The First Falsehood Is, That The Admiral Went To Lisbon To Learn
Cosmography From A Brother Of His Own Who Was Settled In That Place.
This
is utterly contrary to the truth; since he lived in that city before the
arrival of his brother, and taught his brother what he knew instead of
learning from him.
The second falsehood is, that their Catholic
majesties Ferdinand and Isabella accepted his proposal at his first coming
to Castile, after it had been seven years bandied about and rejected by
all men. The third, that he set out upon his discovery with two ships;
whereas the truth is, that he had three caravels in his first voyage. The
fourth, that his first discovery was Hispaniola; whereas the first land
he came to was Guanahani, which he named St Salvador, or St Saviour. The
fifth, that the island of Hispaniola was inhabited by cannibals; while
the truth is, that its inhabitants were the best and most civilized people
in all those parts. The sixth, that he took the canoe or Indian boat
which he first saw by force of arms; whereas it is certain that he had no
hostilities in the first voyage with any of the Indians, and continued in
peace and amity with them until his departure from Hispaniola. The
seventh, that he returned by way of the Canary Islands, which is by no
means the proper route. The eighth, that he dispatched a messenger from
the Canaries to their Catholic majesties; whereas it is certain he was not
at these islands on his return, and that he was his own messenger. The
ninth, that he went with twelve ships on his second voyage, while he
actually had seventeen. The tenth, that he arrived at Hispaniola in
twenty days, which is too short a time to reach the nearest islands; and
he certainly did not perform the second voyage in two months, and besides
went to other islands much farther distant before going to Hispaniola. The
eleventh, that he immediately afterwards went from Hispaniola with two
ships, whereas he certainly went to Cuba with three vessels. The twelfth
falsehood is, that Hispaniola is four hours (difference in longitude)
distant from Spain; while the admiral reckoned it to be five. The
thirteenth, to add one to the dozen, is that the western point of Cuba
is six hours distant from Hispaniola; making a farther distance of
longitude from Hispaniola to Cuba, than from Spain to Hispaniola.
By the foregoing examples of negligence, in inquiring into the truth of
those particulars which are plain and easy to have been learnt, we may
divine what inquiry he made into those which are obscure and in which he
contradicts himself, as already proved. But, laying aside this fruitless
controversy, I shall only add that, in consideration of the many
falsehoods in the Chronicle and Psalter of Justiniani, the senate of Genoa
have imposed a penalty upon any person within their jurisdiction who shall
read or keep those books, and have ordered that they shall be carefully
sought after and destroyed.
To conclude this disquisition, I assert that the admiral, so far from
being a person occupied with the vile employments of mechanics or
handicraft trades, was a man of learning and experience, and entirely
occupied in such studies and exercises as fitted him for and became the
glory and renown of his most wonderful discoveries; and I shall close this
chapter with an extract from a letter which he wrote to the nurse of
Prince John of Castile. "I am not the first admiral of my family, let them
give me what name they please. After all, that most prudent king David was
first a shepherd, and was afterwards chosen king of Jerusalem; and I am a
servant to the same Lord who raised him to so great dignity."
In his person the admiral was above the middle stature and well shaped,
having rather a long visage, with somewhat full cheeks, yet neither fat
nor lean. His complexion was very fair with delicately red cheeks, having
fair hair in his youth, which became entirely grey at thirty years of age.
He had a hawk nose, with fair eyes. In his eating and drinking, and in his
dress, he was always temperate and modest. In his demeanour he was affable
to strangers and kind and condescending to his domestics and dependents,
yet with a becoming modesty and dignified gravity of manner, tempered with
easy politeness. His regard for religion was so strict and sincere, even
in keeping the prescribed fasts and reciting all the offices of the church,
that he might have been supposed professed in one of the religious orders;
and so great was his abhorrence to profane swearing that I never heard him
use any other oath than by St Ferdinand; and even in the greatest passion,
his only imprecation was "God take you." When about to write, his usual
way of trying his pen was in these words, Jesu cum Maria sit nobis in
via; and in so fair a character as might have sufficed to gain his bread
by writing.
Passing over many particulars of his character, manners, and disposition,
which will appear in the course of this history, I shall now only mention
that, in his tender years he applied himself to such studies at Pavia as
fitted him to understand cosmography, his favourite science; for which
purpose he chiefly devoted himself to the study of geometry and astronomy,
without which, it is impossible to make any proficiency in cosmography.
And, because Ptolemy, in the preface to his cosmography, asserts that no
person can be a good cosmographer without a thorough knowledge of drawing;
he therefore learnt to draw, so as to be able to delineate not only the
exact outlines of countries, but to express their cosmographical features,
whether having plain surfaces or interspersed with hills and vallies.
Having laid a foundation in the before-mentioned sciences, he went to sea,
and made several voyages both to the east and west[1]: But of these, and
many other circumstances respecting his early years I have no perfect
knowledge.
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