The Admiral Gave His Men A Breathing Time In The Port Of Azua, To Recover
From The Fatigues Which They
Had encountered in the storm; and as it is
one of the usual diversions of seamen to fish when they
Have nothing else
to do, I shall make mention of two sorts of fish in particular which I
remember to have seen taken at that place, one of which was pleasant, and
the other wonderful. The first was a fish called Saavina, as big as half
an ordinary bull, which lay asleep on the surface of the water, and was
struck by a harpoon from the boat of the ship Biscaina; being held fast by
a rope so that it could not break loose, it drew the boat after it with
the swiftness of an arrow in various directions, so that those who were in
the ship, seeing the boat scud about at a strange rate without knowing the
cause, could not imagine how it could do so without the help of oars. At
length it sunk, and being drawn to the ships side was hoisted on deck by
the tackle. The other fish is called Manati by the Indians, and there is
nothing of the kind seen in Europe. It is about as large as an ordinary
calf, nothing differing from it in the colour and taste of the flesh,
except that it is perhaps better and fatter. Those who affirm that there
are all sorts of creatures to be found in the sea, will have it that these
fishes are real calves, since they have nothing within them resembling a
fish, and feed only on the grass which they find along the banks[4].
Having refreshed his men and repaired his ships, the admiral went from
Azua to the port of Brazil called Yaquimo by the Indians, to shun another
storm of which he observed the approach. From thence he sailed again on
the 14th of July, and was so becalmed that instead of holding on his
course he was carried away by the current to certain small sandy islands
near Jamaica; not finding any springs in these islands, the people had to
dig pits or wells in the sand whence they procured water; on account of
which circumstance the admiral named them Islas de los Poros, or the
Well Islands. Then sailing southwards[5] for the continent, we came to
certain islands, where we went on shore on the biggest only called Guanaia;
whence those who make sea charts took occasion to call all those the
islands of Guanaia, which are almost twelve leagues from that part of the
continent now called the province of Honduras, but which the admiral then
named Cape Casinas. These fabricators of charts often commit vast mistakes
from ignorance; thus these same islands and that part of the continent
nearest them are twice inserted in their charts, as if they were different
countries; and though cape Garcias a Dios, and that they call Cape[6]
- - . The occasion of this mistake was, that after the admiral had
discovered these countries, one John Diaz de Solis, from whom the Rio de
Plata was named Rio de Solis because he was there killed by the Indians,
and one Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who commanded a ship in the first voyage
when the admiral discovered the Indies, set out together on a voyage of
discovery in the year 1508, designing to sail along that coast which the
admiral discovered in his voyage from Veragua westwards; and following
almost the same track which he had done, they put into the port of Cariari
and passed by Cape Garcias a Dios as far as Cape Casinas, which they
called Cape Honduras, and they named the before mentioned islands the
Guanaias, giving the name of the biggest to them all.
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