Embarked in a canoe which we seized at this place, and returned to their
own country, very joyful for the vengeance we had taken of their cruel
enemies, and full of admiration at our war-like prowess. On this occasion
we gave them seven of our prisoners, three men and four women. Proceeding
from this place in our voyage to Spain, we arrived at Cadiz on the 15th
October 1498, carrying with us 222 prisoners whom we had taken during the
voyage, all of whom we sold. These are all the circumstances worthy of
notice which occurred during our first voyage.
[1] It is highly probable that the date is here falsified by error, or
rather purposely to give a pretext for having discovered the continent
of the New World before Columbus; for we are assured by Harris, II. 37,
that the real date of this voyage was 1499. Alonzo Hojeda and Americus
Vespucius were furnished by Fonseca, bishop of Burgos, with charts and
projects of discovery made by Columbus, whose honour and interest the
bishop was eager to destroy by this surreptitious invasion of his
rights as admiral and viceroy of the West Indies. - E.
[2] In the original, having the wind between south and south-west. It is
often impossible to ascertain, as here, from the equivocal language of
the original, whether the author intends to express the course of the
voyage or the direction of the wind.
