In this state of distress and danger, the admiral arrived at Cape Santa Cruz on the 18th of July, where he was entertained in a very friendly manner by the Indians, who brought him abundance of their bread made from grated roots, which they name cazabi48. They brought likewise a great deal of fish, and abundance of fruit, and other articles of their ordinary provisions, which proved a great relief to the exhausted mariners. The wind being contrary for going to Hispaniola, the admiral stood over to Jamaica on the 22d of July, and sailed along to the westwards close under the shore, the country being all along most delightful, and very fruitful, with excellent harbours at every league distance. All the coast was full of towns, whence the natives followed the ships in their canoes, bringing such provisions as they used, which were much better liked by our people than what they found in any of the other islands. The climate, air, and weather, was the same as in the other islands, for in this western part of Jamaica, there gathered every evening a storm of rain which lasted generally about an hour. This the admiral attributed to the great woods in these countries, as he knew that this was usual at first in the Canaries, Azores, and Madeira islands, whereas now that the woods in these islands are mostly cut down, there are not such great and frequent storms and heavy rains as formerly49. The admiral sailed along the coast of Jamaica, but was obliged by contrary winds to take shelter every night under the land, which appeared green, pleasant, fruitful, abounding in provisions, and so populous that he thought nothing could excel it, especially near a bay which he named De las Vacas, on account of nine islands close to the land. At this place the land was as high as any he had ever seen, insomuch that he believed it to reach above the regions in which the storms are bred. He estimated Jamaica to be 800 miles in compass; and when it was fully discovered, he computed it to be fifty leagues long by twenty leagues broad. Being much taken with the beauty of this island, he was much inclined to have made a longer stay to be fully informed of its nature; but the great want of provisions under which he laboured, and the crazy state of his vessels would not permit. Wherefore, as soon as the weather became a little fair, he sailed away to the westwards, and on Tuesday the 19th of August, he lost sight of that island, standing directly for Hispaniola and named the most easterly cape of Jamaica on the south coast Cabo del Farol.
On Wednesday the 20th of August, the admiral got sight of the south side of Hispaniola, and called the first point Cape St Michael, which is thirty leagues distant from the most easterly point of Jamaica; but through the ignorance of the sailors that Cape is now called Tiberoun. From this cape, on the 23d of August, a cacique came on board, who called the admiral by his name, and had some other Spanish words, from which circumstance he was convinced that this was the same land with Hispaniola. At the end of August, he anchored at an island called Alto Velo, and having lost sight of the other two ships, he caused some men to go on shore in that little island which was very high, but they were unable to see either of their consorts. When about to return on board, they killed eight sea wolves that lay asleep on the sand, and took abundance of pigeons and other birds; for that island being uninhabited, these animals were unaccustomed to the sight of men, and allowed themselves to be knocked down with sticks. They did the same on the two following days waiting for the ships, which had been missing ever since the 22d of August. At the end of six days they made their appearance, and all three proceeded to the island Beata, twelve leagues from Alto Velo. Hence they continued to coast along Hispaniola, in sight of a delightful country, which was a plain of about a mile broad, before the hills began to ascend, and so populous, that in one place there seemed to be a continued town for the length of a league; and in that plain there appeared a lake five leagues long from east to west. The people of the country having some knowledge of the Christians, came on board in their canoes, and said that some Spaniards from Isabella had been among them, and that they were all well, which news gave the admiral great satisfaction; and to the end that they too might receive intelligence of his return to the island, he ordered nine men to cross the island by way of the forts St Thomas and the Magdalen to Isabella.
Continuing his voyage eastwards, he sent the boats on shore for water, to a place where a great town appeared, when the Indians came out with bows and poisoned arrows, and with ropes in their hands, making signs to the Spaniards that they would bind them if they came on shore. But as soon as the boats came close to the beach they laid down their weapons, and offered to bring bread and water, and every thing they had, asking in their language for the admiral. Going from hence, they saw a strange fish in the sea as big as a whale, having a great shell on its neck like a tortoise, and bearing its head, as big as a hogshead, above the water, the tail was very long like a tunny fish, and it had two large fins on the sides. From the appearance of this fish and other signs, the admiral foresaw an approaching change of weather, and sought for some harbour to secure himself; and it pleased GOD that on the 15th of September, he discovered an island near the east part of Hispaniola named Adamanoi by the Indians, and the weather being very stormy, dropt anchor in the channel between it and Hispaniola, close to a small island which lies between both. That night he saw an eclipse of the moon, which he said varied five hours and twenty-three minutes from its time at Cadiz50, to the place where he then was. The bad weather, probably owing to the eclipse, lasted so long, that he was forced to remain at that anchorage till the 20th of the month, all the time under great anxiety for the other ships which were not able to get into the same place of security, but it pleased GOD to save them. Having rejoined the other caravels, they all sailed over to the eastern part of Hispaniola, and thence to a little island called Mona by the Indians, which lies between Hispaniola and St John de Boriquen.
The journal of the admiral breaks off at this island, and he does not inform us of his course from thence to Isabella; but only, that while going from Mona to St John, the great fatigues he had undergone, together with his own weakness and the want of proper food, brought on a violent malady, between a pestilential fever and a lethargy, which presently deprived him of his senses and memory; whereupon, all the people in the three caravels resolved to desist from the design he had then in hand of discovering all the islands in the Caribbean sea, and returned to Isabella, where they arrived on the 29th of September, five days afterwards51. This heavy sickness lasted during five months, but it pleased GOD to restore him afterwards to health. His illness was occasioned by the great sufferings he had gone through in this voyage, during which he had often not been able to sleep three hours in eight days, owing to the perilous nature of the navigation among innumerable islands and shoals; a degree of privation that seems almost impossible, were it not authenticated by himself and those who accompanied him.
On his return to Hispaniola, the admiral found there his brother Bartholomew Columbus whom he had sent, as formerly related, to treat with the king of England about the discovery of the Indies. On his return to Spain with the grant of all his demands, he learned at Paris from Charles king of France, that his brother the admiral had already made the discovery, and the king supplied him with an hundred crowns to enable him to prosecute his journey into Spain. He thereupon made all the haste he could to overtake the admiral in Spain; but on his arrival at Seville, he found that the admiral had gone out upon his second voyage with seventeen sail, as already related. Wherefore, to fulfil the orders which his brother had left for him at the beginning of 1494, he went to the court of their Catholic majesties at Valadolid, carrying my brother Don James Columbus and me along with him, as we had been appointed to serve as pages to Prince John. Immediately upon our arrival, their majesties sent for Don Bartholomew, and dispatched him with three ships to Hispaniola, where he served several years, as appears from the following memorandum which I found among his papers: "I served as captain from the 14th April 1494, till the 12th of March 1498, when the admiral set out for Spain, and then I began to act as governor till the 24th of August 1498, when the admiral returned from the discovery of Paria; after which, I again served as captain till the 11th of December 1500, when I returned to Spain." On his return from Cuba, the admiral appointed his brother governor of the Indies; though controversies afterwards arose on this subject, as their majesties alleged that they had not given authority to the admiral to make any such appointment. But to end this difference, their highnesses granted it a-new, under the title of adelantado, or lieutenant of the Indies, to my uncle Don Bartholomew.
48
This bread, which is called cassada or cassava in the British West Indies, is made from the roots of Manioca pounded or grated, and carefully pressed free from its juice, which is alleged to be poisonous. The process will be found minutely described in other parts of this collection. –E.
49
It is not competent in the bounds of a note to enter upon philosophical discussions. But it may be shortly mentioned that the regular evening rains can be easily accounted for upon Dr Huttons ingenious theory of rain. The heated land air loaded to saturation with water, by the periodical change of the land and sea breezes, meets and mixes with the colder sea air, likewise saturated. The reduced mean temperature of the mixture is no longer able to hold the same quantity of water in solution, and the superabundant quantity precipitates in rain. Hence likewise the prodigious rains in all warm latitudes at the changes of the monsoon. The observation of Columbus respecting clearing away the woods has been verified in several West India islands. –E.
50
The longitude of Cadiz is 6°18' W. from Greenwich. That of
51
Our author forgets what he had said a few pages before, that the admiral had previously resolved to return to Isabella, on account of wanting provisions to continue the voyage. –E.