Having been well dispatched by their majesties, the admiral set out from
Granada for Seville in the year 1501; and so earnestly solicited the
fitting out of his squadron, that in a short time he rigged and
provisioned four vessels, the largest of 70 tons and the smallest 50, with
a complement of 140 men and boys, of whom I was one.
[1] Certainly alluding to D. Juan de Fonseca, archdeacon of Castile, and
bishop of Burgos, formerly mentioned as obstructing the equipment of
the admirals ship, and afterwards as the principal mover of the
injurious treatment experienced by the admiral. - E.
[2] This article is nowhere explained, but was said on a former occasion
to be made of very low or impure gold. - E.
[3] This reported produce is prodigious, and must have only been temporary
or accidental. Forty ounces of gold a-day, allowing but L.4 the ounce,
as perhaps inferior to standard, amount to L.160. The piece of gold,
mentioned in the text was worth about L.88. These mines, once so rich,
have been long abandoned. The original natives of Hispaniola died out,
and negroes have been found unequal to the hardships of mining.
Hispaniola long remained a mere depot of adventurers, whence the great
conquests of Mexico and Peru were supplied with men and arms. - E.
[4] The original, or rather the old translation, is most miserably
defective and confused in its dates about this period, bandying 1499
and 1500 backwards and forwards most ridiculously. This error it has
been anxiously endeavoured to correct in the present version. - E.
[5] This is a most imperfect account of an insurrection which appears to
have broke out against the lieutenant, who seems to have been very
unfit for his situation. - E.
[6] This obviously means trial after condemnation, a procedure which has
been long proverbial in Scotland under the name of Jedwarth justice.
Some similar expression relative to Spain must have been used in the
original, which the translator chose to express by an English
proverbial saying of the same import. - E.
[7] Upon a former occasion, the author had stated that there were four
principal caciques in Hispaniola, each of whom commanded over seventy
or eighty inferior chiefs, so that there may have been 300 caciques
originally. The particulars of the death or massacre of the eighty
caciques here mentioned are nowhere mentioned by our author; who,
confining himself to the actions of his illustrious father, says very
little more about the affairs of Hispaniola. - E.
SECTION XIII.
Account of the Fourth Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies.
We set sail from Cadiz on Monday the 9th of May 1502, and departed from St
Catharines on the 11th of the same month for Arzilla, intending to relieve
the Portuguese in that garrison who were reported to be in great distress;
but when we came there the Moors had raised the siege. The admiral sent on
shore his brother D. Bartholomew and me, along with the other captains of
our ships to visit the governor, who had been wounded by the Moors in an
assault. He returned thanks to the admiral for the visit and his offers of
assistance, sending several gentlemen on board for this purpose, among
whom were some relations of Donna Philippa Moniz, the admirals former
Portuguese wife. We sailed from Arzilla on the same day, and arriving at
Gran Canaria on the 20th of May, casting anchor among the little islands,
and on the 24th went over to Maspalomas in the same island to take in wood
and water for our voyage, and set out next night for the Indies. It
pleased God to give us a fair wind, insomuch that on Wednesday the 15th of
June, without handing our sails the whole way, we arrived at the island of
Matinino. There, according to the custom of those who sail from Spain for
the Indies, the admiral took in a fresh supply of wood and water, and
ordered the men to wash their linens, staying till the 18th, when we stood
to the westwards and came to Dominica ten leagues distant from Matinino[1].
So continuing our course among the Caribbee islands we came to Santa Cruz,
and on the 24th of June we ran along the south side of the island of St
John[2]; and thence proceeded for St Domingo, where the admiral proposed
to have exchanged one of his ships for another. The vessel he wished to
part with was a bad sailer, and besides could not carry sail without
running its lee gunwale almost under water, and was a great hindrance to
the voyage. His original design was to have gone directly to the coast of
Paria, and to keep along the shore to the westwards till he should
discover the straits, which he concluded must be somewhere about Veragua
or Nombre de Dios. But on account of the fault of that ship he was forced
to repair to St Domingo in hope of exchanging her for a better.
That the commandary Lores[3], who had been sent out by their majesties to
call Bovadilla to account for his mal-administration, might not be
surprised at our unexpected arrival, the admiral sent on the 29th of June,
being then near the port, Peter de Terreros, captain of one of the ships,
with a message to him signifying the necessity there was for exchanging
one of the ships. For which reason, and because he apprehended the
approach of a great storm, he requested permission to secure his squadron
in the harbour; and he advised him not to allow the fleet then preparing
to sail for Spain to quit the port for eight days to come, as it would
otherwise be in great danger.
