On The First Day
Of The Calm, Being Fair, Nothing Could Withstand The Heat, Had Not GOD
Relieved Them With The Rain And Fog.
Having therefore got a little way to
the northwards into seven degrees of latitude, he resolved not to hold
Any
farther to the south, but to sail due west in that parallel, at least till
he saw how the weather settled, because he had lost many casks in
consequence of the hoops starting with the great heat, and the corn and
all other provisions were scorched up.
About the middle of July, the admiral observed the latitude with great
care, and found a wonderful difference between the appearances there and
in the parallel of the Azores. For at the Azores, when the constellation
of the great bear was to the right or east, then the north star is lowest,
and from that time began to rise; so that when the great bear was over
head, the north star had risen two degrees and a half, and being passed,
that began again to descend the five degrees it had ascended. This he
observed very carefully, several times when the weather was very fit for
his purpose. But at the place where he now was in the torrid zone these
appearances were quite contrary; for when the great bear was at its
greatest elevation, he found the north star six degrees high; and when in
six hours the bear came to the west the north star was then eleven degrees
high; when the bear was quite depresssed and could not be seen because of
the obliquity of the pole, the north star was six degrees high, so that
the difference was ten degrees, and the north star described a circle
having a diameter of ten degrees; whereas, in other places, it made but
five, and in a different position as to the great bear, for at the Azores
the polar star was lowest when the bear was in the west, and here the
north star was lowest when the bear was at its greatest elevation. The
admiral, not being complete master of this subject, thought this of very
difficult comprehension; and observes that probably when at the
equinoctial, the full orbit of the star is seen; whereas, the nearer one
approaches the pole it seems the less, because the Heavens are more
oblique. As for the variation, I believe the star has the quality of all
the four quarters, like the needle, which if touched to the east
side points to the east, and so of the west, north, and south; wherefore,
he that makes a compass covers the loadstone with a cloth, all but its
north part, or that which has the power to make the needle point to the
north.
On Tuesday the 31st of July, 1498, having sailed many days west, insomuch
that the admiral believed the Caribbee islands were to the north, he
resolved to discontinue that western course, and to make for Hispaniola,
because he was greatly in want of water, and almost all his provisions had
perished, and because he was afraid lest some mutiny or disorder might
have broken out in the colony during his long absence, which in fact had
been the case as we shall shew hereafter. Therefore, altering his course
from the west, he stood to the north[10], thinking to fall in with the
Caribbee islands to refresh his men, and to take in wood and water, of
which he was in great want. While thus sailing one day about noon, Alonzo
Perez Nirando, a sailor of the town of Gullva, discovered land from the
round top at about fifteen leagues distance, three mountains making their
appearance at once, and soon afterwards the land was observed to stretch
out towards the N.E. as far as the eye could reach, so that it appeared to
have no end. The salve regina and other prayers usual with seamen in times
of joy or distress were immediately rehearsed, and the admiral called the
land now discovered Trinidada or the island of the Trinity; both because
he had before intended to give that name to the first land he might
discover, and because it had pleased God to give him a sight of three
mountains all at one time. He now altered his course to the west that he
might get to a cape which appeared southwards, and making for the south
side of the island, came to an anchor five leagues beyond a point which he
named Punta de la Galera, or Galley Point, on account of a rock which lay
near that point, looking at a distance like a galley under sail.
Having now only one cask of water remaining for the whole crew, and the
other ships in company being in the same condition, and no water being
found in this place, he continued his course still westwards, and cast
anchor on the Wednesday following at another point which he named Punta de
la Plaga, or Sand Point, because of a fine strand or beach where the
people landed and procured water at a fine brook[11]. In this place they
found no habitations and saw no people, though along the coast, which they
had left behind them, they had seen many houses and towns. They found here,
however, the tokens of fishermen who had fled, leaving behind them some of
their fishing tackle; and they noticed the prints of the feet of beasts,
which they judged might have been goats, and they saw the bones of one,
the head of which had no horns, and which, therefore, they thought might
have been a monkey, or cat-o-mountain, as they afterwards found it to have
been, having found many of these cats in Paria[12]. This same day, being
the 1st of August, while sailing between Cape Galera and la Plaga, they
discovered the continent about twenty-five leagues distant, but thinking
it another island, it was named Isla Santo, or the Holy Island[13]. The
coast of Trinidada between those two points was thirty leagues in length
from E. to W. without any harbour, but all the country appeared pleasantly
covered with trees down to the water side, and had abundance of towns.
They ran this space of thirty leagues in a very short time, because the
current set so violently to the westwards that it looked like a rapid
river both day and night; for although the tide flowed and ebbed along the
shore above forty paces, as it does at San Lucar de Barameda in Spain, yet
the current never ceases to run in the same direction.
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