- E.
[15] These strong descriptive epithets seem to have been colloquial
exaggerations of the recounter to Don Ferdinand Columbus. - E.
[16] Columbus seems now to have changed his course, back again the way be
came, though not clearly so expressed in the text. - E.
[17] Probably alluding to the dress of the Spanish priest who had said
mass, and explanatory of the clothed natives who had been seen in that
place during this voyage. - E.
[18] 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.
[19] 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.
