An Attempt To Solve The Problem Of The First Landing Place Of jColumbuB In The Hew World. By G. V. Pox Elii .F79 ■F7f MV5EV/noFTHEAnEB-ICAN iNDIAN:| HUNTINGTON FkBbLiBKA^^ ^aX^v^ Amencan Collection CORNELL UNlVBRSm LIBRARY ' / / / 3 1924 104 080 423 REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OP THE U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY SHOWING THE PROGRESS OF THE WORK DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING WITH JUNE, 1880. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1882. 346 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTEFDENT OF THE 4^% Appendix No. 18. AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THE FIRST LANDING PLACE OF COLUMBUS IN THE NEW WORLD. By Capt. Gr. "V". IfOX, A.ssistant Secretary of the I^avy from TVLtxy, 1861, to NoyemTser, 1866, Mleixiber of the HVEassaclivisetts Historical Society, etc. INTRODUCTION. The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is, perhaps, the most important event recorded in secular history. Ancient philosophers had suggested the sphericity of the earth, the zone of water, and the theoretical possibility of reaching the Indies by sailing west ; and Colum- bus recalled these suggestions before the great councils that ridiculed and rejected his proposal. The art of navigation is as old as civilization, and the practice of it must have begun when bartering commenced. Its early development in European waters was, probably, in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, with open boats, such as Homer mentions. Vessels of this character could not make a commercial nation like that which throve in Phajnicia. Tlierefore we find that her ships were large and that they used both sails and oars.(') More than three thousand years ago the sailors of this little state had passed out of the Mediterranean, had founded Cadiz, and were trafficking along the Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa. The maritime spirit of the Phoenicians descended upon the Carthageuians, the Italians, and the Portuguese. The last named began that golden age of geographical discovery which charac- terized the fifteenth century. All navigators antecedent to Columbus followed the same way in searching for new countries. They crept along the shores of contiguous lands making no disco^'eries beyond unless by chance, through the stress of storms, or by the letting loose of birds. The Yikings tribe of Norway'were an exception. The area of sheltered fiords in their fretted coast exceeds all the arable land in the country. Hardy venturesome seamen grew here from the law of environment, aud their vessels also were evolved in a tempestuous ocean and by means of a business very different from trade. In shape these resembled the present whale-boats, (') which are proved to be the best type for rough seas. A well-preserved specimen, supposed to have been made about the tenth century, was dug out of a tumulus at Gogstad, S'orway, in the spring of 1880.(3) It is 72 feet long, 17 wide, and it probably drew 5 feet of water. There are twenty benches for rowers. Near the middle is a wooden step for a mast, and indications that this might have been lowered at will. The vessels of the Northmen were obviously good sea-boats and from their light draft aud the alternative of oars they must have been very handy in the neighborhood of laud, but under canvas they could make no headway unless by " sailing large." The PhcBuicians used the Pole Star in navigating and the ancient mariners of Ceylon regu- lated their track through the ocean by observing the flight of the birds which they set free at intervals.(*) In this mode, and also from being forced to scud in gales, the Northmen extended (') Ezekiel xxvii, 5-7 [about 'iS^i B. C.]. Probably tliis time wa3 the height of. her power. C") See frontispiece, lle.iimark in the Earli/ Iron Age. London, 1866. C. Engclhavdt. (■') See Za JS'ature for 1880, (••) History of Merchant Sliipping and Ancient Commerce. W. S. Lindsay ; 4 vols. Loudon, 1874. Vol. I, pp. 14 and 359 EltBAfA TO APPENDIX tfo. IS—OOABT Alft) aEODMTiO StJRYEY HEPOIIT FOB 1880. Page 347, 19th liue from top: For "for" road "and." Page 347, 8tli liue from bottom : For "these facts" read "thin fact." Page 347, 9cl lino from bottom: Omit the second "of." Page 350, 3d line from bott6m: Between "and" and "are," insert '* tlioy." Page 351, 23d line from bottom: Omit " 's landfall." Page 351, 8th line from bottom: For " Hesselgerritz's " read " Hessel Gerritz's." Page 352, 14th line from top : For "later" read " shortly." Page 352, 13th and 14th lines from bottom: Omit "exists only in maunscript but it has beeu, and is, acees3il)le to scholars," and insert " was printed at Madrid iu 5 vols. 8vo., in 1875-76." Page 352, 12th line from bottom: For "1559" read "15fil." Page 374, 24th line from top: For "was" read " were." • . Page 37,5, 7th line from bottom: For "later" read "soon." Page 376, 6th line from top: For "the first" read "his first." Page 380, 13th line from top : After "above" insert " cited." Page 385, 15th liue from top: After "Columbus" insert "was." Page 385, 21st line from top: For "about II " read " 12.6." » Page 386, 3d liue from bottom: For " has" I'ead " have." Page 386, 17th line from top: For "all" read "fall." Page 386, 19th line from bottom: For " be " read "are." Page 387, top line: For "of" read "from." Page 387, 5th line from bottom: After "ocean" insert "then." Page 388, 8th line from top: Omit " speed of the vessels"; insert "distance .s;iiled." Page 388j 10th line from top : After "9i" insert " nautical, or 11.3 Italian." Page 388, 3d line from bottom: Omit "and M. Valcknaer." Page 386, 8th line from bottom: For "Nanticits" read "Nauticas"; for "Nario" read Natiio." Page 393, 2d line from bottom: In.serl. "moisture" between "this" and "is." Page 393, 11th line from bottom : For " bevery " read " be very." Page 394, top line: For "makes" read "make." Page 394, 27th liue from top : For " were" read " is." Page 395, 8th line from bottom: Om.it "previous," iu.sert "time"; between " it" and "the" insert " iu." Page 396, 21st liue from top: Omit "truly;" insert "truthfully" before "answered." Pafe 396, 8th line from bottom: After "the" insert "Giianahaui and." Page 397, 13th line from top: After "leagues" insert " and." Page 397, 13th line from bottom: Omit the last "S" in " S. W. i S. "; insert " W." Page 398, 23d line from top : For "narrative above" read " foregoing narrative." Page 398, 4th line from bottom: For " another" read "an other." Page 399, 26th line from top : For " there " read " here. " Page 400, 12th line from top : For "was " read ' ' is." Page 400, 4th line from bottom : For "A. M. E. Elliott" read "A. M. Elliott." Page 403, 17th line from top: For "was" read "is." Page 404, bottom line: Omit "above." Page 405, top line: Insert "above," after "quoted." Page 407, 3d line from top: For "above log " read " foregoing log." Page 468, 26th line from top: For " log" read^" log line." Page 410, 7th line from top : Omit the first " and." XI Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924104080423 UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 347 their discoveries until finally, in a storm, they saw Greenland in the ninth century and Labrador m the tenth. There is a sequence of land across, which jjoints out the successive steps they took. West 180 miles from Norway, are the Shetlands; thence west-northwest 170, to the Faroes; 240 miles farther, on the same course, lies Iceland; and northwesterly, 165 more, is Greenland. The longest distance is from this to Labrador, 500 miles, whence the coast-line is continuous. It is indisputable that the Northmen were the ablest seamen and boldest navigators of ancient times; but they were neither traders nor colonizers. The lands which they discovered in the west were supposed to be an extension of the European Continent. They derived no advantage from them, neither did the world. In the graceful language of Washington Irving, "If the Norsemen saw the New World, it was but a transient glimpse, leading to no certain or permanent knowledge, and in a little time lost again to maukind.(i) Columbus was an efficient seaman and he was also a religious enthusiast — a rai-e combination. In his correspondence with Toscanelli, in 1474, is the first mention of his decision to seek the Indies by sailing west. Three years afterwards he visited the northern regions, Iceland probably, where he must have found the tradition of western discoveries, although the secret of the Sagas was not published until the last half of the sixteenth century. Whatever he learned there had no influence upon his previous resolution. He did not propose to hunt after the lauds which the Northmen had discarded. His purpose was to open a way, by water, to the rich and populous countries spoken of by Marco Polo, for this was linked in. his mind with the propagation of the Christian faith and the rescue of the Holy Sepuloher from the Infidels. Everything essential to such a voyage had been ready for a long time through the growth of navigation. In the previous century, Edward III, of England, had good, stout sailing ships and plenty of seamen. The mariner's compass was in use as early as 1100-1230 A. D.(2) Latitude by observation was familiar to sailors (see Appendix D) and dead reckoning of some kind had always been practiced. Parallels and meridians were applied in the second century. Columbus himself made maps, and globes are mentioned in his journal. This plan, and the reasoning by which he supported it, seem clear enough now ; but then every council rejected it. In his letter to the King and Queen of Spain, narrating his fourth voyage, the Admiral wrote: " For seven years was I at your royal court, where every one to whom the enterprise was mentioned treated it as ridiculous ; but now there is not a man, down to the very tailors, who does not beg to be allowed to become a discoverer."(^) His first proposal was to the King of Portugal, to steer west from Lisbon. This would have taken him to America, at a point five miles south of Cape Henlopen ; distance, 3,095 miles. Japan is 9,801 miles west from Lisbon; but along the great circle, which goes through Europe and Siberia, it is only 5,768 miles. Columbus gives no reason for going to the Canary Islands to take his final departure. Irving says it was the damaged state of the Pinta's rudder that led him to go there to exchange it;(^) but on the very day he sailed from Spain, August 3, 1492, he entered in his journal that he was steering for the Canaries, C*) and the mishap to the Pinta was not till the 6th of August-C^) Martin Behem's globe and Toscanelli's map agreed in placing Cipango (Japan) due vrest from the Canaries. Columbus knew these facts, and his desire to steer across the ocean, in the same latitude, was accordant to a usage of navigators which has been given up only since the introduction of chro- nometers. His going to the Canary Islands was providential, because a west course from there is within the influence of the trade winds, of which he was ignorant, and these wafted him continu- ously onward, while his crew were grumbling at his persistence. If he had sailed west from Lisbon', or from Palos, he would have been antagonized by variable, and by westerly winds, thus lengthening the passage and thereby adding to the discontents of the men, all of which might have compelled him to abandon his voyage. (1) Irviiig's Coliimius. Revised edition, 1854. Vol. I, Introduction, p. 2. (^) Sallam's Middle Ages. Vol. Ill, p. 394 ; and ISrsch und Griiber's JSneycl. Ill, p. 302. (3) Coleccion de los Viages y Desoubrimicntos, etc. Navarrete. Madrid, 1825. Tomo I, p. 311. (■i) Irving's Columlus. Eevised edition, 1854. Vol. 1, p. 130. C") See Appendix D. C) See Navarrete. Tomo I, p. 4, August 6; also prologue, pp. 2-3. 348 EBPOET OF THE SUPEEINTBXDBNT OF THE In his first log across tlie Atlantic, he likened the weather to that of Andalusia in April. It lacked nothing, he said, except the songs of the nightingales. Such it has been, where he crossed, for aeons of time. On this route the vessels of the Crusaders might have gone to America in the twelfth centurj' with less peril than they went from England to Joppa then. In recent years small boats from the United States have arrived safe in England, in spite of bad weather and faulty observations. The unfolding of physical laws has dissipated the artificial terrors of the ocean; but in the time of Columbus superstition and ignorance brooded there, making it truly a " sea of darkness," which the imagination only had pierced. The world is not indebted to the wisdom of the learned for the eventful voyage that opened the oceans to commerce, and continents to trade and settlement. To Columbus belongs the merit of this inestimable boon. He inspired the wise and good Queen l8abella(i) equally with the humble sailors of Palos to put their trust in his scheme. He was as persistent 'in maintaining it through the rebuffs of eighteen years as he was steadfast in holding to his predetermined course across the Atlantic. It takes not a jot from the glory of Ms discovery that he underestimated the size of the earth ; or that he died in ignorance of the transcendent, importance of his deed; or that the Northmen had preceded him. The fulfilment of his design, to steer west until he reached the Indies or found intervening land, was the triumph of human reasoning; it was the soul's work, into which neither chance nor the fickle winds intruded. The aim of this monograph is to try to solve the problem of the first landing-place of Colum- bus in the I^Tew World. It is founded, as all others are, upon Las Casas's (abridged) copy of the "log-book", or journal, of Columbus. Nothing has been raked from the arcana of the past to impeach this; and it will continue to be used until the original journal is produced or this copy is shown to be spurious. It is manifest that no landfall, or track, can stand which is supported by assertions that are in opposition to Las Casas's narrative. Knowing this. to be true I have tested in the following pages every track, by placing paragraphs from each author and from the journal in juxtaposition so that any one, with the help of the correct appendix chart, shall discern the contradictions. The selection of a new landfall, and track through the Bahamas, different from all hitherto ascribed to Columbus, is the natural result of this sifting. The track which I have laid down was chosen because it appears to be the only one that can be made to fit the courses, distances, and descriptions in the log-book. Washington, D. C, May 31, 1881. (') Columbus wrote — Navarrete, Vol. I, p. 266 — "In the midst of the general incredulity the Almighty infused into the Queen, my lady, the spirit of intelligence and energy, and while every one else, in his ignorance, was expatiating only on the inconvenience and cost, her Highness approved of it, on the contrary, and gave it all the support in her power.'' UOTTED STATES COAST AlsTD GEODETIC SUEVEY. 349 NARRATIVE AND DISCUSSION. Columbus made four voyages to the New World. The first was from the village of Palos, which be left ou Friday, the 3d day of August, 1492, with a squadron of three small vessels and about ninety men. The largest vessel was his flag-ship, the Santa Maria; the next, the Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonso Pinzon; and the smallest, the NiHa, under command of Vincente Taiiez Pinzon, a brother of Martin. He went directly to the Canaries, where he arrived August 12, and he refitted and reprovisioned his vessels there. Thursday, the 6th of September, he sailed from the harbor of St. Sebastian, in the island of Gomera, but was becalmed among the Canaries until Saturday, night, when he met the usual northeast wind and steered west, his predetermined course for the Indies. He crossed the Atlantic and made the land at 2 a. m., Friday, the 12th of October (old style). (') After sunrise he landed and took formal possession of a small island of the Lucayos [Bahamas], called by the natives Guanahani, but named by him San Salvador. The 15th and 16th of October he visited and named the second island Santa Maria de la Concepcion. The 17th and 18th, and part of the 19th, he was at the third, named by him Fernandina. Part of the 19th, and to the 24th, he explored the shores of the fourth, which he thought the natives called Saomete, but he gave it the name of Isabella. On the 26th he anchored south of seven or eight islands which he called, Sand Islands. Lea-vdng these early on the 27th he brought his squadron to anchor Sunday, the 28th of October, in a harbor of Cuba; this island he named Juana. From this date until December 5 he examined the northeast coast, and the harbors of Cuba ; then he crossed over to Hayti, which he called Espaiiola. While exploring the harbors and north shore the Sacta Maria was wrecked on the evening of December 24, near the jjresent Laycul Bay. This calamity led Columbus to make a settlement from the crew in this bay. He left here on the 4th of January, 1493, and followed the coast to the bay of Samana. Hence, on the IBth of January, he sailed for Sx)ain. On the 18th he arrived at the Azores, and left there the 24th. On the 4th of March he was compelled by stress of weather to put into Lisbon, He sailed thence the 13th, and on Friday the 15th of March, after an absence of two hundred and twenty-four days, he returned in the NiHa, to Palos. He sailed on his second voyage from Cadiz, Wednesday, the 25th of September, 1493, with three large vessels and fourteen small ones, and about 1,500 men. He anchored at the Canaries and remained from the 1st to the 13th of October ; thence, steering more to the southward than on his first voyage, on Sunday the 3d of November he discovered an island which he named Dominica. Prom here he steered to the northward and westward, visited several of the Caribbean Islands, Porto Eico, north side of Playti, south side of Cuba, Jamaica, the south side of Hayti, around the east end to the north side, thence to the island of Guadaloupe, and on the 10th of March he left there for Spain and anchored at Cadiz June 11, 1496. Ou his third voyage he sailed from San Lucar May 30, 1498, with six vessels ; he touclied at Porto Santo, Madeira, the Canaries, and anchored June 27 at the Cape de Verd Islands. He left there July 5 and steered still more to the southward, which brought him on the 31st of July to an island which he named Trinidad. The nex't day, while coasting the south shore, he discovered the continent of South America. He continued along the main land until August 14, when he stood over to Hayti where he was detained for more than a year by the disorganized condition of affairs. On the 23d of August, 1500, a new governor- general, Don Francisco de Bobadilla, arrived. His instructions were so vague that his wicked heart construed them to permit him to put irons upon the limbs of the discoverer of the New World, and in this pitiable condition Columbus arrived at Cadiz ou the 25tli of November, 1500. His fourth and last voyage was also from Cadiz. Leaving there on the 8th of May, 1502, with four small vessels and 150 men he touched on the coast of Morocco, sailed from the Canaries May 25 and anchored at Martinique (^) June 15 ; thence along Santa Cruz and Porto Eico, and on the 29th (') If the Gtregoiian Caleuclar of 1582, btit wliioli is reckoned from tlie CouuoU of Nice, is applied to Columbus's discovery, it will make the date Friday, the 21st day of October. (2) Irving and Major say Martiuiiiue; Xavarrete says Santa Lucia. 350 REPOET OF THE SUPEEINTENDENT OF THE of June lie arrived on the south side of Hayti ; left there July 14, touched at the Morant Oays, and the islands south of Cuba which he had visited on his second voyage, and then to the small island of Guanaja, or Bonacca, from which on the 30tli of July, 1502, he saw, for the first time, the continent of North America. He then followed the coast of Central America and the coast of the Isthmus of Panama to the Gulf of Darien until the 1st of May, 1503, when he sailed for Hayti, but owing to the strong westerly current he brought up among the small islands on the south of Cuba where he had anchored the year before. Near the end of. June he put into Jamaica, and his vessels being unseaworthy he remained there until June 28, 1504, when he was rescued and taken to Hayti. On the 12th of September he sailed for Spain and arrived at San Lucar November 7, 1504. He died at Valladolid on the 20th of May, 1506. From this brief summary of Columbus' voyages to the New "World we learn that he visited and named five islands of the Lucayos on his first voyage, but that he remained among them only fifteen days ; all his other voyaging was along the coasts and to the islands which border the Caribbean Sea. He never returned to the Lucayos, nor are they often mentioned in the contemporaneous narrations. "Within a few years after the death of Columbus, King Ferdinand authorized the transportation of laborers from them to Hayti, to work the mines there. In this way the whole population perished. In the Bahamas, at the present time, there are no descendants of the simple natives described by Columbus. The chart which Columbus made of the Lucayos, the declarations in writing which signified his . formal possession of Guanahaai, the journal which he kept for " Their Highnesses," and all the original documents essential to authenticate this historical point, have disappeared. The contemporaries and acquaintances of Columbus, Peter Martyr, Andres Bernaldes, G. F. de Oviedo, Marco A. Sabelico, Augustus Giustiniani, and his son Fernando, whose writings, or copies thereof, are preserved, give no information which will assist the student to determine the island upon which he first landed. There are four that have been pointed out and argued for most earnestly, which I shall enumerate. Beginning at the southeast the first is Grand Turk Island, in latitude 21° 31' north, longitude 71° 08' west from Greenwich.- It is 5J by IJ miles, has 6.87 square miles, is generally low, with an elevation at the highest part of 70 feet; bare of trees, and about one-third of the surface is salt and fresh water lagoons. This place is affirmed by Don M. F. Navarrete Goleccion de los Viages y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los Uspa-iioles desdes fines del siglo, X"V, Madrid, 1825, Tomo I, and supported by Samuel Eettell, Personal Narrative of the First Voyage of Columbus to America, Boston, 1827. George Gibbs, Proceedings of the New York Historical Society, 1846, Appendix ; and B. H. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, edition of 1847, London. The second island is that of Mariguana. The east end is latitude 22° 17' north, longitude 72° 39' west from Greenwich. It is 23J miles long and from 2 to 6J wide; has about 96 square miles, and is low, with the exception of a hill near the middle 101 feet high, and another at the east end 90 feet. There are neither lakes nor lagoons on the island. This is put forward by Fr. Adolph de Varnhagen, who published in Chili, in 1864, a work called La Verdadera Guanahani de Colon. He reiniblished it in 1869 at "Vienna. The third is Wathng's Island. The latitude of the southeast point is 23° 55' north, longitude 74° 28' west from Greenwich. Length north and south 13 miles, and breadth about 5 to 7. It has 60 square miles. Near the center is a hill of 140 feet. A lagoon of brackish water takes up one third of the island. Juan Bautista Munoz first chose Watling in his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, Madrid, 1793, Tomo I. He is sustained by Capt. A. B. Becker, Royal Navy, author of Land Fall of Columbus, London, 1856. 0. Peschel, Geschichte der Fntdeclcungen, Stuttgart and Augsburg, 1858- and B. IT. Major, Journal of the Boyal Geographical Society, vol. XLI, May 8, 1871, wherein he recants his former approval of Grand Turk and adopts that of Captain Becher. The fourth island is that known as Cat, or San Salvador. The southeast end is latitude 24° 09' north, longitude 75° 18' west from Greenwich. Northwest and southeast it is 43 miles, and the breadth 2^ to 3^ miles. At the southeast end a part ruus west-southwest 10 miles, with a width of 3J. There are 160 square miles in it. At the northwest end the hills rise to 400 feet, and are the highest land in the Bahamas. It has neither lakes nor lagoons. The principal writers who have adopted Cat are Catesby, Natural History of Carolina, 1731. A New Collection of Voyages and UNITED STATES COAST AKD GEODETIC SURVEY. 351 Travels, J, Knox, London, 1767. An elaborate note in the Second Volume of the French Translation of Ifavarrete, p. 339, Paris, 1828 ; the author of this note is Mr. Be La Boquette. Revue nautique du premier voyage de Ghristophe Colomb au nouveau monde par M. le Baron de Montlezun, Nouvelles Annales des Voyages et des Sciences Geographiques Beuxieme Serie, Tome X, Paris, 1828, and Tome XII, Paris, 1829. Washington Irving, Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, London, 1828, revised edition, New York, 1848 ; in the third vokime of this edition, appendix, p. 380, Irving gives the authorship of his track to the late Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, United States Navy. Baron Alexander von Humboldt argues, most ably, in favor of the route selected by Irving and Mackenzie, in Examin critique de Vhistoire de la geographie du nouveau continent, 1837. Irving and Humboldt, as well as some other writers, allege that Cat Island has the sanctity of tradition in favor of it. An impression to this effect certainly prevails, but as those who have adopted it do not give their authority, I can only offer to the reader that which freed my mind from its influence. The Spaniards were the discoverers of the New World ; they made the first maps of the West Indies ; for a long time they were the exclusive explore) s there; they obtained,' and have now, more of the lore of these regions than can be found among all other nations. If any tradition truly exists it ought to be found in Spain, in the writings of her historians. None of those I have cited mention it. On the contrary, Munoz and Navarrete, who had access to the documents of Columbus and his contemporaries, and who each j>ointed out a landfall, differ; neither selecting Cat [ante, p. 350), which is proof that there is no tradition in relation it to in the country which alone could give it legitimate birth. It is true that some maps can be referred to in support of a claim for Cat. But the identification of Guanahani, or San Salvador, with Cat is not earlier than the seventeenth century. Perhaps the first is on Atlas Minor, by Blaeu, West Indies, 1635, which is the same as a map published by Joannes de Laet, at Leden, 1C25, titled, Niewe Wereldt They are identical also in Blaeu^s Atlas, Tome XII, Amerique, Amsterdam, 1GG7, and Borzieine, Continent VAmerique, Amsterdam, 1667. In the eighteenth century more maps were published, and the identity of Cat with San Salvador received additional support. See Map of North America by John Senex, Charles Price, and John Maxicell, 1710; North America and West Indies, by Emanuel Bowen, 1733 '?; B^Anville, Map of 1746; The West India Atlas, by the late Thomas Jefferys, 1775 ; Laurie and Whittle, 1794 ; and a Spanish Chart of the Antilles, by Langara, 1799.) In Major's landfall (pp. 207-210) are collated the ancient and modern names of most of the Bahamas, ten of which he asserts can be identified. I cite only such as I wish to use in my argument : He says that Guanahani is the present Watling; Guanima the present Cat or San Salvador; Mayaguana the present Mariguana ; and Samana, the present Samana or Atwood Cay. He considers that the identification of these four, as well as the other six, involves the whole question of the landfall, and he is so certain of it that he ijuts Senhor de Yarnhagen " out of court'' (p. 208), because his Mariguana appears on the old maps with Guanahani. Major does not furnish the evidence to enable us to see that Guanahani is Watling. He refers to Herrera's map of 1601, with the expectation that we shall be as easily satisfied as he was. Looking at this map I notice three little islands marked triangula, and northwest of them is Guanahani. On Nicolas VallarWs Map of New Spain, 1547, and the Munich Collection, plate x, and plate xiii, 1592, this Triango appears. On Anthony Jacobsz' Map of America and West Indies, 1621, we find Triangulo. On Hesselgerritz's Butch Chart, about 1650, and Sanson B'Abbiviiys mai> of 1656, there is Triangulo. In Otten's Atlas Minor, Vol. IV, titled Nova Tabula exliibens insulas, etc., there is a map which is the same as a map published by d'Anville in Charlevoix's Histoire de IHsle Bspagnole, Paris, ll^i^. On these maps we find Triangolo ou Watlins I. On Sayer^s Map, November 1, 1792, and Jeffery's Atlas, 1794, there is El triangulo, Watlands or Watling. - These citations prove that the old maps, and especially Herrera's, to which Mnjor calls atteu- 352 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTEIS^DENT OF THE tlon, had two islands placed near each other which were called, respecitively, Guanahaui and triango, or Triangulo. It is the former that Major says is the present Watling ; but from these maps it appears that trimngo, or Triangulo, is that now called Watling. The earliest date I have found for Guanima [Gat] is a map in the Jomard collection styled Mappe Monde Peinte sur parchnen par ordre Henri II Boi de France (I Partie). M. D. Avezac makes the date of this 1532. Here are Guanima, Maynana [Mariguana], and one little island intermediate, to which are applied the two names of "Guanahani", "Samana." This is remarkable, as showing a connection between them at au early date. > A great part of the maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have Guanima and Maya- guana as outside islands, with Guanahani lying between; and inside of these is placed Samana. Triangulo or triango appears, but not so often. All this indicates that the information transmitted to the early map-makers included the fact that Guanahani or San "Salvador was an island distinct from Guanima [Cat], Mayagnana [Mariguana], Triajigulo [Watling], and Samana. This last is asserted to be the present Samana or Atwood Cay but I hope to prove, . later, that it was the ancient name of the Crooked Island group, and thus save myself from being, as Major said of Varn- hagen, " put out of court." The valuable map of La Cosa, which I shall remark upon, fixed the position of Guanahani about the middle of the northeast side of the Bahamas. Herrera and others copy it. Such a situa- tion is so mathematically conspicuous, and so easily followed, that we ought to find Guanahani or San Salvador retained here on later maps, in spite of the alterations involved in improved cartog- raph}'. This has been the case. In the absence of determining data as to which one was the true San Salvador, this name has been applied, fortuitously, to several neighboring islands, but with the exception of Navarrete's chart, the location is where the companion of Columbus put it. The old charts can be appealed to in corroboration of paits of this investigation, but consenta- neity in respect to the first landfall will never be reached by their evidence. Fortunately a copy of Columbus's journal in the Bahamas has been preserved, but it has been construed so differently that all the authors of the four tracks referred to found their arguments upon this document. About 1790, Navarrete, a civil officer of the marine department of Spain, found in the archives of the Duke del Infantado a manuscript narrative of the first voyage of Columbus, abridged from the original. It proved to be in the handwriting of Bishop Las Casas, a contemporary and com- panion of Columbus, who had visited the new world several times. He wrote a general history of the Indies, in three volumes, from the discovery in 1492 to 1520, which exists only in manuscriiit, but it has been, and is, accessible to scholars. Las Casas was engaged upon this history from 1527 to 1559, and he had before him the original journals of Columbus, his map of the first discovery, and many letters and documents, now lost. In the year 1825 the Spanish Government published this precious narrative, together with other valuable papers relating to Columbus. It is a matter of sincere regret that Las Casas abridged, in any degree, the "log-book" of such an eventful voyage, but we are thankful that he transcribed Columbus's words literally, from the landfall at Guanahani to the 29th of October, because it is this part only that is essential to prove the true landing-place. Kettell has translated into English all of Las Casas's abridgement of Columbus's first voyage and Irving, Major, and Captain Becher such parts as they considered necessary to their respective arguments. Here will be found the Spanish text from the first edition of Navarrete, 1825, vol. I pp. 18-42, in parallel columns with the English by Mr. H. L. Thomas, translator of the United States State Department, at Washington. With respect to the disputed parts of the journal care has been taken to have a strict rendering of the Spanish. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 353 Miercoles 10 cle Octubre. Naveg6 al Onesudueste, anduvierou a diez millas por hora y 4 ratos doc© y algun rato & siete, y entre dia y noche ciacuenta y nueve leguas : contd 4 la ' gente cuarenta y cuatro leguas no mas. Aqui la gente ya no lo podia sufrir: quej abase del largo viage; pero el Al- mirante los esforzo lo mejor que pudo ddndoles buena esperanza de los provechos que podrian haber. Y aiiadia que por demas era quej arse, pues que ^1 habia veuido 4 las ludias, y que asi lo babia de proseguir hasta hallarlas con el ayuda de nuestro Senor. Jueves 11 de Octubre. Naveg6 al Ouesudueste, tuvieron rnucha mar mias que en todo el viage habian tenido. Vie- ron pardelas y un junco verde junto 4 la nao. Vieron los de la carabela Pinta una cana y un palo, y tomaron otro palillo labrado 4 lo que parecia con hierro, y un pedazo de cana y otra yerba que nace en tlerra, y una tablilla. Los de la carabela Nina tambien vieron otras seiiales de tierra y un palillo cargado doscaramojos('). Con estas seiiales respirarou y alegraronse to- dos. Anduvierou en este dia hasta puesto el sol veinte y siete leguas. Despues del sol puesto navego & su primer camino al Oueste: andarian doce millas cada hora, y hasta dos horas despues de media noche andarian noventa millas, que son veinte y dos leguas y media. Y porque la carabela Pinta era mas velera 6 iba delante del Almirante, hallo tierra y hizo las seiias quel Almirante habia mandado. Esta tierra vido primero un marinero que se decia Eodrigo de Triana; pues- to que el Almirante 4 las diez de la noche, estando en el castillo de popa, vido lumbre, aunque fue cosa tan cerrada que no quiso afir- mar que fuese tierra; pero Uamo a Pero Gutier- rez, repostero deqtrados del Eey, 6 dijole, que parecia lumbre, que mirase 61, y asi lo hizo y vidola: dijolo tambien 4 Eodrigo Sanchez de Segovia qu61 Eey y la Eeina enviaban en el armada por veedor, el cual no vido nada porque no estaba en lugar do la pudiese ver. Despues quel Almirante lo dijo se vido una vez 6 dos, y era como una candelilla de cera que se alzaba y levantaba, lo cual a pocos pareciera ser indicio de tierra. Pero el Almirante tuvo por cierto estar junto a la tierra. Por lo cual cuando dijeron la Salve, que la acostumbran decir e (') Por de esoaramujos. S. Ex. 12 45 Wednesday October 10th. He sailed west-southwest, at the rate of ten miles an hour and occasionally twelve, and at other times seven, running between day and night fifty nine leagues : he told the men only forty four. Here the crew could stand it no longer, they complained of the long voyage, but the Admiral encouraged them as best he could giving them hopes of the profits that they might have. And he added that it was useless to murmur because he had come to [in quest of'?] the Indies, and was so going to continue uutil he fouud them with God's help. Thursday October 11th. He sailed to the west- southwest, had a high sea, higher than hitherto. They saw parde- las(i) and floating by the vessel a green rush. The men of the Pinta saw a reed and a stick, and got a small stick apiiarently cut or worked with an iron instrument, and a piece of cane and some other grass which grows on the land, and a small board. Those of the Caravel Niiia also saw other indications of land and a little stick loaded with dog roses. In view of such signs they breathed more freely and grew cheer- ful. They ran until sunset of that day twenty seven leagues. After sunset he sailed on his first course to the West: they went about twelve miles an hour, and two hours after mid- night they had run about ninety miles, that is twenty two and a half leagues. As the Cara- vel Pinta was a better sailer and had the lead, she made land and showed the signals ordered by the Admiral. The land was first seen by a sailor called Eodrigo de Triana:{2) as the Ad- miral at ten o'clock at night standing on the castle of the poop saw a light, but so indistinct that he did not dare to afiirm that it was land ; yet he called the attention of Pero Gutierrez, a King's butler to it, and told him that it seemed to be a light, and told him to look, he did so and saw it : he did the same with Eodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, whom the King and Queen had sent with the fleet as supervisor and purveyor, but (1) Pardelo — a name given by the Spanish to a bird of a gray color, or white and blaolc. Dmiiinguez Diction- ary— MaAiid 1878. (*) It was first discovered by a mariner named Bod- riguez Bermejo, resident of Triana, a suburb of Seville, but native of Alcala de la Guadaira ; but the reward was afterwards adjudged to the Admiral, for having previously perceived the light. TV. Irving' s Abridged Columbus. New York, 1847. p. 60. 354 EEPOET OF THE SUPERmTENDBNT OF THE cantar A su maiiera todos los marineros y se hallan todos, rogo y amonestolos el Almiraute que liiciesen buena guarda al castillo de proa, y mirasen bien por la tierra, y que al que le dijese priiriero que via tierra le daria luego un jubon de seda, sin las otras mercedes que los Eeyes habian prometido, que eran diez mil maravedis de juro & quien primero la viese.. A las dos boras despues de media nocbe pareci6 la tierra, de la cual estarian dos leguas. Amauarou(') todas las velas, y quedaron cou el treo(^) que es la vela gran de sin bonetas, y pusi6ronse 4 la corda(^) temporizando hasta el dia Viernes que Uegaron & una isleta de los Lucayos, que se llamaba en lengua de indios Guanahani{*). Lu- ego vieron gente desnuda, y el Alnjirante salid A tierra en la barca armada, y Martin Alonso Pinzon y Vicente Anes(^), su hermano, que era capitan de la IsTiiia. Saco el Almiraute la ban- dera Real y los capitanes con dos banderas de la Cruz Yerde, que llevaba el Almiraute en todos los navios por seiia con una F y una Y: encima de cada letra su corona, una de un cabo de la ^^ y otra de otro. Puestos en tierra vieron arboles muy verdes y aguas muchas y frutas de diversas maneras. El Almiraute 11a- m6 & los dos capitanes y 4 los demas que salta- ron en tierra, y a Eodrigo Deacovedo, Escri- bano de toda el armada, y 4 Eodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, y dijo que le diesen por fe y testimonio como 61 por ante todos tomaba, como de heclio tom6, posesion de la diclia isla por el Eey 6 por la Eeina sus seiiores, haciendo las protestaciones que se requirian, como mas largo se contiene en los testimonios que alli se hicieron^ por es- cripto. Luego se ayunto alli mucha gente de la isla. Esto que se sigue son palabras forma- (') Amanaron por amainaron. (^) Ti-eo, vela ouadrada que se ponia solo cuando habia mal tiempo para correr. {') I'onerse d la corda, es ponerse al pairo 6 otravesado para no andar ni decaer del punto en que se estii. (•<) Examinado detenidamente este diario, sus derrotas, roealadas, seiiales de las tierras, islas, oostas y puertos, parece que esta primera isla que Colon descubrid y pis6, poui^ndole por uombre S. Salrador, debe ser la que estti situada mas al Norte de las turoas llamada del Gran Turco. Sus ciroumstancias coiiforman con la descripcion que Co- lon baoe de ella. Su situacion es por el paralelo de 21°. 30', al Norte do la mediauia de la isla de Santo Domin- go. ('') Debe decir Yauez. he, not "being in a good position for seeing it, saw nothing. After the Admiral said this it was seen once or twice, and it was like a small wax candle that was being hoisted and raised, which would seem to few to be an indication of land. The Admiral however was quite con- vinced of the proximity of land. In ponse- quence of that when they, said the Salve, which they used to say and sing it in their way, all the sailors and all being present, the Admiral requested and admonished them to keep a sharp look out at the castle of the bow, and to look well for land, and said that he would give to him who first saw land a silk doublet, besides the other rewards that the King and Queen had promised, namely an annual pension of ten thousand maravedis(') to him who should see it first. Two hours after midnight the land ap- peared, about two leagues off. They lowered all the sails, leaving only a storm square sail, which is the mainsail without bonnets, and lay to until Friday when they reached a small isl- and of the Lucayos, called Guanahani by the natives. They soon saw people naked, and the Admiral went on shore in the armed boat, also Martin Alonso Pinzon and Yincente Anes,(^) his brother, who was commander of the Miia. The Admiral took the Eoyal standard and the captains with two banners of the Green Cross, which the Admiral carried on all the ships as a distinguishing flag having an F and a Y: each letter surmounted by its crown, one at one arm of the cross, and the other at the other arm. As soon as they had landed they saw trees of a brilliant green abundance of water and fruits of various kinds. The Admiral called the two captains and the rest who had come on shore, and Eodrigo Descovedo, the Notary of all the fleet, and Eodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, and he called them as witnesses to certify that he in presence of them all, was taking, as he in fact took possession of said island for the King and Queen his masters, making the declarations that were required as they will be found more fully in the attestations then taken down in writing. Soon after a large crowd of natives congregated there. What follows are the Admiral's own words in his book on the first voyage and dis- covery of these Indies. "In order to win the friendship and aft'eotion of that people, and be. (') One cent equals 2.7625 maravedis. Irving's Colum- 6ms revised edition 1848. Appendix p. 381. '(^J It ougbt to be YaBoz. Navarrote. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 355 les del Almirante, eu sii libro de su primera iifivegacion y desciibrimiento de estas ludias. „Yo (dice el) porquenos txivieseu niucha amis- tad, porque conosci que era gente que mejor se libraria y couvertiria A nuestra Santa F6 cou amor que no por fuerza ; les di 4 algunos de ellos unos bonetes colorados y unas cuentas de vidrio que se ponian al pescuezo, y otras cosas muchas de poco valor con que hobieron mucho placer y quedaron tanto nuestros que era mara- villa. Los cuales despues venian & las barcas de los navios adonde n6s estabamos, nadando y uos traian papagoyos y hilo de algodon en ovillos y azagayas, y otras cosas muchas, y nos las trocaban por otras cosas que nos les daba- mos, como cuentecillas de vidrio y cascabeles. Eu fln todo tomaban y daban de aquello que tenian de buena voluntad. Mas me pareci6 que era geute muy pobre de todo. Ellos andan to- dos desnudos como su madre los pario, y tambien las mugeres, aunque no vide mas de iina farto moza, y todos los que yo vi eran todos mancebos, que ninguno vide de edad de mas de treinta alios: muy bien hechos, de muy fermosos cuer- pos, y muy buenas caras : los cabellos gruesos cuasi como sedas de cola de caballos, 6 cortos : los cabellos traen por encima de las cejas, salvo unos pocos de tras que traen largos, que jamas cortan : dellos se pintan de prieto, y ellos son de la color de los canarios, ni negros ni blancos, y dellos se pintan de bianco, y dellos de Colo- rado, y dellos de lo que fallan, y dellos se pintan las caras, y dellos todo el cuerpo, y dellos solos los ojos, y dellos solo el nariz. Ellos no traen arm as ni las cognocen, porque les amostr6 es- padas y las tomaban por el tilo, y se cortaban con ignorancia. No tienen algun flerro: sus azagayas son unas varas sin flerro, y algunas de ellas tienen al cabo un diente de pece, y otras de otras cosas. Ellos todos Aunamano son de buena estatura de grandeza, y buenos gestos, bien hechos; yo vide algunos que tenian senales de feridas en sus cuerpos, y les hice senas que era aquello, y ellos me amostraron como alii venian gente de otras islas que estaban acerca y les queriau tomar, y se defendian; y yo crei, 6 creo, que aqui vienen de tierra firme k tomarlos por captivos. Ellos deben ser buenos servidores y de buen ingenio, que veo que muy presto dicen todo lo que les decia, y creo que ligeramente se harian cristianos, que me parecio que ninguna secta tenian. To, placiendo (\ nuestro Seiior, levari de aqui al tiempo de mi partida seis d Y. A. para que depreudan fablar. cause I was convinced that their conversion to our Holy Paitli would be better promoted through love than through force ; I ijresented some of them with red caps and some strings of glass beads which they placed around their necks, and with other trifles of insignificant worth that delighted them and by which we have got a wonderful hold on their affections. They afterwards came to the boats of the ves- sels swimming, bringing us parrots cotton thread in balls and spears, and many other things, whiiih they bartered for others we gave them, as glass beads and little bells. Finally they received every thing and gave whatever they had with good will. But I thought them to be a very poor j)eople. All of them go about naked as when they came into the world, even the women, although I saw but one very young girl, all the rest being young men, none of them being over thirty years of age : their forms being very well proportioned, their bodies graceful and their features handsome: their hair is as coarse as the hair of a horse's tail and cut short: they wear their hair over their eye brows ex- cept a little behind which they wear long, and which they never cut : some of them paint them- selves black, and they are of the color of the Canary islanders, neither black nor white, and some paint themselves white, and some red, and some with whatever they find, and some paint their faces, and some the whole body, and some their eyes only, and some their noses only. They do not carry arms and have no knowledge of them, for when I showed them the swords they took them by the edge, and through igno- rance, cut themselves. They have no iron: their spears consist of staffs without iron, some of them having a fish's tooth at the end, and others other things. As a body they are of good size, good demeanor, and well formed ; I saw some with scars on their bodies, and to my signs asking them what these meant, they an- swered in the same manner, that people from neighboring islands wanted to capture them, and they had defended themselves ; and I did believe, and do believe, that they came frorr^ the main land to take them prisoners. They must be good servants and very intelligent, because I see that tbey repeat very quickly what I told them, and it is my conviction that they would easily become Christians, for they seem not to have any sect. If it please our Lord, I will take six of them from bere to your Highnesses on my departure, that tkey may 356 EEPORT OF THE SUPEEINTENDENT OF THE Ninguna bestia de ninguna manera vide, salvo papagayos en esta isla." Todas son palabras del Almiraute. Sabado 13 de Octuhre. „Luego qne amanecio vinieron 4 la playa miichos destos hombres, todos mancebos, como diclio tengo, y todos de buena estatura, gente muy fermosa: los cabellos no crespos, salvo corredios y gruesos, como sedas de eat^^llo, y todos de la frente y cabeza muy anclia mas que otra generacion que fasta aqui hay a visto, y los ojos muy fermosos y no pequenos, y ellos nin- guno prieto, salvo de la color de los canarios, ni se debe esperar otra cosa, pues esta Lesteoueste con la isla del Hierro Q) en Canaria so una linea. Las piernas muy derechas, todos ^ una mano, y no barriga, salvo muy bien lieclia. Ellos vinieron 4 la nao con almadias, que son hechas del pie de un 4rbol, como un barco luengo, y todo de un pedazo, y labrado muy & maravilla segun la tierra, y grandes en que en algunas venian cuarenta 6 cuarenta y cinco hombres, y otras mas pequenas, fasta haber dellas en que venia un solo hombre. Eemaban con una pala como de fornero, y anda A maravilla; y si se le trastorna luego se echan todos 4 nadar, y la enderezan y vaoian con calabazas que traen ellos. Traian ovillos de algodon fliado y papa- gayos, y azagayas, y otras cositas que seria tedio de escrebir, y todo daban por cualquiera cosa qixe se los diese. Y yo estaba atento y trabajaba de saber si habia oro, y vide que al- gunos dellos traian un pedazuelo colgado en un agujero que tienen a la nariz, y por senas pude entender que yendo al Sur 6 volviendo la isla por el Sur, que estaba alli un Eey que tenia grandes vasos dello, y tenia muy mucho. Tra- baj6 que fuesen all&, y despues vide que no entendian en la ida. Determine de aguardar fasta maiiana en la tarde, y despues partir para el Sudueste, que segun muchos dellos me eusena- ron decian que habia tierra al Sur y al Sudueste y al Korueste, y questas del Norueste les venian & combatir muchas veces, y asi ir al Sudueste (i buscar el oro y piedras preciosas. Esta isla es bien grande y muy liana y de arboles muy verdes, y muchas aguas, y una laguna on medio muy grande, sin ninguna montana, y toda ella verde, ques placer de miraria; y esta gente farto mansa, y por la gana de haber de nuestras eosas, y teniendo que no se les ha de dar sin (1) La verdadera situaoion do esta isla rospocto 6. ]a del Hiorro cs O. 5° S. — E. 5° N. learn to speak. I have seen here no beasts ■whatever, but parrots only." All these are the words of the Admiral. Saturday October 13th, "At dawn many of these men came down to the shore, all are, as already said, youths of good size and very handsome : their hair is not wooly, but loose and coarse like horse hair, they have broader heads and foreheads than I have ever seen in any other race of men, and the eyes very beautiful not small, none of them are black, but of the complexion of the inhabitants of the Canaries, as it is to be expected, for it is east [and] west with the island of Hierro in the Canaries in the same line. All without excep- tion have very straight limbs, an(J no bellies, and very well formed. They came to the ship in canoes, made out of trunks of trees all in one piece, and wonderfully built according to the locality, in some of them forty or forty five men came, others were smaller, and in some but a single man came. They paddled with a peel like that of a baker, and make wonderful speed; and if it capsizes all begin to swim and set it right again, and bail out the water with cala- bashes which they carry. They brought balls of spun cotton parrots, spears and other little things which would be tedious to describe, and gave them away for any thing that was given to them. I examined them closely and tried to ascertain if there was any gold, and noticed that some carried a small piece of it hanging from a little hole in their nose, and by signs I was able to understand that by going to the south or going around the island to the south- ward, there was a king who had large gold vessels, and gold in abundance. I endeavored to persuade them to go there, and I afterwards saw that thej' had no wish to go. I deter- mined to wait until tomorow eveningj and then to sail for the southwest, for many of them told me that there was land to the south and to the southwest and to the northwest, and that those from the northwest came frequently to iight with them, and so go to the southwest to get gold and precious stones. This island is very large and very level and has very green trees, and abundance of water, and a very large lagoon in the middle, without any mountain, and all is covered with verdue, most pleasing to the eye; the people are remarkably gentle, and from the desire to get some of our things, and thinking that nothing will be given to them UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 357 que den algo y no lo tienen, toman lo que pue- den y se echan luego tl nadar; mas todo lo que tienen lo dan por cualquiera cosa que les den ; que fasta los pedazos de las escudillas, y de las tazas de Yidrio rotas rescataban, fasta que vi dar diez y seis ovillos de algodon por tres ceo- tis(') de Portugal, que es una blanca de Oastilla, y en ellos habria mas de una arroba de algodon lilado. Esto defendlera y no dejara tomar & nadie, salvo que yo lo mandara tomar todo para V. A. si hobiera en cantidad. Aqui nace en esta isla, mas por el pooo tiempo no pude dar asi del todo fe, y tambien aqui nace el oro que traen colgado a la nariz; mas por no perder tiempo quiero ir a ver si puedo topar a la isla de Cipango(^). Agora como fue noche todos se fueron a tierra con sus almadias." Domingo 14 de OcUibre. „En ama.neciendo mand6 aderezar el batel de la uao y las barcas de las carabelas, y fue al luengo de la isla, en el camino del IsToruordeste, para ver la otra parte, que era de la otra parte del Leste qne liabia, y tambien para ver las poblaciones, y vide luego dos 6 tres y la gente, que veuian todos 4 la playa Uainandonos y dando gracias a Dios; los unos nos traian agua, otros otras cosas de comer; otros, cuando veian que yo no curaba de ir 4 tierra, se ecbaban a la mar nadando y veuian, y entendiamos que nos preguntaban si eramos venidos del cielo; y vino uno riejo en el batel dentro, y otros a voces grandes llamaban todos liombres y mugeres : venid a ver los hombres que vinierou del cielo : traedles de comer y de beber. Vinieron mucbos y muchas mugeres, cada uno con algo, dando gracias 4 Dios, echandose al suelo, y levanta- ban las manos al cielo, y despues a voces nos llamaban que fuesemos a tierra : mas yo temia de ver una grande restinga de piedras que cerca toda aquella isla al rededor, y entre medias qiieda bondo y puerto para cuantas naos hay en toda la cristiandad, y la entrada dello muy angosta, Es verdad que dentro desta cinta (1) For Ceidi 6 ccpti, moneda de Ceuta que corria en Portugal. C) Marco Polo en el cap. cvi de la relacion de su viage asegura haber visto esta isla, de la cual liace una larga descripcion, y anade que estaba situada en alta mar, d distancia de 1500 millas del contiuente do la India. El Dr. Robertson dice que probablemente es el Japon. Ilc- cherches hist, sur I'liide anoienne, sec. 3. unless they give some thing, and having noth- ing they take what they can and swim off [to the ship] ; but all that they have they gi-ve for any thing that is offered to them ; so that they bought even pieces of crockery, and pieces of broken glass, and I saw sixteen balls of cotton given for three ceotis(') of Portugal, which is equi\'alent to a blanca of Castile, and in them there must have been more than one arroba(^) of spun cotton. I forbad this and allowed no one to take any unless I ordered it to be taken for your Highnesses should it be found in abund- ance. It grows in the island, although on ac- count of the shortness of time I could not as- sert it positively, and likewise tlie gold which they carry hanging in their noses is found here; but in order to lose no time I am now going to try if I can find the island of Cipango. At this moment it is dark and all went on shore in their canoes." Sunday October 14. "At dawn I ordered the boat of the ship and the boats of the Caravels to be got ready, and went along the island, in a north-northeasterly direction, to see the other side, which was on the other side of the east, and also to see the villages, and soon saw two or three and their Inhabitants, coming to the shore calling us and praising God; «ome brought us water, some eatables; others, when they saw that I did not care to go on shore, plunged into the sea swim- ming and came, and we understood that they asked us if we had come down from heaven; and one old man got into the boat, while others in a loud voice called both men and women say- ing : come and see the men from heaven: bring them food and drink. A crowd of men and many women came, each bringing something, giving thanks to God, throwing themselves down, and lifting their hands to heaven, and entreating or beseeching us to land there : but I was afraid of a reef of rocks which entirely surrounds that islaud, although there is within it depth enough and ample harbor for all the vessels of Christendom, but the entrance is very narrow. It is true that the interior of that belt contains some rocks, but the sea is there as still as the water in a well. And in order to see all this I moved this morning, that I might (') Copper coin of the value of half a maravedi — Span- ish Dictionary. (2) Equal to 25.353145 pounds. Modern Metrology: Louis D'A. Jackson: London, p. 310. 358 EEPOET OP THE SUPEEINTENDEXT OP THE hay algunas bajas,mas la mar no se mueve mas que dentro en un pozo. Y para ver todo esto me movl esta maiiana, porque snpiese dar de todo relacion a vuestras Altezas, y tambien 6, donde pudiera hacer fortaleza, y vide un pedazo de tierra que se hace como isla, aunque no lo es, en que liabia seis casas, el cual se pudiera ata- jar en dos dias por isla; aunque yo no veo ser necesario, porque esta gente es muy siraplico en armas, como ver4n vuestras Altezas de siete que yo hice tomar para le llevar y deprender nuestra fabla y volvellos, salvo que vuestras Altezas euando mandaren puedenlos todos llevar & Oastilla, 6 tenellos en la misma isla captives, porque con cincuenta hombres los tern4 todos sojuzgados, y les liar4 hacer todo lo que quisiere; y despues junto con la dicha isleta estan huertas de 4rboles las mas hermosas que yo VI, 6 tan verdes y con sus hojas como las de Oastilla en el mes de Abril y de Mayo, y mucha agua. To mire todo aquel puerto, y despues me volvl 4 la nao y di la vela, y vide tantas islas que yo no sabia determinarme & cual iria primero, y aquellos hombres que yo tenia to- mado me decian por seiias que eran tantas y tantas que no habia numero, y anombraron por su nombre mas de ciento(^). Por ende yo mir(§ por la mas grande(^), y aquella determiu6 andar, y asi hago y ser4 lejos desta de San Salvador, cinco leguas y las otras dellas mas, dellas me- nos : todas son muy lianas, sin montaiias y muy f6rtiles, y todas pobladas, y se haeen guerra la una & la otra, aunque estos son muy simplices y muy lindos cu&rpos de hombres." Limes 15 de Octuhre. „ Habia temporejado esta noche con temor de no llegar k tierra 4 sorgir antes de la maiiana por no saber si la costa era limpia de bajas, y en amaneciendo cargar velas. T como la isla fuese mas lejos de cinco leguas, antes ser4 siete, y la marea me detuvo, seria medio dia euando llegu6 4 la dicha isla, y fall6 que aquella haz, ques de la parte de la isla de San Salvador, se corre Norte Sur, y hay en ella ciuco leguas, y la otra que yo segui se corria Leste Oueste, y hay eii ella mas de diez leguas. Y como desta isla vide otra mayor al Oueste, (') La inultitud de estas islas indica que deben ser las que forman loa Caieos, las Inaguas cMca y grande, Mari- guana, y demas que so hallan al Oeste. (^) Esta isla grande dobo ser la quo Uaman Gran Caico, J dista de la primera 6^ leguas. give an account of everything to your High- nesses, and also to see where a fort could be built, and found a piece of land like an island, although it is not one, with six houses on it, which in two days could easily be cut off and converted into an island; such a work however is not necessary in my opinion, because the people are totally tmacquainted with arms, as your Highnesses will see by observing the seven whom I have caused to be taken in order to carry them to Castile to be taught our lan- guage, and to return them unless your High- nesses when they shall send orders may take them all to Castile, or keep them in the same island as captives, for with fifty men all can be kept in subjection, and made to do whatever you desire; and near by the said little island there are orchards of trees the most beautiful that I have seen, with leaves as fresh and green as those of Castile in April and May, and much water. I observed all that harbor, and after- wards I returned to the ship and set sail, and saw so many islands that I could not decide to which one I should go first, and the men I had taken told me by signs that they were innum- erable, and named more than one hundred of them. In consequence I looked for the largest one and determined to make for it, and I am so doing, and it is probably distant five leagues from this of San Salvador, the others some more, some less: all are very level, without mountains and of great fertility, and all are in- habited, and they make war upon each other, although these are very simple hearted and very finely formed men." Monday October 15th. "I had been standing off and on this night' fearing to approach the shore for anchorage before morning not knowing whether the coast would be clear of shoals, and intending to clew up at dawn. And as the island was over five leagues distant, rather seven, and the tide de- tained me, it was about noon when I reached the said island, and I found that that side, which is towards the island of San Salvador runs north [and] south, and is five leagues in length, and the other which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues. And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails for I had gone all that day until night, because I could not yet have gone to the western cape, UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 359 cargue las velas por andar todo aquel dia fasta la uoche, porque aim no pudiera liaber andado al cabo del Oueste, 4 la cual puse iiombre la isJa de Santa Maria 'de la Concepcion{^), y cuasi al pouer del sol sorgi acerca del dicho cabo por saber si habia alii oro, porque estos que yo liabia hecho tomar en la isla de S. Salvador me decian que ahi traian manillas de oro muy grandes A las piernas y & los brazos. Yo Men crei que todo lo que decian era burla para se fugir. Con todo, rai voluutad era de no pasar por ninguna isla de que no tomase posesion, puesto que tornado de una se puede decir de todas ; y sorgi e estuve liasta hoy Martes que en amaneciendo fui 4 tierra con las barcas ar- madas, y sail, y ellos que eran muchos asi des- nudos, y de la misma condicion de la otra isla de San Salvador, nos dejaron ir por la isla y nos daban lo que les pedia. Y porque el viento car- gaba a la traviesa Sueste no me quise detener y parti para la nao, y una almadia graude estaba abordo de la carabela Niiia, y uno de los hombres de la isla de San Salvador, que en ella era, se echo 4 la mar y se f lie en ella, y la noche de antes 4 medio echado el otro(^) y fue atr4s la al- madia, la cual fugio que jamas fue barca que le pudiese alcanzar, puesto que le teniamos grande avante. Con todo dio en tierra, y dejaron la al- madia, y alguno de los de mi compania salieron en tierra tras ellos, ytodosfugeroncomo gallinas, y la almadia que habian dejado la llevamos abor- do de la carabela Niiia, adonde ya de otro cabo venia otra almadia pequeiia con un hombre que venia 4 rescatar un ovillo de algodon, y se echaron algunos marineros a la mar porque 61 no queria entrar en la carabela, y le tomaron ; y yo que estaba 4 la popa de la nao, que vide todo, envi^ por el, y le di un bonete Colorado y unas cuentas de vidrio verdes pequenas que le puse al braze, y dos cascabeles que le puse a las orejas, y le mande volver su almadia que tambien tenia en la barca, y le envi^ 4 tierra ; y di luego la vela para ir 4 la otra isla grande que yo via al Oueste, y mandti largar tambien la otra almadia que traia la carabela Nina por popa, y vide des- (1) Esta parece ser la que hoy se llama Caico del Nm-te; aunque con el nombre de Santa Maria de Ja Coneepcion coinprendi6 todo el grupo de las islas immediatas que se llaman los Caicos, como se nota ruas adelante en el dia 16 de Octubre. (2) Con la ininteligible escrltura de esta palabra en el original, y el vacio 6 hueco que sigue, queda oliscuro el sentido del periodo. Acaso quiso deoir : y la noche de antes al medio se echd el otro a nado, y fue atvds la almadia, S-c. to which(i) I gave the name of the island of Santa Maria de la, Coneepcion, and about sun- set I anchored near said cape iu order to learn whether there was gold there, because the men whom I had caused to be taken from San Salvador told me that they there wore very large rings of gold on their legs and arms. I well suspected that all they said was deceptive in order to get away from me. Nev- ertheless, it was my desire not to pass any island without taking possession of it, as one taken possession of the same may be said of all; and I anchored and remained until to day tues- day when at dawn I went on shore with the boats armed, and got out, and they who were many in number naked, and of the same dispo- sition as those of the other island of San Salva- dor, allowed us to go over the island and gave us whatever we as^ed for. And because the wind was increasing across south east(^) I did not like to stay longer so I returned to the shij), and a large canoe was alongside the caravel Nina, and one of the men of the island of San Salvador, who was in it, jumped overboard and escaped in it, and in-the middle of the preceding night the other(-') and he went after the canoe, which fled so swiftly that there was never a boat that could overtake it, although we had a long start. Nevertheless it reached the land, and they left the canoe, and some of my ihen went on shore after them, and they all ran like hens, and the canoe they had left we took on board the caravel Niiia, to which from another quarter another small canoe was coming with a man who came to barter a ball of cotton, and as he refused to go on board the caravel, some sailors plunged into the sea and took him ; and (') The pronoun, which, is feminine iu Spanish and can- not relate to cape Tvhich is masculine. It is therefore manifest that Columbus applied the name to the whole island. — H. L. T., translator. (2) The phrase in the Spanish text is— El viento cargaha d la traviesa Siaste. I find so much diversity in regard to the meaning of a la traviesa, that I venture a nautical explanation, provided he was where I put him on the forenoon of the 16th of October — N. W. end of Crooked Island. — Here the flood tide ran east, on the 16th, from 9^ a. m. toS"! 12™ p. m. — see p. 390 — His ships were riding at single anchor, to a windward tide, with their heads lo the westward ; but as the south east wind increased there was the risk of "breaking shear," which the Admiral ob- served from the shore ; hence his anxiety to be oif. (^) On account of the illegible writing of this word in the original and the blank space that follows, the meauin o- of the sentence remains in obscurity. Perhaps he meant : and in the middle of the preceding night the other sivam off, and went behind the canoe, ^x. Casas. BPiO EEPOET OP THE SUPERINTENDENT OP THE pues en tierra al tiempo de la llegada del otro & quien yo habia dado las cosas susodichas, y no le babia querido tomar el ovillo de algodon pu- esto quel me lo queria dar ; y todos los otros ~se llegaron 4 61, j tenia d gran maravilla 6 bien le parecio que eramos buena gente, y que el otro que se habia fugido nos habia hecho algun daQo y que por esto lo llevabamos, y & esta razon us6 esto con 61 de le mandar alargar, y le di las dichas cosas porque nos tuviesen en esta esti- ma, porque otra vez cuando vuestras Altezas aqui tornen a enviar no hagan mala compaiiia ; y todo lo que yo le di no valla cuatro mara- Tedis. Y asi parti, que serian las diez horas, con el vieuto Sueste y tocaba de Sur para pasar 6, estotra isla, la cual es grandisima, y adonde todos estos hombres que yo traigo do la de San Salvador hacen seiias que hay muy mucho oro, y que lo traen en los brazos en ma- nillas, y 4 las piernas, y 4 las orejas, y al nariz, y al pescuezo. T habia de esta isla de Santa Maria 4 esta otra nueve leguas Leste Oueste, y se corre toda esta parte de la isla Norueste Sueste, y se parece que bien habria en esta costa mas de veinte y ocho leguas(i) en esta faz, y es muy liana sin montaQa ninguna, asi como aquellas de San Salvador y de Santa Maria, y todas playas sin roquedos, salvo que 4 todas hay algunas peiias acerca de tierra debajo del agua, por donde es menester abrir el ojo cuando se qtiiere surgir 6 no surgir mucho acerca de tierra, aunque las aguas son siempre muy Claras y se ve el fondo. Y desviado de tierra dos tiros de lombarda hay en todas estas Islas tanto fondo que no se puede llegar a el. Son estas Islas muy verdes y lertiles, y de aires muy dulces, y puede haber muohas cosas que yo no s6, porque no me quiero detener por calar y andar muchas Islas para fallar oro. Y pues estas dan asi estas seiias que lo traen 4 los brazos y 4 las piernas, y es oro porque les amostr^ algunos pedazos del que yo tengo, no puedo errar con el ayuda de nuestro Senor que yo no le falle adonde nace. Y estando a medio golfo destas dos islas es de saber de aquella de Santa Maria y de esta grandc, 4 la cual pongo nombre la Fernandinal^), fall6 un hombre solo en una almadia que se pasaba de la isla de Santa Maria 4 la Pernandina, y traia un poco de su pan, que seria tanto como el puflo, y una cala- baza de agua, y un j^edazo de tierra bermcja (') Sou solo 19 leguas. (^) Cou6cese aliora con cl nombre de Inagna cliica. I who from the poop of my ship saw all, sent for him, and I gave liim a red cap put around his arm a string of small green glass beads, and two little bells on his ears, and ordered that his ca- noe which they also had on board of the vessel, should be returned to him, and thus I sent him on shore : and soon after I set sail for the other large island that appeared at the west, and I ordered that the other canoe that the Niria had astern should be turned adrift, when the man to whom I made the indicated presents and from whom I had refused the ball of cotton he offered to me reached the land; he was as I saw imme- diately surrounded by those on shore, and he thought it a great wonder and thought that we we were good people, and that the other man who had fled had probably been kept by us in consequence of some injury done us, and that was the reason why I gave him presents and or- dered his release, my aim being to win thus the respect and esteem of all, and avoid their enmity to the future expeditions your Highnesses may send; and yet all I gave him was not worth four maravedis. And so I left, at about ten o'clock, with a south east wind inclining to the south for the other island, a very large one, where the San Salvador men I have with me assert by signs there exists much gold, and that they wear it in rings around their arms, and legs, and in their ears, and noses, and around their necks. And from this island of Santa Maria to the other one there are nine leagues east [and] west, and all this portion of the island runs north west [and] south east, and it appears that there are on this coast more than twenty eight leagues it is even, and devoid of mountains, like those of San Salvador and Santa Maria, and all its shores are free from reefs, except some sunken rocks near the land which require great watchfulness when one wants to anchor or makes it prudent to anchor some distance from land, although the water is remarkably limpid and the bottom can be seen. And at the distance of two lombard shots there is in all these islands so much bot- tom that it cannot be reached. These islands are very green and fertile, and have a balmy atmosphere, they probably contain many things which I do not know of, for I do not wish to stop but to reconnoitre many islands in search of gold. And since these thus give these signs that they wear it on their arms and legs, and it is real gold for I showed them some pieces of that which I have, I cannot fail God helping find- UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 361 hecha en polvo y despues amasada, y unas hojas secas que debe ser cosa muy ayreciada entre ellos, poriiue ya me trujeron en Sau Salvador dellas en presente, y traia un cestillo §, su guisa en que tenia un ramalejo de cuentecillas de vidrio y dos blancas, por las cuales conosci quel venia de la isla de San Salva<^lor, y habia pasado •A aquella de Santa Maria, y se pasaba 4 la Per- nandina, el cual ee lleg6 & la uao; yo le hice entrar, que asi lo demaudaba 61, y le liice poner su almadia en la nao, y guardar todo lo que 61 traia ; y le mand6 dar de comer pan y miel, y de beber ; y asi le pasar6 4 la Fernandina, y le dar6 todo lo suyo, porque de buenas nuevas de nos para 4 nuestro Seiior aplaciendo, cuando vues- tras Altezas envien acd, que aquellos que vinie- ren resciban honra, y nos den de todo lo que ho- biere." Martes 16 de Octubre. „ Parti de las islas de Santa Maria de la Con- c^ciorij que seria ya cerca del medio dia, para la isla Fernandina, la cual amuestra ser grandi- sima al Oueste, y navegu6 todo aquel dia con calmeria; no pude llegar 4 tiempo de poder ver el fondo para surgir en limpio, porque es en esto mucho de haber gran diligencia por no per- der las anclas; y asi temporic^ toda esta noche hasta el dia que vine 4 una poblacion, adonde yo surgi, e adonde habia venido aquel liombre que yo halW ayer en aquella almadia 4 medio golfo, el cual habia dado tantas buenas nuevas de nos que toda esta noche no falto almadias abordo de la nao, que nos traian agua y de lo que tenian. Xo 4 cada uno le mandaba dar algo, es 4 saber al- gunas contecillas, diez 6 doce dellas de vidrio en un fllo, y algunas sonajas de laton destas que va- len en Castilla un maravedi cada una, y algunas agujetas, de que todo tenian en grandisima excelencia, y tambien los mandaba dar para que comiesen cuando venian en la nao miel de azucar; y despues 4 horas de tercia envi6 el batel de la nao en tierra por agua, y ellos de muy buena gana le enseiiaban 4 mi geute adonde estaba el agua, y ellos mismos traian S. Ex. 12 46 ing the place whence it is procured. And being in the gulf midway between these two islands namely that of Santa Maria and this large one, to which I give the name of la Fernandina, I found a man who was going from the island of Santa Maria to la Fernandina, he had a small piece of his bread, about the size of one's fist, a calabash of water, a lump of red earth reduced to powder and afterwards kneaded, and some dry leaves highly prized no doubt among them, for those of San Salvador offered some to me as a present,(^) and he carried a little basket in their fashion in which he had a small string of glass beads and two blancas, by which I knew that he came from the island of San Salvador, had passed to Santa Maria, and was now going to la Fernandina, and he came to the ship ; I had him taken on board as he desir'ed, and or- dered that his canoe and all that he had, should be kept in the ship ; and had him treated with bread honey, and drink ; and I will take him to la Fernandina, giving him back what he has brought, in order that he may give good news concerning us so that G-od willing, when your Highnesses shall send here, those who shall come may receive honor, and that they may give us of all that they have." Tuesday October 16th. "About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria de la Concepcion for the island of Fernandina, which appears to be very large to the west, and I sailed all that day with calm weather ; I could not arrive in time to see the bottom iu order to get a clear anchorage, a thing requiring the greatest care in order not to lose the anchors ; in consequence I waited until daylight when I anchored near a village, the man whom I found yesterday in his canoe in the gulf had come to that village, and so favorable was the account he had given of us that to night they have been constantly coming to the ship in their canoes, bringing us water* and everything they have. I caused some things to be given to every one, such as small beads, ten or twelve of them of glass on a string, some brass [tin'?] rattles like those that in Castile can be had for (') This was probably tobacco. When at Port Nuevi- tas del Principe, Cuba, November 6tli, the two messengers he sent into the country returned and reported, among other things, that the natives, men and women, fumigated themselves by inhaling smoke from tubes — tabacos — made of dried leaves. This is the iirst record of smoking ci- gars. See Navarrete, 1st edition, jj. 51. Note by Las Casas. 362 EEPORT OP THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE los barriles llenos al batel, y se folgaban raucho de 1108 hacer placer. Esta isla es graudisima y tengo determinado de la rodear, porque segun puedo entender en ella, 6 cerca della, hay mina de oro. Esta isla est^ desviada de la de Santa Maria ocho leguas cuasi Leste Oueste; y este cabo adonde yo vine, y toda esta costa se corre Nornorueste y Snrsneste, y vide -bien veinte leguas de ella, inas alil no acababa. Agora escribiendo esto di la vela con el viento Sur para pujar 4 rodear toda la isla, y trabajar hasta que halle Samaot, que es la isla 6 ciudad adonde es el oro, que asi lo dicen todos estos que aqui vienen en la nao, y nos lo decian los de la isla de San Salvador y de Santa Maria. Esta gente es semejante 4 aquella de las dichas islas, y una fabla y uuas costumbres, salvo questos ya me parecen algun tanto mas dom^s- tica gente, y de tracto, y mas sotiles, porque veo que ban traido algodon aqui 4 la nao y otras cositas que saben mejor refetar(') el pagamento que no hacian los otros; y auu en esta isla vide partos de algodon fechos como mantillos, y la gente mas dispuesta, y las mugeres traen por delante su cuerpo una cosita de algodon que escasamente les cobija su natura. Ella es isla muy verde y liana y fertillsima, y no pongo duda que todo el ano siembran panizo y cogen, y asi todas otras cosas ; y vide mucbos 4rboles nuiy disformes de los nuestros, y dellos muchos que tenian los ramos de muclias maneras y todo en un pie, y un ramito es de una manera y otro de otra, y tan disforme que es la mayor mara- villa del mundo cuanta es la diversidad de la una manera 4 la otra, verbi gracia, un ramo tenia las fojas a manera de caiias y otro de ma- nera de lentisco; y asi en un solo arbol de cinco 6 seis de estas maneras ; y todos tan diversos : ni estos son enjeridos, porque se pueda decir que el enjerto lo hace, antes son por los montes, ni cura dellos esta gente. No le conozco secta ninguna, y creo que muy presto se tornarian cristianos, porque ellas son de muy buen enten- der. Aqui son los peces tan disformes de los nuestros ques maravilla. Hay algunos bechos como gallos de las mas flnas colores del mundo, azules, amarillos, colorados y de todas colores, y otros pintados de mil maneras ; y las colores son tan finas que no hay hombre que no se maraville y no tome gran descaiiso & verlos. Tambien hay ballenas: bestias en tierra no vide (') Acaso referlar v. a. ant. contradecir, repuguar, re- sistir, reusar 6 regatear. one maravedi a piece, and some leather straps, all of which they held in the greatest estima- tion, and I also treated those who came to my ship with honey of sugar [molasses?]; and after- wards at nine o'clock a. m. I sent the ship's boat to the shore for water, and they willingly showed my men where the water was and they themselves brought the casks filled to the boat, and were very glad to be able to oblige us. This island is exceedingly large and I have de- termined to go around it, because as I can understand on it or near it, there is a mine of gold. This island lies at a distance from that of Santa Maria of eight leagues almost east [and] west; and this cape to which I have come, and all this coast, runs north-northwest and south-southeast, and I saw fully twenty leagues of it, but this was not the end. Soon after writing this I set sail with a south wind, intending to go around the whole island, and work until I should find Samaot, which is the island or city where the gold is, as all those say who have come with us in the ships, and as, was before asserted by those of the island of San Salvador and Santa Maria. The people here are like those of the said islands, and speak the same language and have the same customs, but these look to me as somewhat more gentle, of better manners, and of keener intelligence, for I notice that in bartering cotton and other little things they know how to trade, which the others never did ; and also on this island I saw cotton cloth made like mantles, and the people more intelligent, and the women wear in front a small piece of cotton stuff which scarcely covers what decency requires. The island is very green level and exceedingly fertile, and I doubt not that they sow and gather panizo(') and all other things, at all seasons of the year; and I saw many trees whose shape was very different from ours, and many of them which had branches of many kinds although growing from one trunk, and one branch is of one kind and another of another kind, and so different that the diversity of the kinds is the greatest wonder of the world, for instance, one branch had leaves like those of cane and another like those of a mastic ; and thus on a single tree (' ) Panicum— an ancient Latin name of tlie Italian mil- let P. Italioum (now Selaria ItaHea) thought to come from liania, bread; some species furnishing a kind of bread corn. Gray's Xeiv Lessons and Manual of Botany. Boston, 1868. p. 645. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 363 ningnna de ninguna manera, salvo papagayos y lagartos; un mozo me dijo que vido una grande oulebra. Ovejas ni cabras ni otra nin- guna bestia vide; aunque yo he estado aqui in.uy poco, que es medio dia, mas si las hobiese no pudiera errar de ver alguna. El cerco desta isla escribire despues que yo la hobiere rodeado." Miercoles 17 de Octubre. „ A medio dia parti de la poblacion adonde yo estaba surgido, y adonde tom6 agua para ir rodear esta isla Fernandina, y el viento era Su- dueste y Sur ; y como mi voluntad fuese de se guir esta costa desta isla adonde yo estaba al Sueste, porque asi se corre toda Nornorueste y Sursueste, y queria Uevar el dicho camino de Sur y Sueste, porque aquella parte todos estos indios que traigo y otro de quien hobe seiias en esta parte del Sur ^ la isla 4 que ellos Uaman Samoet, adonde es el oro; y Martin Alonso Pinzon, capitan de la carabela Pinta, en la cual yo mand6 k tres de estos indios, vino & mi y me dijo que uno dellos muy certificadamente le habia dado a entender que por la parte del Nornorueste muy mas presto arrodearia la isla. Yo vide que el viento no me ayudaba por el camino que yo queria Uevar, y era bueno por el otro: di la vela al Nornorueste, y cuando fue acerca del cabo de la isla, 4 dos leguas, halle un muy maravilloso puerto con una boca, aunque dos bocas se le puede docir, porque tiene un isleo en medio, y son ambas muy angostas, y dentro muy ancho para cien(i) navios si fuera fondo y •limpio, y fondo al entrada: pareciome razon del ver bien y sondear, y asi surgi fuera d61, y fui en 61 con todas las barcas de los navios, y vimos quo no Labia fondo. Y porque peus(§ cuando yo (') Eu el original dice pareciun ; pero es error couocido. there were five or six of these kinds ; and all so different : nor can it ,be said that they have been grafted, because those trees grow wild in the field, and nobody cares for them.(') I know no sect among them, and as they are of very good understanding, they would in my opinion soon become Christians. The fishes here are so different from ours that it is a wonder. Some look like cocks of the finest colors in the world, blue, yellow, red and all colors, and others vari- egated in a thousand fashions ; their different hues being so exquisite that nobody can con- template them without wondering, and feeling great delight in seeing them.(2) There are also whales here: but on shore I saw no beasts whatever, save parrots and lizzards ; a young man told me that he had seen a large snake. No sheep nor goats nor any other beast did I see ; although I Jiave only stopped half a day I could not fail in seeing some, should there be any. When I shall have sailed around this isl- and I wiU describe its coast." Wednesday October 11th. At midday I left the village where I had anchored and taken in water, in order to sail around this island of Fernandina, the wind was southwest and south; and as my wish was to follow the coast of the island where I was to the southeast, because it all runs to the north-north- west and south-southeast, and I desired to take the said route of south and south-east, because that part all these Indians whom I have on board and another from whom I received signs in this part of the south on the island which they call Samoet, [is] where the gold is ; and Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the cara- vel Pinta, into which I sent three of these In- dians, came to me and said that one of them had very positively given him to understand that I should round the island much the. quick- est by the north-northwest. I saw that the wind was not favorable to my intended course, (') The flora wliioli Columbus saw has probably disap- peared before thereckless firiug and wasteful cultivation which characterizes the agriculture of the Bahamas. There are, however, now found there, besides the Epi- phytes or air plants, many of a parasitic nature and two, Wild fig (Ficas pedunculata) and Scotch attorney (^clusea rosea) whicb, springing from a chance seed lodged in the branches of trees tlirow their roots to the ground and join their foliage as if belonging to the same trunk. C) This vivid description applies to the fishes which, are now found on the Bahama banks. 364 EEPOET or THE SUPERINTEITOENT OF THE le Yi que era boca de algun rio habia mandado llevar barriles para tomar agaa, y en tierra hall6 unos ocho 6 diez hombres que luego vinie- ron d nos, y nos amostraron alii cerca la pobla- cion, adonde yo envi6 la gente por agua, una parte con armas otros con barriles, y asi la to- maron; y i^orque era lejuelos me detuve por espacio de dos horas. En este fiempo anduve asi por aquellos drboles, que era la cosa mas fermosa de ver que otra que se haya visto; veyendo tanta verdura en tanto grado como en el mes de Mayo en el Andalucia, y los Arboles todos estan tan disformes de los nuestros como el dia de la noche; y asi las frutas, y asi las yerbas y las piedras y todas las cosas. Verdad es que algunos 4rboles eran de la naturaleza de otros que hay en Oastilla, por ende habia muy gran diferencia, y los otros ^rboles de otras maneras eran tantos que no hay persona que lo pueda decir ni asemejar k otros de Oastilla. La gente toda era una con los otros ya dichos, de las mismas condiciones, y asi desnudos y de la misma estatura, y daban de lo que tenian por cualquiera cosa que' les diesen ; y aqui vide que unos mozos de los navfos les trocaron azagayas por unos pedazuelos de escudillas rotas y de vidrio, y los otros que fueron por el agua me dijeron como habian estado en sus casas, y que eran de dentro muy barridas y limpias, y sus camas y paramentos de cosas que son como redes de algodon(i) : ellas las casas son todas k manera de alfaneques, y muy altas y buenas chimeneas(^) ; mas no vide entre muchas po- blaciones que yo vide ninguna que pasase de doce hasta quince casas. Aqui fallaron que las mugefes casadas traian bragas do algodon, las mozas no, sino salvo algunas que eran ya de edad de diez y ocho aiios. Y ahi habia perros mastines y branchetes, y ahi fallaron uno que habia al nariz un pedazo de oro que seria como la mitad de un castellano, en el cual vieron letras : reni yo con ellos porque no se lo resga- taron y dieron cuanto pedia, por ver que era y cuya esta moneda era ; y ellos me respondieron que nunca se lo os6 resgatar. Despues de to- mada la agua volvf a la nao, y di la vela, y sali al Norueste tanto que yo descubri toda aquella parte de la isla hasta la costa que se corre Leste Oueste, y despues todos estos indios tor- (') LMmanse Samacas. ('') Estas chimeneas no eon para hnmeros, sino iinas coroQillas que tienen encima las casas de paja de los In- dios. Por esto lo dice, jracsto quo dcjan abicrto por arriba algo para que saiga ol humo. Casas. and was to the other: so I sailed to the north- north west, and when I was near the end of the island, two leagues off, I found a very marvel- lous port with an entrance, although it may be said that there are two entrances, because it has a rocky islet in the middle, and both are very narrow, but within it there is ample room for one hundred ships, if it had sufiQcient depth of water, and was clear, and had also a deep entrance : I thought it worth while to examine and sound it, and so I anchored outside of it, and went in with all the boats of the ships, and saw that there was not bottom. And because I thought when I saw it that it was the mouth of some river I had the casks sent on shore for water, and on shore I found eight or ten men who soon approached us, and showed us the village near by, to which I sent my men for water, some armed, and others with the casks, and thus they got it ; and because it was rather far I was detained for the space of two hours. During this time I walked among those trees, which were the most beautiful things that were ever seen; so much verdure being visible and in as high a degree as in the month of May in An- dalucia, and all these trees as different from ours as day is from night ; the same was the case with the fruits, grass stones and all things. It is true that some trees were of the same fam- ily as others in Castile, however there was a very great difference, and the other trees of other kinds were so many that there is no per- son that can compare them to others in Castile. The people were all like those aforementioned, they have the same dispositions, go about naked and are of the same size, and gave of what they had for anything that was given to them ; and here I saw that some young men of the vessels obtained spears from them for some little pieces of broken crockery and glass, the men I sent for water told us that the houses which they had entered were well swept and perfectly clean, and that their beds and coverings looked like cotton nets:(') the houses are like tents, very high and have good chimneys; (2) but among the many villages which I saw none had over twelve or fifteen houses. Here they found that the married women wore cotton (1) Which they called Hamacas. Namrrete, This is the first mention of the hammocls. (^) These are not chimneys for emitting smoke but are crowns on top of the straw huts, he called them chim- neys because somothiug is left open on top in order that the smoke may get out. Casas. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 365 naron ii decir que esta isla era mas pequena que no la isla Samoet, y que seria bien volver atras por ser en ella mas presto. El viento all! luego mas calm6 y comenz6 A ventar Ouesnoru- este, el cual era contrario para donde habiamos venido, y asl tom6 la ^^lelta y navegu(5 toda esta noche pasada al Lestesueste, y cuando al Leste todo y cuando al Suesle ; y esto para apartarme de la tierra porque hacia muy gran cerrazon y el tiempo muy cargado : el era poco y no me dejo Uegar d tierra a surgir. Asi que eata noche llovi6 muy fuerte despues de media noche hasta cuasi el dia, y aun estd nublado para Hover ; y nos al cabo de la isla de la parte del Sueste adoude espero surgir fasta que aclarezca para ver las otras is! as adonde tengo de ir; y asi todos estos dias despues que en estas Indias estoy ha Uovido poco 6 mucho. Crean vuestras Altezas que es esta tierra la mejor 6 mas fertil, y temperada, y liana, y buena que haya en el mundo." Jneves 18 de Oetubre. „ Despues que aclarescio segui el viento, y fui en derredor de la isla cuanto pude, y surgf al tiempo que ya no era de navegar; mas no fui en tierra, y en amaneciendo di la vela." Viernes 19 de Oetubre. „En amaneciendo levants las anclas y envi6 la carabela Pinta al Leste y Sueste y la cara- bela Niiia al Sursueste, y yo con la nao fui al Sueste, y dado orden que Uevasen aquella vuelta fasta medio dia, y despues que ambas se mudasen las derrotas y se recogieran para mi 5 y luego antes que andasemos tres horas vimos breeches, the young girls not, except a few who were already of the age of eighteen years. And they had there dogs mastines(i) and bran- cheteSjf) and here they found one wearinjj in his nose a piece of gold of the size of half a castillano,(') on which they saw letters : 1 scolded them for not having got it by giving whatever he asked, in order to see what it was and if cojn whose coin it was; but they an- swered that he did not dare to barter it. After getting in water I returned to the ship, and set sail, and sailed to the northwest until I discov- ered all that part of the island as far as the coast which runs east [andj west, and after- wards these Iiidians again said that this island was smaller than the island of Samoet, and that it would be well to go back as we would thus reach it sooner. The wind then ceased and then sprang up from west-northwest, which was contrary to our course, and so I turned around and sailed all the past night to the east- southeast, and sometimes wholly east, and some- times to the southeast; this I did in order to keep off the land for the atmosphere was very misty and the weather threatening : it [the wind] was light and did not permit me to reach the land in order to anchor. So that this night it rained very hard after midnight until almost day, and is still cloudy in order to rain ; and we [are] at the southeast cape of the island where I hope to anchor until it gets clear in order to see the other islands where I have to go; ever since I came to these Indies it has been raining much or little. I beg your Highnesses to be- lieve however that this land is the richest, the mildest in temperature, and the most level and wholesome in the world." Thursday Octoher IStJi,. "After it cleared up I followed the wind, and went around the island as much as I could, and I anchored when it was no longer possible to sail; but I did not go on shore, and at dawn I set sail." Friday, October \Wi. "At dawn I weighed anchor and sent the caravel Pinta to the east and southeast and the caravel Mna to the south-southeast, and I (') Mastines — mastiff. (') Branclietes — probably a scentiug dog. (') One castillauo of gold equal to $l.C6-ni'V. In-ing's Colunibus, revised edition. 1848. Jfote. Vol. II, p. 4"J. 366 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTBIirBEHT OF THE una isla al Leste, sobre la ciial descargamos, y llegamos a ella todos tres navios antes de medio dia a la punta del Norte, adonde hace un isleo y una restinga de piedra fuera de el al Norte, y otro entre 61 y la isla grande; la cual anombra- ron estos liombres de iSan Salvador, que yo traigo, la isla- Saomete, 4 la cual puse nombre la IsabelaQ). El viento era Norte, y quedaba el dicho isleo en derrota de la isla Fernandina, de adonde yo habia partido Leste oueste, y se cor- ria despues la costa desde el isleo al Oueste, y habia en ella doce leguas fasta uu cabo, a quien yo llam6 el Cabo hermoso, que es de la parte del Oueste; y asl es fermoso, redondo y. niuy fondo, siu bajas fuera de 61, y al comienzo es de piedra y bajo, y mas adentro es playa de arena como cuasi la dicha costa es, y ahi surgi esta noche Viernes hasta la maiiana. Esta costa toda, y la parte de la isla que yo vi, es toda cuasi playa, y la isla mas fermosa cosa que yo vi; que si las otras son muy hermosas, esta es mas: es de mucbos tirboles y muy verdes, y muy grandes; y esta tierra es mas alta que las otras islas falladas, y en ella algun altillo, no que se le pueda llamar montana, mas cosa que afermosea lo otro, y parece de muchas aguas all4 al medio de la isla; de esta parte al Nor- deste hace una grande angla, y ha muchos arboledos, y muy espesos y muy grandes. Yo quise ir & surgir en ella para salir & tierra, y ver tanta fermosura; mas era el fondo bajo y no podia surgir salvo largo de tierra, y el viento era muy bueno para venir a este cabo, adonde yo surgf agora, al cual puse nombre Cabo Fer- moso, porque asi lo es ; y asi no surgi en aquella angla, y aun porque vide este cabo de all4 tan verde y tan fermoso, asi como todas las otras cosas y tierras destas islas que yo no s6 adonde me vaya primero, ni me s6 cansar los ojos de ver tan fermosas verduras y tan diversas de las nuestras, y aun creo que ha en ellas muchas yerbas y muchos arboles, que valen mucho en Espana para tinturas y para medicinas de cs- peceria, mas yo no los cognozco, de que llevo grande pena. T llegando yo aqui 4 este cabo vino el olor tan bueno y suave de flores 6 ax- boles de la tierrra que era la cosa mas dulce del mundo. De maiiana antes que yo de aqui vaya ir6 en tierra 4 ver que es aqui en el cabo; no es la poblacion salvo all4 mas adentro adonde di- (') Parooe que la Isdbela corresponde 6, la isla que alioi a se coiioce con el nombre de Inagua grande, y los indios llamabau Saomeio. with the ship went to the southeast, hiving given orders that they should keep that course until midday, and then that both should change their course and return to me; and then before we had gone three hours we saw an island to the east, to which we directed our course, and all the three vessels reached it before midday at its northern extremity, where there is a rocky islet and a ridge of rocks outside it to the north, and another between it and the large island; which the men of San Salvador, that I brought with me, called Saometo, to which I gave the name of la Isabela. The wind was north, and the said islet lay from the island of Fernandina, whence I had come east [and] west, and the coast afterwards ran from the rocky islet to the westward, and there was in it twelve leagues as far as a cape, which I called Cape Beautiful, which is in the west; and so it is beautiful, round and [the water?] very deep and free from shoals, at first it is rocky and low, but farther in it is a sandy beach as it is along most of the coast, and it is here that I have to-night Friday, anchored until morning. This coast all, and the part of the island that I saw, is nearly all a beach, and the island the most beautiful thing I have seen; if the others are very beau- tiful this is still more so: it has many trees very green, and very large; and this land is higher than that of the other islands I have discovered, although it cannot be called moun- tainous, yet gentle hills enhance with their con- trasts the beauty of the plain, and there appears to be much water in the middle of the island ; northeast of this cape there is an extensive promontory, and there are many groves, very thick and very large. I wished to anchor off" it in order to land, and visit so handsome a spot; but it was shallow and I could not anchor ex- cept far from land, and the wind was very favorble to come to this cape, where I have now anchored, send which I have called Gape Beauti- ful, because it is so; and so I did not anchor off that promontory, because I saw this cape so green and so beautiful, as are all the other things and lands of these islands so that I do not know to which to go first, nor do my eyes grow tired with looking at such beautiful verd- ure, so different from our own, and I even be- lieve that among it there are many grasses or herbs, and many trees which would be of great vahie in Spain for dyes and medicines, but I do not know them, wliich I greatly regret. And UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 367 cen estos hombres que yo traigo, que esta el Eey y que trae muclio oro; y yo de maiaana quiero ir tanto avante que halle la poblaciou, y vea 6 haya lengua con este Eey, que segun estos dau las seSas 6\ seuorea todas estas islas comar- canas, y va vestido, y trae sobre si muclio oro; aunque no doy mucha f6 4 sus decires, asi por no los entender yo bien, como en cognoscer quellos son tan pobres de oro que cualqulera poco que este Eey tralga les parece & ellos mu- cho. Este 4 quien yo digo Gabo Fermoso creo que es isla apartada de Saoineto, y aun hay ya otra entremedias pequeua: yo no euro asi de ver tanto por menudo, porque no lo podia facer eu cincuenta aiios, porque qiiiero ver y descubrir lo mas que yo pudiere para volver a vuestras Altezas, 4 nuesftro Seiior aplaciendo, en Abi'il. Verdad es que fallando adonde haya oro 6 espe- ceria en cantidad me detern<5 fasta que yo haya dello cuanto pudiere ; y por esto no fago sino andar para ver de topar en ello." Sabado 20 de Octubre. „Hoy al sol salido levants las anclas de donde yo estaba con la nao surgido en esta isla de Saometo al cabo del Sudueste, adonde yo puse nombre el Gabo de la Laguna y ^ la isla la Isabela, para navegar al Nordeste y al Leste de la parte del Sueste y Sur, adonde entendi de estos hombres que yo traigo que era la poblacion y el Eey de ella; y fall6.todo tan bajo el fondo que no pu"de entrar ni navegar 4 ello, y vide que siguiendo el camino del Sudueste era muy gran rodeo, y por esto determine de me volver por el camino que yo habia traido del Nornord- este de la parte del Oueste, y rodear esta isla para(^) el viento me fue tan escaso que yo no nunca pude haber la tierra al longo de la costa salvo en lanoche; y por ques peligro(^) surgir en estas islas, salvo en el dia que se vea con el ojo adonde se echa el ancla, porque es todo manchas, una de limpio y otra de non, yo me (') Igual vacio en el original. Parece falta reconoeerla. {') Asi el original : parece ha de decir peligroso. when I reached this cape the odor came so good and sweet from flowers or trees on the land that it was the sweetest thing in the world. To-morrow before leaving here I will go on shore to see what there is on this cajje; there is no population except farther inland where according to the information receii'ed from these men whom I have on board, their king lives and has much gold ; I intend to proceed to-mor- row until I find the population, and see or con- verse with this king, who, according to the signs made by these men is master of all these neighboring islands, and goes clothed, and wears much gold on his person; although I place little confidence in their assertions, both because I do not understand well and because I see that they are so poor in gold that any small quantity worn by this King would seem to them to be a great deal. I believe that this Gape Beautiful is a separate island from Saometo, and even that there is another small one be- tween : for that reason I do not care to examine so much in detail, because I could not do it in fifty years, because I desire to see and discover the most that I cau, in order to return to your Highnesses, God willing, in April. It is true that I will stop wherever I may find gold or spices in large quantities and get as much of each as possible; I am constantly sailing in order to find some." Saturday, October 20th. "At sunrise I weighed anchor from the place where I was with the vessel anchored at this island of Saometo at the southwest cape, which I named the Gape of the Lagoon and I called the island la Isabela, in order to sail to the north- east and to the east towards the southeast and south, where I understood from these men whom I have with me that the population and their king were; and so I found the bottom so- shallow that I could not enter or sail to it, and I saw that by following a southwestern route it would be a long way around, and consequently I de- termined to return by the course I had come from the north-northeast toward the west, and to go around this island in order (^) The wind, however, was so scant that I was never able to have the land along the coast except at night; and because it is dangerous to anchor among these islands, save in the day-time when (') A blank in tlie original, probably to reconuoiter it. Navarrete. 368 EEPOET OP THE SUPBEINTENDENT OF THE ptise 4 temporejar & la vela toda esta noche del Domingo. Las carabelas surgieron porque se hallaron. en tierra temprano, y pensaron que 4 siis seiias, que eran costuuibrada,s de hacer, iria a surgir; mas no quise." Domingo 21 de Octiibre. ,, A las diez horas llegu6 aqui 4 este cabo del isleo, y surgi y asimismo las carabelas; y des- pues de haber comido fai en tierra, adonde aqui no habia otra poblaciou que una casa, en la cual no falI6 k nadie que creo que con temor se habian fugido porque en ella estaban todos sus aderezos de casa. Yo no les dej6 tocar nada, salvo que me sali con estos capitanes y gente k ver la isla; que si las otras ya vistas son muy fermosas y verdes y f^rtUes, esta es mucho mas y de grandes arboledos y muy verdes. Aqui es Unas grandes lagunas, y sobre ellas y a la rueda es el arboledo en maravilla, y aqui y en toda la isla son todos verdes y las yerbas como en el Abril en el Andalucia ; y el cantar de los paja- ritos que parece que el bombre nunca se querria partir de aqui, y las manadas de los papagayos que ascurecen el sol; y aves y pajaritos de tan- tas maneras y tan diversas de las nuestras que es maravilla; y despues ha 4rboles de mil ma- neras, y todos de su manera fruto, y todos huelen que es maravilla, que yo estoy el mas penado del mundo de no los cognoscer, porque soy bien cierto que todos son cosa de valia, y de ellos traigo la demuestra, y asimismo de las yerbas. Andando asi en cerco de una destas lagunas vide una sierpe('), la cual matamos y traigo el cuero 4 vuestras Altezas. Ella como nos vido se echo en la laguna, y nos le seguimos dentro, porque no era muy fonda, fasta que con lanzas la matamos; es de siete palmos en largo; creo que destas semejantes hay aqui en esta laguna muchas. Aqui cognosci del liiialoe, y manana he determinado de hacer traer 4 la nao diez quintales, porque me dicen que vale mucho. Tambien andando en busca de muy buena agua fuimos 4 una poblacion aqui cerca, adonde estoy surto media legua ; y la gente, della como nos sintieron dieroa todos 4 fugir, y dejaron las casas, y escondieron su ropa y lo que tenian por el monte; yo no deje tomar nada ni la valia de un alfller. Despues se llegarou 4 nos unos horubres dellos, y uno se Ileg6 del todo aqui : (') Yliana {Iguana) (lebi6 do ser esta. Casas. one sees with the eye where the anchor is cast, because it is all spots, one clean the other not, I stood off and on all this night of Sunday. The caravels anchored because they reached the land early, and thought that I would do the same at sight of their customary signals ; but I did not wish to ." Sunday October 21s*. "At ten o'clock I arrived here at this end of the rocky islet, and I anchored as did the ca,ravels ; and after taking my dinner I went on shore, I found there only a house, in which I found no person and I believe that they had fled through fear because all their household goods were there. 1 did not allow them to touch anything, except that I*went with the captains and men to see the island ; if the others appeared beautiful, green, and fertile, this one with its majestic and luxuriant forests surpasses them all. Here are some large lagoons, and around them are the trees so that it is a marvel, and here and throughout the island they are all green and the grass is like it is in April in Andalucia; and the songs of the little birds so that it seems as if a man- could never leave here, and the flocks of parrots which darken the sun; and birds and little birds of so many kinds and so different from ours that it is a marvel ; and then there are trees of a thousand kinds, all bearing fruit of their own kinds, and all smell so that it is a marvel, so that I felt the greatest regret in the world not to know them, because I am very certain that they are all things of value, and I bring the samples of them, and also of the grasses. While going around one of these lagoons I saw a serpent,(i) which we killed and I bring the skin to your Highnesses. When it saw us it plunged into the lagoon, and we followed it in, because it was not very deep, until we killed it with our lances; is of seven palmos {^) in length ; I believe (1) Tliis sliould he Yiiaua (Iguana) Casas. (') Library of Universal Knowledge. N. Y. 1881. . Vol. XI, p. 2?5. Spanish Palmo Major is given as 8.3450 inolios, English. Spanish Palmo Minor is given as 2.7817 inches, English. Either of these dimensions might apply to the Iguana, hut in Columbus's letter to the King and Queen concerning his fourth voyage, Navarrete, p. 450, he wrote of a harbor in Veragua, " bien que a la entrada no teiiio salvo diez palmos de fondo.'' He used the same word, " palmos," for the depth of the harbor's entrance, as he used for the length of the Iguano. As neither of the above dimensions can express his meaning in both quotations I leave the original word, palmos. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 369 yo dl unos cascabeles y unas cuentecillas de vidrio, y 'qued6 inuy contento y muy alegre, y porque la amistad creciese mas y los requiriese algo le hice pedir agua, y ellos despues que fui eu la nao vinieron luego ft la playa coii sus cala- bazas llenas y folgaron mucho de ddrnosla, y yo les maud6 dar otro ramalejo de cuentecillas de vidrio, y dijeron que de manana vernian acA. Yo queria hinchir aqui toda la vasija de los navios de agua; por ende si el tiempo me da lugar luego me partir6 d rodear esta isla fasta que yo haya lengua con estei Eey, y ver si puedo haber d^l el oro que oyo que trae, y despues partir para otra isla grande mucho, que creo que debe ser Cipango, segun las senas que me dan estos indios que yo traigo, & la cual ellos Uaman GoU)a(^), en la cual dicen que ha naos y mareantes muchos y muy grandes, y de esta isla otra que Uaman Bosio{^) que tambien dicen qu^s muy grande, y 4 las otras que son entre- medio ver6 asi de pasada, y segun yo fallare recaudo de oro 6 especeiia determinar^ lo que he de facer. Mas todavia tengo determinado de ir a la tierra flrme y 4 la ciudad de Guisay, y dar las cartas de vuestras Altezas al Gran Can, y pedir respuesta y venir con ella." Lunes 22 de Octuhre. „ Toda esta noche y hoy estuve aqui aguar- dando si el Eey de aquf 6 otras i)ersonas traerian oro 6 otra cosa de sustancia, y vinieron muchos de esta gente, semejantes & los otros de las otras islas, asi desnudos, y asi pintados dellos de bianco, dellos de Colorado, dellos de prieto, (1) Parece error en el original por Cuia, como se com- prnelia mas adelante. (*) Acaso Bohio, como dice despues. S. Ex. 12 47 that there are many like this in this lagoon. Here I found the aloe tree, and as I have been told that it is very valuable I shall to-morrow, have ten quintals of it brought to the ship. While looking for good water we went to a vil- lage, distant half a league from my anchoring place; and the people fled at our approach, abandoning their houses, and hiding their wear- ing-apparel and what they had in the woods; and I did not allow them to take anything not even the value of a pin. Afterwards some of the men came to us, and one came quite up to us : I gave him some little bells and some glass beads, which satisfied and gladdened him very much, and in order that our friendship might increase and that I might ask something of them I asked for some water, which they after I had gone on board the ship brought to the beach with their calabashes filled, and were very much pleased to give it to us, I had them pre- sented with another small string of glass beads, and they said they would come the next day. I wanted to have all the casks in the ship sup- plied with water; consequently the weather permitting I shall sail at once in order to go until I get an interview with this king, to see if I can get from Mm the gold which I hear that he wears, and afterwards to sail for another very large . island, which I think must be Ci- pango, according to the signs given me by those Indians whom I have on board, and which they called Golba,Q) and where they say there are large ships and many merchants, and from it to another island named Bosio(^) which they also say is very large, taking a passing notice of others between, and shaping my future conduct in accordance with the quantities of gold or spices that I may find. I have also decided to go to the mainland to the city of Guisay, pre- sent there the letters of your Highnesses to the Grand Khan, ask for an answer and come away with it." Monday October 22d. "All last night and to day I have remained here expecting the king or other persons to come with gold or some other valuable things, many of these people came naked, like those of the other islands, painted some white, some red, some black, and so on in many ways. They (1) It seems to be mistaken for Cuba in the original, as is shown farther on. Casas. (^) Perhaps BoMo, as he calls it afterwards. Casas. 370 EEPOET OP THE SUPEEINTB]^DENT OF THE y asi de muchas maneras. Traian azagayas y algunos OTillos de algodou & resgatar, el ciial trocaban aqui con algunos marineros por peda- zos de vidrio, de tazas quebradas, y per pedazos de escndillas de barro. Algunos dellos traian algunos pedazos de oro colgado al nariz, el cual de buena gana daban por un cascabel destos de pie de gavilano y per cuentecillas de vidrio: mas es tan poco, que no es nada: que es verdad que cualquiera ijoca cosa que se les d6 ellos tambien tenian & gran mara villa nuestra venida, y creian que eramos venidos del cielo. Toma- nios agua para los navios en una laguna que aqui est4 acerca del cabo del isleo, que asl la nombr6; y en la dicba laguna Martin Alonso Pinzon, capitan de la Pinta, mato otra sierpe tal como la otra de ayer de siete palmos, y flee tomar aquI del linaloe cuanto se fall6." Martes 23 de Octubre. „ Quisiera hoy partir para la isla de Cuba, que creo que debe ser Gipango segun las senas que dan esta gente de la grandeza della y riqueza, y no me detern(§ mas aquini(^) esta isla al rede- dor para ir A la poblacion, como tenia determi- nado, para haber lengua con este Eey 6 Seiior, que es por no me detener mucbo, pues veo que aqui no hay mina de oro, y al rodear de estas islas ha menester muchas maneras de viento, y no vienta asi como los hombres querrian. Y pues es de andar adonde haya trato grande, digo que no es razon de se detener salvo ir 4 camino, y calar mucha tierra fasta topar en tierra muy provechosa, aunque mi entender es questa sea muy provechosa de especeria; mas que yo no la cognozco que llevo la mayor pena del mundo, que veo mil maneras de Arboles que tienen cad a uno su man era de fruta, y verde agora como en Espana en el mes de Mayo y Junio, y mil maneras de yerbas, eso mesmo con iiores, y de todo no se cognoscio salvo este lina- loe de que hoy mand6 tambien traer 4 la nao mucho para llevar 4 vuestras Altezas. Y no he dado ni doy la vela para Cuba, porque no hay viento, salvo calma muerta y llueve mucho; y Uovio ayer mucho sin hacer ningun frio, antes el dia hace calor, y las noches temperadas como en Mayo en Espana en el Andalucia." (') Igual vacio en el original. brought spears and some halls of cotton to barter, which they exchanged here with some sailors for pieces of glass, broken cups, and pieces of earthenware. Some of these few wore pieces of gold in their noses, which they gladly gave away for a small bell such as is attached to the leg of a hawk:(i) ^^t it is so little that it is nothing: it is true that for any little thing that was given them they marveled greatly at our coming, and tliought that we had come down from heaven. We took water for the vessels from a lagoon which is near to the Cape of the rocky island, so named by me; and in the said lagoon Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, killed another serpent like that of yesterday of seven palmos, I caused to be taken on board all the aloes that could be found." Tuesday October 23d. " I should like to sail to day for the island of Cuba, which from the description about its size and riches given by these people I infer to be Oipango, I will not stop here longer nor(2) around this island to go to the inhabited portion, as I had determined, in order to have an inter- view with this king or lord, this is in order not to stop much, because I see that there is no mine of gold here, and to go around these islands requires many different winds, and they do not blow as men would wish. And therefore the most important thing is to go where there is a great trade, I say that it is not right to stop, but to continue on one's course to examine manylands until onereaches some very profitable land, although my idea is that this is very rich in spices; but I grieve exceedingly that I have no knowledge of them, because I see a thousand kinds of trees having each one its own kind of fruit, and green now as in Spain in the month of May and June, and a thousand kinds of herbs, with flowers, of all of which none was known save this aloe of which I have had quantities brought on board the ship for your Highnesses. And I have not sailed nor do I sail for Cuba, because there is no wind, but a dead calm and much rain ; yesterday it also rained much yet it was not cold, on the contrary it is warm during the day, and the nights, are as mild as those of Andalucia in Spain in May." (') On the plains of Assyria and Babylonia the Arabs use hawks for hunting purposes, to the legs of which are, sometimes, fastened small bells. Layard's Mneoah and Babylon, p. 412. (^) Blank space in the original. Navarrete. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 371 Miercoles 24 de Octubre. ,,Esta noche 4 media noclie levaiit6 las anclas de la isla Isabela del cabo del isleo, ques de la parte del Norte 4 doude yo estaba posado para ir d, la isla de Cuba, 4 donde oi desta gente que era muy grande y de gran trato, y habia en ella oro y especerias y naos grandes y mercaderes ; y me amostro que al Ouesudueste iria .1 ella, y yo asi lo tengo, i)orque creo que si es asi como por seuas que me liieieron todos los indios de estas islas y aquellos que llevo yo en los navios, por- qne por lengua no los entiendo, es la isla de Gipango de que se cuentan cosas maravillosas, y en las esperas que yo vi y en las pinturas de mapamundos es ella en esta comarca, y asi nave- 8u6 fasta el dia al Ouesudueste, y amaneciendo calmo el viento y llovio, y asi casi toda la nocbe ; y estuve asi con poco viento fasta que pasaba de medio dia y entonces torn 6 k ventar muy amoroso, y llevaba todas mis velas de la nao, maestra, y dos bonetas, y trinquete, y ce- badera, y mezana, y vela de gavia, y el batel por popa ; asi anduve al camino fasta que ano- cliecio y entonces me quedaba el Cabo Verde de la isla Fernandina, el cual es de la parte de Sur d la parte de Oueste, me quedaba al Norueste, y hacia de mi 4 61 siete leguas. Y porque ven- taba ya recio y no sabia yo cuanto camino ho- biese fasta la dicha isla de Cuba, y por no la ir 4 demandar de noche, porque todas estas islas son muy fondas k no hallar fondo todo en derredor, salvo d tiro de dos lombardas, y esto es todo manchado un pedazo de roquedo y otro de arena, y por esto no se puede seguramente sur- gir salvo & vista de ojo, y por tanto acord6 de amainar las velas todas, salvo el trinquete, y andar con 61, y de ^ un rato crecia mucho el viento y hacia mucho camino de que dudaba, y era muy gran cerrazon, y Uovia : mand6 amai- nar el trinquete y no anduvimos esta noche dos leguas &c." Jueves 25 de Octubre. Navego despues del sol salido al Oueste Sudueste hasta las nueve horas, andarian cin- co leguas: despues mudo el camino al Oueste: andaban ocho millas por hora hasta la una despues de medio dia, y de alii hasta las tres, y andarian cuarenta y cuatro millas. Entonces Wednesday October 2itJi. "At midnight I weighed anchor from the isl- and of Isabela the cape of the rocky islet f which is on the northern side where I was lying in order to go to the island of Cuba, which I heard from these people was very large, having much trade and that there was in it gold and spices and large ships and merchants; and they told me that I should go to it by the west-southwest, and so I think, because I believe that if it is as all the Indians of these islands and those whom I have on board told me by signs, because I do not understand their language, it is the island of Cipangb of which marvellous things are re- lated, and on the globes which I have seen and on the maps of the world it is in this region, and thus I sailed until day to the west-south- west, and at dawn the wind calmed and it rained, and so almost all night ; and I remained with little wind until after midday and then the wind began to blow very lovely, and I carried all the sails of the ship, the mainsail, two bon- nets, the foresail, and spritsail, and the mizzen, and the main- topsail, and the boat astern; thus I followed my course until nightfall and then Cape Verde of the island of Fernandina, which is towards the south towards the west, remained to the northwest of me, and there was from me to it seven leagues.(') The wind was blowing hard and I knew not how far off the island of Cuba was, and in order not to api)roach it at night, because all these islands are so deep that no bottom can be found all around them, save at two lombard shots, and this is all spotted, one piece of rock another of sand, and conse- quently it is impossible to anchor safely except where you can see, and therefore I determined to lower all the sails, except the foresail, and to sail with that, and suddenly the wind grew very strong and I made much headway of which I was doubtful, and it was very misty, and rained: I had the foresail taken in and we did not go this night two leagues, &c." Thursday October 25th. He afterwards sailed from sunrise west-south- west until nine o'clock, making about five leagues: afterward he changed' course to the west: they went eight miles an hour until one (') ThatiSjCapeVerde, thesoutliwesteiidof Feruancliiia, borouortliwest soveu leagues clistaijt(22.3 nautical miles). 372 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEmTENDENT OP THE vieron ticrra, y eran siete A ocho islas('), en liieugo todas de Norte 4 Sur : distaban de ellas cinco leguas &c. Yiernes 26 de Oetubre. Estuvo de las dichas islas de la parte del Sur, era todo bajo cinco 6 seis leguas, surgio por alii. Dijeron los indios que llevaba que Labia dellas a Cuba andadura de dia y medio con sus alma- dias, que son navetas de un madero adonde no llevan vela. Estas son las canoas. Partio de alii para Cuba, porque por las serias que los indios le daban de la grandeza y del oro y per- las della pensaba que era ella, conviene 4 saber Cipango. Sabado 27 de Oetubre. 'Levantd las anclas salido el sol de aquellas islas, que llam6 las islas de Arena por el poco fondo que tenian de la parte del Sur hasta seis leguas. Anduvo ocho millas por. bora hasta la una del dia al Sursudueste, y habrian andado cuarenta millas, y hasta la noche andarian veinte y ocho millas al mesmo camino, y antes de noche vieron tierra. Estuvieron la noche al reparo con mucha Uuvia que Uovio. Anduvi- eron el Sabado fasta el poner del sol diez y siete leguas al Sursudueste. Domingo 28 de Oetubre. Fue de alii en demanda de la isla de Cuba al Sursudueste, 4 la tierra della mas cercana, y entr6 en un rio muy hermoso y muy sin peli- gro de bajas ni otros inconvenientes, y toda la costa que anduvo por alii era muy hondo y muy limpio fasta tierra : tenia la boca del rio doce brazas, y es bien ancha para barloventear; surgi6 dentro, diz que & tiro de lombarda. Dice el Almirante que nunca tan hermosa cosa vido, lleno de ftrboles todo cercado el rio, fermosos y verdes y diversos de los nuestros, con flores y con su fruto, cada uno de su manera. Aves muchas y pajaritos que cantaban muy dulce- mente : habia gran cantidad de palmas de otra manera que las de Guinea y de las nuestras; de una estatura mediana y los pies sin aquella (') Deben ser los Cayos oricntales y meiidioualcs del G^-an Banco de Bahama, que despiden placer de souda al Sur, y donde estuvo fondeado Colon el dia 2() de Oetubre, partiendo desde alli para dar vista H Oiila; como en efecto la vio entrando cl dia 28 en el jmerto do Nipe. o'clock p. m., and thence until three o'clock, and they made about forty-four miles. At that time they saw land, and there were seven or eight islands, all. extending from north to south : distant from them five leagues, &c. Friday October 26th. He was on the southern side of said islands, all was shallow for five or six leagues, he an- chored there. The Indians he had with him told him that to reach Cuba with their canoes from those islands would take them a day and half, these canoes are small vessels of one piece of wood and have no sail. These are the canoes. He sailed thence for Cuba, because from tbe signs which the Indians gave him of the size and of its gold and pearls he thought that was the one, that is to. say Cipango. " Saturday October 21th. At sunrise he weighed anchor from those isl- ands, which he called las islas de Arena [Sand Islands] on account of the little bottom they had for six leagues to the south. He ran south- southwest at the rate of eight miles an hour until one o'clock in the afternoon, making about forty miles, and up to nightfall they had made about twenty-eight miles on the same course, and before night they saw the land. They were on the lookout during the night with much rain which it rained. They ran on Saturday until sunset seventeen leagues south-southwest. Sunday October 28th, He went thence in search of the island of Cuba to the south-southwest, to the land near- est to it [him?], and entered a very beautiful river very free from danger of shoals and other inconveniences, and all the coast that he passed there was very deep and very clear as far as the land: the mouth of the river had twelve fathoms, and is very wide in order to tack in; he anchored within, he said at the distance of a lombard shot. The Admiral says that he never saw such a beautiful thing, the banks of the river being covered with trees, which were beautiful and green and different from ours, with flowers and with their fruit, each one after its kind. Many birds and little birds which sang very sweetly: there was a great quantity of palms different from those of Guinea and from ours ; of medium height and the feet without that shirt,(i) and the leaves very large, with (') He probably found a species of palm that was with- out the reticulum. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVET. 373 camisa, y las hqjas muy grandes, con las cuales cobijan las casas ; la tierra miiy llaua : saltd el Almirante eu la barca y fue A tierra, y llegd ^ dos casas que crey6 ser de Pescadores y que con temor se huyeron, en una de las cuales halld un perro que nunca ladr6, y en ambas casas hall6 redes de hilo de palma y cordeles, y anzuelo de cuerno, y flsgas de hueso y otros aparejos de pescar, y muchos huegos dentro, y creyd que en cada una casa se juntan muchas personas: man- d6 que no se tocase en cosa de todo ello, y asf se bizo. La yerba era grande como en el An- dalucia por Abril y Mayo. Hall6 verdolagas muchas y bledos. Tornose 4 la barca y anduvo por el rio arriba un buen rato, y diz que era gran placer ver aquellas verduras y arboledas, y de las aves que no podia dejallas para se volVer. Dice que es aquella isla la mas hermosa que ojos hayan visto, Uena demuy buenos ptiertos y rios bondos, y la mar que parecla que nunca se debia de alzar porque la yerba de la playa Uegaba hasta cuasi el agua, la cual no suele llegar donde la mar es brava: hasta entonces no habia experimentado en todas aquellas islas que la mar faese brava. La isla, dice, ques llena de montaiias muy hermosas, aunque no son muy grandes en longura salvo altas, y toda la otra tierra es alta de la manera de Sicilia: Uena es de muchas aguas, segun pudo entender de los indios que consigo Ueva, que tomo en la isla de Guanahani, los cuales le dicen por senas que hay diez rios grandes, y que con sus canoas no la pueden cercar en veinte dias. Cuando iba 4 tierra con los uavfos salieron dos alma- dias 6 canoas, y como vieron que los marineros entraban en la barca y remaban para ir 4 ver el fondo del rio para saber donde habian de surgir, huyeron las cauoas. Decian los indios que eu aquella isla habia minas de oro y perlas, y vido el Almirante lugar apto para ellas y almejas, ques senal dellas, y entendia el Almi- rante que alli venian naos del Gran Can, y grandes, y que de alli 4 tierra flrme habia Jor- nada de diez dias. Llamo el Almirante aqiiel rio y puerto de San 8alvador{^). (1) Condcese con el nombre de Puerto 6 Baliia de Nipe, & Beis legnas al S. S. E. de la punta de Mulas. Next to .this text in entirety, it is indispensable to every thorough discussion of the first land- fall that the student should have before him a correct chart, since an imperfect one is inadequate to the settlement of a problem, the proof of which are certain brief courses. The chart in the appendix was prepared in the ofiSce of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, from the English Ad- miralty surveys of 1832-1836, and such Spanish charts as were available. The Bahamas, dependent u])on the English survej.s, are accurate. Some of the harbors, and i)erhaps part of the coast line of Cuba and Hayti, may be a little in error iu longitude. which they cover their houses ; the land is very level : the Admiral jumped into the ship's boat and went on shore, and came to two houses, which he thought to be those of fishermen and which ran away in fear, they found in one of them a dog which never barked, and in both houses he found nets of palm thread and cords, and horn fish-hooks, bone harpoons and other fishing-gear, and numerous sets, within, and he believed that each house was occupied by many persons : he ordered that nothing in them should be touched, and nothing was. The grass was high as in Andalucia in April and May. He found much purslain and wild amaranth. He returned to the boat and went up the river for a good while, and he said that it was a great pleasure to see that verdure and those groves, and of the birds that he could not leave them in order to return. He says that that island is the. most beautiful that eyes ever beheld, full of good ports and deep rivers, and it seemed to him that the sea must never be high there for the grass of the beach almost reached the water, which rarely happens where the sea is rough; until then he had not experienced a rough sea in all those islands. The island, he says, is full of very beautiful mountains, though they are not very long but lofty, and all the land is high like that of Sicily : full of much water, as he could understand from the Indians with him, whom he took from the island of Guanahani, who tell him that there are ten large rivers, and that with their canoes they cannot go around it in twenty days. When he went to the land with the vessels two canoes approached, and when they saw that the sailors entered the boat and rowed in order to go to see the bottom of the river in order to know where they were to anchor, the canoes fled. The Indians said that in that island there were mines of gold and pearls, and the Admiral saw place suitable for them and shell-fish, which is a sign of them, and the Admiral understood that ships of the Grand Khan came there, and large ones, and that from there to the main land was a run of ten days. The Admiral called that river and port San Salvador. 374 EEPOET OP THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE The five tracks from five different islands, to Cuba are — 1st. Navarrete's from the Grand Turk. 2d. Irviug's from Cat. 3d. Captain Becher's from Watling. 4th. Yarnhageu's from Mariguana. 5th. Gr. V. Fox's from Samana, or Atwood Cay. Although the authorities heretofore mentioned concurred on the first four islands, respectively, it is only those noted here that have laid down a continuous track from the first landfall they claimed for Columbus, to Cuba. With this authentic chart and Las Casas's copy of Columbus's journal, each of these tracks, and the arguments of their supporters, can be tried. The Track of Navaeeetb. Navarrete said, 1st: Columbus sighted the east side of the Grand Turk while steering a course W. by S. I S. and from there he went around by the north, to the West side of the island. Answee. The journal of October 11 says that at sunset — on that day the sun set at 5'^ 41™ apparent time — Columbus steered west and made the land at 2 a. m. the next day. On the 13th Columbus wrote : " I determined to wait until to-morrow evening, and then to sail for the south, west." On the 14th he wrote that he went with the boats " along the island in a north-northeasterly direction, to see the other side," # * * "and afterwards i reiwrwe^ to t^e «fttp(') and set sail." Navarrete said, 2d: From the west side of the Grand Turk Columbus sailed W. byN, J N. 19 miles to the Caicos Islands which, together, formed the second, to which he gave the name of Santa Maria de la Ooncepcion. [Navarrete, p. 26, note I.) Answee. Conceding that Columbus went to the north of west when he said, on the 13th, that he would sail " for the southwest," and admitting the probability that in 1492 the Caicos group was one island, yet it does not agree with the description of the second island he came to, of which he wrote on the 15th : " And I found that that side which is towards the island of San Salvador runs north [and] south, and is five leagues [15.9 nautical miles] in length, and the other which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues [31.8 nautical miles]. And as from this one I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails * * * and about sunset I anchored near said cape [the western cape]." The east side of the Caicos is north and south 13 miles, which corresponds with the journal; but the north shore is N. W. by W. ^ W. 38 miles and then S. W. f W. 38 miles. Or, if the N. E. side of the Caicos group be desij^nated as the east and west side that Columbus followed, it agrees near enough in distance, but varies 2f points in direc- tion ; and if we assume the journal to be in error in giving " east [and] west," there is still the insurmountable fact that Columbus wrote three times on the 15th, and twice on the 16th, that the third island bore west from the second. A vessel anchored at the west cape of the N. E. side of the Caicos group has no land visible. The island of Mariguana is the nearest, and this is N. W. by W. i W. 43 miles distant. Navarrete said, 3d : From the second island Columbus sailed to the southward and westward to Little luagua, the third island, which he named Fernandina. [Navarrete, p. 28, note I.) Answee. If we take Navarrete's course as it is laid down on the chart, from the west cape of the N. E. side of the Caicos, the course and distance to Little Inagua are S. W. f W. 60 miles. If we measure from the S. W. Caicos to Little Inagua — S. E. side— it is about W. S. W. 25 miles. On the 15th of October Columbus was at the west cape of his second island and he wrote in regard to the third island, " I saw another larger one to the west » » * and so I departed at about ten o'clock with a S. E. wind, inclining to the south, for the other island, a very large one." * * * And when he came to the third island he said: "All this portion of the island runs N. W . [and] S. E., and it appears that there are on this coast more than 28 leagues [89.1 nautical miles]." On the 16th, after a more careful examin^^tion, he wrote: " And this cape to which I have come and all this coast runs N. N. W. and S. S, E. and I saw fully 20 leagues [63.6 nautical miles] of it, but this was not the end." (') Italics aro by tlic writer. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 375 This is the description of Ferdinand Island. It cannot be Little Inagua, as Navarrete asserts, because this is only 7| miles east and west, and the same N. N. E. and S. S. W. Navarrete said, 4th : From the third island. Little Inagua [Santa Maria], Columbus steered to the southward and westward to the fourth island. Great Inagua, which he named Isabcla. {Navarrete, p. 33, note I.) ^ Answek. When Columbus left the third island on the 19th of October he wrote: "At dawn I weighed anchor and sent the caravel Pinta to the east and southeast, and the caravel Nina to the 8. S. U., and I with the ship went to the S.H. * * * And then before we had gone three hours we saw an island to the east,{^) to which we directed our course, and all three vessels reached it before midday at its northern extremity, where there is a rocky islet. • * * And the said islet lay from the island of Fernandina, whence I had come, east [and] west.^' Navarrete said, 5th: Prom the fourth island, Great Inagua [Isabella], Columbus steered N. by E. 11 miles— W. i N. 50 miles— W. by N. i N. 61 miles— and S. by W. i W. CI miles— to Port Nipe, in Cuba. Answek. Such courses and distances cannot be found in Columbus' journal. He left the fourth island on the 24th of October and wrote: "At midnight(2) I weighed anchor from the island of Isabella, * # * in order to go to the island of Cuba. * * * And they told me that I should go to it by the W. S. W., and so I think. * * * And thus I sailed until day to the W. S. W., and at dawn the wind calmed. * * * And I remained with little wind until after mid- day and then the wind began to blow very lovely. * * * i followed my course until nightfall, and the Cabo Verde of the island of Fernandina bore N. W. 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles]."(3) On the 25th, still steering W. S. W., Columbus discovered "seven or eight islands, all extend- ing from north to south, distant from them five leagues [15.9 nautical miles]." On the 26th the journal reads : "He was on the southern side of said islands, all was shallow for five or six leagues, he anchored there. * * * He sailed thence for Cuba." The journal says, October 27: "At sunrise he weighed anchor from those islands, which he called Sand islands, on account of the little bottom they had for six leagues [19 nautical miles] to the south." Navarrete wrote, in a note, pp. 39-40, that Columbus anchored on the 26th of October on the eastern and southern shoal of the "Grand Bank of Bahama," and left there for Cuba. Although Navarrete's track, on the chart does not reach this bank, we must admit, from this note, that he intended it. But there is no part of "Columbus Bank" which bears W. S. W. from Great Inagua. Domingo Cay, the most southern part, is W. ^ N. from the most northeastern part of Great Inagua ; and the south Eagged island, south of which he anchored, bears W. by N. J N. 155 miles from the N. E. end of Great Inagua, and N. W. by W. i W. 133 miles from the S. W. end. The journal evidently omits some of the distances run from Isabella to the Sand Islands; but on the 24th Columbus gives the bearing and distance of the S. W. Cape of Fernandina, and this "departure" is put on the chart. Afterward he logs 16 leagues W. S. W., then he saw the Sand Islands 5 leagues distant, making a total of 21 leagued, 66.8 nautical miles. The true course and distance from his "departure" to South Eagged are W. S. W. 65 miles. This close "agreement may be accidental; but if we omit all distances given, yet the courses found in the journal are irreconcilable with any from Great luagua to the south- eastern Bahama Bank. In respect to Port Nipe, which Navarrete and Captain Becher adopt for Columbus's first anchoring-place in Cuba, see the discussion of Captain Becher's track. By selecting Turk for the first landfall, an extreme S. E. island of the Bahamas, Navarrete confronts Juan de la Cosa and Antonio Herrera ; for on their charts, which will be referred to later, Guanahani is an island situated near the middle of the N. E. side of the Bahama group. The Track of Varnhagen. Yarnhagen said, 1st: Columbus made the island of Mariguana steering west; he rounded the east end and anchored on the northeast shore. Hence he steered W. i N. 40 miles for Creek Point on Acklin Island; followed the north and south shore for 13 miles, and the east and west shore 29 miles, and so over to the south cape of Long Island. - — . (^) Italics are by the writer. (') It was obviously the midnight which began this day. (3) How could Little Inagua bear N. W. of him 32..3 miles? 376 EEPOET OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE Answer. Varnhagen, like Navarrete, ignores the assertion of Columbus of October 13: "I de- termined to wait until to-morrow evening and then to sail for the southwest." He has even omitted this weighty sentence from his GeschicMe des Zeitalters der Entdedkung, Conceding that he steered to the westward from G-uanahani, yet Columbus said, on the 15th of October, that the second island he steered for was "over 5 leagues distant, rather 7 [22,3 nautical miles]" but Varnhagen's second island is 40 miles from the first. A difference of 79.4 per cent, in such a short run, actually gone over, is not possible with so experienced a navigator. In crossing the Atlantic, a distance of more than 3,000 miles, he overran his log llj per cent, only. In going from Mariguana to Acklin, Columbus went within 5 miles of two islands, each 70 feet high. Accord- ing to Varnhagen, Columbus does not mention them. It is not characteristic of his journal to omit all notice of the first islands he came to in the New World. He wrote on the 15th of October: "Nevertheless it was my desire not to pass any island without taking possession of it, as one taken possession of the same may be said of all; and I anchored and remained until to-day," Columbus did not go along the shore of the second island which runs north and south. He wrote on the 15th of October, " I found that that side which is towards the island of San Salvador runs north [and] south, and is five leagues in length, and the other which IfollowedQ) ran east [and] west," Varnhagen said, 2d : Columbus went from the south cape, around Long Island and returned to the south cape. Answer, On the 16th Columbus wrote: "This island is exceedingly large and I have deter- mined to go around it * * * [again], I set sail with a south wind intending to go around the whole island," # * * On the 17th he wrote : " The wind then ceased, and then sprang up from the W, N, W,, which was contrary to our course, and so I turned around and sailed all the past night, * * * And we [are] at the S, E. cape of the island where I hope to anchor until it gets clear," In addition to these decisive words, there is the fact, shown by the chart, that between Exuma and Long Island the water is too shoal for such vessels as Columbus used. This will be spoken of again in discuss- ing Irying's track, Varnhagen said, 3d: Columbus sailed from the south cape of Long Island to the N, W. end of Crooked Island, then across the " Columbus bank" to Port Gibara, in Cuba. Answer. This part of Varnhagen's track comes near to Captain Becher's and the writer's, and therefore need not be considered here except in regard to the harbor of Gibara. In the journal of October 28th we read : " He went thence in search of the island of Cuba, * * * and entered a very beautiful river * * * the mouth of the river had twelve fathoms."(^) The port of Gibara is a small basin, exposed to northerly winds, and has three fathoms, only, at the entrance. Washington Ieting's Track. The track of Washington Irving is laid down from his descrij)tion of the " Eoute of Columbus in his first voyage." {Irving^s Columbus, revised edition, vol. iii, appendix, pp. 366-380.) Irving wrote, 1st : " From Guanahani Columbus saw so many islands that he was at a loss which next to visit. * * * He determined to go to the largest in sight, * ♦ * The island thus selected, it is presumed, was the present island of Conception ; and that the others were that singular belt of small islands known as La Cardena (or the chain) stretching past the island of San Salvador in a S, E, and N. W, direction ; the nearest of the group being nearer than Concepcion, while the rest are more distant, * * * We know that in all this neighborhood the current sets strongly to the W, N, W.; and since Columbus had the current against him he must have been sailing in an opposite direction, or to the E. S. E. * * * Hence it is rendered certain that Columbus did not sail westward in going from San Salvador to Conception; for from the opposi- tion of the wind, as there could be no other cause, he could not sail toward that quarter, * * * Conception situated E, S. E. from San Salvador, and at a corresponding distance of 5 leagues [15.9 nautical miles]." (') Italics are l)y tlie writer. (2) E. F. Q laltrougli, Master U. S. Navy. Sailors' Handu Boole, p. 192, makes the old Spanish braza equal 5.432 Englisli feet. Italics are by the writer. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVET. 377 Answer. Columbus wrote, on the 14th of October: "I returned to the ship and set sail and saw so many islands that I could not decide to which one I should go first." Mr. Gibbs made per. sonal observation from the southeast pofut of Cat island and wrote: "No land can be seen from the highest hills, nor from the mast-head of a vessel lying at Winding Bay or Columbus Pointy where he is said to have landed. (') The island of Conception is 2f miles long. If broad, and 90 feet high. Near by, on the east side, is Booby Cay, one-third of a mile across and 130 feet high. The reef surrounding both is 8 by 5 miles. It is possible that in 1492 an island might have been there of these dimensions. On the 15th of October Columbus described the second island thus : " I found that that side which is toward the island of San Salvador runs north [andj south, and is five leagues [15.9 nan tical miles] in length, and the other which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues" — 31.8 nautical miles. La Cardeua (the chain of islands stretching away to the north- ward and westward from Great Exuma) is, in the nighest part, 36 miles from Cat island, 48 from Columbus Point, and 50 from Conception, and certainly invisible from each. The currents in this neighborhood are spoken of by Capt. E. Barnet in the West India Pilot, 3d edition, 1876, p. 431, thus : " In the neighborhood of Conception Island it is said generally to run strong to the N. W. Some observations tend to show that after northers or on the increase of the moon, as it approaches to change, there is a similar set to the southward. There is, however, no certainty in the case, and consequently more than ordinary attention is required when naviga- ting among the West India islands." There is no foundation that Columbus had "the current against him," except his remark of the 13th of October, "the tide detained me." On the eve of leaving Guanahani he wrote, "I determined to wait until tomorrow evening, and then to sail for the southwest." There is no men- tion in the journal of "the opposition of the wind." Columbus does not give its direction until the 15th, when he was at the second island, then he record,s it as being S. E. Conception lies S. S.E. ^ B., 19 miles from the southeast point of Cat. Irving wrote, 2d: "Leaving Conception on the 16th of October Columbus steered for a very large island seen to the westward nine leagues [28.6 nautical miles] off, and which extended itself 28 leagues [89 nautical miles] in a southeast and northwest direction. * * * He named it Per- nandina. At noon he made sail again, with a view to run round it and' reach another island called Samoet; but the wind being at S. E. by S. the course he wished to steer, th-e natives signified that it would be easier to sail around the island by running to the N. W. with a fair wind. He there- fore bore up to the N. W., and having run two leagues [6.4 nautical miles] found a marvelous port with a narrow entrance. * * * Sailing out of this harbor by the opposite entrance at the northwest, he discovered that part of the island which funs east and west. The natives signified to him that this island was smaller than Samoet, and that it would be better to return towards the latter. It had now become calm, but shortly after there sprung up a breeze from the W. N. W., which was ahead for the course they had been steering ; so they bore up and stood to the E. S. E. in order to get an oflfing; for the weather threatened a storm, which however dissipated itself in rain. The next day, being the 18th of October, they anchored opposite the extremity of Fernan- dina. The whole of this description answers most accurately to the island of Exuma, * * * The identity of the island here described with Exuma is irresistibly forced upon the mind." Answer. In calling Exuma Fernandina, and anchoring Columbus "opposite the extremity," it is evident that Irving included in this name Little Exuma, which lies to the southward and east- ward of Great Exuma, and Hog Cay lying farther east. These might have formed one island in 1492, for the narrow channel between Great and Little Exuma is now almost fordable at low water. On this chart Great Exuma and Hog Cay only are noted. The land between is Little Exuma. From Conception Irving takes Columbus to a position, whence, by steering at least 6.4 miles N. W., he came to, entered, and passed through " a marvellous port" (Great Exuma harbor). It is obvious that the opposite of northwest, measured 6.4 miles from the southeast entrance of this harbor, would put a ship on shore; therefore the track on this chart is laid down close to the land, without regard to the course it makes. (1) Proceedings of the New York Historical Society, 1846. Appendix. S. Ex. 12 48 378 EEPORT OP THE SUPEEINTENDENT OP THE Prom Conception to the turning-point of Irving, 6.4 miles to the eastward of Great Exuma harbor, the course and distance are S. W. J S., 35 miles. While on his way from the second island to the third— Conception to Fernandin a— October 15th, Columbus wrote: "And from this island of Santa Maria to the other one there are 9 leagues [28.G nautical miles] east [and] west." On the 16th, after arriving at Fernandina, he wrote: "This island lies at a distance from that of Santa Maria 8 leagues [25.5 nautical miles] almost east [and] west." He could not have entered and sailed out of this marvellous port by the opposite entrance, because on the 17th of October he said: "I found a very marvellous port. # * # Within it there is ample room for 100 ships if it had sufJlcient depth of water and was clear, and also had a deep entrance. I thought it worth while to examine and sound it, and so I anchored outside of it, and went in with-all the boats of the ships and saw there was not bottom." B'either could he have discovered that part of Exuma which runs east and west, because no part of it does. Nor could he have anchored opposite the extremity of Pernandina, because there is not sufficient depth of water. Irving wrote, 3d : " On the 19th of October the ships left Pernandina steering S. E., with the wind at north. Sailing three hours on this course they discovered Samoet to the east, and steered for it, arriving at its north point before noon-. Here they found a little island surrounded by rocks^ with another reef of rocks lying between it and Samoet. To Samoet Columbus gave the name of Isabella, and to the point of it opposite the little island, that of Cabo del Isleo ; the cape of the S. W. point of Samoet Columbus called Cabo de Laguna, and off this last his ships were brought to anchor. The island lay in the direction from Pernandina to Isabella, east and west. The coast from the small island lay westerly 12 leagues [38.2 nautical miles] to a cape which Columbus called Formosa, from its beauty; this he believed to be an island .apart from Samoet or Isabella, with another between them. Leaviiig Cabo Laguna, where he remained until the 20th of October, Columbus steered to the N. B.. toward Cabo del Isleo, but meeting with shoals inside the small island, he did not cojne to anchor until the day following. * * * The island of Isabella, or Samoet, agrees so accurately in its description with Isla Larga [Long Island], which lies east of Exuma, that it is only necessary to read it with the chart unfolded to become convinced of its identity." Answer. This is the description of that part of the Bahamas which the West India Pilot, vol. ii, p. 444, describes thus: "The west side of Long Island is only navigable for boats and very small coasters, who manage to pick their way across to the Jumento cays." The blank space on this chart from Exuma to Long Island was purposely left so by the English surveyors, because it is unnavigable. There is no ground for believing that the water was deeper in 1492, for the wasting of these islands and cays tends to the opposite result. Irving makes Columbus leave Exuma [Fernandina] in search of Samoet, which, he says, is Long Island. ]N"ow when Columbus was at Conception he had Long Island plainly in sight, for it is only 14 miles from there. In fact, to go from Conception to Exuma, an island he could not see, he had to bend his course to the northward and westward to avoid an island that was visible at his start and for which he was searching. Irving wrote, 4th: "Having resolved to visit the island which the natives called Cuba, and described as bearing W. S. W. from Isabella, Columbus left Cabo del Isleo at midnight, the com- mencement of the 24th of October, and shaped his course accordingly to the W. S. W. • * * and in the evening Cape Verd, S. W. point of Pernandina [Exuma], bore N". W. distant 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles]. * * * At 3 p. m. of the 25th laud was discovered, consisting of 7 or 8 keys, lying north and south, and distant 5 leagues [15.9 nautical miles] from the ship. Here he anchored the next day, south of these islands, which he called Islas de Arena. * * * This sum of 30 leagues [95.5 nautical miles] is about three less than the distance from the S. W. point of Fernandina or Exuma, whence Columbus took his departure, to the group of the Mucarras, which lie east of Cayo Lobo on the grand bank of Bahama, and which correspond to the description of Columbus. * * * The course from Exuma to the Mucarras is about S. W. by W. * * * At sunrise Columbus set sail from the isles Arenas or Mucarras for an island called Cuba, steering S. S. W. At dark, having made 17 leagues [54.1 nautical miles] on that course, he saw the land and hove his shij) to until morning. On the 28th he made sail again at S. S. W. and entered a beautiful river with a fine UIjTITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 379 h.arbor, which he named San Salvador. * * * This port of San Salvador Ave take to be the one now known as Oaravelas Orandes." ANSWER. Columbns wrote on the 24th of October: "At midnight I weighed anchor from the island of Isabela the cape of the rocky islet, which is on the northern side where I was lying in order to go to the island of Cuba." On the 19th, when he had anchored at this rocky islet, he wrote : " The coast afterwards ran from the rocky islet to the westward, and there was in it twelve leagues as far as a cape, which I called Cape Beautiful, which is in the west." These extracts point out that the rocky islet from which Columbus sailed for Cuba had land stretching from it to the west- ward, which terminated in a beautiful cape. Munoz, Irving, and also M. le Baron de Moutlezen, make this position to be the northwest end of Long Island. (i) But thence no land runs to the westward, nor could Columbus's vessels go to Cuba from there, because of shallovv water. The bearing and distance which Columbus gives on the 24th of October, " S. W. cape of Per- naudina N. W. 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles] " Irving reckons from the southeast end of Exuma. This is marked on the chart "departure." The course to it from the rocky islet — northwest end of Long Island— is S. by B. When Columbus left the cape of the rocky islet, on the 24th of Oc- tober, he wrote: "And thus I sailed until day to the W. S. W." A course from the northwest end of Long Island to Irving's "departure" passes qver the shallow water spoken of, and goes through the solid land which stretches from Long Island. Prom this departure, Irving makes Columbus go straight to the Mucarras Eeef. A glance at the chart shows the impossibilitj- of such a course. It runs through cays, among " rocky heads," and over that very shoal part of the Bahama bank upon which the ex]3erienced seaman hesitates to venture even with a good pilot and a correct chart. Columbus's journal does not speak of any shoal water from the cape of the rocky islet to the " isJa» de ArenaP When he arrived there it reads : " He was on the southern .side of said islands, all was shallow for five or six leagues [15.8 to 19.1 nautical miles], he anchored there." According to the chart, there is no shallow water 'south of the Mucarras ; the deep water of the old Bahama channel runs close to it. From Mucarras to the port of Caravelas Grandes it is S. S. W. J, W. 28 miles only. Irving admits that Columbus ran on the 27th 17 leagues — 54.1 nautical miles — and, on the 28th, more on the same course. Fifty-four miles from the Mucarras, in a south- southwest direction, is26 miles into the island of Cuba. The port of Caravelas Grandes has 6 feet of water at. the entrance and the tide rises 3J feet. The journal of October 28th reads : " The mouth of the river had twelve fath- oms." Even if this is a clerical error it is certain that the flag-ship of Columbus could not enter so shallow a port. (See Appendix E.) All that Muiioz wrote in regard to the identity of Watling and Guanahani and the track of Columbus in the Bahamas is this, in volume 1 — the only one published, owing to his death — pp. 85-86 : " In my opinion, Guanahani is Watlin. He lauded on the S. W. point. He took the boats and reconnoitered by way of the N. l^T. E. the western coast, and having doubled the northern point, he turned around by the eastern coast, which is the largest side and is estimated at haA-lug more than 15 leagues('') [47.7 nautical miles]." Page 87 : " Having stayed three days at San Salvador, he sailed to a smaller island which he had descried, at the distance of 7 leagues [22.3 nautical miles] ; without stopping there, he steered for another and larger one, which seemed to lie at a distance of about 10 leagues [31.8 nautical miles] to the west. Here he cast anchor and took possession of the land, calling it Santa Maria de la Concepcion. * * * Hence continuing 8 leagues [25.4 nautical miles] in a westerly direction, he came upon an island which was considerably larger, level, pleasant, and having a beautiful beach. I think it is the island which is called Gato [Cat], which he called Fernandina." Page 88 : " Having turned the prows to the S. E., the fleet passed an island superior to those which they had seen, both in extent and pleasant appearance; it rose higher above the sur- face of the sea; the soil was not so uniform as in the others, but varied, with some hills; it aboimded in water, many lagoons, and most beautiful meadows and groves. He took possession (1) According to Irving's text, ante, 3d, Columbus's track on this oLart, 0]i tho west side of Long Island, should be extended to the "north point." (2) To row around Watling island, the distance is 39 nautical miles ; around Cat, it is 100. 330 EEPOET OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OE THE and clianged its former name Samoeto to Isabela. It is probably that which is now called Long Island." Page 90 : " He steered to the south, in quest of the large land AA'hich was mentioned by all the people of the Lucayos islands under the name of Cuba. They referred to it with expressions and gestures which seemed to our men to signify abundance of goli and pearls, great nations, power- ful Ifings, many ships, seamen, and merchants. Having compared these circumstances with the place where the map of Toscanelli represented the extreme portion of India and its adjacent isl- ands, Columbus and the Pinzons suspected that this Cuba was the famous Cipango. They sighted it on the 27th of October, at nightfall, on the northern coast. At dawn on the following day they saw, in taking their iirst view, a most beautiful country, very remarkable ; beautiful rising grounds and mountains, wide-stretching meadow lands, and rivers of considerable volume. . In one of these the fleet anchored," &c. MuHoz, probably, had no authentic chart when he wrote the above. The east side of Watling is only twelve miles long. If Columbus went from Watling to a smaller island, without stopping at the latter, it was either Conception or Eum Cay. From neither could he have sailed to the west 31.8 miles and then taken jjossession of any land except — with some allowance — the northwest part of Long Island. From here he could not continue in a icesterly direction 26.4 miles and arrive at Cat, because this lies about north hy west from that. After leaving Cat, he turns his prows to the southeast, returns, and takes possession of the island he left a few days before. As Munoz means that Columbus went to Cuba, steering south from the northwest end of Long Island, see the discussion of Irving's track {ante, p. 379). CAPTAIN BBCHBE'S TEACK. Captain A. B. Becher, Royal Navy, published in London, in 1856, an octavo of 376 pages, called the Landfall of Columbus on Ms first voyage to America. In the preface he wrote: "The work has cost several years of close application at frequent intervals of rest from the duties of the Hydrographical Office of the Admiralty." In 1856 the accurate Admiralty charts used in this discussion had been published. The office in which Captain Becher served possessed more knowledge about the Bahamas than is known elsewhere, and his position gave him exceptional advantages in seeking information. With such facts it might be expected that his conclusions should be generally accepted. Captain Becher first makes Columbus approach Watling steering S. W., and he anchors him on the northeast side, about four miles east-southeast of the northeast end, in a position from whch his boats must have rowed northwest "to see the other side." He also takes the squadron around Watling by the north. Answer. The journal of October 11 reads: "He sailed to the west-southwest. * * # After sunset he sailed on his first course to the west; they went about 12 miles an hour [9.6 nautical miles], and two hours after midnight they had run about 90 miles, that is, 22J leagues [71.6 nautical miles]. # * * Two hours after midnight the land appeared about two leagues off [6.4 nautical miles]." Columbus wrote on the 14th: "At dawn I ordered the boat of the ship and the boats of the caravels to be got ready, and went along the island, in a north-northeasterly direc- tion, to see the other side, which was on the other side of the east, and also to see the villages." After he had examined the island in the boats on the 14th, he wrote: "And afterward I returned to the ship and set sail." Captain Becher Avrites, 2d (page 345, note, appendix) : " Rum Cay is the name of the small island first steered for by Columbus after leaving Guanahani, and on which he not only did not consider it worth while to land, but even not to bestow a name." . Pages 111, 112 : "The distance of Rum Cay corresponds with that given by Columbus, but he was mistaken in respect of its size, and no doubt bafled and deceived from the effects of the cur- rent. Yet no sooner does he gain it than, attracted by another large island to the westward, without waiting to land on this, 'the first island steered for,' he continues his course toward that' making all the sail he can, so as to reach it before night." Page 116: "But with respect to the size of Rum Cay, it is evidently erroneously stated UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 381 in the journal; perlia.ps from accident, arising from the blotted and rotten condition of the papers. But Columbus, seeiug it was an unimportant island, and that a much larger one was before him, hastens oft' to it, and could not, therefore, say anything for certain about Eum Cay. If he really meant the length of its side next to Guanahani and that lying east and west to be as he gives them, they are greatly in error. But this requires confirmation; and it might be asked how he could have determined the former? All this must have been mere guesswork, for he could not get to the southward, being prevented by the current." Answer. Eum Cay is only 4J miles north and south, and 9 J east and west. If the reef around it is included, it would measure 8 miles north and south and 12i east and west. Columbus wrote of the second island, on the 15th of October: "And I found that that side, which is toward the island of San Salvador, runs north [and] south, and is five leagues [15.9 nautical miles] in length, and the other which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues [31.8 nautical miles]. And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails for I had gone all that day until night, because I could not yet have gone to the western cape,, to which I gave the name of the island of Santa Maria de la Concepoion, and about sunset I anchored near said cape ia order to learn whether there was gold there." Columbus said, in his letter to Luis de Santangel (Navarrate, p. 167) : " To the first island that I found I gave the name of San Salvador. * * * To the second island I gave the name of Santa Maria de Concepcion ; the third I called Fernandina; the fourth, Isabela; the fifth, Juana," &c. These extracts from Columbus and Captain Becher are contradictory. Captain Becher's strain at an agreement is at the expense of Columbus, and his surmises show the insurmountable obstacle of selecting Eum Cay for the second island. The substance of Columbus' journal is this : he sailed over 31^ miles along a shore of the second island, which ran east and west; then he saw a larger island to the west; he took in sail; he named the second island and he anchored at the west cape of it, and the next day he went on s^ore there. Captain Becher, Appendix, p. 345, note xxix, translates "Cargue las velas" — croiods all sail; the true meaning is, I clewed up the sails. On p. 118 Captain Becher again recognizes the per- plexity of his situation, for after saying that Columbus did not bestow a name on the second island he writes: "But why should 'Eum Cay' be thus left nameless?" And therenx>on he proposes this tampering with the names given by Columbus (p. 118). " The long appellation of Santa Maria de la Concepcion is, therefore, divided between Eum Cay arid Long Island; the name Concepoion being assigned to the former, and to the latter, Long Island, Santa Maria, or St. Mary." On page 376 he recalls this extraordinary division, and suggests that the whole of Long Island should be called Concepcion, and the northwest cape, Santa Maria. Captain Becher asks how Columbus could have determined the length of the side of the island next to Guanahani, as the current prevented his going to the southward, and he remarks that it must have been mere " guesswork." On the 15th of October Columbus speaks of being late in arriving at the second island, because "the tide detained me." He says nothing about the "current" preventing his course to the south. Of the two sides of the island he saw, he chose to follow the one running east and west, without gi» ing any reason therefor. His estimate of the length of the side he did not follow was " guesswork." Navigators of the present day necessarily enter upon their log-books a great deal of guesswork, especially in regard to new lands, and they will continue to do so. Captain Becher writes, 3d (p. 118) : " Columbus passed along the northern shore of Eum Cay without landing on it, and continued to the west under all the sail he could set for Cape Santa Maria de la Concepcion." * * * Pages 120, 121. " Columbus is now approaching that portion of his discoveries where he has been least understood, and yet where his journal is by no means deficient in clearness and perspi- cuity; still his actual proceedings, and their localities, seemed to have escaped the penetration of all who have attempted to connect them. But here in fact, he was deceived himself, believing that he was alluding to one island when he was really speaking of two, thereby baffling investiga- tion without intending to do so, and puzzling effectually the ingenuity of all geographers. Among other reasons, such as the state of the wind, &c., for not delaying his stay at Cape Santa Maria, is the appearance of another large island in the west. He, therefore, makes sail for it, about 10 a.m., with a S. E. wind, borrowing, as seamen term it (that is edging) toward the south, that he 382 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTBNDENT OP THE might look down along the western shore of the isl^-nd, as he would open it when rounding Cape Santa Maria." Pages 121-122 : " The wind, however, does not allow of his making much progress to the south. It falls lu light airs, comes more from the southward against him, so that his course becomes more westerly, and he approaches the southern portion of the Exuma Islands." * * * Page 122. "And before he arrives at it, while it is yet before him, he gives it the name of Per- naudina, not having given any name even to that of Capo Santa Maria." Page 126 : " The 17th of October, the Admiral is at anchor oft' the island called Great Exuma. ■ * * * The course which Columbus pursued from Guanahani to Goncepcion (considered here to be Bum Cay, although not named by the Admiral), and from thence to Cape Santa Maria de Ooa- cepcion (believed here also to be the north extreme of Long Island), and from this to Exuma, which is agreed on as being Pernaudina, apijears on the accompanying chart." Answer. On the 15th of October Columbus was at the western cape of an island which he called Santa Maria de la Coneepcion, considered by Captain Becher to be the north end of Long Island. Then, and on that date, Columbus wrote : " Prom this island I saw another .larger one to the west." * * * "And soon after I set sail for the other large island that appeared at the west." * * * "And so I left, at about ten o'clock, with a southeast wind inclining to the south for the other island." * * ♦ "And from this island of Santa Maria to the other one there are nine leagues [28.6 nautical miles] east and west." On the 16th he wrote : "About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria de la Goncepcion for the island of Fernandina, which appears to be very large to the west, and I sailed all that day with calm weather." On the same date, having arrived at Fernandina, he writes; "This island lies at a distance from that of Santa Maria of eight leagues{25.5 nautical miles] almost east [and] west." Assuming that the masthead lookout of the flag-ship was '60 feet above the sea, the range of visibility for the horizon is 8.85 nautical miles. There is no part of Great Exuma over 100 feet high, the range of visibility of which is 11.42 nautical miles, total 20.27 miles.(') The land which bears west from the nort^i end of Long Island is the northwest end of Exuma, distant -38 miles, and it is, of course, invisible. The entrance of Exuma harbor, to which Captain Becher takes Co- lumbus (pp. 132-133), is S. W.by W. 24 miles from Cape Santa Maria, and the island about 2 miles farther. At the distance of 26 miles it is below the horizon, but sometimes, especially at night- fall, clouds form which make a strong resemblance to land. Had Columbus meant to go from Santa Maria to the southward and westward, he might be- lieve that he saw land there. Buthedidnot sail in that direction ; hedidnot "edge" to the south; he did not " look along the western shore "; he reiterates that he saw land to the west, and he went there. Captain Becher easily satisfies himself in respect to the views he holds in contradiction to Columbus, by saying that he "deceived himself"; was baffling investigation, and "puzzling ef- fectually the ingenuity of all geographeijs." Captain Becher writes 4th, pages 132-133, that Columbus sailed from Exuma harbor, " where he had now obtained water, * * * about noon of Wednesday, the 17th of October," and " the ships all make sail on a north-northwest course." Pages 134-135: "When they were about two leagues from the cape, or extreme of the island, he observes what he supposes to be the mouth of a river, and is induced to anchor his ships off it. * * * Instead of a river they find what would be a harbor large enough to contain all the ships* of Christendom (a favorite expression of Columbus), if it were not deficient in depth, a no less essential quality, indeed, than superficial extent for the formation of a harbor. It is described as having two entrances formed by an island, yet very narrow and with little water in them. The harbor, from this description, seems to correspond with a part of the shore of the island about ten miles to the N". W. of the former harbor (Exuma), but is really nothing more than the low shelving shore of the island covered to the depth of a few feet by the sea." Page 137 : "After staying a couple of hours at this anchorage and obtaining water, the boats return to their ships, and Columbus continues his north-northwest course along the island. The (') From the tablo of distances at wliich objects oau bo seen at sea iu nautical miles, as used by the U. S, Light House Board, UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 383 ■wind meanwhile seems to have died away, and the ships no sooner arrive off the extreme of the ishind than they are becalmed ; not, however, very long, for soon afterwards it springs up again from the west-north west, wliich,asravy, of the ISTaval Observatory at Washington, for the moon's place. It was full October 5, O. S., 1492, at lO'' 58'" p. m., Greenwich mean time. It rose the 11th of October at 11 p. m., and at 2 a. m., when the laud was sighted, it was 39° high, latitude 5° S., longitude 106° 03'. Those who were admonished by the admiral to keep a sharp lookout from the forecastle were, of course, looking ahead — west — and the moon, then nearly at the third quarter, was partly behind them and shone directly upon the white bluff. This was most favorable for seeing the land at night, and it is a memorable fact that Columbus first saw the New World through the light of the moon. In the journal of the 14th of October the Admiral wrote that he " went along the island, in a north-northeasterly direction, to see the other side, which was on the other side of the east." The same date he said that in going along in the boats he " found a piece of land, like an island, although it was not one, with six houses on it, which in two days could easily be cut off and converted into an island." The first quotation is the language of a seaman who had anchored under a jutting jioint of land which stretched to the eastward and was in sight ; he could see one side as far as the east end, but he desired to see the other side of the east end. Columbus was at anchor on an open coast ; each vessel had but one boat, see Appendix E, and he took all the boats for his exploration of the 14th. For this reason, according to the usage of the sea, he ought not to withdraw far from his ships. The second quotation confirms the first, as to his being in the neighborhood of a peninsula. Both agree well with the east end of Samana. The point of land that Columbus said could easily be cut off has been separated already by the erosion of the waves. See sub-sketch of Samana. It seems a weighty objection to Samana, that this name appears on the noted naap of Juan de la Cosa, together loith Guanahani. La Cosa was the companion of Columbus — seaman, chart- maker, pilot, master, and he made six voyages to the New World. It is said of him in JDisquisi- ciones Nautious, por el Gapitan de Nario, Oesareo Fernandez Duro, Madrid, 1876, Tom. I, p. 59: "In the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, La Cosa went as master of his vessel, the same on which that officer served until it was wrecked in the Antilles : on the second he went likewise on board the caravel Nina styling himself master of chart-making, and in returning from this latter he was obliged to undertake in the port of Santa Maria the long and minute labor of making the chart which was finished in the year 1500." In 1832 Baron de Humboldt and M. Valcknaer, found in the library of Baron de Walckenaer, an illuminated map skilfully drawn on an ox-hide. It measured 5 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 2 inches, was in good preservation, and bore the signature of La Cosa, and the (1) Columbus met at Guanahani with canoes whichheld 45 men. The natives went in them as far as Cuba; thoy were fishermen and sailors, and the light of October 11 might have been in a canoe. Irving puts it on Watling; but Columbus was steering west, and if a line is drawn east, from the southeast point of Cat, Irving's landfall, it will go through the reefs north of Watling. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY. 389 date 1500. A facsimile was printed without uotes, in Paris, from 1854^'60, for Jomard's work, titled Les otionunients de la ghgraphie, &c. Copies are in the principal libraries of the United States. This map has sustained the scrutiny and disputation of nearly a half a century, aud the belief widens that it is the genuine work of Juan de la Cosa {'■). The most suggestive figure thereon is Guanahani, since it has the same relative situation that Samana holds on modern maps; both are little, narrow, east-and-west, outlying islands, such as cannot be found elsewhere in the neighborhood. If La Cosa went with Columbus on the first voyage, he lay three days at Guanahani, and because he was " master of chart-making," his sketch of the first island should be true in respect to comparative size and exceptional position. A line drawn on the Appendix Chart, from the east end of Cuba, north a little easterly, to Samana, touches only Acklin, one of the Crooked island group. A similar line drawn on La Cosa's map, reaches Guanahani by passing through one large roundish island marked Samana. Therefore, according to La Cosa, Samana was an interior island, much larger than Guanahani, unlike it in shape, situated near and in a southerly direction from it, about where Crooked and Acklin now are ; whereas Samana on the present charts is applied to the little east- and-west island lying outside of the Crooked group. These facts and the disappearance of Guana- hani from modern maps, led me to suspect and search for proofs of a transfer of this strange name of Samana. Ma;p of Neio_ Spain by Mcolaus Vallard, of Dieppe, 1547 : [reproduction by J. G. Kohl, in the library of the Department of State.] "Gamana" [Samana] is an interior island. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum : Abraham Ortelius, Antwerp, 1572. Guanahany is an outside island and southwest of it, among others, is Samana. Karte von Thomas Hood, die Osfkiiste von Nordamerilca bis zur Landenge von Panama, 1592. Plate XIII. Atlas zur Untdeclcungsgeschichte Amerilcas. Aus Handschriften der Ic. Mof- und Staats- Bibliothek etc. Munich. Samana an interior and Guanahani an exterior island. Descrijpcion de las Indias occidentales de Antonio Serrera, &c., Madrid, 1726 — 30, vol. 1, pp. 6-7 : Here is a map of the Bahamas of the date of 1601, on which Guanahani is an exterior island, and to the southward and westward is Samana, an interior one. Karte der Osthiiste von AmeriJca von Neubraunsohiveig bis zum Amazonenstrome. Plate X of Atlas zur JEJntdecJcungsgesch. Am. Munich. "Samano" [Samana] an interior island. Carte du Mexique et de la FJoride par Guillaume Del'Isle. Paris 1703. Samana, an interior island. Map of Worth America, by John Senex, Charles Price, John Maxwell, geographers, 1710 : The present group of Crooked and Acklin is marked " Samana or Krooked." Guanahani' is a separate island. An Accurate Map of North America. * * * Also all the West India Islands, by Eman. Bowen, Geographer to His Majesty; and John Gibson, engraver. 1733? I Samana, Crooked, Fortune, and Acklin's form one group. Outside of these is AtwooWs Key. This, map is in vol. i Old Maps of America, No. 20. Library of Congress. Atlas Historique, par Henri- Abrah. Ohatelain, 7 vols. Amsterdam : In vol. vi i;i738) the present place of Crooked group is marked " I Samana." WAnviWs Maps of 1731, 1746, and 1794: The present Crooked group is marked "Samana ou Krooked." Guanahani is a separate island. G. Delisle and P. Buache. Map of the Bahamas. 1740. In a volume of maps, Library of Congress. I Croqued, Fortune, and Acklin are strung along northwest and southeast. To the northeast of Croqued is a small island marked "I Nova." It is near the present place of Samana. I have not met this name before. On page 80 of this volume is a map in which Samana appears as one of the Crooked Island group. Bellin. 1750. Authority J. Carson Brevoort, esq. : " Samana appears to be the northeast part of Crooked I." Homann, Johannes Baptista, Atlas Geographicus Major. 2 vols. Nuremberg, 1759. Vol. i, p. 147. The present place of Crooked group is marked Samana I. The West-India Atlas, by the late Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to the King. MDCCLXXV. (1) In Stephens's Historical and Geographical Notes, referred to farther on, the reader will find the ohjeotions to La Cosa's map satisfactorily answered. 390 EBPOET OF THE 8UPEEINTEEDENT OP THE Chart 8. The present Samana is marked "eZ Terrigo or Atwood's Kej', the Samana of the French:^ To the southwest is ^^ Samana or Crooked Island." Tour through the British West Indies, 1802-3, Dan'l McKinnen, Loudon, 1804, p. 149 : "Samana, spell Sumaua, ancient Indian name of French charts ; probably the original name of Crooked island." These citations might be increased, but are they not enough to prove that the name of Samana has been shifted from an interior to an exterior island, from the present Crooked group to the present Atwood Cay, thus surmounting a scholarly obstacle in the way of selecting Samana for the first landing-place. Columbus does not use this name. It appears first on La Cosa's map, for the island spoken of above, and also for the name of a bay on the northeast part of Haytii which retains it now, but Columbus called it Oolfo de las Flechas : Navarrete, vol. i, p. 139. An inquiry in regard to this name would be worth pursuing, but it does not belong to a discussion of the first landfall. On the 13th of October, the day before the Admiral left Guanahani, he wrote : "I determined to wait until to-morrow evening, and then to sail for the southwest." This is all the information the journal gives in respect to the course steered from the first island. The inference is that he went as he said he should go, because he understood that gold could be gotten in that direction. But the proof shall be supplied by4he subsequent agreements between the journal and the physical facts. After he had left Guanahani he saw so many islands that he was undecided which to sail for first, but he determined to make for the largest. A vessel that leaves the east part of Samana and steers to the southward with some westing comes into view of the hills of Plana Cays, Acklin, and Crooked, on bearings from south-southeast to west by south, and to a stranger these hills would appear like so many islands. After Columbus anchored at the second island he wrote that it was five leagues, rather seven — 15.9 or 22.3 nautical miles — from the first. The northeast end of Ack- lin bears S. W. by S. J S., 23 nautical miles from the east part of Samana. For this discussion I consider Acklin and Crooked to be one island, under the name of Crooked. The channel which separates them is of modern origin, no doubt. It has the appearance of having been made by ero- sion; it is so shallow that it can be waded across, even at high water, and it is invisible to a passing vessel. See chart and sub-sketch. Columbus wrote that the second island had a north-and-south side 15.9, and one east and west over 31.8 miles long. Crooked has a north-and-south side 13, and another which runs west by north and east by south 29 miles. A navigator of to-day could not come nearer to the truth, in describing the island in like circumstances ; but Columbus kept his time with a sand-glass, and reckoned his speed by the eye. I wish the reader to take heed that it i^ the second island, and no other, of which the journal records the length and trend of two separate sides ; and that Croolced is the only one in the Bahamas which conforms to this description. A seeming objection to Crooked arises from the language in the journal of the 15th of October, that the side of the second island toward San Salvador ran north and south, whereas the side of Crooked which is in the direction of Samana runs east and west. Columbus could not note this fact at the first island, because Crooked is not visible from bis anchorage there.. After leaving Guanahani he saw many islands, and made for the largest. As he stood off and on all night, and the tide detained him on the 15th tiU about noon, he might have noted the side he then came to. This is the understanding of E. H. Major, who, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xli, p. 198, translates the passage thus: "I found that the face of it, on the side toward San Salva- dor [or rather, I would suggest, on the side approached by the ships in coming from San Salvador], ran north and south five leagues, and the other side which I coasted ran east and west ten leagues." From the data kindly supplied by the officers of the Naval Observatory in Washington, I learn that the moon crossed the meridian of Crooked Island on the 14th of October, 1492, at 6'' 36" a. m., Civil time. The British Admiralty Tide Tables for 1881 give VII o'clock for the "Establishment of the Port" at Crooked. Therefore it was high water there on the 14th of October at I'' 36"" p. m.; low at T^ 48™, high at 2 a. m. on the loth; low at 8'^ 12"" and high at 2^ 24" p. m. The sun set at 5^ 40" and twilight lasted about 1'' 19"". The journal does not give the wind at Guanahani, nor untU the 16th, at the second island, when it is entered as S. E. I believe I have proved on p. 388 that Columbus made the land on the 12th of October with a strong N. E. trade ; and the invariable circuit of winds alluded to on that page would give light easterly ones, sometime from the 12th to UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 391 the 16th. Dining the regular " trades" the current between Samana and Crooked flows W. N. W. a knot an hour ; but at other times the set and drift are uncertain. On the north side of Crooked the flood tide runs always to the eastward and the ebb contrarily. When Columbus neared the second island he estimated it to be 15.9 miles from the first ; but the next day he called it 22.3. In the mean time he was detained by the tide so that he did not reach it again until about noon. Captain Becher (pp. 111-345) said that this detention was "set of the current"; but Columbus used the word marea, not corriinte ; the former signifies tide, flux and reflux ; the latter current, progressive motion of the water ; a distinction held in both languages and especially among sea- men, and one of importance here. These facts, in connection with the journal, enable me to offer a reasonable theory as to the movements of his vessels on the 14th and 15th of October. He left the south side of the east part of Samana on the 14th, undoubtedly after noon ; and steered to the southward and west- ward, with light easterly winds, for Crooked. Midway he found the usual westerly current, and on the other side he ran into a stronger one setting in the same direction ; but this was the elib tide which flowed west, along the north shore of Crooked, from P SB" to 1^ 48"" p. m. He did not reach the land in time to see his anchoring-ground before dark, and the night was moonless. In conse- quence, he began, about sunset {5^ 40™), to stand oif and on; that is, he beat to the eastward to overcome this westerly set and keep his place uptil morning, when he intended to run in and 'an- chor. At 1'^ 48'" p. m. the tide turned and flowed east until 2 a. m. on the 15th. So that in the darkness of the night he had, unknowingly, six hours and twelve minutes of current, contrary to that for which he was aUowiug. In this way he got so far to the eastward that it was noon before he reached the island again; when he coasted the north shore and near sunset anchored at the west end. On the following day, the 16th, he wrote his journal of the 15th, by which time he had observed the distinction between the currents and tides in the neighborhood of Crooked, and he noted the one which caused his detention. The second island of Columbus has been such a stumbling-block to investigators that many of them assert that he sighted it, but passed on without stopping. See translation from Munoz, ante, p. 379, and discussion with Captain Becher, ante, p. 380 and on. Major (p. 198) wrote : " Here I beg to call your attention to the fact that Columbus neither lands upon nor gives any name to the first island which he reaches after leaving G-uanahani, a fact which argues its un- importance and sanctions our assuming it to be Bum Cay." The weight of these authorities makes it necessary for me to try to answer them before I go on. The following paragraph from the Spanish text of the journal is the authority upon which Major and Captain Becher found their assertion that Columbus did not land upon the second island (Navarrete, 1st edition, p. 25, Octo- ber 15, and ante, p. 358) : " Ycomo desta isla vide otra mayor al Oueste, cargu6 las velaspor andar todo aquel dia fasta la noche, porque aun no pudiera haber andado al cabo del OuesteP Major's transla- tion (p. 198) is : "And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I started for the purpose of sailing the whole of that day until night, for otherwise I could not have reached the westernmost cape." Captain Becher (p. 109) renders it: "And as from this island I saw another larger one to the westward, I made sail, continuing on until night ; for as yet I had not arrived at the western cape." Mr. Thomas's translation, which I have adopted, is : " And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails, for I had gone all that day until night, because I could not yet have gone to the western cape." The essential difference is with, cargue las velas. Major makes it, " I started "; Captain Becher, " I made sail" ; and Thomas, " I clewed up the sails." In Diccionario Maritimo Espanol, etc., por D. JosS de Lorenzo, B. Oonzalo de Murga y D. Martin Ferreiro, Empleados en la Direccion de Hidrografid, Madrid, 1864, the defini- tion agrees with that given by Mr. Thomas. So of all other Spanish dictionaries which I can find. I have also submitted the phrase to Spanish officers with like result. The signification is, to clew up, or brail up ; that is, take in sail. A similar expression occurs in the first part of the journal of October 15: "I had been standing off and on this night fearing to approach the shore for anchorage before morning not knowing whether the coast would be clear of shoals, and intending to clew uy—cargar velas— at dawn." If he had been hove to all night he might have written "I will make sail in the morning"; but as he was standing off and on, the two clauses— " Fearing 392 EEPOET OP THE SUPEEINTEKDENT OP THE to approach the shore for anchorage before morning," and "Intending to clew up at dawn", are connected, and the meaning of cargar velas in the latter is obviously to take in, not to make sail. The proof that he stopped at the second island does not depend upon the signification of any one phrase, but upon the concord existing between the journal and the cartographic facts. Co- lumbus promised in his Prologue (see Appendix D) that he would mark " each night my progress during the day and each day the run made during the night.'' But it can be readily understood that he had no regular time for writing his journal among the Bahamas, where the navigation is diffi- cult and where the Indians thronged upon him as coming from heaven. This appears upon read- ing the remarks under October 11, the day before seeing Guanahani. All the journal of that day — with the exception of the first forty-seven lines — refers to transactions which took place on the 12th, a date omitted from the "journal. From the closing paragraph of the 13th it seems that most of his Guanahani log was written near sunset of that day. He says : "At this moment it is dark and all went on shore in their canoes." The 14th was written in the afternoon, during the leisure which came to him from being at sea, clear of the land and the inhabitantw. He wrote then : " I looked for the largest one and determined to make for it, and I am so doing." (^) It is important that I should call attention to the fact that all the journal of the 15th was certainly written on the 16th. He entered no remarks on the 15th. Under this date, which was Monday, he wrote : " I anchored and remained until to-day Tuesday Q) when at dawn I went on shore with the boats armed." Same date, farther on, 15th, he writes : "And soon after I set sail for the other large island." He could not have done so except on the 16th, the day he wrote this. His story in the journal of the 15th is certainly the experience of the 16th. For example : near the close of the remarks of the 15th he writes : "And being in the Gulf midway between these two islands namely that of Santa Maria and this large one, to which I give the name of la Fernandina." No one can fail to see that this circumstance, and those immediately preceding it, belong to the 16th, although found under date of the 15th. His journal of the 16th begins with the statement that he left Santa Maria for Fernandina about noon, an assertion repeated twice on the 15th, but which could not have been put into execution until the 16th. A study of the journal of the loth and 16th shows that his first leisure was the afternoon of the 16th, in the calm weather between the two islands, and then he wrote the journal of the 15th. That of the 16th was not written uutil the 17th, for he writes under the former date about sending the ship's boat on shore for water at 9 a. m. — certainly on the 17th. A little later in the journal of the 16th he says: " Soon after writing this I set sail with a south wind." As he did not arrive at the island to which this refers until the morning of the 17th, see first part of the journal of this day, it is obvious that it was of the 17th — not the 16th — that he was speaking. The student who is attentive to the journal will notice that Columbus wrote it when he could find time — to all appearance at one sitting, as a very busy sailor would do. This led him to set down often the matter of several days under one date, and he seems not to have overhauled his log to see whether it was at variance with itself. Eemembering, then, that all the things done on the 15th were recorded on the 16th — after he had left the second island — they might be put into a concise and truthful statement as follows : Columbus explored Guanahani in the boats before noon of the 14th, and sailed after noon to the southward and westward, the direction of the gold. Many islands coming shortly into sight, he made for the largest, but did not reach it in time to see the anchoring-ground before dark. The wind being light from the eastward, and a strong current running west, he decided to stand off and on, or beat to the eastward, to hold his position during the night, that he might anchor in the morning at that part of the island iphich he had seen before darJc. The next forenoon, the 15th, he found himself so far to the eastward that it was noon before he got back. He observed two sides of the island, one north and south, five leagues ; the other, east and west, over ten. He approached the first, but as it was a lee-shore he followed the other all the afternoon, arriving at the western cape about sunset, whence he saw another large island to the west. Not wishing to be under weigh again at night, among the tides and currents, and the wind having canted to the southward and eastward, which gave him a weather shore to anchor under, he clewed up his sails and came to. On the morning of the next day, the 16th, he went on shore to explore the island, but, as the wind increased from the S. E., and his ships were riding to a weather tide, they were liable to be set (') Italics by the writer. UMTED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC STJEVEY. 393 across it and foul their anchors : ante, p. 359, note 2. The Admiral observing this from the shore, returned and weighed anchor before or at noon, for the island in the west. Major, p. 198 {ante, p. 390), and Captain Becher, pp. 108-112 (ante, p. 380), admit, what is ob- vious in the journal, that Columbus steered for the second island on the afternoon of the 14th, stood off and on during the night, and the following day he was detained by the tide or current until noon, when he reached this second island, and then he followed that side of it which ran east and west over ten leagues, and came to anchor at sunset, 5'' 40"'. My interpretation is that he did not go beyond this second island on the 15th, but that he anchored about sunset at the west cape of the side he had followed. This would make his run 10 leagues — 31.8 nautical miles— in 5'' 40"', equal to 5.6 miles each hour. Major and Captain Becher say that, in addition to coasting this side, he kept on eight leagues — 25.5 nautical miles — farther, where he came to anchor at sunset, making a sum of 18 leagues — 57.3 nautical miles — in 5^ 40"*, which gives a speed of 10.1 nautical, or 1'2.7 Italian, miles for every hour — greater than is recorded anywhere for his vessels. He must have had a gale of wind all the afternoon of the 15th to have been driven at such extraordinary speed; but there is no mention of it in the journal. His log across the Atlantic was 105J nautical miles a day, equal to 4.4 miles every hour. The best day's run was October 4, 200.5 nautical miles, an average of 8.4 each hour. Columbus wrote on the 14th of October, in respect to the second island : " I looked for the largest one and determined to make for it, and I am so doing." On the 15th — written on the Iffth and relating solely to past events — he said: " It was about noon when I reached the .said island." * * * u fpjjg other [side] which I followed ran east [and] west, and contains over ten leagues. And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails for I had gone all that day until night [noon to sunset], because I could not yet [otherwise] have ^ona to the western cape, to which I gave the name of Santa Maria de la Goncepcion, *and about sunset I anchored near said cape in order to learn whether there was gold there." This is the island of which Columbus wrote, in his letter to Santangel {ante, p. 381): "To the second island I gave the name of Santa Maria de Goncepcion." It lay in the direction of the gold; it was the largest in sight; the Guanahani Indians reported, "That they there wore very large rings of gold on» their legs and arms." Columbus wrote that one ishmd taken possession of, the same* may be said of all; but it was his desire not to pass any without taking possession, and he did not. After sailing from this island he wrote: "And being in the gulf midway between these two islands namely that of Santa Maria and this large one, to which I gave the name of Fernandina," he found a man in a canoe who had come "from the island of San Salvador, had passed to Santa Maria, and was now going to la Fernandina," the very sequence he was doing. All who are mindful of these facts from the journal of the 14th, 15th, and 16th of October, may group them better than this to suit iheir own mind, but in every aspect they will outweigh the assertion that he did not stop at that second island which he made for on the 14th, and strove for on the 15th. Columbus anchored at the northwest cape of Crooked (Santa Maria), at sunset, October 15, and remained until the following forenoon. He wrote: "And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I clewed up the sails." It would appear from this paragraph that the island referred to came into view when he reached the west cape, near sunset. Writing of what took place the following forenoon, he said: " I set sail for the other large island thaf appeared at^the west." He begins the 16th with, "About noon I left the islands of Santa Maria de la Goncepcion fov the island of Fernandina, which appears to bevery large to the west." Long Island lies 25 miles west of Crooked, and the range of hills upon it, marked 150 feet high, are two miles farther. The distance of visibility for 150 feet is 14 miles, and for Columbus's lookout, of 60 feet, it is 8.8 miles; total 22.8 miles. In consequence Long Island cannot be seen from Crooked." i have alluded, on page 387, to probable physical changes among the Bahamas in the past, but I shall not appeal to these here. Seamen understand very weirthat, in favorable circumstances, the appearance of land is very striking over coral islands which are below the range of visibility from the observer. This is especially noticeable in the Bahamas, because all the necessary conditions are there: low islands of white coral ; not enough trees or undergrowth to hinder radiation; a high degree of heat, and the air loaded with moisture. When a fall of temperature happens this is precip- itated into a cloud cap which often covers the island like a blanket, and outlines it. It is this and S. Ex. 12 50 394 EBPOET OP THE STJPEEINTENDENT OP THE the blending of cloud and land that makes the latter appear, frequently, to be above the horizon when truly below it. (') Columbus sailed from the northwest end of Crooked, October 16, either at 10 a. m. or noon, for he gives both times, toward the island which appeared in the west. Calm weather retarded him until daylight of the 17th, when he anchored at a cape of an island, which he named Pernandina. Here, he said, the coast ran north-northwest and south-southeast. On the way over he estimated the distance from the second to the third island at nine leagues. . After he had arrived he called it eight leagues — 25.5 nautical miles. A course from Crooked W. ^ N. 25 miles strikes a cape of Long Island where the coast line runs as given by Columbus. See chart and the sub-sketch of Long Island, the latter on a larger scale, which shows the cape and trend of land more distinctly. The appearance of Long Island (Pernandina) from Crooked (Santa Maria), the course and dis- tance between them, the southeast cape and the trend of the coast of Long Island (Pernandina), all conform accurately to the facts and we need not linger upon them. At noon of the 17th of October, Columbus sailed from this southeast cape, steering along the shore to the 1^. N. W., "the wind being S. W. and S." When he was near the end of the island " two leagues off" he found a marvellous port with two entrances formed by a rocky islet in the middle. Both were narrow, but within was ample room for 100 ships, if there had been sufficient depth free from obstructions, with a deep entrance. He was so much impressed with this marvellous port that he anchored outside of it and went in with all the boats and sounded it and saw that it was too shoal. This was the first opening into the land that he had met with and he thought it betokened a fresh-water river, therefore he took in the water casks. His former visit to a tropical country was to Guinea (Africa) where all the openings into the shore are made by fresh- water streams. The wind was off the land, and he remained in this harbor with the boats, getting walpr, for two hours, when he returned to the vessels and sailed. Columbus wrote that the entrance of this marvellous port was two leagues from the end of the island. The reader will observe how often the journal uses leagues and miles in such a way that an interchange of them was possible on the Admiral's part and very probable with the copyist.(^) If the two leagues of the journal were a clerical error for two Italian miles, it corresponds with the chart. See sub-sketch of Clarence Har- bor, where the southeast entrance is two Italian miles (1.6 nautical miles) from Booby Cay, the visible extremity of the island ; and the course to the latter is IST. W. He wrote that he sailed on this course until he discovered that part of the island which ran east and west ; and afterward the Indians persuaded him to go back, and because the wind ceased and then sprang up from the W. N. W., which was contrary to his course, he turned around. This and the subsequent courses point out that he was following this east-and-west shore on a likely course of W. S". W. when the wind came out ahead. After turning around he sailed all night, E. S. E., sometimes E. and also S. E. to clear the' land. He wrote that the atmosphere was very misty and the weather threatening, but that the wind was light and it did not permit him to reach the laud to anchor, and that it rained hard after midnight until almost day. He adds, ",We [are] at the southeast cape of the island where I hope to anchor until it gets clear." He closes the journal of the 17th with general remarks, which was his frequent habit. It is evident that he wrote this paragraph, and the last observa- tions of the 17th, on the morning of the 18th, at the southeast cape of the island, where, as he was exposed to rainy weather and light winds, he desired to anchor. (1) Since I navigated among the Bahamas alight-house has been built at the N. W. end of Crooked, and I wrote to T. J. McLain, esq., United States consul at Nassau, asking him to inquire from officials merely whether Long Island could be seen from it. TJiis is his answer: "I saw Capt. W. H. Stuart, who has commanded the light-house yacht Eiohmond /or many years, and who is a most trustworthy person. He agreed to look up the matter and tret me reli- able information. The Eichmond returned lately from a trip to the windward light-houses, and the captain called to- day to report. He says he inquired particularly of both the keepers at Bird Eock Tower, and of Mr. Aranha who is clerk of the board of works at that station, and the three united in saying that Long Island is not visible from Bird Eock light-house, that they have never seen it, even on the clearest day. A gentleman residing near there says he has seen smoke on it in a clear day. And all four say that they have frequently seen clouds settle over Long Island in still weather like a stretch of land. [ JtaKcs by G. Y. F. ] Captain Stuart says that all his own observations coniirm the foregoing statements." (=) Navarreie, vol. i, p. 101, December 21, 1492 : On this day he was at the present bay of Acul on the north side of Hayti, and the journal reads : " The distance from the entrance to the bottom of it [Acul] is about iive leagues." This is a clerical error for five miles, because the bay of Acul is 25,800 feet deep, equal to 5J Italian miles. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 395 These words imply that he was at the cape from which he had sailed the day before. In other words, that he had retraced his steps as he was advised to do, and getting back to a famUiar anchorage, with unfavorable conditions for coasting such shores, he wished to anchor and wait for clear weather. On page 392 I have asked the student to take hoed in adapting the dates in Columbus's journal. The caution is necessary here. The log of the 18th of October opens with a clause which belongs to the remarks quoted above; for he says: "After it cleared up I foUowed the wind"; the last of this date is, "At dawn I set sail." It is enough to read the journal of the 19th, which was written in the evening of this day, after arriving at the rocky islet, to see that getting under way at dawn of the 18th referred to the same act done at dawn of the 19th. What he did on the 18th is not obscure ; shitting tides and inconstant winds hindered him from following the coast to a favorable anchorage. This appears from his remark on the 18th, I "went around the island as much as I could, and I anchored ^vhen it was no longer possible to sail." We find recorded in the journal certain physical characteristics concerning the second island Avhich belong to Crooked only ; and in like manner is the third island established. This is so im- portant that I briefly recapitulate. Columbus anchored at a cape of the third where the coast line was north-northwest and south-southeast. He followed it K N. W. until he came to a marvellous port, two leagues [miles?] from the end. He sounded it in the boats and found it capacious, but shallow. He sailed N. W. until he opened that part of the shore which ran east and west; he steered along it W. N. W. till the approach of night and the advice of the Indians caused him to turn about. A sailor describing the strange things seen in new lands is likely to put into his story some of ' the warmth of his vocation, but he does not do this in his log. When he enters the course steered, the depth of water, the trend of the coast, and the speed of his vessel, these are facts which his daily duty calls for, and the safety of his ship may turn upon the accuracy of the record. Columbus's description of the shore-lines and harbor of the third island relate to physical facts which he ob- served. They are his log, and they cannot be ignored. It is essential, therefore, that a third island shall be found answering to this description. The sub-sketch on the chart "shows at a glance that the southeast part of Long Island is the only land and water that will fit. See narrative of Cap- tain Becher 17th and 18th of October, ante, for the entanglement arising from using another island for the track of these two days. There is an element of time here which is important as it limits the ground passed over on the afternoon of the 17th. The Admiral left the southeast cape at noon and turned around while heading W. N. W., and then he steered an opposite course during the night, to clear the land. It is fair to select sunset, 5"^ 40", as the time of his turning. As long as he could see the land and reefs he might keep on, but not after darh. He would choose the day only to explore.new shores. In the night he might retrace his steps steering well off, or anchor, or heave to, or stand off and on, nothing else. The distance from the southeast cape past the shallow port and around to the end of the east-and-west side is 22 nautical miles. As he stopped at the above port two hours, he was under way only 3'^ 40^". This gives a speed of 6 mUes an hour, which is fully as much as his vessels were likely .to do. Any track which is longer, or which requires more speed than this, must be very liable to error. If Columbus turned at sunset on the 17th and returned to the southeast cape at "almost day" of the 18th he sailed in a night which had ten hours of darkness', the distance he went over in 3^ 40'" of day. This is not strange. In addition to the various courses steered to clear the land, he says, of this night, that the atmosphere was misty and the weather threatening, but the wind light- The fact that he followed this shore at all during such a moonless night is proof that he had gone along it the day previous and learned the direction of the shores, so that he retraced his steps without much hazard provided he steered well off. This he could do ; for in coasting the island the afternoon before he must have observed that there was no land on the other side to pick him up. Columbus is now at anchor on the southwest side of the south end of the third, or Long Island (Pernandina). He sailed from here at dawn on the 19th. Sunrise was at G*" 21"', twilight 1" 19"°, dawn at 5'' 2". The flag-ship steered S. E., the Pinta E. and S. E., and the Mna S. S. E. Three hours had not elapsed when they saw an island to the east for which all the vessels headed, and before mid-day they arrived at the northern extremity, where tbere js a rocky islet. I take this to be the 396 EBPOET OP THE SUPEEINTENDBNT OF THE north end of Fortune Island. See chart and sub-sketch of Crooked Island anchorages. The Admiral gives no distances in sailing across. If he was fairly under way at 5^ SO-" and anchored at ll'' 30", the time was 6 hours, half of which he steered S. E. and half E., making E. S. E. if each three hours was equal speed. From the south end of Long Island to the north end of Fortune the course and distance are E. by S. | S. 32 nautical miles. This gives a little more than 5.3 miles an hour, which is fair sailing for his vessels. Columbus wrote on the evening of the 19th that this rocky islet "lay from the island of Fernandina, whence I had come east [and] west, and the coast afterwards ran from the rocky islet to the westward, and there was in it twelve leagues." If the last clause is an error for 12 Italian miles, it agrees with the chart, as the coast inclines from here two points to the west and measures 10.5 nautical miles, or 13.2 Italian miles. Long Island is invisible from the rocky islet, and the line between them is not east and west. In steering from Fernandina Columbus spread his vessels from an E. to a S. S. E. course, to get hold of the land ; then he drew them together on one course and afterward anchored. A bearing en- tered at this time with reference to an island no longer in sight, and from which they had arrived by steering several courses, might easily be If points in error. Fortune is the fourth island of Columbus's visitation, the one he named after that manful and lovable queen, Isabela, who sent him on his way when kings and councils rejected him. It will be noticed that the journal makes the third island lie west of the second, and the fourth east of the third. This brings the second and fourth adjacent to each other, as they are found upon the chart. If a landsman thinks that the Admiral ought to have known that the land now north of him was ■ the same which lay south on the evening of the 15th, it can be answered truly, that one of the most perplexing things in the vocation of the sea is the recognition of lands or islands that have no con- spicuous marks. Light-houses, beacons, and pilotage grew out of this difficulty. Columbus sees the opposite side of Crooked, after an interval during which he was harassed by navigating the shores of the third island. He comes in sight of it for the second time, while steering a course opposite to that which he steered at first; and of all islands to distinguish, one from the other, or the different sides, the Bahamas are the most puzzling, owing to their similarity. Irving, vol. i, p. 433, wrote of the Admiral: "On his second voyage returning from Cuba, he coasted the southern side of his favorite island of Haiti without recognizing it until a cacique came off and addressed him by his title and used several words of Castilian. The news spread joy throughout the ships." The mountains of Haiti are 9,000. feet high and are easily recognized now, for we know their height and have excellent maps; but Columbus was making discoveries where the islands seemed to be innumerable; he was not surveying, nor had he any instruments by which he could lay down accu- rately the relative bearings of the lands. .The first part of the journal of October 20 remarks upon the failure of the vessels to get to the eastward of Isabella, either by the northeast or south, on account of shallow water. This agrees with the present cartography of Fortune Island. My position here derives strength from a statement in the journal of November 20. ¥avarrete, p. 61: On this day the Admiral was 25 leagues — 79.6 nautical miles— N. E. f N. from Puerto del Principe, admitted to be the present Cuban port of Tanamo. The appendix chart has the 20th of November laid down at 75 miles only, arising from the use of 3 as a multiplier for leagues, instead of 3.1818. The Admiral said 'that on this day he was 12 leagues — 38.2 nautical miles — from Isabella. Prom here to Fortune Island, which I call Isabella, the distance is 36 miles; but to Great Inagua, Navarrete's Isabella, there are 60 miles* to Long Island, Irving's Isabella, 67, and to Crooked, selected by Captain Becher, 53. The journal adds that he could have anchored at Isabella, but did not wish to, for fear that the Indians he had brought from Guanahani migh*-escape, as the distance between these two islands was but eight leagues — 25.5 nautical miles. Fortune is 36 miles from Samana; Crooked and Watling, the Isa- bella and Guanahani of Captain Becher, are 68 miles apart; Grand Turk and Great Inagua the Isabella of Navarrete, are 101. At the beginning of October 24 Columbus sailed from the rocky islet, at the north end of Fortune on a predetermined W. S. W. course. The day was characterized by rain, calms, little wind, and then a "lovely" breeze. At nightfall, 5'' 36°', the southwest cape of Fernandina (Long Island) bore K W. distant 22.3 miles. This is known at sea as "departure." The night of the 24th-25th he had strong winds with rain, and being on unknown ground he first reduced, then took in all sail. He said he had made much headway, of which he was doubtful, but he estimated that he UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. ^ 397 did not go this night two leagues. The direction of the wind is not noted. He says that it grew strong suddenly, with mist and rain. Such wind and weather are well known among the Bahamas^ they are the sudd-en ram squalls which are common from the northward and westward (ante, p. 388.) At sunrise on the 25th he made sail at W. S. W., but at 9 a. m. he steered west-no doubt to make the former course good, which he had lost somewhat in the night, by drifting under bare poles. At 3 p. m. the Admiral saw land. " There were seven or eight islands, all extending from north to south ; distant from them five leagues," 15.9 nautical miles. He anchored on the 26th of October in the shallow water south of these, which he called Sand Islands. The course and dis- tant from the rocky islet to the south sand island are W. S. W. 82 miles. The same from the "departure "-night-fall of October 24th-W. S. W. 65 miles. -The journal gives the following distances between " departure " and Sand Islands : Night of the 34th-25th, not two leagues. Five leagues to 9 a. m. on the 25th. From 9 to 3 p. m., 44 miles, and then 5 leagues to the Sand Islands. Ten leagues, 44 Italian miles, are 66.8 nautical miles. This accord between the log a,nd the truth, on the largest run the Admiral made in the Bahamas, is not accidental. In the journal of the 23d-24th, we see that he is disappointed with the poverty of the land and people, and his ardent temperament seizes upon what the Indians called Cuba, to signify that land of gold and spices and large ships for which he had sailed from Spain— Cipango (Japan). He carefully notes the direction to it, pointed out by the natives, who would be most likely to indicate the way their canoes went, touching at intermediate land. He believes this course is W. S. W., and to make it good he would put forward all his skill. About 60 miles N. N. E. of the northeast coast of Cuba, a line of cays and islands extend N. N. W- J W. and S. S. E. J E. for 21 miles. The principal ones are eight : Nurse, Bonavista, Eacoon, Double Breasted, Maycock, Hog, Great Eagged, and Little Eagged. From the southernmost a coral bank stretches 28 miles south, and 30 east, having from 4 to 11 fathoms of water, interspersed with rocky heads and shoal spots. This is known as the "Columbus Bank "; it terminates the Great Bahama Bank on the southeast. Here, then, is the fifth island, or islands, visited by Columbus; and it should be noted that this string of islands, and the bank of shallow water stretching from them, described so correctly in the journal, cannot he found anywhere else in the Bahamas. He left this anchorage Saturday, October 27th at sunrise (G"^ 23") and steered S. S. W. for Cuba. By sunset {S^ 37") he had made 17 leagues— 54.1 nautical miles— about 4.8 knots an hour. He saw the land before dark, but kept off "on the look-out during the night with much rain." Sunday he resumed his course S, S. W., striving to reach the nearest land. Arriving there he entered a beautiful river which had 12 fathoms at the mouth. The courses "logged" from the Sand Islands are S. S. W., and the distance 54.1 miles, which was made by sunset Saturday. In the night he probably held his position. Sunday he again steered S. S. W., but as the time of anchoring is not given, we do not know how much more was made on this course. It is certain, only, that the distance from the Sand Islands to this Cuban port was more than the run to Saturday night, 54.1 miles. If he anchored early Sunday, which is probable from the soundings and explorations he made on this day, it did not exceed it but little. Columbus designated this beautiful river and port with his favorite title, San Salvador. This name has not been preserved, and each investigator points out his own choice. I select Port Padre. The course and distance on this chart, from the Sand Islands, are S. W. ^ S. 63 miles. Some authorities place Padre ten miles farther west, in which case it would be S. W. ^ S. 71 miles' The currents here are thus spoken of in the West India Pilot, vol. i, p. 6: " Sometime the current on the north coast of Cuba as far west as Matanzas runs one to four Jjnots to the westward." The vessels of Columbus were under its influence from Saturday afternoon until he entered the river, and as I allow no variation to the compass (see Appendix C), his true course should be as much to the west of S. S. W. as the current drifted him. Port Naranjo answers the description of the journal as well as Padre, but it is S. f W. 62 miles from South Eagged, and a vessel could not, of coarse, get to it steering S. S. W. with a westerly current. I choose Padre because it is the only port west of Naranjo that has depth of water enough at the mouth to satisfy the journal, and in. other respects is free of objections. See Sheet II, Harbors and anchorages on the north coast of Cuba, from a Spanish plan, U. S. Hydrographical Office, 1876, which gives the soundings of Port Padre. Outside are 8J fathoms; at the entrance, 14; then 8, 6, 10, and 9, through to the harbor. As a matter of interest, I have laid down a track for the vessels of Columbus from Padre west. 398 EBPOET OF THE SUPEEINTENDENT OF THE as far as Boca de Guajaba, where he probably turned. He then coasted the northeast shore of Cuba, crossed to Hayti, and followed the north side to the present bay of Samana, where his first voyage in the New World ended. This track coincides, sometimes, with the track of Navarrete, but both are liable to be inaccurate, owing to the imperfection of the charts of the north coast line of Cuba and Hayti. Washington Irving lays so much stress upon Herrera's description of the voyage of Ponce de Leon through the Bahamas that I am constrained to examine its merit at the hazard of making • this paper wearisome to the reader. The translation from Herrera is in his Columbus, revised edition, vol. i, pp. 378-379 : " Leaving Aguada in Porto Eico they steered to the N. W. by N. and in five days arrived at an island called El Viejo in latitude 22° 30' N.» The next day they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos called Caycos. On the eighth day they anchored at another island called Yaguna in 24°, on the eighth day out from Porto Eico. Thence they passed to the island of Manuega, in 24° 30', and on the eleventh day they reached Guanahani, which is in 25° 40' If. This island of Guanahani was the first discovered by Columbus on his first voyage and which he called San' Salvador." Irving remarks upon this that the latitudes are placed too high, but that the substance is con- clusively ill favor of Cat Island. He says Ponce de Leon's first island. El Viejo, must have been Turk's Island. This agrees with the old maps. The second he thinks was one of the Caycos. There can be no doubt of it. The third, he says, was probably Mariguana. But Herrera gives the third as Yaguna ; and by the old maps this appears to be the present Inagua. Irving calls the fourth island Crooked ; Herrera's fourth is Manuega, considered by scholars to be that now known as Mariguana. The fifth island Irving says is Isla Larga (Long Island), and lastly Guanahani. This would make Guanahani the sixth, but the narrative above gives only five islands touched at. It seems more reasonable to believe that Ponce de Leon left Aguado and steered N". 49° 18' W. (287 miles) to Bl Viejo (Grand Turk). The next day he ran over to one of the southerly Caycos cays some 30 miles to the southward and westward. He arrived on the eighth day at Yaguna (prob- ably Little Inagua), 75 miles to the westward of his last place. Thence he steered to the north- ward 55 miles to Manuega (Mariguana), the fourth island since leaving Porto Eico. Prom Mari- guana his next stopping-place is Guanahani. Herrera writes that on the eighth day out Ponce de Leon was at Yaguna (Little Inagua), and on the 11th at Guanahani, having touched at Manuega (Mariguana) on the way. This gives three days from Yaguna (Little Inagua) to Guanahani, in- cluding one anchorage at Manuega (Mariguana). The distance is 108 miles from Little Inagua to Samana, touching at Mariguana. The same to Watling is 176, and to Cat 213. Ponce de Leon was five days from Porto Eico to Grand Turk, 287 miles, equal to 57.4 miles a day, on a straight course, clear of the land and within the "trades" If we use tliis distance to measure his run from Little Inagua to Guanahani — and we have no other — then these two islands were three days apart, 172.2 miles. But he stopped at Manuega (Mariguana) on the way, so we can only reduce this distance by guess. But the less the distance the greater the probability that Guanahani was, in the opinions of the contemporaries of Columbus, an island not far from Manuega (Mariguana). If Ponce de Leon left Little Inagua, touched at Mariguana, and then' anchored at Samana (Guanahani), the sequence is apparent and the distance, 108 miles in three days, including one stop, is fair. But to Cat, 213 miles in the same time, would be greater speed than in any other part of the voyage, and there are several-large intervening islands where he was likely to anchor, as he did between Aguado and Manuega (Mariguana). Herrera was the official historiographer of the Indies in the sixteenth century, and he had exclusive access to the original documents of Columbus and other explorers. He is a good wit- ness, therefore, to cite against the assertions in favor of Grand Turk and Mariguana. If Ponce de Leon sailed from each of these islands to Guanahani, neither can be the first landfall of Columbus in the view of this historian. CONCLUSION. There is a common belief that the first landing-place is settled by one or another of the authors cited here. l^Tevertheless, I trust to have shown, paragraph by paragraph, wherein their several tracks are contrary to the journal, inconsistent with the true cartography of the neighbor- hood, and to the discredit, measurably, both of Columbus and of Las Casas. The obscurity and UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVEY. 399 the carelessness which appear in part of the diary through the Bahamas offer no obstacle to this demonstration, provided that they do not extend to the "log" or nautical part. Columbus went to sea when he was fourteen years of age, and served there almost continuously for twenty -three years. The strain of a sea-faring life, from so tender an age, is not conducive to literary exactness. Still, for the very reason of this sea experience, the "log" should be correct. This is composed of the courses steered, distances sailed over, bearings of islands from one another, trend of shores, &c. The recording of these is the daily business of seamen, and here tlie entries were by Columbus himself, chiefly to enable him on his return to Spain to construct that nautical map which is promised in the prologue of the first voyage. In crossing the Atlantic the Admiral understated to the crew each day's run, so that they should not know how far they had gone into> an unknown ocean. Las Casas was aware of this counterfeit "log," but his abridgment is from that one which Columbus kept for his own use. If the complicated courses and distances in this were originally wrong, or if the copy of them is false, it is obvious that they cannot be "i)lotted" upon a correct chart. Conversely if they are made to conform to a succession of islands among which he is known to have sailed, it is evident that this is a genuine transcript of the authentic "log" of Columbus, and, reciprocally, that we have the true track, the beginning of which is the eventful landfall of October 12, 1492. The student or critical reader, and the seaman, will have- to determine whether the writer has established this conformity. The public, probably, desires to have the question settled, but it will hardly take any interest in a discussion that has no practical bearing, and which for its elucidation leans so much upon the jargon of the sea. It is not flattering to the English or Spanish speaking peoples, that the four hundredth anni- versary of this great event draws nigh, and is likely to catch us still floundering, touching the first landing-place. STJMMAKT. First. There is no objection to Samana in respect to size, position, or shape. That it is a little island, lying east and west, is in its favor. The erosion at the east end by which islets have been formed, recalls the assertion of Columbus that there it could be cut off in two days and inade into an island. The Nassau vessels still find a snug anchorage here during the N. B. trades. These blew half a gale of wind at the time of the land-fall j yet Navarrete, Yamhagen, and Captain Becher anchored the squadron on the windward sides of the coral reefs of their respective islands, a "iee shore." (See the chart.) The absence of permanent lagoons at Samana I have tried to explain on p. 387. Second. The course from Samana to Crooked is to the southwest, which is the direction that the Admiral said he should steer "to-morrow evening." The distance given by him corresponds with the chart. Third. The second island, Santa Maria, is described as having two sides which made a right angle, and the length of each is given. This points directly to Crooked and Acklin. Both form one island, so fitted to the words of the journal as cannot be done with any other land of the Bahamas. Fourth. The course and distance from Crooked to Long Island is that which the Admiral gives from Santa Maria to Fernandina. Fifth. Long .Island, the third, is accurately described. The trend of the shores "north- northwest and south-southeast"; the "marvellous port" and "the coast which runs east [and] west," can nowhere-be found except at the southeast part of Long Island. Sixth. The journal is obscure in regard to the fourth island. The best way to find it, is to "plot" the courses forward from the third island, and the courses and distances hackward from the fifth. These lead to Fortune for the fourth. "Seventh. The Ragged Islands are the fifth. These he named las islas de Arena— Sand Islands. They lie W. S. W. from the fourth, and this is the course the Admiral adhered to. He did not "log" all the run made between these islands ; in consequence the " log" falls short of the true distance, as it ought to. These "seven or eight islands, all extending from north to south," and having shoal water "six leagues to the south" of them are seen on the chart at a glance. 400 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTEKDENT OP THE Eighth. The course and distance from these to Port Padre, in Cuba, is reasonable. The west" erly current, the depth of water at the entrance of Padre, and the general description, are free of difficulties. The true distance is greater than the "logged" because Columbus again oiuits part of his run. It would be awkward if the true distances from the fourth to the fifth islands, and from the latter to Padre, had fallen short of the "log," since it would make the unexplainable situation which occurs in Irving's course and distance from Mucaras Eeef to Boca de Garavela {ante, p. 37ii). Prom end to end of the Samaua track there are but three discrepancies. At the third island {ante, p. 364) two leagues ought to be two miles. At the fourth island {ante, p. 366) twelve leagues ought to be twelve miles. The bearing between the third and fourth islands is not quite as the chart has it, nor does it agree with the courses he steered {ante, p. 366). These three are fairly explaiueJ, and I think th at no others can be mustered tojdisturb the concord between th is track and the j ournal. ( ' ) Tn this paper I mention only the publications containing what was indispensable to the discus- sion. The student who is eager to sift the matter further will derive much aid by searching among the following: Bartlett, "John Eussell. Bibliographical notices of rare and curious books relating to America, printed in the XVth and XVIth Centuries (1482-1601) in the library of the late John Carter Brown, of Providence, E. I. Providence, printed for private distribution, 1875. Harrisse, Henry. Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima : a description of works relating to America, published between 1492-1551. New York, 1866. .- r- [idem: containing additions.] Paris, 1872. Eich, Obadiah. A catalogue of books, relating principally to America, arranged under the years in which they were printed. London, 1832. Bibliotheca Americana Ifova ; or a catalogue of books in various languages, relating to America, printed since the year 1700. Parts I, 1701-1800, and II, 1801-1844. London, 1846. — = — Bibliotheca Americana Vetus : Books relating to America, 1493-1700 [also] Supplement. London, 1846. Stevens, Henry. Historical and geographical notes on the earliest discoveries in America : 1453-1530 [with] fac-similes of many of the earliest maps and charts of America. New Haven and London, 1869; Winsor, Justin. Columbus ; a bibliographical note from the catalogue of the Tichnor collection. Boston Public Library, Bulletin No. 10, 1876. • I acknowledge my indebtedness for intelligent help to — The Superintendent and assistants of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. H. L. Thomas, esq., translator of the United States Siate Department. Eear- Admiral John Eodgers, United States Navy, Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, and his assistants. A. E. SpoQbrd, esq.. Librarian of Congress. J. Carson Brevoort, esq., of Brooklyn, New York. T. J. McLain, esq., United States consul at STassau, New Providence, Bahamas. Oapt. J. C. P. de Krafft, United States Navy, hydrographer to the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, and his assistants. Commander Juan N. Montajo, Eoyal Spanish Navy. Professor Pedro Moutaldo, Instructor in Spanish at the United States Naval Academy. W. H. Tillinghast, esq., graduate of Harvard University, class of 1877. Woodbury Lowery, esq., M. A., of Harvard University, class of 1875. Theodore F. Dwight, esq., of the State Department. Prof. A. M. E. Elliott, of Johns Hopkins University. lam also grateful to the Navy Departmentfor assistance, and to the folio wijjg libraries for invalu- able facilities : the Library of Congress, and of the State and of the Navy Departmentin Washington the Lenox and Astor Libraries in New York, and the Library of Harvard University in Cambridge.' (1) La Cosa's map preserves the name of Guauahani instead of San Salvador. It is evident that thi's sturdy old seaman was heedful of the fixed names. There are obvious and strong reasons for saving enchorial names from oblit- eration. In this.case Gvanahani is the oldest American name we have. It is all that remainS'fi-ora the wreck which the white man made of this gentle race. If ever there shaU be any agreement upon Samaua, for the first laildiug-plaoe I hope that the name of Gvunahani may be restored to it. • ' UJsTITED STATES COAST AKD GEODETIC SURVEY. 401 APPENDIX A. Age of Columbus. The range of years ascribed to his birth is from 1435-'36 to 1446-'47. For 1435-'36 are Bonnefoux, Irving, Bernaldez, Napione, Navarrete, Humboldt, and Luigi Colombo. For 14:4:1^ Charlevoix. For 1445, Cladera and Bossi. For 1446, Munoz. For 1447, Sportorno and Robertson. For 1446-'47, see Select Letters of Columbus, 2d edition, by E. H. Major, introduction, pp. xxxii- xxxiv. If he was born in 1435 his age was fifty-seven when he discovered the Few World ; if in 1447 he was forty-five. Without attempting an investigation of the question, I refer to the following exploit of Colum- bus as bearing upon it (Irving's revised edition of Columbus, vol. i, pp. 28-29) : " The first account of his being engaged in a naval expedition was one fitted in 1459 by John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, to make a descent upon Naples to recover thatkingdoiu for his father. It lasted [this struggle] four years [until 1463]. During this expedition Columbus was detached on a perilous cruise to cut out a galley from the harbor of Tunis. Columbus himself relates that when he arrived off San Pedro, in Sardinia, he heard that there were two ships and a carrack with the galley, by which information the crew refused to go on, and determined to go to Marseilles for re- enforcements. Colnmbus apparently acquiesced, but altering the compass-card he so deceived them as to arrive off Tunis instead of Marseilles." Columbus wrote to King Ferdinand (Major, introduction, p. xxxvi) : "It happened to me that King E<5n6 (whom God has taken to himself) sent me to Tunis to capture the galley Fernandina," &c. If the king sent him on this hazardous and independent enterprise during the last year of the expedition to B'aples — 1463 — he was only sixteen years of age, if born in 1447. The naval pro- fession will not admit that any authority, either ancient or modern, would intrust to a boy of sixteen the execution of a deed likely to put to the proof the ability of an able and efficient seaman. If we take 1435-'36 for the year of his birth — and there the weight of authority lies — he was twenty-seven to twenty-eight when he went to Tunis, and fifty-six to fifty-seven when he landed on Guanahani. It is more reasonable' to believe that he was fifty to fifty-one, rather than thirty- nine to forty, when he offered his plan to the king and queen of Spain ; and under all the circum- stances of his tedious solicitation, that he could ^ot have been fewer than fifty-six to fifty-seven years of age when he saw the New'World. APPENDIX B. Mile and League op Columbus. In Navarrete, 1st edition, vol. i, p. 258, Columbus wrote : " 56| miles to an equinoctial degree." Page 300, fourth voyage : " The world is not so large as the common opinion makes it, one degree of the equinoctial line measuring only 56§ miles." Page 3, August 3, 1492 : " Steered southward until sunset under a strong sea-breeze, making 60 miles, which are 15 leagues." On pp. 3-4 is this note of Kavarrete : " Columbus used Italian miles, which are shorter than the Spanish, thus four of the former and three of the latter make a league." S. Ex. 12 51 402 RBPOET OF THE SUPEEINTBNDBNT OF THE . I notice that writers multiply the leagues of Cofiimbus by 3 and call the product a geograph- ical mile. My search for accuracy, and to see where the multiplier 3 was obtained, is not con- clusive. Eear- Admiral John Eodgers, superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, after giving the subject some investigation, is of opinion that the ancient Roman or IcaUan mile was 1,614 English yards. An article in the Penny Cyclopedia (Mile and League) written by Augustus De Morgan, late professor of mathematics in University College, London, calls the ancient Italian mile 1,614 English yards. Humboldt discusses the subject of leagues, miles, and degrees in his History of the New Continent (note, vol. ii, p. 216) without bringing their length to any undisputed measure. So with Pigafetta (Treatise on Navigation, p. 216). Martin Cortes, Sreve Compendia de la Sphera, &c., Seville, 1551, English translations, 1561, folio xix, has this table : 4 grains of barley make a finger. 4 fingers a hand or palm. 4 hands a foot. 5 feet a geometrical passus. 2 steps make a passus. 125 passus a furlong, or stadium (old English furlongs long)(i). 8 furlongs one mile. 1 mile is 1,000 passus. 3 miles one league ; in Germany longer leagues ; France, 15 leagues to one degree ; Spain, 16| leagues and 11^ for a degree of the Great Circle. Pedro de Medina, Arte de Navega, Valladolid, 1545, prefers 4 miles to a league. Pigafetta says, " shore leagues 3 miles; nautical, 4." On the 9th of December, 1492, Columbus was at the present Bay of Acul, Hayti. The journal reads (Navarrete, vol. i, p. 84) : Uste puerto tiene en la boca mil pasos, ques un cuarto de legua — " The harbor here is about a thousand paces, or a quarter of a league wide at the mouth." It is evident that with Las Casas 4,000 "pasos" was a nautical league. By using the table above and the note below, this league is found to be 20000.64 English feet. Since the Italian mile of Admiral Eodgers and Professor De Morgan is 1,614 yards, or 4,842 feet, and Columbus called four of these a league, this was 39,368 English feet, which differs 632.64 feet only from that derived from Las Casas's remark and Martin Cortes's table. In the computations of this paper I call the mile of Columbus 1,614 yards or 4,842 English feet, and his league 6,456 yards or 19,368 English feet. For the geographical or nautical mile or knot, I have adopted Clarke's estimate of one minute of arc on the equator, rejecting a small deci- mal. This is 2,029 yards or 6,087 English feet. Wherever I have omitted to designate the kind of mile this is the one meant. I have tried to prove these measures by comparing them with some of the distances given in the journal, but the result is unsatisfactory. Allowing 3 leagues de- parture from St. Sebastian (Gomera), he sailed, according to his log, 1,111 leagues to Guanahani, = 1178.33 of Clarke's leagues, or 3,535 nautical miles, 3,458 on a straight course. Cat Island is the farthest landing ascribed to him. It is 3,141 miles from Gomera, an overrun of 317 miles. The Grand Turk is the nearest, 2,834 miles ; a difference of 624. In Dr. Chanca's narrative of the second voyage of Columbus (Wavarrete, vol. i, p. 200), the distance sailed from Ferro to the first land, Dominica, is called 800 leagues, 2545.5 nautical miles. The true distance is 2,529. He remarks that it is 300 more between Ferro and Cadiz equal to 964.6 nautical miles, but the true distance is 774. (1) Modern Metrology, by Jackson, London : Page 41. " The present value of the English furlong adapted to the English statue mile— a modern arrangement- is 132 paces, but as the old London mile of 1,000 paces was the local form of the Eoman mile, its former value was 125 paces." Page 66. "Old London mile = 1,000 paces = 5,000 feet = .9470 mile "—of 5,280 feet. This would make the old London mile 5000.16 English feet. UNITED STATES COAST AWD GEODETIC SURVEY. 403 December 5, 1492, the journal has 120 leagues— 381.8 miles— for the distance he coasted Cuba. From Boca de Guajaba, where he probably turned, to Cape Maysi, the coast line is 244 miles. In giving a summary of his first voyage to Luis de Santangel, N^avarrete, vol. i, p. 168, Columbu.s wrote that he followed the coast of Cuba for 107 leagues— 340.5 miles— and the coast of la Espanola for 178 " grandes leguas." If these are like the other leagues they equal 566.3 miles. The true distance, along the coast-line of Hayti,^ between St. Nicolas Mole and Samana Bay, is 286 miles. Andres Bernaldes, Mass. Hist. Col., vol. viii, 3d series, p. 6, said that Columbus went 88 leagues— 280 miles— in a straight line from west to east, along Hayti. The navigator of these shores still finds the same currents and baffling winds ; but he is spared such errors of distance, because of the perfection of chronometers and of nautical instruments. Columbus was very correct iii estimating the short runs. He called it ten leagues from Navidad to Isabella, on the north side of Hayti. This is the true distance. Considering the guess- work in the distances among the Bahamas, he was surprisingly accurate, as I have shown in the discussion. Taking the mile of Columbus at 4,842 feet, his estimate of the circumference of the globe was 16227.3 nautical miles. Clarke's circumference, at the equator, is 21,600 nautical miles, each 6087.11 English feet. The earth was larger around by 33 per cent, than Columbus believed. AFPENBIX a VARIATION OP THE COMPASS IN 1492. In Captain Becher's Landfall of Columbus, Appendix, p. 331, is this: "In laying down the track of Columbus from the Crooked Island group, named in the chart the Fragrant Isles, from the journal of the Admiral, it becomes evident from his courses and distances, run as far as Cuba, that it was necessary to allow a considerable amount of variation. In his first voyage he mentioned in his journal that he found above a point of westerly variation, on a meridian a hundred leagues west of the Azores, and in his third voyage, when he is on the coast of Paria, he also mentions having found, to the surprise of the pilots, above a point and a half. And now that his courses and distances run to an anchorage in the bank specified as being at the distance of five leagues from the Arena isles, and from thence to Cuba, it may be safely said that the variation which he found there in 1492 amounted to little short of two points westerly." All that Columbus wrote in respect to the deviation of the needles referred to his observations on the Atlantic during his first voyage. Navarrete, 1st edition, vol. i, p. 8, September 13, 1492, Thursday: "On that day, at nightfall, the needles north wested, and in the morning they north- wested somewhat ;" page 9, September 17, 1492, Monday : " The pilots [mates] took the north [star] marking it, and found that the needles northwested a full point, and the sailors feared and were troubled, but did not tell why. The Admiral was aware of it, and ordered that they should again mark the north [star] at dawn, and they found that the needles Avere all right; the cause was that the star which appears moves and not the needles;" p. 15, September 30, 1492, Sunday: "Note. — That the stars called las guardias(i),.at nightfall, are close to the arm in the west, and at dawn they are in the line below the arm to the northeast, so that it seems that during the whole night they do not advance more than three lines, or nine hours, and this every night: this is what the Admiral says here. Also at nightfall the needles northwest one point, and at dawn they are with the star exactly; from which it appears that the star moves as do the other stars, and the needles always demand the truth;" p. 254: in the letter of Columbus to his sovereigns, giving a narrative of his third voyage : " I remarked that from north to south in traversing these hundred leagues from said islands [one hundred leagues west of the meridian of the Azores], the needles of the compass, which had hitherto northeasted, northwested a full point of the compass, and this took place from the time when we reached that line;" and p. 266: "For in sailing thence one hundred leagues west of (1) GuardJas— name given to two of the most brilliant stars of the constellation Ursa Minor. Dominguez, (Spam- ish Dictionary. 404 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTEKDENT OF THE the meridian of the Azores the ships go ou rising smoothly toward the sky, and the weather was felt to be milder on account of which mildness the needle shifts one point of the compass, and the farther we went the more the needle northwested, this elevation producing the variation of the circle which the north star describes with las guardas." These last two extracts were written during his third voyage, but they refer obviously to what took place on the first. On the 13th September, 1492, Columbus had run 227 leagues— 722.3 miles— due west from Go- mera, when he discovered that the compasses had westerly variation. By the 17th he had gone 136 leagues— 432.2 miles— more on the same course, when the observation of the pilots showed a full point west variation. At dawn, however, under the direction of the Admiral, they again took the bearing of the north star and found that the needles were " all right." The abridger does not give the words of the Admiral, he interprets them, and they are hardly intelligible. Could Columbus have tampered with the compass- card to allay the fears of his crew, as he did at Sardinia to get his vessel to Tunis (Appendix A)? By September 30 he had sailed 295 leagues— 940.2 miles- additional; total run from Gomera of 2094.7 miles west, during which he had made but four miles of southing. In the letter of Columbus to his sovereigns, quoted above, we have his own words,, clear enough as to the deviation of his needles, but not in regard to the cause. He wrote that they changed from easterly to westerly on a meridian one hundred leagues — 318.2 miles — west of the meridian of the Azores, and thence west the variation increased the farther he went. The meridian of the Azores is, probably, that of Corvo, the most western one. The southeast end is in latitude 39° 41' north, longitude 31° 07' west from Greenwich. Captain Becher has evidently taken it for granted that by the time Columbus got to the Crooked Islands, which are 972 miles west a little south, of the position of September 30, the deviation had gone on increasing so as to be " little short of two points westerly." Columbus went four times to the West Indies, but he never mentions any deviation there. As already stated, he refers to the northwesting of the needles in the Atlantic Ocean after he had crossed the meridian of the Azores. If the variation alleged by Captain Becher is applied to Columbus's courses across the Atlantic his track would go south of the Bahamas. Captain Becher steers Columbus S. W. from Watling to Eum Cay. Two points west variation will take a vessel, at least, six miles east of it. He steers him west from the north shore of Eum Cay to the northwest end of Long Island. Two points west variation would put the vessels on shore eleven miles southeast of the cape. From Bird Eock to the anchorage on Columbus Bank, where Captain Becher anchors Columbus, the course is S. W. by W. But Captain Becher, pp. 160, 161, says that Columbus steered W. S. W. ; so here he let him have one point only of west variation, and yet he anchors him 19 miles too far to the eastward. If he had given him the two points he says should be allowed there, the vessels would have made S. W., clearing the bank and going out of sight of the "Sand Islands." Columbus anchored south of these islands (South Eagged). Prom there Port Nipe bears S. f E.; a course S. S. W., allowing two points west variation, would not fetch it by three-quarters of a point; and, in addition, there would be the strong westerly current to allow for. It is probable that Captain Becher got his variation from Ferdinand's Discovery of the West Indies by Christopher Golumhus. The original of this narrative is lost, and the various versions have no standing among scholars where the statements are unsupported. In an English translation ( Collection of Voyages and Travels by Churchill; London, 1732, vol. ii, p. 587) is this: "Yet the Admiral says he could not from this time give such an account as he would wish, because through overmuch watching his eyes were inflamed and therefore he was forced to take most of his observations from the sailors and pilots. He also says that this same night, being Thursday, the 16th of August [1498], the com- passes which till now had not varied, did at this time, at least a point and a half, and some of them two points, wherein there could be no mistake because several persons had always watched to ob. serve it. Admiring at this and grieved that he had not the opportunity of following the course of the continent, he held on IST. W. till on Monday, the 20th of August, he came to an anchor between Beaca and Hispaiiiola." These alleged observations were taken near the island of Margarita on the coast of Paria. They are worthless on their face, because, without moving, the variation went from nothing to two points. Ferdinand refers to the third voyage of his father; but above I UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEYEY. 405 have quoted Columbus's own words of the same voyage, from his letter to the king and queen, in which he is not speaking of the variation on the coast of Paria, but of that he found on the Atlantic during his first voyage. The compass-cards used by Columbus were divided into points, instead of points and quarters, as now. Sights for taking bearings were not introduced until the next century. It appears from the journal, that he depended upon the north star to find his variation. In 1492 the polar distance of this star was 3° 28' ; now it is 1° 20'. There is no doubt but that he used the astrolabe and com- pass to get its bearing, but the dift'erence of 5° and 10° {Navarrete, vol. i, p. 255) proves that accu- rate observations for variation were impossible in 1492. His course across the Atlantic, worked from his log, with no variation allowed, is W. 2° 49' S. The course from Gomera to Turk Island is W. 8° 1' S. Conceding that he landed at this the most southern island ascribed to him, he made 5° 12' southing, which might have been due to the southwest current, that is, is constant between the Canaries and West Indies, rather than to west variation. The courses from Samana or At- wood Cay to Cuba have no allowance for variation. When Columbus, on the 5th of December, 1492, stood across from Cuba to Mcolas Mole, Hayti, he gave the course S. E. by E. If he started from an offing of 4^ miles to the northeast of Cuba, given on this chart, the true course is S. E. ^ E. If he steered S. E. by E., he would be set as much as three-quarters of a point to the southward by the current which flows S. W. m the " Windward passage." August, 1498 — third voyage — Columbus sailed from the west side of Margarita Island for the city of St. Domingo, in Hayti. The true course and distance are N. 35° W. 594 miles, but he brought up at Beata, 110 miles west of this city, N. 40° 24' W. 558 miles from Margarita. He ascribed his falling to leeward solely to the current ; Irving's Columbus, revised edition, vol. ii, p. 124. The equatorial current in the Caribbean Sea sets always to the westward ; on the coast of South America it is 1^ to 2 miles an hour ; in mid-sea, about one mile, or about an average of one mile each hour to a vessel standing across. He was five days making the passage (120 hours), during which he was set to the west 110 miles. On his last voyage he fell to leeward also in cross- ing this sea, and it was almost fatal to him. Nowhere does he attribute his westing to any cause but the true one — currents. If the compass was flying about as Ferdinand wrote, or if there was any deviation in the West Indies worth noticing, a seaman as accurate as Columbus in noting physical things should have recorded it. Expressing my doubts of the correctness of Captain Becher's allowance for variation to the Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, he called upon his assistant, Mr. C. A. Schott, for a scientific examination of the subject. The result was a paper written by him, dated April 8, 1881, which will appear in the report of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for 1880, appendix 19. Mr. Schott's deductions are that the deviation in 1492 in the Bahamas did not exceed one-quarter of a point west. For the reasons stated here I have allowed for no deviation of the needle on any course in 1492. APPENDIX D. THE LOGr OF COLUMBUS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, 1492. Las Casas's abridgment of this is in the first volume of Navarrete, pp. 1-166. Columbus said, in his prologue : " I have decided to write daily and minutely everything that during that cruise I should do and see and how much I should run. * * * In addition to the marking each night my progress during the day, and each day the run made during the night, to construct a new chart," &c. Pages 3-4: " We left Friday, 3d day of August, 1492, from the bar of Saltes at 8 o'clock ; we steered under a strong sea-breeze until sunset to the south sixty miles, which are fifteen leagues ; afterwards southwest and south by west, which was the course for the Canaries." I am informed that the Spanish naval service reject days of the week, and use those of the 406- REPOET OF THE SUPEEINTENDBNT OF THE month only, and that their sea day begins at noon of the civil day. Until 1847 the English and United States naval service kept the usual civil day in port, but at sea the day began at noon, twelve hours before the civil day. It is not clear what day Columbus used. His prologue seems to refer to the ancient sacred day of the Jews, or that of the Church, beginning at sunset. The Athenians, Chinese, Italians, and others reckoned by this. Eeading, carefully, all his log, I find days which might furnish argu- ments for his use of the present civil day, or that he might have counted either from noon to noon or sunset to sunset. In this paper I shall consider that he used the present way, midnight to mid- night. The island of Gomera, from which Columbus sailed, is 14 by 11 miles, nearly a round mass of mountain, rising to 4,400 feet. The harbor of St. Sebastian lies a little south of the east end, and by " Bowditch's Navigator" is placed in latitude 28° 6' north, longitude 17° 8' west from Green- wich. After he had left this port he was becalmed until Saturday night, when the first course " logged " is W. Since some departure must be allowed to' clear the land, I have put down 3 leagues S. W. J W., barely enough to enable him to begin a W. course. I do not know whether he went south or north of Gomera ; I make his course south, because the prevailing winds there are from the northward and eastward. The most western island of the Canaries is the one called Hierro by the Spanish, and Ferro by the Portuguese. The parallel of 27° 44' north, and the meridian of 18° west from Green-wich, pass through the middle of the island. This latter was the " prime meridian " from Ptolemy until the last century. Hierro is 34 miles S. W. by W. ^ W. from Gomera. Columbus left St. Sebastian Thur.sday morning, September 6, 1492. " Directing his course for the voyage * * * he was becalmed all day and night." * * * September 7: " The whole of Friday, and on Saturday until three hours after nightfall, he was becalmed." * * * September 8 : "On Saturday three hours after nightfall it began to blow from the northeast, and he resumed his course to the west," &c. His voyage began three hours after sunset— about 9^ 36" p. m.— Saturday, September 8. The following aj e the dates, courses steered, and distances : Date. Courses. Bemarks. Septem'ber 6 to 8, allow . September 8 Sunday, September 9 .- 10 .. 11 .. 12.. 13 .. 14 .. 15.. Sunday, September 16 . . 17 .. 18 .. 19 ... 20 ... 21 ... 22.., Sunday, September 23 . 24. 25 . 27 . 28 . 2». s.w.i w.... West ...do ...do ...do ...do ...do ...do ...do ....do ....do ....do ....do W.byN West W.N.W fN.W i If. W. by N . Iwest West f West is. W rWest f S.W West ...do ...do 9 49 60 40 33 33 20 27 39 60 55 25 7.5 13 30 22 14.5 4.5 17 16 15 24 14 24 This is the allowance for departure. His predetermined course. Baffling winds and calms. Contrary wind. Some calm and high sea. Steered S. W., supposing he saw land. Same reason for going S. W. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVET. 407 Date. Courses. .9 S Eemarks. Sunday, September 30 West 14 25 39 47 03 57 40 23 5 11.5 6 5 20.5 59 27 17 5.6 2 October 1 ....do 2 --..do 3 ... .do 4 ...do 5..... do 6 do Sunday, October 7 f West t W.S.W Steered W. S. W. because flocks of birds flew in that direction. 8 W. S. W rs.w 9 < W. by N I W.S.W . Baffling winds. 10 W S W f W.S.W ... ( West Changed his course to west at sunset; giyes no reason for it. r West Friday, October 12 * -.do Discovered land at 2 a. m., two leagues distant. 1,111 Columbus's leagues. AJlowing for the detention by calms in the Canaries, departure, and difference of time, he was 33J days from Gomera to Guanahani. In the above log I have not copied his daily remarks during the voyage, for they have no bear- ing upon this discussion. I have, however, noted that he never deviated from his predetermined west course, unless constrained by head winds, baffling winds, or the strong appearance of land to the southward and westward. And the student will take notice that, notwithstanding the observations in regard to the westerly variation, on the 13th, the 17th, and the 30th of September, the Admiral did not alter his courses in order to make true west, but that he held firmly to west iy compass. The following is an abstract or "traverse table" of his courses and distances across the Atlantic : Courses by compasses. Columbus's leagues. Nautical leagues. Nautical miles. Difference of lati- tude. Departure. N. S. E. W. S. W iW 3 882.5 12.5' 52 38 123 3.2 936 13.3 55.1 40.3 130.4 9.5 2,808 40 165.5 121 391 6 7 3 "W'est . 2, 808 39 2 "W' by If . 7.8 63.3 "W N W 152.9 S W 85.6 149.4 86.6 361 1,111 1, 178. 35 3, 635 71.1 241 3,454 If this table is worked out by " Mercator's Sailing," in "Bowditch's Navigator," which is not so accurate as "plotting" each day on the chart, but is near enough for practical purposes, then his course and distance, by dead reckoning, are W. 2° 49' S., 3,458 nautical miles. From Gomera to Grand Turk the course and distance are, W. 8° 1' S., 2,834 miles ; Gomera to Mariguana, W. 6° 37' S., 3,032 miles ; Gomera to Watling, W. 4° 38' S., 3,105 miles ; Gomera to Cat, W. 4° 20' S., 3,141 miles ; and from Gomera to Samana (Atwood's Cay), W. 5° 37' S., 3,071 miles. He overran the distance between Gomera and Grand Turk by 624 miles ; Gomera and Mari- guana by 426 miles; Gomera and Watling by 353 miles; Gomera and Cat by 317 miles; and Go- mera and Samana by 387 miles. These overruns might have been due to the current between the 408 EBPOET OF THE SUPEEINTEKDENT OF THE / Canaries and the West Indies, which always sets to the southward and westward in mid-ocean, and more westerly, near the West Indies. It varies from 9 to 30 mUes per day, according to the force of the trade- winds. It increases our estimate of the determined spirit of Columbus that he "logged" — believed that he had actually made—S,535 miles directly into the "Sea of darkness," exceeding by 500 miles the distance between New York and Liverpool. In 1492 latitude was found by meridian altitude of the sun, or by the north star. Major (introduction, p. li) has it, that about 1480, " by the joint labors of Martin Behaim and the Prince's two physicians, Eoderigo and Josef, * * # the astrolabe was rendered serviceable for the purposes of navigation, as by its use the seaman was enabled to ascertain his distance from the equator by the altitude of the sun." Humboldt's Cosmos, translated by Ott^, London, 1849, vol. ii, p. 670 : "The astrolabe described by Raymond Lully, in his Arte de Navegar, was almost two hundred years older than that of Martin Behaim." Second volume of Cosmos, p. 630, he speaks of Martin Behaim's invention as "perhaps only a simplification of the meteoroscope of his friend Eegiomontannes." Bossi's Columbus, 2d edition, Paris, 1825, p. 151 : " The astrolabe received in the 13th century its form which made it universally used. Andelone del Nero, of Genoa, wrote upon it, and pub- lished it at Ferrara, in 1477." Chaucer's treatise on the astrolabe, 1391 (edited by Walter W. Skeat, London, .1872, p. xxiv), says that it was well known in India and Persia, by the Arabs, and spoken of by Marco Polo. On p. xxxiii is a description of its powers, among which are the latitude of any place by two obser- vations of the pole star, or any circumpolar star, or sun's meridian altitude; can be used to discover approximately the four cardinal points of the compass, and in what part of the heavens the sun rises, &c. The longitude was gotten by "dead reckoning." The speed of a vessel was estimated by the eye. There is no mention of the " log" until the next century. The time was kept by the " sand-glass." APPENDIX E. THE VESSELS OP COLUMBUS. _ Very little is known in regard to the vessels that took the first discoverers to the New Worjd. Clark's Maritime Discoveries, vol. i, p. xxvii: "The chief characteristics of ships of Da Gama's age (close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century) were height of poop and prow, squareness of lower yards, taunt masts, and small round tops;" In Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1732, vol. ii, is Ferdinand Columbus's history (narrative) of the discovery of the West Indies by his father. On p. 586: "The Admiral durst proceed no farther in his ship, which required three fathoms water, being of a hundred tun." This refers to the date of August 10, 1498, third voyage, off the coast of Paria. Irving's Columbus, revised edition, vol. i, p. 123: "Peter Martyr, contemporary of Columbus, says: Only one was decked, built up high at the prow and stern, with forecastles at the prow and cabins at the stern." Columbus's journal, October 11 : "The Admiral at 10 o'clock at night standing on the castle of the poop;" farther on, he "requested and admonished them to keep a sharp lookout at the fore- castle." In the History of the Catholic Sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabela, by Bernaldez, an extract of which is printed in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. viii, third series, pp. 52-53 : "They found themselves in only 2 fathoms of water; # * * the vessels being often aground. * * * They found 2 fathoms and a cubit(>) of water and room for the caravels to remain, and they anchored." These extracts refer to the second voyage of the Admiral, when he was among those many islands on the south side of Cuba, which he called the "Queen's Gar- dens." On this voyage he had three large ships and fourteen caravels ; but in February, 1494, (') Cul)it is gen6rall,y stated to be 18 English inches — old Paris foot=12.789. F. A. P. Barnard, in Johnson's Uni- versal Cyclopedia. UNITED STATES COAST AKD GEODETIC SUEVET. 409 he sent twelve back to Spain, from Kavidad, and he pursued his voyage with the caravels (small vessels), as mentioned by Bernaldez. A. Jal, ArcMologie Navale, Paris, 1840, vol. ii, p. 237 : "Ton- nage of vessels of the fifteenth century voyaging to the Canaries were 90 tuns (about), supposes a length of keel of 70 to 80 (French feet)(i)." On p. 229 he deduces the length and breadth of Colum- bus's vessels, first quoting from Las Casern's Narrative in NavarreU, vol. i, p. 70: "Tuesday 27tb, 9th month, 1492. This mouth of a stream was of the breadth of 5 (brasses French) brazas, which was in dimensions the length of the boat." Then he adds : "A boat of 5 brazes would suppose a vessel of 27"" 77« total length, and 8"' 12" amidships, according to Venetian treatise in Memoir 5." On referring to Navarrete, p. 70, November 27, 1492, we find the following to be the true rend- ering of the day Jal speaks of : " After the vessel had anchored the Admiral jumped into the boat in order to sound the port, which is like a small porringer; and when he was opposite the mouth at the south he found an entrance to a river which was so wide that a galley could enter therein, and in such a manner that it was not seen until it was reached, and entered into at about one boat's length it had five fathoms and eight in depth." Finchain's History of Naval Architecture, -p. 34:, dsbteTeferved to, 14:98: "Cabot * * * was authorized to take six ships out of any haven in England, of the burthen of 200 tuns and under." Page 44 : "The largest of Drake's vessels, 1577, was the Pelican of 100 tuns burthen." Bevieic of the Laws of Tonnage hj C Moorsom, London, 1853, p. 1: "Whatever was originally intended by tonnage has been, and still is, the only term by which we form an idea of the magni- tude, or, rather the dimensions of vessels. A law to be established for tonnage admeasurement would have reference only to cargo, and that in its simplest consideration, namely, the greatest weight which a vessel could safely carry." Moorsom says that the first ofiScial measurements of vessels were of those carrying coal, and the date 1422 ; that in 1694 a government official marked the draft with nails on the stem and stern, by firstloading to those marks byadead weight of tin or lead. In 1720 the English Parliament, under the influence of competition of the tonnage dues being evaded by small vessels bringing spirits into the kingdom, passed this general law for tonnage : " The length of the keel (so much as she trends on the ground) is to be multiplied by the inside midship breadth and the whole divided by 94 : the quotient is to be considered the true contents of the tonnage." By acts of 1773 the extreme or external breadth was substituted for the internal breadth ; the length of the keel to be three- fifths of the extreme breadth, deducted from the length from the front of the stem to the aft side of the stern post. This law remained in force until the admeasurement of the cubic contents was substituted, by England in 1835-1855, and the United States in 1864. In the fifth volume of Pepys' Miscellany, p. 57, date 1652, the dimensions of the Greyhound are given: Length ofkeel, 60 feet; breadth, 20 feet 3 inches; depth,10feet; burthen, 120 tons; men, 80; guns, 18. This vessel was in the old war which began in 11652, and in Pepys' Memoirs relat- ing to the state of the navy in 1688, this vessel was then at sea. If we apply the act of Parliament of 1720 to the dimensions of this vessel, subtracting 1.65 feet from breadth as an allowance for thickness of sides, to obtain inside breadth, the result is 1*20 tons, which shows that the act of 1720 only confirmed the usage of 1652. Applying this act to Jal's vessel of 27"° 77''' length, and 8™ 12" breadth, we have a vessel 91 feet long, 75 feet keel, 26t^2" beam, and 13 feet hold, measuring 254 tons, manifestly too large for Columbus's flag ship. Spain exported wine in the fifteenth century, as now, and the old English expression of a tun of wine meant two pipes, 252 gallons, each gallon=231 cubic inches. Taking a gallon of wine at 8.33 pounds, this makes a ton only 2,099 pounds, but the difference to reach 2,240 was probably an allowance for the interstices of the casks. If the ship used by Columbus on his first voyage was called either by him or his contemporaries, in round numbers, 100 tons, it was probably the expression of the dimensions of vessels which traded to England with wine and paid tonnage dues there, which was a specific sum for every tun of wine imported into the kingdom. Therefore, if the act of 1720, and Pepys' dimensions of the Greyhound, (1) Cubit is generally stated to be 18 English, inches ; old Paris foot^l2,789,— F. A. P. Barnard, in Johnson's Uni- versal Cyolopoedia. S, Ex. 12 52 410 EEPOET OF THE SUPBEINTENDENT OF THE 1652, which agree, are used to flud the dimensions of the hundred-ton vessel ascribed to Columbus, we get: length on deck, 63 feet; lengthof keel, 51 feet; extreme breadth, 20 feet; inside breadth for tonnage, 18 feet 6 inches ; depth of hold, 10 feet, and draft of water, 10 feet 6 inches. These make a vessel of lOOff tons. The rig of the Santa Maria is mentioned in the journal of October 24 {Favarrete, p. 39, and ante, p. 371) and this is all the information I can find bearing upon the subject. Columbus wrote : " I carried all the sails of the ship, the main sail, and two bonnets, the fore sail, and sprit-sail, and the mizen, and the main top sail." This omission of a foretop sail seems strange to our nautical ideas, but vessels similarly rigged are to be seen on the map—Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1570. Sprit-sails have been dispensed with in modern times, only since the steeve of bowsprits has been lessened and the size of jibs increased. I finished a cruise around the world in the United States brigantine Dolphin, which had a length from front of the stem, under bowsprit, to inside of stern post of 88 feet ; breadth of beam outside, 25 feet; inside, 23; depth of hold, 10 feet; draft aft, 10 feet; forward 8 feet, including the keel, which was 1 foot 6 inches. By Pepys' dimensions and the act of 1720, the Dolphin would be 205 tons. Her armament was two 9-pounders and eight 24-pound carronades. OfScers and crew, 70. Foretop masthead 71 feet 6 inches above the water, and maintop masthead 81 feet 6 inches. 1 assume for the masthead lookout of the admiral's ship a height of 60 feet above the sea. His vessel probably carried four anchors and they all used hemp cables. February 20, at the Azores, returning from his first voyage, he mentions that the cables were chafed off by the rocks and he put to sea. Fourth voyage — Major, p. 194: "I anchored at an island where I lost at one stroke three anchors. * * * The single{^) anchor that remained to me." They had pumps — Major, p. 195 : " With three pumps, and the use of pots and kettles, we could scarcely, with all hands, clear the water that came into the ship." Budders. — The ancient way to steer was with two large paddles, one thrust through a port on each quarter. The hinged rudder had come into use in Columbus's time. (See figure of a ship with both, in Peregrinatio ad Terrain Sanctam, of Breydenbach, Mentz, 1486.) Boats. — From a careful study of the narrative and words of Columbus I infer that his vessel and also the caravels each had but one boat. October 14 {ante, p. 357): "At dawn I ordered the boat of the ship." When his vessel was wrecked, on Christmas eve, 1492, the journal of December 25 says that the boat was got out to lay an anchor astern, but deserted to the Nina, whose com- mander sent it back with his own to render assistance. It appears from the journal of January 2 that the Admiral left to the colony of Navidad, among other things from the Santa Maria, "the boat of the ship." In the narrative of Diego Mendez — Major, p. 220 — Mendez wrote with respect to the capture of the boats of the caravels in a river in Veragua, that the three vessels of the Admiral were at sea without boats, which would have been unlikely if any one had carried a spare boat On his fourth vojage— Major, p. 177 : "The ship which we had the greatest fear for had put out to sea for safety and reached the island of Gallega, having lost her boat and a greater part of her provisions." When he was at the Azores, February 19, on his return voyage, the Portuguese governor seized the boat and half the crew of the Nina, who were on shore at their devotions and the Admiral got under way in Ms vessel to open a view of the town, to see what had become of it. There is a decided difference of opinion in enumerating the number of persons with Columbus on his first voyage. Ferdinand Columbus wrote that 90 went in the three vessels; Peter Martyr and Guistiniani, 120 ; Jal, p. 228, that he left at Bohio 55 men, and returned to Spain with about 125, making 180 in all ; Las Casas, Navarrete, vol. i, pp. 121-122, that he left in the island of Bs- panola, which the Indians called Bohio, thirty-nine men ; Diego de Arana, Pedro Gutierrez Rod- rigo Escovedo, " with all the powers he held from their Highnesses." A notary and constable carpenter and caulker, gunner and machinist, cooper, physician, and tailor, " and all, he said that men of the sea." This enumeration makes 48; but the true one is probably given in Navarrete (vol. 2 p. 19): 40 men and the 3 lieutenants, or 43 in all. In the journal of December 26, 1492, we notice that after the shipwreck many of the crew asked the Admiral for permission to remain until his return (') Italics by the ■writer. UNITED STATES COAST AIJTD GEODETIC SUEVEY. 411 from SpaiD, and on the 2d of January it is recorded that he left with them all the goods sent for trafiScking, and everything belonging to the wrecked vessel, besides biscuit and wine for a year, and provisions. We learn from Major, p. 82, that his stores comprised biscuit, corn, wine, pork, and salt beef. Bernaldez says he took ten Indians with him to Spain. Martin Alonso Pinzon had deserted with the Pinta before the shipwreck, and, since Columbus believed him to be on his way to Spainj he acted as though he had only the little Nina with which to finish the voyage. In these circum- stances it is a reasonable belief that, on account of space, if for no other reason, he must have left at Navidad at least as many persons as composed the crew of the wrecked vessel. February 19, at the Azores, he sent half of the crew of the Nina on shore to perform a vow in a church; one boat from this vessel, which was the smallest of his squadron, took all. This implies that the crew must have been few. These facts persuade me to adopt the enumeration of Ferdinand Columbus, 90 persons for the three vessels. The inscription in the pavement of the cathedral of Seville is : " Con tres galeras y 90 -personasP Neither Spain nor Amei?ica has founded any enduring memorial to Christopher Columbus. 412 EEPOET OP THE SUPBEINTENDENT OF THE Appendix No. 19. AN INQUIRY INTO THE VARIATION OF THE COMPASS OFF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, AT THE TIME OF THE LANDFALL OF COLUMBUS IN 1492. By CHARLES A.. SCHOTT, Assistant. April 12, 1881. Dear Sir : In compliance witli your directions and at the request of the Hon. G-. V. Fox, I have examined into the subject of the probable amount of the magnetic declination (commonly called " variation of compass") off the eastern coast of the Bahama Islands, at the time of Columbus' approach in 1492. The investigation is based upon such extracts from Columbus' journal as were furnished me by Mr. Fox and includes whatever other information I could obtain bearing upon the subject. In y. brief interview I had with Mr. Fox (March 31), I took occasion to express my convic- tion of the impossibility of arriving at any very definite conclusion, partly on . account of the ex- tremely scanty material as to facts and partly in consequence of the want of assistance derivable from purely theoretical grounds ; the cause of the phenomenon of the secular change of the magnetic declination being quite unknown and the time comparatively short during which to trace the law of change as hitherto observed. It will therefore not be surprising to find my conclusion given in the form of a reasonable conjecture rather than as a definite result. The present state of our knowl- edge of terrestrial magnetism does not appear to admit of a definite answer; besides, there are difficulties in the admission of certain evidence given by Fernando Colon. Before entering upon the subject proper I beg to submit a few remarks in reply to a question bearing upon the early use of the compass and upon navigation towards the close of the fifteenth century. Eespecting the ancient use of the magnetic needle or compass, on land and at sea, among the Chinese, with whom the practice originated, accounts will be found in Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii (Translation by 0tt6, London, 1849), and in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (9th edition) vol. yi, 1877, art. Compass ; there is also an extended' account in the Encyclopaedia of Experimental Phi- losophy, London, 1848 (part of the Encycl. Metrop'a.). B. F. De Costa, in a paper read before the Amer, Geographical Society (May, 1880), appears to have made certain extracts from the above works, viz., p. 9: "Necker (probably the same as Alexander Neckam — Sch.) abbot of Cirencester, who died in 1217, was acqxiainted with the use of the compass. Are Erode, in 1068, speaking of the visit paid to Iceland by Flocke Vilgerderson, says in those times seamen had no loadstone in the northern countries. In the fourteenth century Barber (Barbour) says of the party accompany- ing King Eobert of Scotland from Arran to Carrick, 'they na nedil had na stane,' showing that these aids to navigation were then familiar to seafaring men." The curious story about one Peter Adsiger, of 1269, is satisfactorily disposed of in Walker's Terrestrial and Cosmical Magnetism, Cambridge (England), 1866. He shows that no such person lived. The works quoted above also contain historical accounts of the compass during the middle ages. Flavio Gioja, a Neapolitan, in 1302, mounted his needles on a pivot and divided.his compass . into octants; however, needles placed on a pivot and carried on board ship were already referred to iu the twelfth century (Alex. Neckam). In the sixteenth century compasses were divided into degrees and provided with sights (remarks of the Portuguese pilot, Alexis da Motta, about 1575), and before 1525 Felipe Guillen, an ingenious apothecary of Seville, constracted the first variation compass (Cosmos, vol. ii). Eeferring to the times of Columbus, his compasses were probably divided into points of lljo and half points (quarters could be estimated). The distances sailed over were most probably esti- mated by him, since, according to Humboldt, the Admiral did not employ the log-line; time he measured by means of half-hour sand-glasses, and for his determination of position of the ship he probably used the astrolabe, just improved by Martin Behaim (who lived at Lisbon, between 1480 UKITED STATEJS COAST AWD GEODETIC SUE VET. 413 and 1484) for sea use and in connection therewith Behaim's or other tables of the sun's declination when observing the altitude of the sun. Humboldt asserts that the Admiral certainly carried with him ToscaneUi's chart, sent him in 1477. The following information and remarks I received from Mr. Pox, under date of April 1, 1881 : "Personal Narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to America, translated by Samuel Kettell. Published by Thomas B.Wail & Son, Boston; G. C, Carvill, F. Y. and Carey & Lea? Phila., 1827. " Pages 18, 19 : ' September 13, 1492. At the first of the evening of this day the needles varied to the !fr. W., and the next morning about as much in the same direction. '"September 17: The pUots took the sun's amplitude and found that the needles varied to the N. W. a whole point of the compass, the seamen were terrified and dismayed without saying why- The Admiral discovered the cause and ordered them to take the amplitude again the next morn- ing, when they found that the needles were true; the cause was that the star moved from its place while the needles remained stationary.' " It seems incomprehensible that the observations of the next morning showed no declination, unless Columbus tampered with the card as he did in 1459-'63. (See Irving's Columbus, revised edition, 1854, vol. 1, p. 30.) "On the 13th of September he was 224 leagues (672 geographical miles) west of Gomera, one of the Canaries, which Bowditch plaees in latitude 28° 06' north, longitude 17° 08' west. On the 17th he had gone 360 leagues west of Gomera, or 1 080 geographical miles. Tlience he went to the Bahamas, northeast coast of Cuba, north shore of San Domingo (Haiti) and home without again mentioning the declination of the compass. "Though he made three more voyages to the West Indies, the second from 1493 to 1496, third from 1498 to 1500 and last from 1502 to 1604, he writes of the declination of the compass on the third voyage only, as follows — Select letters of Columbus, 2d edition, translated and edited by R. H. Major, London, 1870; printed for the Hakluyt Society, p. 131 — 'I "remarked that from north to south in traversing these hundred leagues (300 geographical miles) from the said islands (Azores) the needle of the compass which hitherto had turned towards the N. B. turned a full quarter of the wind to the IST.W. and this took place fr6m the time when we reached that line.' "Page 135: 'For in sailing thence (Azores) westward the ship went on rising smoothly to- wards the sky and then the weather was felt to be milder, on account of which mildness the needle shifted one point of the compass; the further we went the more the needle moved to the K". W., this elevation producing the variation of the circle which the north star describes with its satellites.' "In the Landfall of Columbus, by A. B. Becher, captain E. 'N., London, 1856, Appendix, pp. 330-337, are extended remarks about the declination. Captain Becher claims 2 points westerly declination in 1492 for the Bahama Islands. Columbus' remarks on the declination in his third voyage do not refer to the coast of Paria but to the route west of the line of lOO leagues west of the Azores." Under date of April 2, Mr. Fox writes : " I have found Captain Becher's authority for saying that Columbus discovered IJ points westerly variation on the 16th of August, 1498. In Collection of Voyages and Travels, by Churchill, London, 1732, vol. ii, p. 587, is the following extract &om Ferdinand Columbus' life of his father: "'Yet the Admiral says he could not from this time give such an account of it as he would wish, because through overmuch watching his eyes were inflamed, and therefore he was forced to take most of his observations from the sailors and pilots. He also says that this same night, being Thursday, the 16th of August, 1498, the compasses which till now had not varied, did at this time at least a point and a half and some of them two points, wherein there could be no mistake because several persons had always watched to observe it. Admiring at this and grieved that he had not the opportunity of following the course of the continent, he held on l^T. W. till on Monday the 20th of Aug. he came to anchor between Beaca and Hispaniola.' "This declination seems to have been determined, August 16, the day after he left the coast of Paria, at a place where the island of Margarita bore west. The east point of that island by 414 EEPOET OP THE SUPERmTEKDENT OF THE Bowditch is in latitude 10° 59' north, longitude 64° 30' west. Ferdinand lias been accused of many misstatements and errors of date. His history has never been found. All translations are from an Italian copy. Columbus, as I have quoted to you from his third voyage, refers, in spealpng of the declination, to what he discovered 100 leagues west of the Azores in his first voyage. I think, therefore, that Ferdinand wrote from memory, not having his father's letter before him, which we have. He was not a sailor. He says, until now the compasses had not varied. Columbus was about Paria from the 1st of August, and yet he says they did not vary until the 16th. As wel^ave Columbus' own letters of this voyage wherein he speaks of the declination, I think we cannot say that there was IJ points (W.) declination on the coast of Paria in 1498." Eeturning to the Admiral's remarks in his first voyage, we may be certain of the fact that on September 13, 1492, he had reached far enough to the westward to come from a previously eastern declination within a region of westerly declination and that on September 17 it amounted to a whole point (11^°). This constitutes Ms well-known discovery of a part of a line of no-declination. Two hundred and twenty-four leagues, or near enough for our purpose, 672 nautical miles west of the island of Gomera would place him on September 13, in latitude 28° 06' north and in longi- tude 12° 42'+17o 08'=29o 50', according to Bowditch, or if we take the position of the harbor of Sebastian near the eastern point of Gomera Island, according to admiralty chart ISo. 1873, viz, latitude 28° 05'.5 and longitude 17° 06'.3 and considering, that 11° 12' correspond to 12° 42' of dif- ference of longitude in that latitude, we have for a point in the line of no-declination the latitude 28° 05' and longitude 29° 48'. In E. Walker's treatise on Terrestrial and Cosmical Magnetism, Cambridge (England), 1866, p. 300, we read: <'The history of this line dates from the 13th of Sep- tember, 1492, when Columbus observed the needle pass from the east to the west of the meridian in latitude 28° K"., longitude 28° W." (probably roughly adding 11° of difference of longitude to 17° for longitude of Gomera). According to my computation of the daily position of the Admi- ral's flagship and based upon his log-book, he was on September 13 in latitude 28° 21', longitude 29° 16'. It is evident that the extract from the third voyage is but an amplification of his first account and expresses his conviction that west of the Azores, where the declination was a little easterly it changed to the westward, being nearly zero at Corvo and gradually increasing to one point or 11° W. at a distance of 300 nautical miles W. of the longitude of Corvo. The position of Eosario on the S. E. part of the island of Corvo is, according to the Carta Esferica de las Islas Azores, Madrid, 1855, in latitude 39° 41' and longitude 24° 53' west of San Fernando, or in 31° 07' west of Greenwich (according to the Conn, des Temps), 100 leagues or 300 nautical miles west of this longitude would correspond (in latitude 28°) to 5° 40' and would bring the Columbus line in longitude 36° 47' W. According to my computation of the daily track, Columbus was on Septem- ber 17, 1492, in latitude 27° 38' and in longitude 36° 30', when he noted 11° west declination. The statement of Humboldt, in Cosmos, vol. ii (Ott6 edition) p. 657, is that 2J° east of Corvo the varia- tion changed from E. to W. on September 13, 1492, he thus appears to take the longitude of Corvo as 31° and that of Columbus' position as 28J°.. Though the accounts transmitted may admit of different interpretations there can be no question as to the fact of the discovery of a part of the line of no-declination passing towards the close of the fifteenth century from the vicinity of the Azores southward. At that time there was east declination at Palos, Spain, also at the Canaries and the eastern Azores. There was at that time but a slight westerly (not more than about 1J°) declination at Paris, France, as may be seen from my discussion of the observations made at Paris between 1541 and 1869 (see " Secular change of the magnetic declination," Appendix No. 9, Coast and Geodetic Survey Eeport of 1879, which is illustrated by a diagram herewith reproduced). Thus, the agonic line of 1492 must have passed a short distance to the south of Paris, France. In the Cosmos, as quoted above, Humboldt remarks : " The great Spanish navigator has not only the merit of having discovered a region in the Atlantic Ocean where, at that period, the magnetic meridian coincided with the geographical, but also that of having made the ingenious observation that mag- netic variation might likewise serve to determine the ship's place with respect to longitude. In the journal of the second voyage, April, 1496 (on his home voyage), we find liim trying to determine his position by the observed declination." Such an idea might well be entertained in an age when but the rudest means were available to the navigator for finding his longitude and when the course of the isogenic lines was but little understood; this idea is well known to have been revived in later times. UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SUEVET. 415 The course of the agonic line of 1492 towards the southwest is very uncertain, as it mustentirely rest on the value we assume for Paria; and whether we accept the above circumstantial account given by Fernando in connection with Columbus' third voyage, or whether we reject it as vague and unreliable, our conclusion as to the declination in the West India Islands must in a great meas- ure depend on it. Mr. Fox disposes of the matter in a very summary manner and while I reach the same conclusion, viz, that in all probability there was no west declination in that part of South America in 1492, I reach it on different grounds. If we accept the Paria observations it would necessitate a declination of not less than 2 points west for the Bahama Islands. Referring to the accompanying chart of the North Atlantic, showing the more or less probable positions of the agonic line for different early centuries, that for 1500 (answering equally well for 1492) has been laid down from the evidence cited in this paper, but its southwesterly course would either pass into the region between the Orinoco and Amazon Elvers, if Femando's account was trustworthy, otherwise it would pass towards the Greater Antilles, as I conjecture it did. Looking over the records and deductions for the secular change of the declination in the West Indies, in the fourth edition of my paper — Appendix No. 9, Coast and Geodetic Survey Eeport of 1879 — we find there the earliest records for Havana, Cuba, 6° E. in 1700 and 4^° B. in 1730 and at Kingston, Jamaica, 6J E. in 1660 and the same in 1700. The agonic line for 1600, as originally given, I have taken from Hansteen's Erdmagnetismus (1819). This line of 1600 mainly depends on Kircher's Ars Magnetica and on Purchas' Pilgrims, but in accordance with above facts I have shifted it towards the north, so as to traverse the northern part of the Caribbean Sea. It would seem to me -that the line for 1500 requires a similar correction. Considering that the analytical expressions estab- lished by me in the secular change paper referred to, for all stations in this region have a limited range of change, not exceeding 5° from a supposed average position, it will be seen from the early observations cited above that the limit of variation may have approached nearly to zero and that, unless a total change in the law of the secular progression of the declination took place in those early times, the statement by Fernando Colon as to west declination off the island of Trinidad must be regarded as spurious. Yet, in a matter of such extreme difficulty in the present state of our knowledge of the changes in the distribution of the earth's magnetism and while admitting that no certain or definite conclusion can be reached, I may, nevertheless, state as my opinion that at the time of Columbus' first landfall on one of the Bahama Islands the declination was very small and probably less than J point west. Eeverting again to the chart of the positions of the agonic line of the North Atlantic, Humboldt, in his Examen Critique, refers to Gilbert's Physiologia Nova to show that in 1600 the line of no- declination still passed through the Azores; and it may be noted that Sir Walter Ealeigh's obser- vation* on October 28, 1617, in latitude 7° N., longitude 28^ W., viz, 7°, and he thinks east, falls in well with the corrected curve on the chart. In the Azores, at Funchal Bay, the declination was observed 3° 05' E. in 1589 and at Santa Maria 1° 40' E. in 161(». At the Cape de Verde Islands the declination was observed 3° 30' E. in 1610 (see Encyclopaedia of Experimental Philoso- phy, London, 1848, p. 836). The line for 1700 is well founded and is taken from Halley's magnetic chart (Tabula Nautica, Variationum Magneticarum index, juxta observationes, anno 1700), repro- duced in the Greenwich observations for 1869. Eespecting the position of the lines for 1800 and 1880, no further remarks are required in this place. The motion of an agonic line may be regarded as typical for the motion of other isomagnetic lines in its vicinity and which may be taken as run- ning parallel to it within certain limits. Between 1600 and 1880 the agonic line turned in the direction of the hands of a watch through fully a right angle, but between 1500 and 1600 the motion appears to have been partly retrograde. To obtain some idea as to a scale of change for distance from the earlier agonic lines, we may use the American observations made on our coast, on or near the Gulf of Maine, by Hudson and Champlain, between 1604 and 1612 ; their average result is nearly 18° W. We can do no better than suppose the scale also to apply to distances from the agonic line of 1500, corresponding to and, for intermediate values of west declination, proportional to the distance of our coast from the line of 1600; but at best this would be a very rough proceeding. In response to a second inquiry, respecting the track of Columbus between Gomera and his *Mr. Fox gives tlie^reference "Hakluyt," vol. iii, p. 196, 416 EEPOET OF THE SUPEEINTENDBIiTT OF THE first landfall, I would remark that the computed latitude of the landfall depends almost entirely on the assumed declination along his track {de facto, the problem might be inverted and from a known position of the landfall the distribution of the magnetic declination might be inferred). In strict adherence to the conclusion I came to respecting the magnetic declination, I have adopted the daily values as given in the accompanying table of resulting positions. The courses were corrected so as to represent true courses. The magnetic courses and distances in leagues are those given in Columbus' log-book ; the latter were converted into nautical miles roughly by taking one league equal to three nautical miles, or three minutes of arc of a great circle of the earth's surface consid- ered as a sphere. According to Clarke's figure of the earth, a nautical mile is nearly 1 8^5.3 meters, or 6 080.3 feet. Fortunately the actual length of the, Columbus league — that is, the league of his time, and, what is more important, Ms practical conception of it, that is, his and his pilots' estimates of its length — does not seriously affect the result of our problem, as will appear from the consideration that the total distance must land him somewhere on the eastern line bounding the Bahama Islands ; and if we find his distances to overrun this limit, which I found to be the case, all we have to do is to diminish them by a suitable percentage. Accepting the length of the Columbus league as given by Mr. Fox, viz, 6 456 yards and computing the track across the Atlantic, I found it necessary, in accordance with the above indispensable condition, first to reduce the distances by one-tenth and then by one-hun- dredth more, which lands me just inside the line of keys. Columbus, when departing from Go- mera, apparently took a northerly course in clearing it, so as to elude more easily the Portuguese, who were on the lookout for him at Hierro.* Track of Columbus in 1492 across the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands ( Gomera) to the Bahama Islands. Date. s 1 •1 CD 1 . If n o 1 1 1 i. 1* 1 3 < 1 1 o o o / o / Sept. — 8 3 8.5 28 14 17 14 17 43 9 w. 25.5 3'b. 93 28 15 9 49 w. 138.9 2 92 28 20 20 21 10 60 w. 170.1 1 91 28 23 23 34 11 40 w. 113.4 90 28 23 25 43 12 33 w. 93.6 90 28 23 27 29 13 33 w. 93.6 IW. 89 28 21 29 16 14 20 w. 56.7 3 87 28 18 30 20 15 27 w. 76.6 5 85 28 12 31 48 16 39 w. 110.6 7 83 27 58 33 51 17 50 w. 141.8 8 82 27 38 36 30 18 65 w. 155.9 8 82 27 16 39 24 19 25 w. 70.9 8 82 27 06 40 42 20 7.5 W. by IT. 21.3 8 93.25 27 07 41 06 21 13 W. W.N.W.l 36.8 8 82 ri04.5 1 J 127 I U72 J 27 02 41 47 22 30 i n-.w. i 85.0 8 27 23 43 20 N., J 23 22 W. 62.4 8 82 27 63 44 06 24 f 14.5 i 4.5 W. w. • 41.1, 12.8 5 8 l82 } 27 48 44 52 25 I 16 s. w. w. 48.2) 45.4 5 8 IZ I 27 08 45 39 26 15 s. w. 42.5 8 37 26 28 48 58 27 24 w. 68.0 8 82 26 18 48 13 28 14 w. 39.7 8 82 26 13 48 67 29 24 w. 68.0 8 82 26 03 50 12 30 14 w. 39.7 8 82 25 58 50 55 * Port of Hierro (Spanish) or Ferro (Portuguese), on the northeast coast of the island, is, acoordine to Admiralty Chart No. 1873, in latitude 27° 46'.2 and longitude 17" 54'.2 " UNITED STATES COAST AHD GEODETIC SUEVEY. 417 Track of GohimMs in 1402 across the Ailaiit!e,from the Canary to the Bahama Islands— Contirmaa. 1 u ■^ a CO 1 St: S a 1 Date. i 5 /a •1 o o rt Q O O R H Hi Hi o / / Oct. 1 2,1 w. 70.9 8 82 25 48 52 14 2 30 w. 110.6 7 83 25 32 64 16 3 47 w. 133.2 84 25 19 66 43 4 03 w. 178. C 5 85 25 03 59 59 5 57 w. 161.0 4 86 24 52 62 57 \ 23 ^Y. 113. 4 1 66.2) IZ } •w. 4 24 45 C5 01 7 5 w. s. w. 14.2 *3 64.5 24 34 66 27 r 11.5 W. S. "W. 32.61 17.0 I 14. 2 J 1 "■• 1 8 [I s. ^Y. 3 24 20 66 59 W. by N. I 98. 25 J 9 20.5 A^. S. W. 68.2 2 65.5 23 45 68 24 10 .59 ( 27 W. S. AT. 167. 3 1 f 06.6 1 ( 60.5 S W. S. AV. 76. 6 i 1 22 89 71 12 n l 5.5 48. 2 ( 16. ) IZ } 22 09 73 19 12 2 w. 5.7 90 22 09 73 42 Tlie total floA'elopo.d course is 3 150 nautical miles and it is surprising that simply by dead reckoning, o\'er so long a track, a result should be reached Avhich cannot be far from the truth. By adopting more west declination along certain parts of tlie track, say, 11° instead of 8°, the landfall would be materially depressed into a lower latitude, in fact, the result is latitude 21° 13', longitude 71° 29', wliicb would place the landfall in the vicinity of the Tvu'k Islands; in this case the developed track was 3 054 nautical miles. The more westerly declination we allow, the more will the track be deflected to the southward and this confirms the previous conclusion of the improba- bility of much westerly declination in the West Indies about the time of Columbus. Making little or no allowance for declination the track inay be carried to the north and there are those who have placed the landfall as high north as Cat Island. The above calculation terminates the track near Mariguana Island, but the uncertainty in the magnetic data is so great that it may be swayed all along the region between Grand Turk and Samaua; to this uncertainty we must still add that arising from currents and it is not unlikely that between October 9 aud 12 a northwest current was met with. It does not appear that we have any record of astronomical determination of latitudes, either on board ship or on land, made by the Admiral. There is another and apparently far' more promising method of investigation for the position of his first landfall than that of following the Admiral across the Atlantic, viz: the inverse proceeding of starting from an identified landing-place on the eastern end of Cuba and tracing his courses and distances, as recorded, baclcwards to his first landfall. Here the variation of the compass may be taken zero. A third method may be based upon the physical aspects of the islands as described by him. Yours, respectfully, ' CHAS. A. SOHOTT, Assistant United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Mr. Caelilb p. Patterson, Superintendent United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. S. Ex. 12 53