After
Sailing About Four Leagues On This White Sea, They Came To Another Which
Was As Black As Ink, And Five Fathoms Deep[15].
Through this black sea he
held on his course to Cuba, and thence stood to the eastwards[16] with
scanty winds, and through narrow channels among continual shoals.
While writing his journal on the 30th of June, his ship ran so fast
aground, that neither by means of anchors or any ether invention could she
be got off; but it pleased GOD that she was at length drawn over the shoal
a-head, though with some damage from beating on the sand. He thence
sailed on as the wind and shoal water would permit, always through a white
sea of two fathoms regular depth, unless when he approached a shoal when
the water became shallower. Besides all this anxious fatigue, occasioned
by these perpetual shoals, they were distressed every evening about
sun-set by prodigious rains, which arose from the mountains and marshes of
Cuba, and continued till he came off Cuba towards the east, the way he had
come at first. Thence as he had found before, came off a most refreshing
scent as of fragrant flowers. On the 7th of July, the admiral landed to
hear mass, when there came to him an old cacique, who was very attentive
to the service. When it was ended, by signs, and the best methods which he
could find to express himself, he said it was good to give thanks to GOD,
because the souls of the good would go to Heaven, while the body remained
on earth, whereas wicked souls would go to hell. Among other things, this
cacique said that he had been to Hispaniola, where he knew some of the
chief men; that he had been to Jamaica, and a great way west in the island
of Cuba, and that the cacique of that part was clothed like a priest[17].
Sailing thence on the 16th of July, and still attended by terrible rains
and winds, he at length drew near to Cape Santa Cruz in Cuba, where he was
suddenly assailed by so violent a squall of wind and furious rain, which
laid his ship on her broad-side; but it pleased GOD that they immediately
lowered all their sails and dropt their anchors, and the ship soon righted;
yet the ship took in so much water at the deck that the people were not
able to keep the hold clear, they were so much spent for want of
provisions. For some time they had been reduced to a pound of rotten
biscuit daily with half a pint of wine, unless when they happened to catch
fish, which could not be kept from day to day on account of the climate.
This want and short allowance was common to all, and the admiral speaks
thus of it in his journal addressed to their Catholic majesties. "I am
myself at the same allowance, and I pray to GOD that it may be for his
honour and the service of your highnesses, for I shall never again expose
myself to such sufferings and dangers for my own benefit; and there never
passes a day but we are all on the very brink of death."
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 cazabi[18]. 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 formerly[19]. 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.
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