Besides They Must Be Tolerably Large To
Perform That Long Passage, The Small Ones Being More Dangerous, And The
Largest Too Heavy And Cumbrous For So Long A Voyage.
Two canoes that were deemed fit for the purpose being procured in July
1503, the admiral ordered James Mendez
De Segura his chief secretary to go
in one of them, accompanied by six Christians, and having ten Indians to
row or paddle; and in the other he sent Bartholomew Fiesca, a Genoese
gentleman, with a similar crew of Spaniards and Indians. Their orders were,
that as soon as they reached Hispaniola which is 250 leagues from Jamaica,
Mendez was to go on to St Domingo to execute the commission with which he
was entrusted; and Fiesco was to return immediately with intelligence of
the safe arrival of Mendez, that we might not remain in fear lest some
disaster had befallen our messenger. Yet this was much to be dreaded,
considering how unfit a canoe is to live upon a rough sea, especially when
manned by Christians; for if there had only been Indians, the danger would
not have been so great, because they are so dextrous that though a canoe
oversets they can turn it right easily while swimming, and get into it
again. But honour and necessity often lead men to bolder attempts than
this. The two canoes took their way along the coast of Jamaica to its
eastern point named Aoamaquique by the Indians, from a cacique of that
province so called, which is 33 leagues from Maima, where we were.
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