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 Cadiz[20], 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 afterwards[21].
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.
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