Uni 
 versal Cyclopaedia. 
 
 App. 189 
 
66 
 
 be sent twelve back to Spain, from Navidad, and he pursued his voyage with the caravels (small 
 vessels), as mentioned by Bernaldez. A. Jal, Arclieologie Navale, Paris, 1840, vol. ii, p. 237: "Ton 
 nage of vessels of the fifteenth century voyaging to the Canaries were 90 tuns (about), supposes a 
 length of keel of 70 to 80 (French feet)( 1 )." On p. 229 he deduces the length and breadth of Ooluiu- 
 bus's vessels, first quoting from Las Casas's Narrative in Navarrete, vol. i, p. 70: "Tuesday 27th, 9th 
 month, 1492. This mouth of a stream was of the breadth of 5 (brasses French) brazas, which Avas 
 in dimensions the length of the boat." Then he adds: "A boat of 5 brazes would suppose a vessel 
 of 27 m 77 C total length, and 8 m 12 amidships, according to Venetian treatise in Memoir 5." 
 
 On referring to Navarrete, p. 70, November 27, 1492, we find the following to be the true rend 
 ering of the day Jal speaks of: " After the vessel had anchored the Admiral jumped into the boat 
 in order to sound the port, which is like a small porringer; and when he was opposite the mouth 
 at the south he found an entrance to a river which was so wide that a galley could enter therein, 
 and in such a manner that it was not seen until it was reached, and entered into at about one boat's 
 length it had five fathoms and eight in depth." 
 
 Fincham's History of Naval Architecture, p. 34, date referred to, 1498: "Cabot * * * was 
 authorized to take six ships out of any haven in England, of the burthen of 200 tuns and under." 
 
 Page 44: "The largest of Drake's vessels, 1577, was the Pelican of 100 tuns burthen." 
 
 Review of the Laws of Tonnage, by G. Moorsom, London, 1853, p. 1 : " Whatever was originally 
 intended by tonnage has been, and still is, the only term by which we form an idea of the magni 
 tude, or, rather the dimensions of vessels. A law to be established for tonnage admeasurement 
 would have reference only to cargo, and that in its simplest consideration, namely, the greatest 
 weight which a vessel could safely carry." 
 
 Moorsom says that the first official measurements of vessels were of those carrying coal, and 
 the date 1422 ; that in 1694 a government official marked the draft with nails on the stem and stern, by 
 first loading to those marks by a dead weight of tin or lead. In 1720 the English Parliament, under 
 the influence of competition of the tonnage dues being evaded by small vessels bringing spirits 
 into the kingdom, passed this general law for tonnage : " The length of the keel^so much as she 
 trends on the ground) is to be multiplied by the inside midship breadth and the whole divided by 
 94 : the quotient is to be considered the true contents of the tonnage." By acts of 1773 the extreme 
 or external breadth was substituted for the internal breadth ; the length of the keel to be three- 
 fifths of the extreme breadth, deducted from the length from the front of the stem to the aft side 
 of the stern post. This law remained in force until the admeasurement of the cubic contents was 
 substituted, by England in 1835-1855, and the United States in 1864. 
 
 In the fifth volume of Pepys's Miscellany, p. 57, date 1652, the dimensions of the Greyhound 
 are given: Length of keel, 60 feet; breadth, 20 feet 3 inches; depth, 10 feet; burthen, 120 tons; men, 
 80; guns, 18. This vessel was in the old war which began in 1652, and in Pepys's Memoirs relat 
 ing to the state of the navy in 1688, this vessel was then at sea. 
 
 If we apply the act of Parliament of 1720 to the dimensions of this vessel, subtracting 1.65 feet 
 from breadth as an allowance for thickness of sides, to obtain inside breadth, the result is 120 tons, 
 which shows that the act of 1720 only confirmed the usage of 1652. 
 
 Applying this act to Jal's vessel of 27 m 77 length, and 8 m 12 C breadth, we have a vessel 91 
 feet long, 75 feet keel, 26^- beam, and 13 feet hold, measuring 254 tons, manifestly too large for 
 Coluinbus's flag ship. 
 
 Spain exported wine in the fifteenth century, as now, and the old English expression of a tun 
 of wine meant two pipes, 252 gallons, each gallon=231 cubic inches. Taking a gallon of wine at 
 8.33 pounds, this makes a ton only 2,099 pounds, but the difference to reach 2,240 was probably an 
 allowance for the interstices of the casks. 
 
 If the ship used by Columbus on his first voyage was called either by him or his contemporaries, 
 in round numbers, 100 tons, it was probably the expression of the dimensions of vessels which traded 
 to England with wine and paid tonnage dues there, which was a specific sum for every tun of wine 
 imported into the kingdom. Therefore, if the act of 1720, and Pepys's dimensions of the Greyhound, 
 
 (!) Cubit is generally stated to be 18 English inches; old Paris foot=12.789. F. A. P. Barnard, in Johnson's Uni 
 versal Cyclopcedia. 
 
67 
 
 1652, which agree, are used to find the dimensions of the hundred-ton vessel ascribed to Columbus, 
 we get: length on deck, 63 feet; length of keel, 51 feet; extreme breadth, 20 feet; inside breadth for 
 tonnage, 18 feet 6 inches ; depth of hold, 10 feet, and draft of water, 10 feet 6 inches. These 
 make a vessel of lOOff tons. 
 
 The rig of the Santa Maria is mentioned in the journal of October 24 (Navarrete, p. 39, and 
 # ante, p. 3?i) and this is all the information I can find bearing upon the subject. Columbus wrote : 
 " I carried all the sails of the ship, the main sail, tttttk two bonnets, the fore sail, and sprit-sail, 
 and the mizen, and the main top sail." This omission of a foretop sail seems strange to our nautical 
 ideas, but vessels similarly rigged are to be seen on the Ortelius' map, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 
 Antwerp, 1570. Sprit-sails have been dispensed with in modern times, only since the steeve of 
 bowsprits has been lessened and the size of jibs increased. 
 
 I finished a cruise around the world in the United States brigantine Dolphin, which had a 
 length from front of the stem, under bowsprit, to inside of stern post of 88 feet; breadth of beam 
 outside, 25 feet; inside, 23; depth of hold, 10 feet; draft aft, 10 feet; forward 8 feet, including the 
 keel, which was 1 foot 6 inches. By Pepy's dimensions and the act of 1720, the Dolphin would be 
 205 tons. Her armament was two 9-pounders and eight 24-pound carronades. Officers and crew, 
 70. Foretop masthead 71 feet 6 inches above the water, and maintop masthead 81 feet 6 inches. 
 
 1 assume for the masthead lookout of the admiral's ship a height of 60 feet above the sea. 
 
 His vessel probably carried four anchors and they all used hemp cables. February 20, at the 
 Azores, returning from his first voyage, he mentions that the cables were chafed off by the rocks 
 and he put to sea. Fourth voyage Major, p. 194: "I anchored at an island where I lost at one 
 stroke three anchors. * * * The single^} anchor that remained to me." 
 
 They had pumps Major, p. 195: "With three pumps, and the use of pots and kettles, we 
 could scarcely, with all hands, clear the water that came into the ship." 
 
 Rudders. The ancient way to steer was with two large paddles, one thrust through a port 
 . cG~ on each quarter/ The hinged rudder had come into use in Columbus's time. (See figure of a ship 
 with both, in Peregrinatio ad Terram Sanctam, of Breydenbach, Mentz, 1486.) 
 
 Boats. From a careful study of the narrative and words of Columbus I infer that his vessel 
 and also the caravels each had but one boat. October 14 (ante, p. 14): "At dawn I ordered the 
 boat of the ship." When his vessel was wrecked, on Christmas eve, 1492, the journal of December 
 25 says that the boat was got out to lay an anchor astern, but deserted to the Mna, whose com 
 mander sent it back with his own to render assistance. It appears from the journal of January 
 
 2 that the Admiral left to the colony of Navidad, among other things from the Santa Maria, "the 
 boat of the ship." In the narrative of Diego Mendez Major, p. 220 Mendez wrote with respect to 
 the capture of the boats of the caravels in a river in Veragua, that the three vessels of the Admiral 
 were at sea without boats, which would have been unlikely if any one had carried a spare boat. 
 On his fourth voyage Major, p. 177 : "The ship which we had the greatest fear for had put out 
 to sea for safety and reached the island of Gallega, having lost her boat and a greater part of her 
 provisions." When he was at the Azores, February 19, on his return voyage, the Portuguese 
 governor seized the boat and half the crew of the MSa, who were on shore at their devotions, and 
 the Admiral got under way in Ms vessel to open a view of the town, to see what had become of it. 
 
 There is a decided difference of opinion in enumerating the number of persons with Columbus 
 on his first voyage. Ferdinand Columbus wrote that 90 went in the three vessels; Peter Martyr 
 and Giustiniani, 120 ; Jal, p. 228, that he left at Bohio 55 men, and returned to Spain with about 
 125, making 180 in all ; Las Casas, Navarrete, vol. i, pp. 121-122, that he left in the island of Es- 
 paiiola, which the Indians called Bohio, thirty-nine men ; Diego de Arana, Pedro Gutierrez, Eod- 
 rigo Escovedo, " with all the powers he held from their Highnesses." A notary and constable, 
 carpenter and caulker, gunner and machinist, cooper, physician, and tailor, " and all, he said, that 
 men of the sea." 
 
 This enumeration makes 48 ; but the true one is probably given in Navarrete, vol. 2, p. 19, note: 
 40 men and the 3 lieutenants, or 43 in all. In the journal of December 26, 1492, we notice that 
 after the shipwreck many *of the crew asked the Admiral for permission to remain until his return 
 
 C 1 ) Italics by the writer. 
 
68 
 
 from Spain, ami on the 2d of January it is recorded tliat he left with thorn all the goods sent for 
 trafficking, and everything belonging to the wrecked vessel, besides biscuit and wine for a year, and 
 provisions. We learn from Major, p. 82, that his stores comprised biscuit, corn, wine, pork, and salt 
 beef. Bernaldez says^he took ten Indians with him to Spain. Martin Alonso Pinzon had deserted 
 with the Pinta before the shipwreck, and, since Columbus believed him to be on his way to Spain? 
 he acted as though he had only the little Nina with which to finish the voyage. In these circum 
 stances it is a reasonable belief that, on account of space, if for no other reason, he must have left 
 at Navidad at least as many persons as composed the crew of the wrecked vessel. 
 
 February 19, at the Azores, he sent half of the crew of the Nina on shore to perform a vow in 
 a church; one boat from this vessel, which was the smallest of his squadron, took all. This 
 implies that the crew were few. These facts persuade me to adopt the enumeration of Ferdinand 
 Columbus, 90 persons for the three vessels. The inscription in the pavement of the cathedral 
 of Seville is : Con tres galeras y 90 personas. 
 
 Neither Spain nor America has founded any enduring memorial to Christopher Columbus.