or thryse to and fro she casteth her selfe from branche to branche and so from tree to tree as though she flewe An archer of ours hurt one of them who perceiuyng her selfe to be wounded leapt downe from the tree and fiercely set on him whiche gaue her the wound in so much that he was fayne to defend hym selfe with his swoorde And thus by chaunce cuttyng of one of her armes he tooke her and with much a do brought her to the shyppes where within a while she waxed tame Whyle she was thus kept and bounde with cheynes certayne other of our hunters had chased a wylde Bore out of the maryshes neere vnto the sea syde for hunger and desyre of fleshe caused them to take double pleasure in huntyng In this meane tyme other which remayned in the shyppes goyng a lande to recreate them selues tooke this Monkie with them who assoone as she had espyed the Bore set vp her brystels and made towarde him The Bore lykewyse shooke his bristels and whet his teeth The Monkie furiously inuaded the Bore wrappyng her tayle about his body with her arme reserued of her victourer helde him so fast about the throte that he was suffocate These people of Cariai vse to drie the dead bodyes of theyr princes vppon hurdels and so reserue them inuolued in the leaues of trees As he went forwarde about twentie leagues from Cariai he founde a gulfe of suche largenes that it contayned .xii. leagues in compasse in the mouth of this gulfe was foure litle Ilandes so neere togeather that they made a safe hauen to enter into the gulfe This gulfe is the hauen whiche we sayde before to be called Cerabaro of thinhabitantes But they haue nowe learned that only the land of the one syde therof lying on the ryght hande at the enteryng of the gulfe is called by that name but that on the left syde is called Aburema He sayth that all this gulfe is full of fruitefull Ilandes wel replenished with goodly trees and the grounde of the sea to be very cleane without rockes and commodious to cast anker lykewyse the sea of the gulfe to haue great abundance of fyshe and the lande on both the sydes to bee inferyor to none in fruitfulnes At his fyrst arryuyng he espyed two of thinhabitantes hauyng cheynes about theyr neckes made of ouches whiche they call Guauines of base golde artificially wrought in the fourmes of Eagles and Lions with dyuers other beastes and foules Of the two Cariaians whiche he brought with hym from Cariai he was enfourmed that the regions of Cerabaro and Aburema were rych in golde and that the people of Cariai haue al theyr gold from thence for exchaunge of other of theyr thynges They tolde hym also that in the same regions there are fiue villages not farre from the sea syde whose inhabitants apply them selues onely to the geathering of gold The names of these villages are these Chirara Puren Chitaza Iureche Aâ—amea All the men of the prouince of Cerabaro go naked are painted with diuers colours They take great pleasure in wearing garlandes of floures and crownes made of the clawes of Lions Tygers The women couer only theyr priuie partes with a fyllet of gossampine cotton Departing from hence coasting styll by the same shore for the space of xviii leagues he came to another ryuer where he espyed about three hundred naked men in a company When they sawe the shyppes drawe neare the lande they cryed out aloude with cruel countenaunces shakyng theyr woodden swoordes and hurlyng dartes takyng also water in theyr mouthes and spouting the same agaynst our men whereby they seemed to insinuate that they woulde receiue no condition of peace or haue ought to do with them Here he commaunded certayne pieces of ordinaunce to be shot of cowarde them yet so to ouershoote them that none myght be hurt thereby For he euer determined to deale quietly peaceably with these newe nations At the noyse therefore of the gunnes and syght of the fyre they fel downe to the grounde and desyred peace Thus enteryng into further frendshyp they exchaunged theyr cheynes and ouches of golde for glasses and haukes belles and suche other marchandies They vse drummes or tymbrels made of the shelles of certaine sea fyshes wherewith they encorage them selues in the warres In this tract are these seuen ryuers Acateba Quareba Zobroba Aiaguitin Vrida Duribha Beragua in all the whiche golde is founde They defende them selues agaynst rayne and heat with certayne great leaues of trees in the steade of clokes Departyng from hence he searched the coastes of Ebetere and Embigar into the whiche fall the goodly ryuers of Zohoran and Cubigar And here ceasseth the plentie and fruitfulnes of gold in the tract of fiftie leagues or there about From hence only three leagues distant is the rocke whiche in the vnfortunat discourse of Nicuesa we sayde was called of our men Pignonem but of thinhabitantes the Region is called Vibba In this tract also about fyre leagues from thence is the hauen whiche Colonus called Portus Bellus wherof we haue spoken before in the region which thinhabitants cal Xaguaguara This region is very populous but they goe all naked The kyng is paynted with blacke colours but all the people with redde The kyng and seuen of his noble men had euery of them a litle plate of golde hangyng at theyr nosethrylles downe vnto theyr lyppes and this they take for a comely ornament The men inclose theyr priuie members in a shell and the women couer theyrs with a fyllet of gossampine cotton tyed about theyr loynes In theyr gardens they noryshe a fruite muche lyke the nut of a pine tree the which as we haue sayde in an other place groweth on a shrubbe muche lyke vnto an hartichoke but the fruite is much softer and meate for a kyng also certayne trees whiche beare gourdes whereof we haue spoken before this tree they call Hibuero In these coastes they met sometymes with Crocodiles lying on the sandes the whiche when they fled or tooke the water they left a very sweete sauoure behynde them sweeter then muske or Castoreum When I was sent ambassadoure for the catholyke kyng of Castile to the Soltane of Babylon or Alcayre in Egypt thinhabitantes neere vnto the ryuer of Nilus tolde me the lyke of theyr female Crocodiles affyrmyng furthermore that the fat or shewet of them is equall in sweetnes with the pleasaunt gummes of Arabie But the Admirall was nowe at the length enforced of necessitie to depart from hence aswell for that he was no longer able to abyde the contrarie and violent course of the water as also that his shyppes were dayly more and more putrified and eaten through with certayne wormes which are engendred of the warmenesse of the water in al those tractes neere vnto the Equinoctiall line The Uenetians call these wormes Bissas The same are also engendred in two hauens of the
otherwyse called Cuba was an ilande As they coasted along by the shore of certayne of these ilandes they hearde Nyghtyngales syng in the thycke wooddes in the moneth of Nouember They founde also great ryuers of freshe water and naturall hauens of capacitie to harbour great nauies of shippes Sayling by the coastes of Iohanna from the north poynt to the west he rode litle lesse then eight hundred miles for they cal it a hundred and fourescore leagues supposing that it had ben the continent or fyrme lande because he coulde neither fynde the landes ende nor any token of the ende as farre as he could iudge with his eye wherfore he determined to turne backe agayne beyng partly thereto enforced by the roughnesse of the sea for the sea bankes of the ilande of Iohanna by sundrye wyndynges and turnynges bende them selues so muche towarde the north that the northnortheast winde roughly tossed the shyps by reason of the winter Turning therfore the stemmes of his shyppes towarde the East he affyrmed that he had found the ilande of Ophir whither Solomons shippes sayled for golde But the discription of the Cosmographers well considered it seemeth that both these and the other ilandes adioynyng are the ilands of Antilia This ilande he called Hispaniola on whose north syde as he approched neare to the lande the keele or bottome of the biggest vessell ranne vpon a blynde rocke couered with water and cloue in sunder but the playnenesse of the rocke was a helpe to them that they were not drowned Makyng haste therfore with the other two shyps to helpe them they brought awaye al the men without hurte Here comming fyrst a land they sawe certayne men of the Ilande who perceiuyng an vnknowen nation comming toward them flocked togeather and ranne al into the thycke woods as it had ben hares coursed with grehoundes Our men pursuing them tooke onely one woman whom they brought to the ships where fylling her with meate and wyne and appareling her they let her depart to her companye Shortly after a greate multitude of them came runnyng to the shore to behold this newe nation whom they thought to haue discended from heauen They cast them selues by heapes into the sea came swimming to the shyppes brynging gold with them whiche they chaunged with our men for earthen pottes drinking glasses poyntes pinnes hawkes bels looking glasses such other trifles Thus growing to further familiaritie our men were honorably entertained of the king of that part of the iland whose name was Guaccâ—narillus for it hath many kyngs as when Eneas arriued in Italy he found Latium diuided into many kingdoms and prouinces as Latium Mezeutium Turnum and Tarchontem which were separated with narowe boundes as shal more largly appeare hereafter At the euen tide about the falling of the sonne when our men went to prayer and kneeled on their knees after the maner of y e Christians they dyd the lyke also And after what maner so euer they sawe them pray to the crosse they folowed them in al poyntes as wel as they coulde They shewed much humanitie towards our men and helped them with theyr lyghters or smal boates which they cal Canoas to vnlade their broken shyppe and that with suche celeritie and cherefulnesse that no frende for frende or kynseman for kynseman in such case moued with pitie coulde do more Theyr boates are made only of one tree made holowe with a certaine sharpe stone for they haue no yron and are very long and narowe Many affirme that they haue seene some of them with fortie ores The wilde and myscheuous people called Canibales or Caribes whiche were accustomed to eate mans fleshe called of the olde writers Anthropophagi molest them exceedyngly inuading their countrey takyng them captiue kyllyng eatyng them As our men sayled to the ilandes of these meke and humane people they left the ilands of the Canibales in maner in the middest of theyr viage toward the south They complayned that theyr ilands were no lesse vexed with the incursions of these manhuntyng Canibales when they goe forth a rouyng to seeke theyr pray then are other tame beastes of Lions and Tigers Such chyldren as they take they geld to make them fat as we do cocke chickens and young hogges and eate them when they are wel fedde of suche as they eate they fyrst eate the intralles and extreme partes as handes feete armes necke and head The other most fleshye partes they pouder for store as we do pestels of porke and gammondes of bakon yet do they absteyne from eatyng of women and counte it vyle Therfore suche young women as they take they kepe for increase as we do hennes to leye egges the olde women they make theyr drudges They of the ilandes which we may nowe cal ours bothe the men and y e women when they perceiue the Canibales commyng haue none other shyft but onely to flee for although they vse very sharpe arrowes made of reedes yet are they of small force to represse y e furie of the Canibales for euen they them selues confesse that ten of the Canibales are able to ouercome a hundred of them if they encountre with them Theyr meate is a certayne roote which they cal Ages muche lyke a nauewe roote in fourme and greatnesse but of sweete tast much lyke a greene chestnutte They haue also an other kynde of rootes which they call Iucca whereof they make bread in kyke maner They vse Ages more often rosted or sodden then to make bread thereof But they neuer eate Iucca except it be first sliced and pressed for it is full of lycoure and then baked or sodden But this is to be marueyled at that the iuice of this roote is a poyson as strong as Aconitum so that if it be drunke it causeth present death and yet the bread made of the masse thereof is of good taste and holsome as they all haue prooued They make also another kynde of bread of a certayne pulse called Panicum muche like vnto wheate whereof is great plentie in the Dukedome of Millane Spayne and Cranatum But that of this Countrey is longer by a spanne somewhat sharpe towarde the ende and as bygge as a mans arme in y e brawne the graynes wherof are set in a marueylous order are in fourme somewhat lyke a Pease Whyle they be soure and vnripe they are whyte but when they are ripe they be very blacke when they are broken they be whiter then snowe this kynde of grayne they call Maizium Golde is of some estimation among them for some of them hang certayne small peeces thereof at theyr eares and nosethrylles A litle beyonde this place our men went a lande for freshe water where they chaunced vpon a riuer whose sande was myxed with muche golde They founde there no kindes of foure footed beastes except three kindes of litle conies These ilandes also nouryshe
beyng enfourmed of the matter appoynted hym two shyppes wherewith he returned to his maister and companions As he founde them so came they to Hispaniola very feeble and in maner naked What chaunced of them afterwarde I knowe not as yet Let vs now therefore leaue these particulers and speake somwhat more of generals In al those tracts whiche we sayd here before to haue been founde by Colonus the Admiral both he hym selfe writeth and all his companions of that voyage confesse that the trees hearbes and fruites are floryshyng and greene all the whole yeere and the ayre so temperate holesome that of al his companie there neuer fel one man sycke nor yet were vexed eyther with extreme colde or heate for the space of fyftie leagues from the great hauen of Cerabaro to the ryuers of Hiebra and Beragua Thinhabitantes of Cerabaro and the nations whiche are betwyxt that the sayde ryuers applie not them selues to the geatheryng of gold but only at certayne tymes of the yeere and are very expert and cunnyng herein as are our myners of syluer and Iron They knowe by long experience in what places golde is most abundantly engendred as by the colour of the water of the ryuers and such as fall from the mountaynes and also by the colour of the earth and stones They beleeue a certayne godly nature to be in golde forasmuche as they neuer geather it except they vse certayne religious expiations or purgyng as to absteyne from women and all kyndes of pleasures and delicate meates and drinkes during all the tyme that their golden haruest lasteth They suppose that men do naturally liue and die as other beastes do and therfore honour none other thyng as God Yet do they pray to the Sonne and honour it when it ryseth But let vs nowe speake of the mountains and situation of these landes From all the sea bankes of these regions exceedyng great and hygh mountaynes are seene towarde the South yet reaching by a continual tract from the East into the west by reason wherof I suppose that the two great seas wherof I haue spoken largely before are deuided with these mountaynes as it were with bulwarkes least they shoulde ioyne and repugne as Italie diuideth the sea called Tirrhenum from the sea Adriatike whiche is nowe commonly called the gulfe of Uenice For whiche way so euer they sayled from the poynt called Promontorium S. Augustini whiche parteyneth to the Portugales and prospecteth against the sea Atlantike euen vnto Vraba and the hauen Cerabaro and to the furthest landes founde hitherto westward they had euer great mountaynes in syght both neere hande and also farre of in all that long rase These mountaynes were in some place smooth pleasaunt and fruitfull full of goodly trees and hearbes and somwhere hygh rough ful of rockes and barren as chaunceth in the famous mountayne of Taurus in Asia and also in dyuers coastes of our mountaynes of Apennini such other of like bygnesse The rydgies also of these mountaynes are diuided with goodly and fayre valleys That part of the mountaynes which includeth the limittes of Beragua is thought to be hygher then the cloudes insomuch that as they say the tops of them can seldome be seene for the multitude of thicke cloudes whiche are beneath the same Colanus the Admiral the fyrst fynder of these regions affirmeth that the toppes of the mountaines of Beragua are more then fiftie myles in heyght He sayth furthermore that in the same region at the rootes of the mountaynes the way is open to the south sea compareth it as it were betwene Uenice and Genua or Ianua as the Genues wyl haue it called whiche fable that theyr citie was builded of Ianus He affirmeth also that this land reacheth forth toward the south and that from hence it taketh the begynning of breadth lyke as from the Alpes out of the narowe thygh of Italie we see the large and mayne landes of Fraunce Germanie and Pannonie to the Sarmatians and Scithians euen vnto the mountaynes and rockes of Riphea and the frosen sea and embrase therewith as with a continuall bonde al Thracia and Grecia with all that is included within the promontorie or poynt of Malea and Hellespontus southwarde and the sea Euzinus and the marysshes of Meotis in Scithia northwarde The Admiral supposeth that on the left hande in saylyng towarde the west this lande is ioyned to India beyonde the ryuer of Ganges and that on the ryght hande towarde the North it is extended to the frosen sea beyonde the Hyperboreans and the North pole So that both the seas that is to meane that south sea which we sayd to bee founde by Vaschus and our Ocean shoulde ioyne and meete in the corners of that lande and that the waters of these seas do not onely inclose and compasse the same without diuision as Europe is inclosed with the seas of Hellespontus and Tanais with the frosen Ocean and our sea of Tyrrhenum with the Spanyshe seas But in my opinion the vehement course of the Ocean toward the west doth signifie the let that the sayd two seas shoulde not so ioyne togeather but rather that that lande is adherent to the firme landes towarde the North as we haue sayde before It shall suffice to haue sayde thus muche of the length hereof Let vs nowe therefore speake somwhat of the breadth of the same We haue made mention before howe the south sea is diuided by narowe limittes from our Ocean as it was proued by thexperience of Vaschus Nunnez and his companions which fyrst made open the way thyther But as dyuersly the mountaynes of our Alpes in Europe are somwhere narowe and in some place brode euen so by the lyke prouidence of nature this land in some part therof reacheth farre in breadth and is in other places coarcted with narowe limittes from sea to sea with valleys also in some places whereby men may passe from the one syde to the other Where we haue described the regions of Vraba and Beragua to be situate these seas are diuided by small distaunce Yet ought we to thynke the region whiche the great ryuer of Maragnonus runneth through to be very large if we shall graunt Maragnonum to be a ryuer and no sea as the freshe waters of the same ought to perswade vs. For in suche narowe caues of the earth there can be no swalowyng gulfes of suche bygnesse as to receiue or nooryshe so great abundance of water The lyke is also to be supposed of the great ryuer of Dabaiba whiche we sayde to be from the corner of the gulfe of Vraba in some place of fourtie fathomes depth and somwhere fiftie also three myles in breadth and so to fall into the sea We must needes graunt that the earth is brode there by the which the ryuer passeth from the high mountaines of Dabaiba from the East and not from the west They
vrgent hunger that they had no respect to chaunge the place although they were thus vexed by the contagion of the soyle and heate of the Sonne besyde the corrupt water and infectious ayre by reason of venemous vapours and exhalations rysyng from the same An other great incommoditie was that the place was destitute of a commodious hauen beyng three leagues distant from the mouth of the gulfe The way is also rough and difficult to bryng vyttayles and other necessaries from the sea But let vs nowe speake somewhat of other particuler thynges whiche chaunced Therefore shortly after that they were arryued there happened many thynges whereof they had no knowledge before A certayne well learned phisition of Ciuile whom partly the auctoritie of the Bishop of Dariena and partly the desyre of golde had allured to those landes was so scarred with lyghtnyng in the nyght season lying in bedde with his wyfe that the house and all the stuffe therein beyng set on fyre and burnt he and his wyfe beyng both sore scorched ranne foorth crying and almost naked hardely escapyng the daunger of death And an other tyme as certayne of them stoode one the shore a great Crocodile sodenly caryed away a masty of a yeere and a halfe olde as a kyte shoulde haue snatched vp a chicken and this euen in the presence of them all where the miserable dogge cryed in vayne for the helpe of his maister In the nyght season they were tormented with the bytyng of Battes which are there so noysome that if they byte any man in his sleepe they put hym in daunger of lyfe onely with drawyng of blood In so muche that some haue dyed thereof fallyng as it were into a consumption through the maliciousnesse of the venemous wounde If these Battes chaunce to fynde a cocke or a henne abrode in the nyght season they byte them by the combes and so kyl them They also whiche went last into these regions do wryte that the lande is troubled with Crocodiles Lions and Tygers but that they haue nowe deuised artes aod ingens howe to take them Lykewyse that in the houses of theyr felowes they founde the hydes and cases of suche Lions and Tygers as they had kylled They wryte furthermore that by reason of the rankenesse and fruitefulnesse of the grounde kyne swyne and horses doo maruelously increase in these regions and growe to a muche bygger quantitie then they whiche were of the fyrst broode Of the exceedyng hyghnesse of the trees with theyr fruites of the garden hearbes fruites plantes and seedes whiche our men brought from Spayne and sowed and set the same in these regions lykewyse of the Hartes and other foure footed beastes both tame and wylde also of dyuers kyndes of foules byrdes and fyshes they wryte euen as we haue declared in the decades before Careta the kyng of the region of Cioba was with them for the space of three dayes whom when they had frendly entertayned and shewed hym the secrete places of theyr shyppes their Horses also with theyr trappers bardes and other furnimentes besyde many other thynges whiche seemed straunge to hym and had further delyted his mynde with the harmony of theyr musycal instrumentes geuen hym many rewardes they dismyssed hym halfe amased with to muche admiration He sygnifyed vnto them that there are trees in that prouynce of the plankes whereof if shyppes were made they shoulde be safe from the woormes of the sea whiche they call Bromas Howe these woormes gnawe and corrode the shyppes we haue declared before Our shyppes are greatly troubled with this plague if they lye long in the hauens of these regions But they affyrme that the wood of this tree is so bytter that the woormes wyll not taste thereof There is also an other tree peculyar to these landes whose leaues if they onely touche the bare in any place of a mans body they cause great blysters and those so malitious that except the same be foorthwith healed with salte water or fastyng spyttle they do incontinently engender deadly paynes They say lykewyse that the sauour of the wood is present poyson and that it can no whither be caried without daunger of lyfe When thinhabitantes of the Ilande of Hispaniola had oftentymes attempted to shake of the yoke of seruitude and coulde neuer bryng the same to passe neyther by open warre nor yet by priuie conspiracies they were determined in the nyght season to haue kylled our men in theyr sleepe with the smoke of this wood But when the Christian men had knowledge hereof they compelled the poore wretches to confesse theyr intent and punyshed the chiefe auctours of the deuice They haue also a certayne hearbe with the sauour wherof they are preserued from the hurt of this venemous wood so that they may beare it safely Of these small thinges it shall suffyce to haue sayde thus much They looke dayly for many greater thinges to certifie vs of from the Ilandes of the south sea For at such tyme as the messenger whiche brought our letters departed from thence Petrus Arias prepared an expedition to that ryche Iland which lyeth in the mouth of the gulfe called Sinus S. Michaelis and reacheth into the south sea being also left vntouched of vaschus by reason that the Sea was at that tyme of the yeere sore troubled with tempestes as we haue further declared in Vaschus his vyage to the south Wee looke therefore dayly for greater thinges then are hitherto paste For they haue now taken in hande to subdue many other prouinces which we suppose to be eyther very ryche or to bryng foorth some straunge workes of nature Iohannes Diaz Solisius of Nebrissa of whom we haue made mention before is sent by the froont of the cape or poynt of Sancti Augustini which reacheth seuen degrees beyonde the Equinoctial lyne and parteyneth to the dominion of the Portugales to thintent to ouerrunne the south syde from the backe halfe of Paria Cumana Cuquibacca with the hauens of Cartbago and Sancta Martha of Dariena also and Beragua that more perfect and certayne knowledge may be had of those tractes Furthermore one Iohannes Poncius was sent foorth with three ships to destroye the Canibales both in the lande and Ilandes there about aswell that the nations of the more humane and innocent people may at the length lyue without feare of that pestiferous generation as also the better and more safely to searche the secretes and rychesse of those regions Many other lykewyse were sent dyuers and sundry wayes as Gasper Badaiocius to search the West parts Franciscus Bexerra to sayle by the corner of the gulf and Valleius to passe by the mouth or entraunce thereof to the Easte coastes of the gulf to searche the secretes of that lande in the which Fogeda with his company had of late begunne to plant their habitation and had buylded a fortresse and a vyllage Badaiocius
Sesto beyng East The .xxi. day of the sayde moneth we fel with Cape Mensurado to the Southeast about two leagues of This Cape may be easely knowen by reason the rysyng of it is like a Porpose head Also toward the Southeast there are three trees whereof the Eastermost tree is the hyghest and the myddlemost is lyke a hie stacke and the Southermost lyke vnto a Gibet and vppon the mayne are foure or fyue hygh hylles rysyng one after an other lyke rounde hoommockes or hyllockes And the Southeast of the three trees is three trees lyke a brandierwyse and all the coast along is whyte sand The sayde Cape standeth within a litle in syxe degrees The .xxii. of December we came to the ryuer of Sesto and remayned there vntyll the .xxix. day of the sayde moneth Here we thought it best to send before vs the pynnesse to the ryuer of Dulce called Rio Dulce that they myght haue the begynnyng of the market before the commyng of the Iohn At the ryuer of Sesto we had a Tunne of graynes This riuer standeth in .vi. degrees lackyng a terce From the ryuer of Sesto to Rio Dulce is .xxv. leagues Rio Dulce standeth in fyue degrees and a halfe The ryuer of Sesto is easye to be knowen by reason there is a ledge of rockes on the Southeast parte of the Rode And at the entryng into the hauen are fyue or sixe trees that beare no leaues This is a good harborowe but very narow at the entrance into the ryuer There is also a rocke in the hauens mouth ryght as you enter And all that coast betweene Cape de Monte and cape de las Palmas lyeth Southeast and by East Northwest and by West being three leagues of the shore And you shall haue in some places rockes two leagues of and that betweene the riuer of Sesto and cape de las Palmas Betweene the ryuer of Sesto the ryuer Dulce is .xxv. leagues and the high lande that is betweene them both is called Cakeado being eight leagues from the ryuer of Sesto And to the Southeastwarde of him is a place called Shawgro and an other called Shyawe or Shauo where you may get freshe water Of this Shyawe lyeth a redge of rockes and to the Southeastwarde lyeth a hedlande called Croke Betweene Cakeado and Croke is .ix. or ten leagues To the Southeastwarde of is a harborowe called saint Vincent Ryght ouer agaynst sainct Vincent is a rocke vnder the water two leagues and a halfe of the shore To the Southeastwarde of that rocke you shall see an Ilande about three or foure leagues of this Ilande is not paste a league of the shore To the East Southeast of the Ilande is a rocke that lyeth aboue the water and by that rocke goeth in the ryuer of Dulce which you shall know by the sayde ryuer and rocke The Northwest syde of the hauen is flatte sande and the Southeast syde thereof is lyke an Ilande and a bare platte without any trees and so is it not in any other place In the Rode you shall ryde in xiii or .xiiii. fadomes good owes and sande beyng the markes of the Rode to bryng the Ilande and the Northeast lande togeather and here we Ankered the last of December The third day of Ianuary we came from the riuer of Dulce Note that cape de las Palmas is a fayre high lande but some lowe places thereof by the water syde looke lyke redde cliffes with whyte strakes lyke wayes a cable length a peece this is to the East parte of the cape This cape is the Southermost lande in all the coast of Guinea and standeth in foure degrees and a terce The coast from Cape de las palmas to Cape Trepoyntes or the tres Puntas is fayre and cleare without rocke or other daunger Twentie and fyue leagues from Cape de las Palmas the lande is hygher then in any place vntyl we come to Cape Trepoyntes And about ten leagues before you come to Cape Trepoyntes the land ryseth styll hygher and hygher vntyl you come to Cape Trepoyntes Also before you come to the sayde Cape after other fyue leagues to the Northwest part of it there is certayne broken grounde with two great rockes and within them in the byght of a bay is a castel called Arra parteining to the kyng of Portugale You shal know it by the sayd rockes that lye of it for there is none suche from Cape de las Palmas to cape Trepoyntes This coast lyeth East by North West by South From Cape de las Palmas to the sayd castel is fourscore and fyfteene leagues And the coast lyeth from the sayd castel to the westermost point of the Trepoyntes Southeast and by South Northwest and by North. Also the westermost poynt of the Trepoyntes is a low land lying halfe a myle out in the sea and vppon the innermoste necke to the land ward is a tuft of trees there we arryued the eleuenth day of Ianuary The twelf day of Ianuary we came to a towne called Samma or Samua beyng .viii. leagues from Cape Trepoyntes toward East Northeast Betweene Cape Trepoyntes and the towne of Samua is a great ledge of rockes a great way out in the sea We continued foure dayes at that towne the captayne therof would needs haue a pledge a shore But when they receiued the pledge they kept him still would trafficke no more but shot of theyr ordinance at vs. They haue two or three peeces of ordinance and no more The .xvi. day of the sayde mooneth we made reckonyng to come to a place called Cape Corea where captayne Don Ihon dwelleth whose men entertayned vs frendly This Cape Corea is foure leagues Eastwarde of the castell of Mina other wyse called La mina or Castello de mina where we arryued the .xviii. day of the moneth Here we made sayle of all our cloth sauing two or three packes The .xxvi. day of the same moneth we weighed anker and departed from thence to the Trinitie whiche was .vii. leagues Eastwarde of vs where she solde her wares Then they of the Trinitie wylled vs to go Eastwarde of that .viii or .ix. leagues to sell part of theyr wares in a place called Perecow and an other place named Perecow Grande beyng the eastermost place of both these whiche you shall knowe by a great rounde hyll neere vnto it named Monte Rodondo lying westward from it and by the water syde are many hygh palme trees From hence dyd we set forth homewarde the .xiii. day of February and plyed vp alongest tyll we came within .vii or .viii. leagues to Cape Trepointes About .viii. of the clocke the .xv. day at afternoone we dyd cast about to seawarde and beware of the currantes for they wyl deceiue you sore Whosoeuer shall come from the coaste of Mina homewarde let hym be sure to make
soules a fewe clothes serue the naked weightes and measures are not needeful to suche as can not skyl of craft and deceyte and haue not the vse of pestiferous money the seede of innumerable mischeeues so that yf we shall not be ashamed to confesse the trueth they seeme to liue in that golden worlde of the whiche olde wryters speake so muche wherein men lyued symplye and innocentlye without enforcement of lawes without quarrellyng iudges and libelles content only to satisfie nature without further vexation for knowledge of thynges to come Yet these naked people also are tormented with ambition for y e desire they haue to enlarge their dominions by reason wherof they kepe war and destroy one another from the whiche plague I suppose the golden worlde was not free For euen then also Cede non cedam that is geue place and I will not geue place had entred among men But nowe to returne to the matter from which we haue digressed The admiral desyrous to know further of y e death of his men sent for Guaccanerillus to come to him to his ship dissimulyng that he knewe any thyng of the matter After that he came aboord shyp saluting the Admiral and his company geuing also certayne golde to the captaynes and officers turned hym to the women captiues whiche not long before our men had delyuered from the Canibales and earnestly beholdyng one of them whom our men called Katherine he spake gentely vnto her And thus when he had seene and marueyled at the horses and such other thyngs as were in the shyppe vnknowen to them and had with a good grace and meryly asked leaue of the Admiral he departed Yet some there were whiche counsayled the Admirall to keepe hym styll that yf they myght by any meanes prooue that he was consentyng to the death of our men he myght be punyshed accordyngly But the Admiral consyderyng that it was yet no time to incense the inhabitantes mindes to wrath dismissed him The next day folowyng the kynges brother resortyng to the shyppes eyther in his owne name or in his brothers seduced the women For on the next nyght about mydnyght this Katherine aswell to recouer her owne libertie as also her felowes being suborned thereto either by the king or his brothers promises attempted a muche more difficult and daungerous aduenture then dyd Cloelia of Rome whiche beyng in hostage with other maydes to the king Porcena deceiued her keepers and rode ouer y e riuer Tiber with the other virgins which were pledges with her For whereas they swamme ouer the riuer on horsbacke this Katherine with seuen other women trustyng only to the strength of their owne armes swam aboue three long miles and that also at suche time as the sea was somewhat rough for euen so farre of from the shore lay the shyppes at rode as nygh as they coulde coniecture But our men folowing them with the shipboates by the same light seene on the shore whereby the women were ledde tooke three of them supposing that Katherine with the other foure went to Guaccanarillus for in the spryng of the morning certaine messengers being sent vnto him by the Admirall had intelligence that he was fledde with al his familie and stuffe and the women also whiche thyng ministred further suspection that he was consentyng to the death of our men Wherefore the Admirall sent foorth an armie of three hundred men ouer the which he appoynted one Melchior to be captaine wyllyng him to make diligent search to fynd out Guaccanarillus Melchior therefore with the smallest vesselles entryng into the countrey by the riuers and scouryng the shores chaunced into certaine crooked goulfes defended with fiue litle steepe hilles supposing that it had byn the mouth of some great ryuer He founde heare also a very commodious and safe hauen and therefore named it Portus Regalis They say that the enterance of this is so crooked and bending that after the shyps are once within the same whether they turne them to the left hand or to the right they can not perceyue where they came in vntyl they returne to the mouth of the ryuer although it be there so brode that three of the byggest vessels may sayle togeather on a froont The sharpe and high hylles on the one syde and on the other so brake the wynde that they were vncertaine how to rule theyr sayles In the myddle gulfe of the ryuer there is a promontorie or point of the land with a pleasant groue ful of Popingiayes and other byrdes which breede therin sing very sweetly They perceyued also that two ryuers of no smal largenesse fell into the hauen Whyle they thus searched the lande betwene both Melchior espied a high house a farre of where supposing that Guaccanarillus had lyen hyd he made towarde it and as he was goyng there met hym a man with a frownyng countenance and a grymme looke with a hundred men folowyng hym armed with bowes and arrowes and long and sharpe staues lyke iauelynnes made harde at the endes with fyre who approching towardes our men spake out aloud with a terrible voyce saying that they were Taini that is noble men and not Canibales but when our men had geuen them signes of peace they left both theyr weapons and fiercenesse Thus geuyng ech of them certayne haukes bels they tooke it for so great a rewarde that they desyred to enter bondes of neare frendshyp with vs and feared not immediatly to submit themselues vnder our power and resorted to our shyps with their presentes They that measured the house beyng made in round fourme found it to be from syde to syde .xxxii. great paces compassed about with xxx other vulgare houses hauyng in them many beames crosse ouer couered with reedes of sundry colours wrethed as it were weaued with marueilous art Whē our men asked some of them where they might find Guaccanarillus They answered that that region was none of his but theyr kynges beyng there present Yet they sayde they supposed that Guaccanarillus was gone from the playne to the mountaynes Makyng therefore a brotherly league with this Cacicus that is to say a kyng they returned to the Admiral to make relation what they had seene and hearde whereupon he sent foorth diuers other Centurians with theyr hundredes to searche the countrey yet further among whiche were Hoiedus and Gorualanus noble young gentlemen and of great courage And as they went towarde the mountaynes to seeke Guaccanerillus diuiding the mountaynes betweene them one of them founde on the one syde thereof foure ryuers fallyng from the same mountaynes and the other founde three on the other syde In the sandes of al these riuers is founde great plentie of golde whiche the inhabitauntes of the same ilande whiche were with vs geathered in this manner makyng holes in the sande with theyr handes a Cubite deepe and takyng
they fel to theyr meate and ate the fyshe taken with other mens trauayle but they absteyned from the serpentes which they affirme to differ nothing from the Crocodiles of Egypt but only in bygnesse for as Plinie sayth Crocodiles haue sometymes ben found of .xviii. cubits long but of these the biggest were but of eyght foote Thus being wel refreshed they entred into the next wood where they found many of the same kynde of serpentes hanging vpon boughes of trees of the whiche some had theyr mouthes tyed with strynges and some theyr teeth taken out And as they searched the places neare vnto the hauen they sawe about .lxx. men in the top of a hygh rocke whiche fled as soone as they had espyed our men who by signes and tokens of peace callyng them agayne there was one which came neare them and stoode on the toppe of a rocke seemyng as though he were yet fearefull but the Admiral sent one Didacus to hym a man of the same countrey whom he had at his fyrste voyage taken in the ilande of Guanahaini being neare vnto Cuba wyllyng hym to come neare and not to be afraide When he hearde Didacus speake to hym in his owne tongue he came boldly to hym and shortly after resorted to his company perswading them to come without al feare After this message was done there dessended from the rockes to the shyps about threescore and ten of the inhabitantes profering frendship and gentlenesse to our men whiche the Admiral accepted thankfully and gaue them diuers rewardes and that the rather for that he had intelligence by Didacus the interpreter that they were the kynges fyshers sent of theyr lorde to take fyshe agaynst a solemne feast whiche he prepared for another kyng And whereas the Admiralles men had eaten the fyshe whiche they lefte at the fyre they were the gladder therof because they had lefte the serpentes for there is nothing among theyr delicate dysshes that they esteeme so muche as these serpentes in so muche that it is no more lawfull for common people to eate of them then Peacockes or Phesantes among vs as for the fyshes they doubted not to take as many more the same nyght Beyng asked why they fyrste rosted the fyshe whiche they entended to beare to theyr kyng they answeared that they myght be the fresher and vncorrupted Thus ioynyng handes for a token of further frendshyp euerye man resorted to his owne The Admirall went forwarde as he had appoynted folowyng the fallyng of the sunne from the beginning of Cuba called Alpha and O the shores or sea bankes euen vnto this hauen albeit they be full of trees yet are they rough with mountaines of these trees some were full of blossomes and flowres and other laden with fruites Beyonde the hauen the lande is more fertile and populus whose inhabitantes are more gentle and more desyrous of our thynges for as soone as they had espied our shyppes they flocked all to the shore bryngyng with them suche bread as they are accustomed to eate and gourdes ful of water offeryng them vnto our men and further desyryng them to come alande In al these Ilandes is a certaine kinde of trees as bigge as Elmes whiche beare Gourdes in the steade of fruites these they vse only for drynkyng pottes and to fetche water in but not for meate for the inner substance of them is sowrer then gall and the barke as harde as any shell At the Ides of May the watchmen lookyng out of the top castle of the shyp towarde the South sawe a multitude of Ilandes standyng thycke togeather being al wel replenished with trees grasse and hearbes and well inhabited in the shore of the continent he chaunced into a nauigable riuer whose water was so hot that no man might endure to abyde his hande therein anye time The day folowing espying a farre of a Canoa of fyshermen of the inhabitantes fearyng lest they shoulde flee at the syght of our men he commaunded certayne to assayle them priuily with the ship boates but they fearing nothing taryed the commyng of our men Nowe shall you heare a newe kynde of fyshyng Lyke as we with Greyhoundes do hunt Hares in the playne feeldes so doo they as it were with a hunting fishe take other fishes this fyshe was of shape or fourme vnknowen vnto vs but the bodye thereof not muche vnlyke a great yee le hauyng on the hynder parte of the head a very tough skynne lyke vnto a great bagge or purse this fyshe is tyed by the syde of the boate with a corde let downe so farre into the water that the fishe may lye close hid by the keele or bottome of the same for she may in no case abyde the syght of the ayre Thus when they espye any great fyshe or Tortoyse wherof there is great abundance bygger then great targettes they let the corde at length but when she feeleth her selfe loosed she inuadeth the fyshe or Tortoyse as swiftly as an arrowe and where she hath once fastened her holde she casteth the purse of skynne whereof we spake before and by drawyng the same togeather so graspeleth her pray that no mans strength is suffycient to vnloose the same excepte by lytle and lytle drawyng the lyne she be lyfted somwhat aboue the brymme of the water for then as sone as she seeth the brightnesse of the ayre she letteth goe her holde The praye therfore beyng nowe drawen nere to the brymme of the water there leapeth sodenly out of the boate into the sea so manye fyshers as may suffice to holde fast the praye vntyll the rest of the company haue taken it into the boate Whiche thyng doone they loose so muche of the corde that the huntyng fyshe may agayne returne to her place within the water where by an other corde they let downe to her a peece of the pray as we vse to rewarde greyhoundes after they haue kylled theyr game This fyshe they cal Guaicanum but our men cal it Reuersum They gaue our men foure Tortoyses taken by this meanes and those of suche byggenesse that they almost fylled theyr fyshyng boate for these fyshes are esteemed among them for delycate meate Our men recompensed them agayne with other rewardes and so let them depart Beyng asked of the compasse of that lande they aunsweared that it had no ende westwarde Most instantly they desyred the Admirall to come a lande or in his name to sende one with them to salute theyr Cazicus that is their kyng affirmyng that he woulde geue our men many presentes yf they would goe to hym But the Admirall lest he shoulde be hindered of the voyage whiche he had begunne refused to goe with them Then they desyred to knowe his name and tolde our men lykewise the name of theyr king Thus sayling on yet further euer towarde the West within fewe dayes he came nere vnto a certayne excedyng high mountayne wel inhabyted by reason of the
great fertilitie of the same Thinhabitauntes of this mountaine brought to our shyp bread gossampine cotton cunnies sundry kyndes of wyldfoule demaundyng relygiously of thinterpretours if this nation descended not from heauen The kyng of this people and dyuers other sage men that stoode by him informed hym that that lande was no Ilande Shortly after entring into one of the ilandes being on the lefte hande of this lande they founde no body therin for they fledde al at the comming of our men Yet founde they there foure dogges of maruelous deformed shape suche as coulde not barke This kynd of doggs they eate as we do goates Here is great plentie of geese duckes and hearons Betwene these ilandes and the continent he entered into so narowe streyghtes that he coulde scarsely turne backe the shyppes and these also so shalowe that the keele of the shyppes somtyme rased on the sandes The water of these streyghtes for the space of fourtie myles was white and thycke lyke vnto mylke and as though meale had ben sparkeled throughout al that sea And when they had at the length escaped these strayghtes and were nowe come into a mayne and large sea and had sayled theron for the space of fourescore myles they espyed an other exceding hygh mountayne whyther the Admirall resorted to store his shyppes with freshe water and fuel Heare among certayne wooddes of Date trees pyneapple trees of excedyng height he founde two natiue sprynges of freshe water In the meane tyme whyle the woodde was cuttyng and the barrelles fyllyng one of our archers went into the wood to hunt where he espyed a certayne man with a whyte vesture so lyke a fryer of thorder of saynt Marye of Mercedis that at the fyrste sight he supposed it had ben the Admirals priest which he brought with hym beyng a man of the same order but two other folowed him immediatlye out of the same wooddes Shortly after he sawe a farre of a whole company of men clothed in apparel being about xxx in number Then turning his backe and crying out to his felowes he made haste to the shyppes with all that he myght dryue These apparelled men made sygnes and tokens to hym to tary and not to be afrayd but that notwithstandyng he ceassed not to flee The Admirall beyng aduertysed hereof and not a lytle reioycyng that he had founde a ciuile people incontinently sent foorth armed men with commaundement that yf neede should so requyre they shoulde enter fourtie myles into the ilande vntyl they myght fynde eyther those apparelled men or other inhabitauntes of that countrey When they had passed ouer the wood they came into a great playne ful of grasse and hearbes in whiche appeared no token of any pathway Here attemptyng to goe through the grasse and hearbes they were so entangled and bewrapt therein that they were scarselye able to passe a myle the grasse beyng there lytle lower then our ripe corne beyng therefore weeryed they were enforced to returne agayne finding no pathway The day folowyng he sent foorth xxv armed men another way commaundyng them to make diligent search and inquisition what manner of people inhabited the lande Who departyng when they had found not farre from the sea side certayne steps of wyld beastes of the which they suspected some to be of Lions feete beyng strycken with feare returturned backe agayne As they came they founde a wood in the whiche were many natiue vines here and there creepyng about hygh trees with many other trees bearyng aromatical fruites and spyces Of these vines they brought with them into Spaine many clusters of grapes very ponderous and ful of licour but of the other fruites they brought none because they putrified by the way in the shyp were cast into the sea They say also that in the landes or medowes of those wooddes they sawe flockes of great Cranes twyse as bygge as ours As he went forward and turned his sayles towarde certayne other mountaynes he espied two cotages on the shore in the whiche he sawe only one man who being brought to the shippe signified with head fyngers and by al other signes that he coulde deuise that the lande whiche lay beyonde those mountaynes was very full of people and as the Admiral drew neare the shore of the same there met him certayne Canoas hauyng in them many people of the countrey who made signes and tokens of peace and frendshyp But here Didacus the interpretour which vnderstoode the language of thinhabitantes of the beginning of Cuba vnderstode not them one whit whereby they consydered that in sundry prouinces of Cuba were sundry languages He had also intelligence that in the inlande of this region was a king of great power accustomed to weare apparell he sayde that all the tracte of this shore was drowned with water and ful of mudde besette with manye trees after the maner of our maryshes Yet whereas in this place they went alande for freshe water they founde many of the shelfyshes in the whiche pearles are geathered But that coulde not cause the Admirall to tracte the tyme there entending at this viage only to proue howe many landes seas he could discouer according to the kinges commaundement As they yet proceded forwarde they sawe here and there al the way along by the shore a great smoke rysing vntyll they came to an other mountayne foure score myles distant there was no rocke or hyll that coulde be seene but the same was all of a smoke But whether these fyres were made by thinhabitantes for their necessary busynes or as we are wont to sette beacons on fyre when we suspecte thapproche of our enimies thereby to geue warning to theyr neyghbours to be in a redines geather togeather if perhaps our men shoulde attempt any thyng against them or otherwyse as seemeth most lykely to cal them togeather as to a wonder to beholde our shyppes they knowe yet no certentie In this tracte the shores bended somtyme towarde the South and sometyme towarde the West and west southwest and the sea was euerye where entangled with Ilandes by reason whereof the keeles of the shyppes often times rased the sandes for shalownesse of the water So that the shyppes being very sore bruised and appayred the sayles cables and other tackelinges in maner rotten and the vytailes especially the biskette bread corrupted by takyng water at the ryftes euyll closed the Admirall was enforced to turne backe agayne This laste poynte where he touched of Cuba not yet being knowen to be an ilande he called Euangelista Thus turning his sayles towarde other ilandes lying not farre from the supposed continent he chaunced into a mayne sea where was suche a multitude of great Tortoyses that somtyme they stayed the shyppes Not long after he entred into a gulfe of whyte water lyke vnto that wherof we spake before At the length fearing the shelfes of the ilands he returned to the shore of
of .viii. dayes in the which he suffered these extremites onely the fyrst day was fayre but al the other clowdy and rayny yet neuerthelesse feruent hotte Wherefore it oftentymes repented hym not a litle that euer he tooke that way Being tossed in these dangers and vexations eyght continuall dayes at the lengthe an Eastsoutheast wynde arose and gaue a prosperous blaste to his sayles Whiche wynde folowing directly towarde the west he founde the starres ouer that paralell placed in other order and an other kynde of ayre as the Admirall hym selfe toilde me And they al affirme that within three dayes sayling they founde most temperate and pleasaunt ayre The Admiral also affirmeth that from the clime of the great heate and vnholsome ayre he euer ascended by the backe of the sea as it were by a hygh mountayne towarde heauen yet in all this tyme coulde he not once see any land But at the length the day before the Calendes of Iuly the watchman lookyng foorth of the toppe castel of the greatest shippe cried out aloude for ioy that he espied three exceding hygh mountaynes exhorting his felowes to be of good cheere and to put away al pensiuenes for they were very heauy and sorowfull as well for the greefe which they susteyned by reason of thintollerable heate as also that their freshe water fayled them whiche ranne out at the ryftes of the barels caused by extreme heate as we haue sayd Thus being wel comforted they drew to the land but at theyr fyrst approch they could not aryue by reason of the shalownes of the sea neere the shore Yet loking out of theyr shyppes they myght well perceiue that the Region was inhabyted and wel cultured for they sawe very fayre gardens and pleasaunt medowes from the trees and herbes wherof when the mornyng deawes beganne to ryse there proceaded manye sweete sauoures Twentie myles distant from hence they chaunced into a hauen very apte to harborowe shyppes but it had no ryuer running into it Sayling on yet somwhat further he founde at the length a commodious hauen wherin he might repayre his shyppes and make prouision of freshe water and fuel Arenalis calleth this land Puta They found no houses nere vnto the hauen but innumerable steppes of certeyn wilde beastes feete of the whiche they founde one dead muche lyke a goate The day folowyng they sawe a Canoa commyng a farre of hauyng in it foure and twentie young men of goodly corporature and high stature al armed with targets bowes arrowes the heare of theyr heades was long and playne and cutte on the forehead much after the manner of the Spanyards their pryuie partes were couered with fyllets of gossampine cotton of sundry colours enterlaced were beside al ouer naked Here the Admiral consydering with him selfe the corporature of this people and nature of the lande he beleeued the same to be so muche the nearer heauen then other regions of the same paralel and further remooued from the grosse vapours of the vales and maryshes howe muche the hyghest toppes of the byggest mountaynes are distant from the deepe vales For he earnestly affirmeth that in al that nauigation he neuer went out of the paralels of Ethiope So great difference is there betweene the nature of thinhabitauntes and of the soyles of diuers regions al vnder one clime or paralel as is to see betweene the people and regions beyng in the fyrme lande of Ethiope and them of the Ilandes vnder the same clime hauyng the pole starre eleuate in y e same degree For the Ethiopians are all blacke hauing theyr heare curled more like wool then heare but these people of the Iland of Puta beyng as I haue sayde vnder the clyme of Ethiope are white with long heare and of yelow colour Wherefore it is apparant the cause of this so great difference to be rather by the disposition of the earth then constitution of heauen For we knowe that snowe falleth on the mountaynes of the Equinoctial or burnt lyne and the same to endure there continuallye we knowe lykewyse that the inhabitauntes of the regions farre distant from that lyne towarde the north are molested with great heate The Admirall that he myght alure the young men to hym with gentlenesse shewed them lookyng glasses fayre and bryght vessels of copper haukes belles and suche other thynges vnknowen to them But the more they were called so muche the more they suspected craft and deceyte and fledde backewarde Yet dyd they with great admiration beholde our men and theyr thynges but styll hauyng theyr ores in theyr handes redy to flee When the Admirall sawe that he coulde by no meanes allure them by gyftes he thought to prooue what he coulde do with musicall instrumentes and therefore commaunded that they whiche were in the greatest shyp should play on theyr drummes and shawlmes But the young men supposing this to be a token of battayle left theyr ores in the twinclyng of an eye had theyr arrowes in theyr bowes and theyr targets on their armes and thus directing theyr arrowes towarde our men stoode in expectation to knowe what this noyse might meane Our men likewyse preparyng theyr bowes and arrowes approched towarde them by litle and litle But they departing from the Admirals shyppe and trusting to the dexteritie of theyr ores came so neare one of the lesse shyppes that one of them plucked the cloke from the gouernour of the shyppe and as wel as they coulde by signes required hym to come alande promisyng fayth that they woulde commune with him of peace But when they sawe him goe to the Admirals shyp whyther he went to aske leaue that he might commune with them suspecting hereby some further deceyt they leapt immediatlye into the Canoa and fleedde as swyft as the wynde so that to conclude they could by no meanes be allured to familiaritie Wherfore the Admiral thought it not conuenient to bestowe any long time there at this voyage No great space from this Ilande euer towarde the West the Admiral sayth he found so outragious a fal of water runnyng with suche a violence from the East to the West that it was nothyng inferior to a myghtie streame fallyng from hygh mountaynes He also confessed that synce the fyrst day that euer he knewe what the sea meant he was neuer in suche feare Proceedyng yet somewhat further in this daungerous voyage he founde certayne gulfes of eyght myles as it had ben the entraunce of some great hauen into the whiche the sayde violent streames dyd fall These gulfes or streyghtes he called Os Draconis that is the Dragons mouth and the Ilande directly oueragaynst the same he called Margarita Out of these strayghtes issued no lesse force of freshe water whiche encounteryng with the salte dyd stryue to passe foorth so that betweene both the waters was no small conflycte But entryng into the gulfe at the length he founde the water thereof verye freshe and good to drynke The Admirall
whole to the kyng in that shyp in the which the gouernour Boadilla was commyng home into Spaine the shyp with all the men beyng drowned by the way by reason it was ouer laden with the weyght of gold multitude of men albeit there were mo then a thousande persons which saw and handeled the piece of gold And wheras here I speake of a pounde I do not meane the common pounde but the summe of the ducate of gold with the coyne called Triens which is the third part of a pounde which they call Pesus The summe of the weight hearof the Spanyardes call Castelanum Aureum All the gold that is digged in the mountaines of Cibaua and Port Regale is caried to the tower of Conception where shoppes with al thinges appertayning are redy furnished to fine it melt it and caste it into wedges That doone they take the kynges portion therof which is the fyfte parte and so restore to euery man his owne which he gotte with his labour But the gold which is founde in saynt Christophorus myne and the regions there about is caryed to the shoppes which are in the vyllage called Bonauentura In these two shops is moulten yeerely aboue three hundred thousand pound wayght of gold Yf any man be knowen deceytfullye to keepe backe any portion of golde whereof he hath not made the kynges officers priuie he forfeyteth the same for a fyne There chaunceth among them oftentymes many contentions and controuersies the whiche vnlesse the magistrates of the Ilande do fynyshe the case is remoued by appellation to the hygh counsayle of the court from whose sentence it is not lawfull to appeale in al the dominions of Castyle But let vs nowe returne to the newe landes from whence we haue digressed They are innumerable diuers and exceedyng fortunate Wherefore the Spanyardes in these our dayes and theyr noble enterpryses do not geue place eyther to the factes of Saturnus or Hercules or anye other of the auncient prynces of famous memory which were canonized among the goddes called Heroes for theyr searchyng of newe landes and regions and bryngyng the same to better culture and ciuilitie Oh God howe large farre shal our posteritie see the Christian religion extended howe large a campe haue they now to wander in whiche by the true nobilitie that is in them or mooued by vertue wyll attempt eyther to deserue lyke prayse among men or reputation of well doyng before God What I conceiue in my mynde of these thynges I am not able to expresse with penne or tongue I wil now therfore so make an end of this perpendiculer conclusion of the whole Decade as myndyng hereafter to search and geather euery thyng particulerly that I may at further leysure wryte the same more at large For Colonus the Admiral with foure ships and a hundred threescore and ten men appoynted by the kyng discouered in the yeere of Christe .1520 the lande oueragaynst the West corner of Cuba distant from the same about a hundred and thirtie leagues in the myddest of whiche tracte lyeth an Ilande called Guanassa From hence he directed his voyage backwarde toward the East by the shore of that coast supposyng that he shoulde haue founde the coastes of Paria but it chaunced otherwise It is sayde also that Vincencius Agnes of whom we haue spoken before and one Iohannes Daiz with diuers other of whose voyages I haue as yet no certayne knowledge haue ouerrunne those coastes but yf God graunt me lyfe I trust to knowe the trueth hereof and to aduertise you of the same Thus fare ye well The ende of the fyrst Decade The fyrst booke of the seconde Decade to Leo Bishop of Rome the tenth of that name of the supposed continent or firme lande SInce the tyme that Galeatius Butrigarius of Bononie and Iohannes Cursius of Florence most holy father came to the Catholique kyng of Spayne the one of your holinesse ambassage and the other for the affayres of his common wealth I was euer for the moste parte in theyr companye and for theyr vertues and wysedome had them in great reuerence And whereas they were greatlye geuen to studie and continuall reuoluing of diuers auctours they chaunced vpon certayne bookes negligently let slyppe out of my handes entreatyng of the large landes and regions hytherto lying hyd and almost West Antipodes founde of late by the Spanyardes Yet being allured and delyted with the newnesse and straungenesse of the matter although rudely adourned they commended the same therewith earnestly desyryng me in theyr owne names and requiring me in the name of your holynesse to adde hereunto al such thynges as were founde after that tyme and to geue them a copie therof to sende to your holynesse that you myght thereby vnderstande both howe great commodities is chaunced to the progenie of mankynde as also encrease of the millitant congregation in these our dayes by the fortunate enterpryses of the kynges of Spayne For lyke as rased and vnpaynted tables are apte to receiue what fourmes soeuer are fyrst drawen thereon by the hande of the paynter euen so these naked and simple people doo soone receyue the customes of our religion and by conuersation of our men shake of theyr fierce and natiue barbarousnesse I haue thought it good therfore to satisfie the request of these wyse men espetially vsyng thaucthorytie of your name wherunto not to haue obeyed I shoulde esteeme my selfe to haue commytted a heynous offence Wherfore I wyll nowe briefly rehearse in order what hyd coastes the Spanyardes ouerran who were thaucthours therof where they rested what further hope they brought and finallye what greate thynges those tractes of landes do promyse in time to come In the declaration of my decade of the ocean which is nowe prynted and dyspersed throughout Chrystendome vnwares to me I described howe Christophorus Colonus founde those ilandes wherof wee haue spoken and that turnyng from thence towarde the left hande southward he chaunced into greate regions of landes and large seas dystant from the Equinoctiall lyne onely from fyue degrees to tenne where he founde brode ryuers and exceeding hygh mountaynes couered with snowe and harde by the sea bankes where were manye commodious and quyet hauens But Colonus being now departed out of this lyfe the kyng beganne to take care how those lands might be inhabited with Christian men to thincrease of our fayth Wheruppon he gaue lycence by his letters patentes to al such as would take the matter in hand and espetially to two wherof Diego Nicuesa was one the other was Alphonsus Fogeda Wherfore about the Ides of December Alphonsus departing fyrst with three hundred souldiers from the ilande of Hispaniola in the which we sayd the Spaniardes had builded a cytie planted theyr habitation saylyng in maner ful south he came to one of the hauens found before which Colonus named Portus carthaginis both because of the iland
there was a hauen not farre from thence and to prooue his sayinges true he gaue his felowes these tokens that is that they shoulde fynde vpon the shore an anker of a lost shyppe halfe couered with sande and vnder a tree next vnto the hauen a spryng of cleare water They came to the lande founde the anker and the spryng and commended the wytte and memorie of the young man that he onlye among manye of the Maryners which had searched those coastes with Colonus bore the thyng so well in mynde This hauen Colonus called Portus Bellus Where as in this voyage for lacke of vyttualles they were sometymes enforced to goe alande they were euyl entreated of thinhabitantes by reason whereof theyr strengthes were so weakened with hunger that they were not able to keepe warre against naked men or scarcely to beare their harnesse on theyr backes and therefore our men lost twentie of theyr companions which were slayne with venemous arrowes They consulted to leaue the one halfe of theyr felowes in the hauen of Portus Bellus the other part Nicuesa toke with hym towarde the East where about twentie and eyght myles from Portus Bellus he entended to buylde a fortresse harde by the sea syde vpon the poynt or cape whiche in tyme past Colonus named Marmor but they were so feeble by reason of long hunger that theyr strength serued them not to susteyne suche labour yet he erected a lytle towre able to resyst the fyrst assaulte of the inhabitauntes this towre he called Nomen Dei From the tyme that he left Beragua what in the iourney among the sandie playnes then also for hunger while he builded the towre of the fewe whiche remayned alyue he lost two hundred And thus by litle and lytle the multitude of seuen hundred fourescore and fyue men was brought nowe to scarcelye one hundred Whyle Nicuesa lyued with these fewe miserable men there arose a contention among them of Vraba as concernyng the Lieuetenantshyppe for one Vascus Nunnez by the iudgement of al men trustyng more to his strength then wit styrred vp certayne light felowes agaynst Ancisus saying that Ancisus had not the kyngs letters patentes for that office and that it was not sufficient that he was aucthorised by Fogeda and therefore forbode that he should execute the office of the Lieuetenauntshyp and wylled them to choose certayne of theyr owne companye by whose counsayle and aucthoritie they myght be gouerned Thus being diuided into factions by reason that Fogeda theyr captayne came not agayne whom they supposed to be nowe dead of his venemous wound they contended whether it were best to substitute Nicuesa in his place The wysest sort suche as were familier with Nicuesa could not beare the insolencie of Vascus Nunnez thought it good that Nicuesa shoulde be sought out throughout all those coastes for they had knowledge that he departed from Beragua because of the barrennesse of the grounde and that by the example of Ancisus and suche other as had made shypwracke it were possible that he myght wander in some secrete place and that they coulde not be quiet in theyr myndes vntyl they knewe the certayntie whether he with his felowes were aliue or dead But Vascus Nunnez fearyng lest at the commyng of Nicuesa he shoulde not be had in aucthoritie among his felowes sayd they were mad men to thynke that Nicuesa lyued and although he were alyue yet that they had no neede of his helpe for he auouched that there was none of his felowes that were not as meete to rule as Nicuesa Whyle they were thus reasonyng to and fro one Rodericus Colmenaris aryued in those coastes with two great shyppes hauyng in them threescore freshe men with great plentie of vyttualles and apparell Of the nauigation of this Colmenaris I entend to speake somewhat more He therfore departed from the hauen of Hispaniola called Beata where they prepare and furnyshe them selues whiche make any voyage into these landes about the Ides of October in the yeere .1510 and landed the .ix. of Nouember in a region in the large prouince of Paria founde by Colonus betwene the hauen Carthago and the region of Cuchibachoa In this voyage what by the roughnesse of the sea and fiercenesse of the barbarians he suffered many incommodities for when his freshe water fayled he sayled to the mouth of a certayne riuer which thinhabitantes cal Gaira beyng apt to receiue shippes This riuer had his course from the toppe of an exceedyng hygh mountayne couered with snowe hygher then the whiche al the companions of this captayne Rodericus say that they neuer sawe And that by good reason yf it were couered with snowe in that region which is not past ten degrees distant from the Equinoctial lyne As they began to draw water out of theyr shyp boate a certayne kyng made towarde them apparelled with vestures of gossampine cotton hauyng twentie noble men in his company apparelled also which thyng seemed straunge to our men and not seene before in those parties The kynges apparell hong loose from his shoulders to his elbowes and from the gyrdle downewarde it was much lyke a womans kyrtle reaching euen to his heeles As he drewe neere towarde our men he seemed freendly to admonyshe them to take none of the water of that ryuer affyrmyng it to be vnwholsome for men and shewed them that not farre from thence there was a ryuer of good water They came to the ryuer and endeuouryng to come neere the shore they were driuen backe by tempest Also the burbuling of the sand declared the sea to be but shalow there They were therefore enforced to returne to the fyrste ryuer where they myght safely cast anker This kyng layde wayte for our men for as they were fyllyng theyr barrelles he set on them with about seuen hundred men as our men iudged armed after theyr manner although they were naked for only the kyng and his noble men were apparelled They tooke away the shypboate and broke it in manner to chips so fiercely assaylyng our men with theyr venemous arrowes that they slue of them fourtie and seuen before they coulde couer them selues with their targets For that poyson is of such force that albeit the woundes were not great yet they dyed therof immediatly for they yet knewe no remedie agaynst this kynde of poyson as they after learned of the inhabitauntes of Hispaniola for this Ilande bryngeth foorth an hearbe which quencheth and mortifieth the violent poyson of the hearbe wherwith theyr arrowes are infected so that it be ministred in tyme. Yet of our companye whiche went for water seuen escaped that conflycte and hydde them selues in a hollowe tree lurkyng there vntyll nyght yet escaped they not the handes of theyr enimies for the shyppe departed from thence in the nyght season and left them there supposyng that they had ben slayne Thus by manye suche peryls and daungers which I lyghtly ouerpasse because I wyll
stay and went hym selfe alone to the toppe as it were to take the fyrst possession thereof Where fallyng prostrate vppon the grounde and raysing hym selfe againe vpon his knees as the maner of the Christians is to praye lyftyng vp his eyes and handes towarde heauen and directyng his face towarde the newe founde south sea he powred foorth his humble and deuout prayers before almightie God as a spirituall sacrifyce with thankes gyuing that it pleased his diuine maiestie to reserue vnto that day the victorie and prayse of so great a thyng vnto hym beyng a man but of smal wyt and knowledge of lytle experience and base parentage When he had thus made his prayers after his warlike maner he beckned with his hande to his companions to come to hym shewyng them the great mayne sea heretofore vnknowen to thinhabitants of Europe Aphrike and Asia Here agayne he fell to his prayers as before desyring almyghtie God and the blessed virgin to fauour his beginnynges and to geue hym good successe to subdue those landes to the glory of his holy name and encrease of his true religion All his companions dyd lykewyse and praysed God with loude voyces for ioy Then Vascus with no lesse manlye corage then Hanniball of Carthage shewed his souldiers Italye and the promontories of the Alpes exhorted his men to lyft vp theyr hartes and to beholde the lande euen nowe vnder theyr feete and the sea before theyr eyes whiche shoulde bee vnto them a full and iust rewarde of theyr great laboures and trauayles nowe ouerpassed When he had sayde these woordes he commaunded them to raise certaine heapes of stones in the stede of alters for a token of possession They descendyng from the toppes of the mountaynes least suche as myght come after hym shoulde argue hym of lying or falshood he wrote the kyng of Castels name here and there on barkes of the trees both on the ryght hande and on the left and raysed heapes of stones all the way that he went vntyll he came to the region of the next kyng towarde the south whose name was Chiapes This kyng came foorth agaynst hym with a great multitude of men threatnyng and forbyddyng him not only to passe through his dominions but also to goe no further Hereupon Vaschus set his battayle in aray and exhorted his men beyng nowe but fewe fiersly to assayle theyr enemies and to esteeme them no better then dogges meate as they shoulde be shortly Placing therefore the hargabusiers and masties in the forefroont they saluted kyng Chiapes and his men with such alarome that when they hard the noyse of the gunnes saw the flames of fire and smelt the sauour of brimstone for the wynde blewe towardes them they droue them selues to flyght with such feare lest thunderboultes and lyghtnynges folowed them that many fell downe to the ground whom our men pursuing fyrst keepyng theyr order and after breakyng theyr aray slue but fewe and tooke manye captyue For they determined to vse no extremitie but to pacyfie those regions as quietly as they myght Enteryng therfore into the pallace of kyng Chiapes Vaschus commaunded many of the captyues to be loosed wyllyng them to search out theyr kyng and to exhort hym to come thither and that in so doyng he woulde be his frend and profer hym peace besyde many other benefites But if he refused to come it shoulde turne to the destruction of hym and his and vtter subuertion of his countrey And that they myght the more assuredly do this message to Chiapes he sent with them certayne of the guides whiche came with hym from Quarequa Thus Chiapes beyng persuaded aswell by the Quarequans who coulde coniecture to what end the matter woulde come by thexperience whiche they had seene in them selues and theyr kyng as also by the reasons of his owne men to whom Vaschus had made suche frendly promises in his behalfe came foorth of the caues in the whiche he lurkâ—d and submitted hym selfe to Vaschus who accepted hym frendly They ioyned handes embraced the one the other made a perpetuall league of frendship and gaue great rewardes on both sydes Chiapes gaue Vaschus foure hundred poundes weyght of wrought golde of those poundes whiche they call Pesos and Vaschus recompenced hym agayne with certayne of our thynges Thus beyng made frendes they remayned togeather a fewe dayes vntyll Vaschus souldiers were come whiche he left behynde hym in Quarequa Then callyng vnto hym the guydes and labourers whiche came with hym from thence he rewarded them liberally and dismissed them with thankes Shortly after by the conduct of Chiapes hym selfe and certayne of his men departyng from the toppes of the mountaynes he came in the space of foure dayes to the bankes of the newe sea where assemblyng al his men togeather with the kynges scribes and notaries they addicted all that mayne sea with all the landes adiacent thereunto to the dominion and Empire of Castile Here he left part of his souldiers with Chiapes that he myght the easelier search those coastes And takyng with hym niene of theyr lyghters made of one whole tree whiche they call Culchas as thinhabitantes of Hispaniola cal them Canoas also a bande of fourescore men with certeyne of Chiapes men he passed ouer a great riuer and came to the regioÌ„ of a certeine king whose name was Coquera He attempted to resyst our men as dyd the other and with lyke successe for he was ouercome and put to flight But Vaschus who entended to winne him with gentelnes sent certeyne Chiapeans to hym to declare the great power of our men howe inuincible they were howe mercifull to such as submit them selues also cruell and seuere to such as obstinatly withstand them Promisyng hym furthermore that by the frendship of our men he might be wel assured by thexample of other not only to liue in peace and quietnes hym selfe but also to be reuenged of the iniuries of his enimies Wyllyng hym in conclusion so to weigh the matter that yf he refused this gentlenes profered vnto hym by so great a victourer he should or it were long learne by feelyng to repent hym to late of that peryll whiche he myght haue auoyded by hearyng Coquera with these wordes and examples shaken with great feare came gladly with the messengers bryngyng with him .650 Pesos of wrought golde whiche he gaue vnto our men Vaschus rewarded hym likewise as we sayd before of Poncha Coquera beyng thus pacified they returned to the pallace of Chiapes where visityng theyr companions and restyng there a whyle Vaschus determined to search the next great gulfe the whiche from the furthest reachyng thereof into the lande of theyr countryes from the enteraunce of the mayne sea they say to be threescore myles This they named saint Michaels gulfe whiche they say to be full of inhabited Ilandes and hugious rockes Entryng therefore into the niene boates of Culchas wherewith he passed ouer the ryuer
other hauyng in it but onely one kyng and hym of so great power that at suche tymes of the yeere as the sea is calme he inuadeth theyr dominions with a great nauie of Culchas spoylyng and cariyng away for a praye all that he meeteth This Ilande is distant from these coastes only twentie myles So that the promontories or poyntes thereof reachyng into the sea may be seene from the hylles of this continent In the sea neere about this Ilande sea muscles are engendred of such quantitie that many of them are as brode as bucklers In these are pearles founde beyng the hartes of those shell fysshes oftentymes as bygge as beanes somtymes bygger then Olyues and suche as sumptuous Cleopatra myght haue desyred Although this Ilande be so neere to the shore of this firme lande yet is the begynnyng thereof in the mayne sea without the mouth of the gulfe Vaschus beyng ioyful and mery with this rych communication fantasyng nowe in maner nothing but princes treasures beganne to speake fierce and cruell woordes against the tyrant of that Ilande meanyng hereby to wynne the myndes of the other kynges and bynde them to hym with a neerer bonde of frendeshyp Yet therefore raylyng further on hym with spytefull and approbrious woords he swore great othes that he woulde forthwith inuade the Ilande spoylyng destroying burnyng drownyng and hangyng sparyng neyther swoorde nor fyre vntyll he had reuenged theyr iniuries and therewith commaunded his Culchas to be in a redynes But the two kynges Chiapes and Tumaccus â–ª exhorted hym frendly to deferre this enterprise vntil a more quiet season bycause that sea was nor nauigable without great danger beyng nowe the begynnyng of Nouember Wherein the kynges seemed to saye true For as Vaschus hym selfe wryteth great roring of the sea was heard among the Ilands of the gulfe by reason of the ragyng and conflict of the water Great ryuers also descendyng from the toppes of the mountaynes the same tyme of the yeere and ouerflowyng theyr bankes dryuyng downe with theyr violence great rockes and trees make a marueylous noyse Lykewise the furie of the South and Northeast wyndes associate with thunder and lyghtnyng at the same season dyd greatly molest them Whyle the wether was fayre they were vexed in the night with colde and in the day tyme the heat of the Sonne troubled them wherof it is no marueyle forasmuche as they were neere vnto the Equinoctial line although they make no mention of the eleuation of the pole for in suche regions in the nyght the Moone and other colde planettes but in the day the Sonne and other hotte planettes doo cheefely exercyse theyr influence although the antiquitie were of an other opinion supposyng the Equinoctiall circle to bee vnhatable and desolate by reason of the heate of the Sonne hauyng his course perpendiculerly or directly ouer the same except a fewe of the contrary opinion whose assertions the Portugales haue at these dayes by experience proued to be true for they sayle yeerely to thinhabitantes of the south pole beyng in maner Antâ—podes to the people called Hyperborei vnder the North pole and exercise marchaundize with them And here haue I named Antipodes forasmuche as I am not ignorant that there hath ben men of singuler witte and great learnyng whiche haue denyed that there is Antipodes that is suche as walke feete to feete But it is most certaine that it is not geuen to any one man to knowe all thynges for euen they also were men whose propertie is to erre and be deceiued in many thynges Neuerthelesse the Portugales of our tyme haue sayled to the fyue and fyftie degree of the south pole where compassyng about the poynt therof they myght see throughout all the heauen about the same certeyne shynnyng whyte cloudes here and there among the starres lyke vnto them which are seene in the tract of heauen called Lactea via that is the mylke whyte way They say there is no notable starre neare about that pole lyke vnto this of oures which the common people thynke to be the pole of it selfe called of the Italians Tramontana and of the Spanyardes Nortes but that the same falleth beneath the Ocean WheÌ„ the Sonne descendeth from the myddest of the exiltree of the worlde from vs it ryseth to them as a payre of ballances whose weyght enclinyng from the equall payse in the myddest towarde eyther of the sydes causeth the one ende to ryse as much as the other falleth When therfore it is Autumne with vs it is spring tyme with them and sommer with vs when it is wynter with them But it suffiseth to haue sayde thus much of strange matters Let vs nowe therefore returne to the historie and to our men The seconde booke of the thyrde Decade VAschus by thaduice of king Chiapes and Tumaccus determined to deferre his voyage to the sayde Ilande vntyll the next spryng or sommer at which tyme Chiapes offered him selfe to accompany our men and ayde them therin al that he myght In this meane tyme Vaschus had knowledge that these kynges had nettes and fysshyng places in certeyne stations of that sea neare vnto the shore where they were accustomed to fyshe for sea muscles in the which pearles are engendred and that for this purpose they had certeyne dyuers or fysshers exercised from theyr youth in swimmyng vnder the water But they doo this onely at certeine tymes when the sea is calme that they may the eassier come to y e place where these shel fishes are wont to lye for the bygger that they are so much lye they the deeper neerer to y e bottome but the lesser as it were daughters to thother are neerer the brimme of the water likewise the least of al as it were their nieses are yet neerer to the superficial part therof To them of the byggest fort whiche lye lowest the fysâ—hers descende the depth of three mens heyght and somtyme foure but to the daughters or nieses as their succession they descende only to the mydde thygh Somtimes also after that the sea hath ben disquieted with vehement tempestes they fynde a great multitude of these fishes on the sandes beyng dryuen to the shore by the violence of the water The pearles of these which are founde on the sande are but lytle the fyshe it selfe is more pleasaunt in eatyng then are our oysters as our men report But perhaps hunger the sweete sause of all meates caused our men so to thynke Whether pearles be the hartes of sea muscles as Aristotle supposed or the byrth or spawne of their intrals as Plinie thought or whether they cleaue continually to the rockes or wander by companies in the sea by the guyding of the eldest whether euery fysshe bryng foorth one pearle or more at one byrth or at dyuers also whether they be fyled from the rockes wherunto they cleaue or may be easely pulled away or otherwyse fall of by them selues when they are come to theyr full
in deede they were Departyng therfore from the large region of Quiriquetana the .xiii. day of the calendes of September when he had sayled thyrtie leagues he found a ryuer within the mouth wherof he drewe freshe water in the sea where also the shore was so cleane without rockes that he founde grounde euery where where he myght aptly cast anker He writeth that the swift course of the Ocean was so vehement and contrary that in the space of fourtie dayes he coulde scarcely sayle threescore and tenne leagues and that with much dyfficultie with many fetches and compassynges fyndyng him selfe to be some tymes repulsed and dryuen farre backe by the violent course of the sea when he woulde haue taken lande towarde the euening leaste perhaps wanderyng in vnknowen coastes in the darcknesse of the nyght he myght be in daunger of shypwracke He wryteth that in the space of eyght leagues he found three great and fayre ryuers vpon the banckes whereof there grewe reedes bygger then a mannes thygh In these riuers was also great plenty of fyshe and great Tortoyses Lykewyse in many places multitudes of Crocodyles lying in the sande and yanyng to take the heate of the sonne besyde dyuers other kyndes of beastes wherunto he gaue no names He sayeth also that the soyle of that lande is verye diuers and variable beyng somewhere stonye and full of rough and craggie promontories or poyntes reachyng into the sea and in other places as fruitefull as may be They haue also diuers kynges and rulers In some places they call a kyng Cacicus in other places they call hym Quebi and somewhere Tiba Such as haue behaued them selues valyantlye in the warres agaynst theyr enemies and haue theyr faces full of scarres they call Cupras and honour them as the antiquitie dyd the gods whiche they called Heroes supposed to be the soules of suche men as in theyr lyfe tyme excelled in vertue and noble actes The common people they call Chiui and a man they call Homem When they say in theyr language take man they say Hoppa home After this he came to an other ryuer apt to beare great shippes before the mouth whereof lye foure small Ilandes full of floryshyng and fruitfull trees these Ilandes he named Quatuor tempora From hence sayling toward the East for the space of .xiii. leagues styl against the violent course of the water he found twelue other small Ilandes in the which because he founde a new kind of fruites much like vnto our Lemonds he called them Limonarâ—s Wanderyng yet further the same way for the space of .xii. leagues he founde a great hauen entryng into the lande after the maner of a gulfe the space of three leagues and in maner as brode into y e which fel a great riuer Here was Nicuesa lost afterward when he sought Beragua by reason whereof they called it Rio de los perdidos that is the ryuer of the lost men Thus Colonus the Admiral yet further continuyng his course agaynst the furye of the sea founde manye hygh mountaynes and horrible valleys with dyuers ryuers and hauens from all the which as he sayth proceeded sweete sauours greatly recreatyng and comfortyng nature Insomuche that in al this long tract there was not one of his men diseased vntyll he came to a region whiche thinhabitantes call Quicuris in the whiche is the hauen called Cariai named Mirobalanus by the Admirall bycause the Mirobalane trees are natiue in the regions thereabout In this hauen of Cariai there came about two hundred of thinhabitantes to the sea syde with euerye of them three or foure dartes in theyr handes yet of condition gentle yenough and not refusyng straungers Their commyng was for none other purpose then to knowe what this newe nation meant or what they brought with them When our men had geuen them sygnes of peace they came swymmyng to the shyppes and desyred to barter with them by exchaunge The Admiral to allure them to frendshyppe geue them many of our thynges But they refused them suspecting some disceyt thereby bycause he would not receiue theirs They wrought all by sygnes for one vnderstoode not a woord of the others language Suche gyftes as were sent them they left on the shore and woulde take no part thereof They are of suche ciuilitie and humanitie that they esteeme it more honorable to geue then to take They sent our men two young women beyng virgines of commendable fauour and goodly stature sygnifying vnto them that they myght take them away with them if it were their pleasure These women after the maner of their countrey were couered from their ancles somwhat aboue their priuye partes with a certayne cloth made of gossampine cotton but the men are all naked The women vse to cut their heare but the men let it growe on the hynder part of their heades and cut it on the fore part Their long heare they bynde vp with fyllettes and wynde it in sundry rowles as our maydes are accustomed to do The virgines whiche were sent to the Admirall he decked in fayre apparell and gaue them many gyftes and sent them home agayne But lykewyse all these rewardes and apparel they left vppon the shore bycause our men had refused their giftes Yet tooke he two men away with hym and those very wyllyngly that by learnyng the Spanyshe tongue he myght afterward vse them for interpretours He considered that the tractes of these coastes were not greatly troubled with vehement motions or ouerflowynges of the sea forasmuche as trees growe in the sea not farre from the shore euen as they doo vppon the bankes of ryuers the whiche thyng also other do affirme whiche haue latelyer searched those coastes declaryng that the sea ryseth and falleth but litle therabout He sayth furthermore that in the prospect of this land there are trees engendred euen in the sea which after that they are growen to any height bend downe the toppes of theyr braunches into the ground whiche embrasyng them causeth other braunches to spring out of the same and take roote in the earth bryngyng foorth trees in theyr kynd successiuely as dyd the fyrst root from whence they had theyr oryginall as do also the settes of vines when onely both the endes thereof are put into the grounde Plinie in the twelfth booke of his natural historie maketh mention of suche trees describyng them to be on the lande but not in the sea The Admiral wryteth also that the lyke beastes are engendred in the coastes of Cariai as in other prouinces of these regions and such as we haue spoken of before Yet that there is one founde here in nature muche differyng from the other This beast is of the bygnesse of a great Monkey but with a tayle much longer and bygger it lyueth in the wooddes and remoueth from tree to tree in this maner Hangyng by the tayle vppon the braunche of a tree and geatheryng strength by swaying her body twyse
of the hyghe mountaynes and nearenesse of the same to the region of the ayre wherein such fierie tempestes are engendred whiche the philosophers call Meteora And albeit that our men had nowe dryuen theyr enimies to flyght and sawe them disparcled and out of order yet doubted they and were of diuers opinions whether they shoulde pursue them or not On the one partie shame prycked them forwarde and on the other syde feare caused them to caste manye perylles especially consyderyng the venemous arrowes whiche these Barbarians can direct so certaynely To depart from them with a drye foote as sayth the prouerbe with so great a nauie and suche an armye they reputed it as a thyng greatly soundyng to theyr reproche and dishonour At the length therefore shame ouercommyng feare they pursued them and came to land with theyr ship boates The gouernour of the nauie also Vesputius do wryte that the hauen is no lesse then three leagues in compasse beyng also safe without rockes and the water therof so cleare that a man may see pybble stones in the bottome twentie cubits deepe They say lykewyse that there falleth two fayre ryuers of freshe water into the hauen but the same to be meeter to beare the Canoas of these prouinces then any bygger vessels It is a delectable thyng to heare what they tel of the plentie and varietie and also of the pleasaunt tast of the fyshes aswell of these ryuers as of the sea therabout By reason wherof they found here manye fysher boates and nettes woonderfully wrought of the stalkes of certayne hearbes or weedes dryed and tawed and wreathed with cords of spunne gossampyne cotton For the people of Caramairi Gaira and Saturma are very cunnyng in fisheyng and vse to sel fyshe to theyr borderers for exchaunge of such thynges as they lacke When our men had thus chased the Barbarians from the sea coastes and had now entred into theyr houses they assayled them with newe skyrmishes espetially when they sawe them fall to sacking and spoylyng and theyr wyues and chyldren taken captyue Their householde stuffe was made of great reedes whiche growe on the sea bankes and the stalkes of certayne hearbes beaten and afterwarde made harde The floores thereof were strewed with hearbes of sundry colours and the walles hanged with a kynde of tapstry artificially made of gossampine cotton and wrought with pictures of Lions Tygers and Eagles The doores of theyr houses and chambers were full of dyuers kyndes of shelles hangyng loose by small cordes that beyng shaken by the wynde they myght make a certayne rattelyng and also a whystelyng noyse by geatheryng the wynde in theyr holowe places for herein they haue great delyght and impute this for a goodly ornament Dyuers haue shewed me many wonderfull thynges of these regions especially one Conzalus Fernandus Ouiedus beyng one of the magistrates appoynted in that office which the Spanyardes call Veedor who hath also hytherto entred further into the lande then any other He affirmeth that he chaunced vppon the fragment of a Saphire bygger then the egge of a goose and that in certayne hylles where he trauayled with thirtie men he founde many of the pretious stones called Smaragdes Calcidones and Iaspers besyde great peeces of Amber of the mountaines He also with diuers other do affirme that in the houses of some of the Canibales of these regions they found the like precious stones set in gold and inclosed in tapstry or arras if it may so be called wherewith they hang theyr houses The same land bryngeth foorth also many wooddes of brasile trees and great plentie of golde in so much that in maner in al places they founde on the sea bankes on the shores certayne marchasites in token of golde Fernandus Ouiedus declareth furthermore that in a certayne region called Zenu lying fourescore and tenne myles from Dariena Eastwarde they exercise a straunge kynde of marchaundize For in the houses of the inhabitantes they founde great chestes and baskets made of the twigges and leaues of certayne trees apte for that purpose being all ful of Grassehoppers Grylles Crabbes or Crefyshes Snayles also and Locustes whiche destroye the fieldes of corne al well dryed and salted Beyng demaunded why they reserued suche a multitude of these beastes they answeared that they kept them to be solde to theyr borderers whiche dwell further within the lande and that for the exchange of these pretious byrdes and salted fyshes they receiued of them certayne strange thynges wherein partly they take pleasure and partly vse them for theyr necessary affayres These people dwell not togeather but scattered here and there Thinhabitantes of Caramairi seeme to dwel in an earthly Paradise theyr region is so fayre and fruitefull without outragious heate or sharpe colde with litle difference of the length of day and nyght throughout all the yeere After that our men had thus dryuen the Barbarians to flyght they entred into a valley of two leagues in breadth and three in length extendyng to certayne fruitefull mountaynes full of grasse hearbes and trees at the rootes whereof lye two other valleis towarde the ryght hande and the leaft through eyther of the whiche runneth a fayre ryuer wherof the ryuer of Caira is one but vnto the other they haue yet geuen no name In these valleys they found many fayre gardens and pleasaunt feeldes watered with trenches distributed in marueylous order with no lesse art then our Insubrians and Hetrurians vse to water their feeldes Theyr common meate is Ages Iucca Maizium Battata with suche other rootes and fruites of trees and also such fyshe as they vse in the Ilandes and other regions of these prouinces They eate mans fleshe but seldome because they meete not oftentymes with strangers except they goe foorth of theyr one dominions with a mayne army of purpose to hunt for men when theyr rauenyng appetite pricketh them forwarde For they abstayne from them selues and eate none but suche as they take in the warres or otherwyse by chaunce But suerly it is a miserable thyng to heare howe many myriades of men these fylthy and vnnaturall deuourers of mens fleshe haue consumed and lefte thousandes of most fayre and fruitefull Ilandes and regions desolate without men by reason whereof our men founde so manye Ilandes whiche for theyr fayrenes and fruitefulnesse myght seeme to be certayne earthly Paradyses and yet were vtterly voyde of men Hereby your holynesse may consider howe pernitious a kynde of men this is We haue sayde before that the Ilande named Sancti Iohannis which thinhabitants cal Burichena is next to Hispaniola It is sayde that only the Canibales which dwel in the other Ilandes neere about this as in the Ilande called Hayhay or Sansta Crucis and in Guadalupea otherwyse called Queraqueiera or Carucuiera haue in our tyme violently taken out of the sayde Ilande of Sancti Iohannis more then fyue thousande men to be eaten But let it suffice thus muche to haue wandered
Cabot is my very frend whom I vse famâ—lierlye and delyte to haue hym sometymes keepe me company in my owne house For beyng called out of Englande by the commaundement of the catholique kyng of Castile after the death of Henry kyng of Englande the seuenth of that name he was made one of our counsayle and assistaunce as touching the affayres of the new Indies lookyng dayly for shyppes to be furnished for hym to discouer this hyd secret of nature This voyage is appoynted to be begunne in Marche in the yeere next folowyng beyng the yeere of Christ .1516 What shall succeede your holynesse shal be aduertysed by my letters yf God graunt me lyfe Some of the Spaniardes denye that Cabot was the fyrst fynder of the lande of Bacallaos and affirme that he went not so farre westewarde But it shall suffice to haue sayde thus muche of the gulfes and strayghtes and of Sebastian Cabot Let vs nowe therfore returne to the Spaniardes At this tyme they let passe the hauen of Carthago vntouched with al the Ilandes of the Canibales there aboute whiche they named Insulas Sancti Bernardi leauyng also behind theyr backes al the region of Caramairi Heere by reason of a sodayne tempest they were caste vpon the Ilande Fortis beyng about fyftie leagues distant from the enteraunce of the gulfe of Vraba In this Iland they founde in the houses of thinhabitantes many baskettes made of certayne great sea reedes ful of salt For this Iland hath in it many goodly salt bayes by reason wherof they haue great plentie of salte which they sell to other nations for such thyngs as they stande in neede of Not farre from hence a great Curlew as bygge as a Storke came flying to the gouernours shyp and suffered her selfe to be easely taken whiche beyng carryed aboute among all the shyppes of the nauie dyed shortly after They sawe also a great multitude of the same kynde of foules on the shore a farre of The gouernours shyppe whiche we sayd to haue lost the rudder beyng now sore broosed and in maner vnprofytable they left behynde to folowe at leasure The nauie arryued at Dariena the twelfth day of the Calendes of Iuly and the gouernours shyppe beyng voyde of men was dryuen alande in the same coastes within foure dayes after The Spanyardes whiche now inhabited Dariena with theyr Captayne and Lieuetenaunt Vaschus Nunnez Balboa of whom we haue largelye made mention before beyng certifyed of the arriuall of Petrus Arias and his companye went foorth three myles to meete him and receiued him honorably and religiously with the psalme Te deum laudamus geuyng thankes to god by whose safe conduct they were brought so prosperously thyther to al theyr comfortes They receyued them gladly into theyr houses builded after the maner of those prouinces I may wel cal these regions Prouinces a Procul Victis that is such as are ouercome farre of forasmuche as our men do now inhabite the same al the barbarous kynges and Idolatours beyng eiected They entertayned them with such cheare as they were able to make them as with the fruites of those regions and new bread both made of rootes and the graine Maizium Other delicates to make vp the feast were of theyr own store which they brought with them in theyr ships as poudred flesh salted fyshe and bread made of wheat for they brought with them many barrelles of wheate meale for the same purpose Heere may your holynesse not without iust cause of admiration beholde a kynges nauye and great multitude of Christians inhabiting not only the regions situate vnder the cyrcle of heauen called Tropicus Cancri but also in maner vnder the Equinoctiall line contrary to the opinion of the olde wryters a fewe excepted But after that they are nowe mette togeather let vs further declare what they determined to do Therfore the day after that y e nauie arriued there assembled a company of Spanyards thinhabitours of Dariena to the nuÌ„ber of foure hundred and fiftie men Petrus Arias the gouernour of the nauy and his companye conferred with them both priuilie and openlye of certayne articles whereof it was the kynges pleasure he shoulde enquire and most especially as concernyng suche thynges wherof Vaschus the fyrst fynder and Admirall of the South sea made mention in his large letter sent from Dariena to Spayne In this inquisition they founde althyngs to be true whereof Vaschus had certified the king by his letters and therevpon concluded that in the dominions of Comogra Pocchorrosa Tumanama at the assignement of Vaschus certayne fortresses shoulde be erected foorthwith to thintent there to plant theyr colonie or habitation To the better accomplyshment hereof they sent immediatly one Iohannes Aiora a noble young gentleman of Corduba and vnder Lieuetenant with foure hundred men and foure Carauels and one other lytle shyp Thus departyng he sayled fyrst directly to the hauen of Comogrus distant from Dariena about twentie and fyue leagues as they wryte in theyr last letters From hence he is appoynted to send a hundred and fyftie of his foure hundred towarde the South by a newe and ryghter way founde of late by the whiche as they say it is not past twentie and syxe leagues from the pallace of kyng Comogrus to the entraunce of the gulfe of Sancti Michaelis The residue of the foure hundred shal remayne there to be an ayde and succour to al such as shall iorney to and fro Those hundred and fyftie whiche are assigned to go southward take with them for interpretours certain of our men which had learned the soothern language of the bondmen which were geuen to Vaschus when he ouerranne those regions and also certayne of the bondemen them selues which had nowe learned the Spanyshe tongue They say that the hauen of Pocchorrosa is only seuen leagues distant from the hauen of Comogrus In Pocchorrosa he is assigned to leaue fyftie men with the lightest ship which may be a passinger betwene them that like as we vse post horses by land so may they by this currant shyp in short space certifie the Lieuetenaunt and thinhabitours of Dariena of such thynges as shal chaunce They entend also to build houses in the region of Tumanama The pallace of king Tumanama is distant froÌ„ Pocchorrosa about twenty leagues Of these foure hundred men beyng of the olde souldiers of Dariena men of good experience fyftie were appointed to be as it were Decurians to guide and conduct the new men from place to place to do theyr affayres When they had thus set all thynges in order they thought it good to aduertyse the kyng hereof and therwith to certyfye hym that in those prouinces there is a kyng named Dabaiba whose dominion is verye ryche in gold but the same to be yet vntouched by reason of his great power His kyngdome ioyneth to the second great ryuer named Dabaiba after his name whiche falleth into the sea out
had been that attempted the first voyage the yeere before At the fyrst they were gentlye receiued and required to resort to the towne but shortly after they repented that they had bydden them and thereupon willed them to stay about a stones cast from the towne and to proceede no further When our men desired that they myght make prouision for freshe water before theyr departure they assigned them to a certayne well whiche they had left behynde them declaring further that it shoulde be lawfull for them to take water there or els no where Our men rested that nyght in the feelde adioyning to the well the whiche thyng the Barbarians suspectyng assembled an army of three thousand men and encamped not farre from them Both partes passed a way the nyght without sleepe they fearyng lest our men shoulde breake into the towne and our men lest the Barbarians shoulde inuade them sodenly on the one part with Trumpettes and on the other syde with the noyse of Tymbrels kept them styll wakyng that were disposed to sleepe At the spryng of the day the Barbarians approched to our mens campe and called for the interpretours of Cuba whose language is much agreable vnto theirs They had deuised to lyght a Torche of franckensence and to place the same betweene both the armies to the intent that yf our men dyd not depart before the Torche were consumed to stand to theyr peryll The Torche was wasted and the matter came to hand strokes They slue only one of our men with an arrowe because his Target failed him but many were wounded After this conflict our men resorted to theyr ordinaunce whiche they had planted neere vnto the wel When they had discharged certayne peeces the Barbarians fled backe into the towne and our men were of fierse and greedie courrage to haue pursued them but that Grisalua the gouernour would not suffer them From thence they proceeded to the last ende of Iucatana which they founde to reach more then two hundred myles from the East to the West Here they founde a commodious hauen and named it Portus desideratus From hence they sailed to other landes came to the region next to Iucatana Westward which they doubt whether it be an Iland or part of the fyrme lande but thinke it rather to be annext to y e continēt in this there is a gulfe whiche they suppose to be incompassed with both the landes but of this there is no certentie The inhabitauntes call this region Caluacam or otherwise Oloan. They found here also a great riuer whiche by his violent course and fall driueth freshe water two myles into the sea this they called Grisalua after the name of the gouernour The Barbarians marueylyng at the huge greatnesse and mouing of our shyps came swarmyng on the bankes of both sydes the riuer to the number of syxe thousande men armed with targettes and brest plates of golde bowes and arrowes brode swoordes of heauie wood and long iauelyns hardened at the endes with fyre Thus standyng in battayle raye to defende theyr coastes and with proude countenaunces forbyddyng our men to come alande both parties watched all that nyght in armes In the dawne of they daye our men espyed about a hundred Canoas whiche we haue sayde to bee theyr boates full of armed men Here also the language of thinterpretours of Cuba agreed well yenough with theirs When they had admitted the peace profered them by thinterpretours al the Canoas staied except one which approched towarde the shyppes A certayne ruler that was in this Canoa demaunded of our men what they sought in other mens landes They answeared Gold and that for permutation of other ware and not of gift or violently The Canoa returned and the ruler certified the king hereof who came gladly to the shippes When he had saluted the gouernor he called his chamberlaine vnto him commaundyng hym to bryng his armur and other ornamentes of gold wherewith he armed Grisalua from the toppe of the head to the sole of the foote insomuche that what so euer any man of armes armed at all partes is among vs accustomed to weare of Iron or steele when he commeth into the fielde all such kynde of furnitures made of golde and wrought with woonderfull art the kyng gaue to the gouernour He recompenced hym with vestures of sycke cloth lynnen and other of our thynges In the begynnyng of this Iucatana when they sayled to Cozumella they chaunced vpon a Canoa of fishermen to the number of niene fyshyng with hookes of golde they tooke them all prysoners One of them was knowen to this kyng who promysed the day folowyng to send the gouernour as much gold for his raunsome as the man hym selfe waighed But the gouernour denied that he could release hym without the consent of his felowes and therefore kept hym styll to proue what he coulde further knowe of hym Departyng from hence and saylyng styll westwarde they founde a great gulfe in the which three small Ilandes were situate Of these they went to the byggest But oh abhominable crueltie oh most corrupted myndes of men and diuilyshe impietie Let euery godly man close y e mouth of his stomake lest he be disturbed They offer young chyldren of both kyndes to their Idoles of marble earth Among their Idoles of marble there standeth a Lion hauyng a hole through the necke into the whiche they poure the blood of the miserable sacrifyce that it may from thence runne downe into a syncke of marble Let vs nowe declare with what ceremonies they sacrifice the blood of these poore wretches They cut not theyr throtes but open the very brestes of these seelye soules and take out theyr hartes yet pantyng with the hot blood whereof they annoynt the lippes of theyr Idoles and suffer the resydue to fall into the syncke This doone they burne the harte and bowels supposyng the smoke thereof to be acceptable to theyr goddes Of theyr Idoles one is made to the shape of a man bowyng downe his head and lookyng towarde the syncke of blood as it were acceptyng the offeryng of the slayne sacrifyce They eate the fleshe of the armes thyghes and legges especially when they sacrifice an enimie taken in the warres They founde a streame of coniealed blood as though it had runne from a boochery For this mischeuous purpose they bring these wretches from the next Ilandes They sawe also innumerable heades and trunkes of bodies thus mangled besyde many other yet remainyng whole and couered with certayne mattes Al the tractes of these regions abound with gold and pretious stodes One of our men wandryng in the Ilande chaunced to fynde two water pottes of alabaster artificially wrought and full of litle stones of dyuers colours They say also that they founde a stone of the value of two thousande Castellans of golde which the sent to the gouernour This Iland they named the Iland of sacrifice Thinhabitauntes are circumcised There
northerne lande but suche a one that ether is not to be traueyled for the causes in the first Obiection alleaged or cleane shut vp from vs in Europe by Groenland the South ende whereof Moletius maketh firme lande with America the north parte continent with Lapponlande and Norway Thyrdly the greatest fauourers of this voyage can not deny but that if any such passage be it lyeth subiect vnto Yse and snow for the most parte of the yeere whereas it standeth in the edge of the frostie zone Before the Sunne hath warmed the ayre and dissolued the Yse eche one well knoweth that there can bee no saylyng the Yse once broken through the continuall abode the Sunne maketh a certayne season in those partes how shall it be possible for so weake a vessell as a shyppe is to holde out amyd whole Ilandes as it were of Yse continually beatyng on eche syde and at the mouth of that goulphe issuyng downe furiously from the North safely to passe whan whole mountaynes of Yse and Snow shal be tombled downe vpon her Wel graunt the west Indies not to continue continent vnto the Pole graunt there be a passage betwyxt these two landes let the goulph lye neare vs than commonly in cardes we fynde it set namely betwyxt the .61 .64 degrees north as Gemma Frisius in his Mappes and Globes imagineth it and so left by our countriman Sebastian Cabote in his table the which my good Lorde your father hath at Cheynies and so tryed this last yeere by your Honours seruaunt as hee reported and his carde and compasse doe witnesse Let the way bee voyde of all difficulties yet doeth it not folowe that we haue free passage to Cathayo For examples sake You may trende all Norway Finmarke and Lapponlande and than bow Southwarde to sainct Nicolas in Moscouia you may lykewyse in the Mediterranean sea fetche Constantinople and the mouth of Tanais yet is there no passage by sea through Moscouia into Pont Euxine now called Mare Maggiore Agayne in the aforesayde Mediterranean sea we sayle to Alexandria in Egypt the Barbares bryng theyr pearle and spices from the Moluccaes vp the read sea and Arabian goulph to Sues scarsely three dayes iourney from the aforesayde hauen yet haue we no way by sea from Alexandria to the Moluccaes for that Isthmos or litle streicte of lande betwyxt the two seas In lyke maner although the northerne passage bee free at .61 degrees latitude and the West Ocean beyonde America vsually called Mar del zur knowen to be open at .40 degrees eleuation for the Ilande Giapan yea .300 leagues northerly aboue Giapan yet may there bee lande to hynder the through passage that way by sea as in the examples aforesayde it falleth out Asia and America there beyng ioyned togeather in one continent Ne can this opinion seeme altogeather friuolous vnto any one that diligently peruseth our Cosmographers doynges Iosephus Moletius is of that mynde not onely in his playne hemispheres of the worlde but also in his sea carde The French Geographers in lyke maner bee of the same opinion as by their Mappe cut out in fourme of a harte you may perceyue as though the West Indyes were parte of Asie Whiche sentence well agreeth with that olde conclusion in the scholes Quidquid praeter Africam et Europam est Asia est Whatsoeuer land doeth neyther appertayne vnto Afrike nor to Europe is parte of Asie Furthermore it were to small purpose to make so long so paynefull so doubtfull a voyage by such a new founde way if in Cathayo you should neyther be suffred to lande for silkes and siluer nor able to fetche the Molucca spices and pearle for piracye in those seas Of a lawe denying all Aliens to enter into China and forbiddyng all the inhabiters vnder a great penaltie to let in any stranger into that countreys shall you reade in the report of Galeotto Perera there imprisoned with other Portugalles as also in the Giaponyshe letters howe for that cause the woorthie traueyler Xauierus bargayned with a Barbarian Marchaunt for a great sum of Pepper to be brought into Cantan a porte in Cathayo The great and daungerous piracie vsed in that seas no man can be ignorant of that listeth to reade the Giaponishe and East Indian historie Finally all this great labour would bee lost all these charges spent in vayne if in the ende our traueylers myght not be able to returne agayne and bryng safely home into theyr owne natyue countrey that wealth and ryches they in forreyne regions with aduenture of goodes and daunger of theyr lyues haue sought for By the Northeast there is no way the Southeast passage the Portugalles doe hold as Lordes of that seas At the Southwest Magellanus experience hath partly taught vs and partly we are persuaded by reason howe the Easterne currant stryketh so furiously on that streicte and falleth with such force into that narrow goulphe that hardely any shyppe can returne that way into our West Ocean out of Mar del zur The which if it be true as truly it is than may we say that the aforesayde Easterne currant or leuant course of waters continually folowyng after the heauenly motions looseth not altogeather his force but is doubled rather by an other currant from out the Northeast in the passage betwyxt America and the North lande whyther it is of necessitie carryed hauyng none other way to maintaine it selfe in circular motion and consequently the force and fury thereof to be no lesse in the streict of Aniaâ— where it striketh South into Mar del zur beyond America if any such streicte of sea there be than in Magellane frete both streictes beyng of lyke breadth as in Belognine Zalterius table of new France and in Don Diego Hermano di Toledo his carde for nauigation in that region we doe fynde precisely set downe Neuerthelesse to approue that there lyeth a way to Cathayo at the Northwest from out of Europe we haue experyence namely of three brethren that went that iourney as Gemma Frisius recordeth and left a name vnto that streicte whereby nowe it is called Fretum trium Fratrum We do reade againe of a Portugal that passed this streicte of whom M. Furbisher speaketh that was imprisoned therefore many yeeres in Lesbona to veryfie the olde Spanyshe prouerbe I suffer for doyng wel Likewise An. Vrdaneta a fryer of Mexico came out of Mar del zur this way into Germanie his Carde for he was a great discouerer made by his owne experience and trauayle in that voyage hath been seene by gentelmen of good credite Now yf the obseruation and remembrance of thyngs breedeth experience and of experience proceedeth art and the certeine knowledge we haue in al faculties as y e best Philosophers that euer were do affyrme truly the voyage of these aforesayd trauaillers that haue gone out of Europe into Mar del zur and returned thence at the Northwest doo moste euidently conclude that way to be nauigable and that
requisite for theyr Nauie There stayed Balthasar Gagus a great traueyler fiue monethes who describeth that place after this maner Ainan is a goodly countrey full of Indishe fruites and all kynde of victualles besydes great store of Iuelles and pearle well inhabited the â—ownâ—s buylte of stone the people rude in conditions apparelled 〈◊〉 diuersly coloured rugges with two Oxe hornes as it 〈◊〉 made of fyne cypres hangyng downe about theyr 〈◊〉 and a payre of sharpe cyzers at theyr foreheades The cause wherefore they goe in suche attyre I could not vnderstande except it be for that they doe counterfaite the deuyll in the fourme of a bruite beast offeryng to him vp them selues Santianum is an Isle neare vnto the hauen Cantan in the confines lykewyse of China famous for the death of that woorthie traueyler and godly professour and paynefull doctor of the Indyshe nation in matters concernyng religion Francis Xauier who after great labours many iniuries and calamities infinite suffred with much pacience singular ioye and gladnesse of mynd departed in a cabben made of bowes and rushes vppon a desarte mountayne no lesse voyde of all worldly commodities than endued with all spirituall blessinges out of this lyfe the seconde day of December the yeere of our Lorde .1552 after that many thousandes of these Easterlynges were brought by him to the knowledge of Christ. Of this holy man his perticular vertues and specially traueyle and wonderfull workes in that region of other many litle Isles yet not so litle but that they may ryght well be written of at leasure all the later histories of the Indyshe regions are full FINIS Of the Northeast frostie Seas and kyngdoms lying that way declared by the Duke of Moscouia his ambassadour to a learned Gentleman of Italie named Galeatius Butrigarius likewise of the viages of that worthie old man Sebastian Cabote sometymes gouernour of the companie of the Merchantes of Cathay in the Citie of London IT is doubtlesse a marueilous thyng to consyder what changes and alterations were caused in all the Romane Empyre by the Gothes and Vandales and other Barbarians into Italy For by their inuations were extinguyshed all artes and sciences and all trades of Merchandies that were vsed in dyuers partes of the worlde The desolation and ignoraunce whiche insued hereof continued as it were a cloude of perpetuall darkenesse among men for the space of foure hundred yeeres and more insomuche that none durst aduenture to goe any whyther out of theyr owne natiue countreys whereas before the incursions of the sayde Barbarians when the Romane Empyre floryshed they myght safely passe the seas to all partes of East India whiche was at that tyme as well knowen and frequented as it is nowe by the nauigations of the Portugales And that this is true it is manifest by that whiche Strabo wrytteth who was in the tyme of Augustus and Tiberius For speakyng of the greatnesse and ryches of the citie of Alexandria in Egypt gouerned then as a prouince of the Romanes he wryteth thus This onely place of Egypt is apte to receyue all thynges that come by sea by reason of the commoditie of the hauen and lykewyse all suche thynges as are brought by lande by reason of the ryuer of Nilus whereby they may bee easely conueyed to Alexandria beyng by these commodities the rychest citie of merchauntes that is in the worlde The reuenues of Egypt are so great that Marcus Tullius sayth in one of his orations that kyng Ptolomeus surnamed Auleta the father of queene Cleopatra had of reuenues twelue thousande and fyue hundred talentes whiche are seuen millions and a halfe of golde If therefore this kyng had so great reuenues when Egypt was gouerned of so fewe and so negligently what myght it then be woorth to the Romanes by whom it was gouerned with great diligence and theyr trade of merchandies greatly increased by the traffike of Trogloditica and India wheras in tyme past there coulde hardly be founde .xx. shyppes togeather that durst enter into the gulfe of Arabie or shewe theyr prowesse without the mouth of the same But at this present great nauies sayle togeather into India and to the furthest partes of Ethiope from whence are brought many rich and pretious merchandies into Egypt and are caried from thence into other countreys And by this meanes are the customes redoubled aswel by such thynges as are brought thither as also by suche as are caryed from thence forasmuche as great customes aryse of thinges of great value And that by this voyage infinite and pretious merchaundies were brought from the redde sea and India and those of dyuers other sortes then are knowen in our tyme it appeareth by the fourth volume of the ciuile lawe wherein is described the commission of Themperours Marcus and Commodus with the rehearsall of al such stuffe and merchandies wherof custome shoulde be payde in the redde sea by suche as had the same in fee farme as were payde the customes of all other prouinces partaynyng to the Romane Empyre and they are these folowyng Cinamome Long pepper Whyte pepper Cloues Costus Cancomo Spikenarde Cassia Sweete perfumes Xilocassia Myr. Amome Ginger Malabatrum Ammoniac Galbane Lasser Agarike Gumme of Arabie Cardamome Xilocinamome Carpesio Sylkes of diuers sortes Lynnen cloth Skynnes and Furres of Parthia and Babylon Iuorie Wood of Heben Pretious stones Pearles Iewelles of Sardonica Ceraunia Calamus Aromaticus Berille Cilindro Slaues Cloth of Sarmatia The sylke called Metaxa Uestures of sylke Died cloth and sylke Carbasei Sylke threede Gelded men Popingayes Lions of India Leopardes Panthers Purple Also that iuyce or lyquour whiche is geathered of wooll and of the heare of the Indians By these woordes it doeth appeare that in olde tyme the said nauigation by the way of the red sea was wel knowen muche frequented perhaps more then it is at this present Insomuch that the ancient kynges of Egypt consyderyng the great profite of the customes they had by the viages of the red sea and wylling to make the same more easie commodious attempted to make a fosse or chanel which should begin in the last part of the said sea where was a citie named Arsinoe which perhappes is that that is nowe called Sues and shoulde haue reached to a branch of the riuer of Nilus named Pelusio whiche emptieth it selfe in our sea towarde the East about the citie of Damiata They determined also to make three causeys or hygh wayes by land which shoulde passe from the sayd branch to the citie of Arsinoe but they founde this too difficult to bryng to passe In fine king Ptolomeus surnanamed Philadelphus ordeyned another way as to sayle vppon Nilus agaynst the course of the riuer vnto the citie of Copto and from thence to passe by a desart countrey vntyl they come aboue the red sea to a citie named Berenice or Miosormo where they imbarked
in maner vnder the same qualitie of heauen persysted wyllyngly in the same opinion with more confidence then consideration of the thynges whereof we nowe intreate so lyghtly was that opinion receyued as touchyng the vnhabitable clime vnder the poles But we with better confidence and faith forasmuche as we are not instructed with coniectures intend to stande against the sentence of the olde autours affirmyng the North regions within the colde clime to be inhabited with herrynges coddes haddockes and brettes tunnyes and other great fyshes with thinfinite number whereof tables are furnyshed through a great parte of Europe All whiche are taken in the North sea extended beyonde our knoweledge This sea at certayne tymes of the yeere poureth foorth his plentifulnes or rather driueth foorth his increase to seeke newe mansions and are here taken in theyr passage Furthermore also euen the mouthes of the riuer of Tiber receiued a fyshe as a newe gest sent from the north sea this swamme twise through Fraunce and twise through Spayne ouerpassed the Ligurion and Tuscan sea to communicate her selfe to the citie of Rome The lakes also and ryuers of those regions are replenyshed with fyshe insomuch that no power of colde is able to extinguyshe thincrease of the yeere folowing and the succession reparable so many hundred yeeres And I plainely thinke that if it should of necessitie folowe that one of these two elementes the earth and the water should be destructiue to lyuyng creatures the water shoulde chiefely haue wrought this effecte But this is founde so tractable that in the depe wynter both that increase is brought foorth and fyshing is also exercised The lande is lykewise inhabited with like plentifulnesse But that we wander not to farre let the fayth hereof rest in thexposition folowing wherin we intend to declare howe by the power of nature and industry of man this commoditie may come to passe Therefore as touchyng nature we suppose that the diuine prouidence hath made nothyng vncommunicable but to haue geuen suche order to all thynges wherby euery thyng may be tollerable to the next The extremities of the elementes consent with theyr next The ayre is grosse about the earth and water but thynne and hot about the fyre By this prouidence of nature the vttermost sea is very salt And salt as witnesseth Plinie yeldeth the fattnesse of Oyle But Oyle by a certayne natyue heate is of propertie agreeable to fyre The sea then beyng al of such qualitie powreth foorth it selfe farre vpon thextreeme landes whereby by reason of the saltnesse thereof it moueth and stirreth vp generatiue heate as by fatnesse it norisheth the fecunditie of thynges generate It geueth this fruitefulnesse to the earth at certayne floods although the earth also it selfe haue in his inner bowels the same lyuely and norishing heate wherby not only the Dennes Caues and hollow places but also spryngs of water are made warme this so much the more in how muche the wynter is more vehement This thyng doth more appeare by this example that the mountaines of Norway and Swethlande are fruitfull of metales in the which siluer and copper are concoct and molten into veines â–ª which can scarcely by done in fornaces By this reason also the vapoures and hot exhalations pearsyng the earth and the waters and through both those natures breathyng foorth into the ayre temperateth the qualitie of heauen maketh it tollerable to beasts as witnesseth the huge bygnesse of the Whales in those seas with the strength of body and long lyfe of such beastes as lyue on the land which thyng coulde not be except all thyngs were there commodiously norished by the benefite of the heauen and the ayre For nothyng that in the tyme of encrease is hyndred by any iniurie or that is euyl fedde al the tyme it lyueth can prosper wel Neyther are such thynges as liue there offended with theyr natural wynter as though an Egiptian or Ethiopian were sodenly conueighed into those cold regions For they were in long tyme by litle and litle brought fyrst acquaynted with the nature of that heauen as maye be prooued both by the lyfe of man and by the hystorie of holy scripture They that were led from Mesopatamia and that famous Tower of Babilon towards the North partes of the worlde in the fyrst dispertion of nations did not immediately passe to the extreme boundes but planted theyr habitations first vnder a myddle heauen between both as in Thracia and Pontus where theyr posteritie was accustomed the better to susteyne the rigour of Scythia and Tanais as he that commeth from winter to sommer may the better after abyde yse and snow beyng fyrst hardened thereto by the frostes of Autumne In lyke maner mortal men accustomed to beare the hardnesse of places next vnto them were thereby at the length more confirmed to sustayne the extremities And here also if any sharpnesse remaine that may seeme intollerable nature hath so prouided for the same with other remedies For the land and sea hath geuen vnto beastes deepe and large Caues Dennes and other hollowe places and secreete corners in mountaynes and rockes both on the land and by sea banckes in the which are euer conteyned warme vapoures so muche the more intent and vehement in how much they are the more constrayned by extreeme cold Nature hath also geuen valleyes diuerted and defended from the North windes She hath lykewyse couered beastes with heare so muche the thycker in how much the vehemencie of cold is greater by reason wherof the best and richest furres are brought from those regions as Sables whose pryce is growne to great excesse next vnto gold and precious stones and are esteemed princely ornamentes The beasts that beare these furres are hunted cheefelye in winter whiche thyng is more strange because their heare is then thicker and cleaueth faster to the skin How greeuous then shal we thinke the wynter to be there where this litle beast liueth so wel and where the hunters may search the Dennes and hauntes of such beastes through the woods and snow But such beastes the condition of whose bodies is so tender that they are not able to abide thiniurie of the cold either lye hyd in winter or change their habitation as do certaine beasts also in our clime Nature hath furthermore geuen remedie to man both by art and industry to defende him selfe both abrode and at home Abrode with a thicke vesture and the same well dowbeled At home with large fyers on Harthes Chymneyes and in Stooues for the daye with close Chaumbers and Couches soft and warme Beddes for the nyght by whiche remedies they mittigate the wynters which seeme rigorous to straungers although they are to thinhabitantes more tollerable then our opinion as in deede by the fyrst naturall mixture or composition of theyr bodies such thyngs are agreeable to them as seeme very hard to other The Lion
and other great fyshes The nauigation is not open to this Iland but in sommer season and that only for the space of foure monethes by reason of the colde and Ise whereby the passage is stopped If any stryfe or debate aryse on the sea among the mariners for the commoditie of the hauen the gouernour of the place although he haue knowledge thereof yet doeth he not punyshe them forasmuche as it apperteyneth not to his office to decerne such thinges as are done on the sea but only on the lande Ships are there oftentymes in great peryll by reason of Whales such other monsters of the sea except the Mariners take good heede and keepe them far from the shyps with the noyse of Drummes and emptie barrels cast into the sea There are many Mynstrels and other that play on instruments with the sweete noyse wherof they vse to allure foules and fyshes to their nettes and snares Many also lye lurkyng in caues and dennes to auoyd the sharpnesse of cold as the Affricanes doe the lyke to defend them selues from the heate On the top of a certaine mountayne called Weyszarch lying betweene Island and Gruntland or Greonland is erected a shypmans quadrant of marueylous bygnesse made by two Pirates named Pinnigt and Pothorst in fauour of suche as sayle by those coastes that they may thereby auoyde the daungerous places lying towarde Greonland The myddest of the Ilande 7 0 65 30. The citie Harsol c. 7 40 60 42. Laponia THe region of Laponia was so named of the people that inhabite it For the Germanes call all suche Lapones as are simple or vnapte to thinges This people is of small stature and of suche agilitie of bodie that hauyng theyr quyuers of arrowes gerte to them and theyr bowes in theyr handes they can with a leape cast themselues through a circle or hope of the diameter of a cubite They fight on foote armed with bowes and arrowes after the maner of the Tartars They are exercised in hurlyng the darte and shootyng from theyr youth insomuche that they gyue theyr chyldren no meate vntyll they hyt the marke they shoote at as dyd in olde tyme thynhabitauntes of the Ilandes called Baleares They vse to make theyr apparell streight and close to theyr bodyes that it hynder not theyr woorke Theyr wynter vestures are made of the whole skynnes of Seales or Beares artificially wrought and made supple These they tye with a knotte aboue theyr heads leauyng onely two holes open to looke through and haue all the residue of theyr bodyes couered as though they were sowed in sackes but that this beyng adopted to all partes of theyr bodyes is so made for commoditie and not for a punyshment as the Romanes were accustomed to sow paricides in sackes of leather with a Cocke an Ape and a Serpent and so to hurle them alyue altogeather into the ryuer of Tyber And heereby I thynke it came to passe that in olde tyme it was rashly beleeued that in these regions there were men with rough heary bodyes like wylde beastes as parte made relation through ignoraunce parte also takyng pleasure in rehearsall of suche thinges as are straunge to the hearers The Lapones defended by this arte and industry goe abrode and withstand the sharpenesse of wynter and the North wyndes with all the iniuryes of heauen They haue no houses but certayne Tabernacles lyke tentes or hales wherewith they passe from place to place and chaunge their mansions Some of them lyue after the maner of the people of Sarmatia called in olde tyme Amaxobii which vsed waynes in the steade of houses They are much giuen to huntyng and haue suche plentie of wylde beastes that they kyll them in maner in euery place It is not lawfull for a woman to goe foorth of the tent at that doore by the which her husbande went out on huntyng the same day nor yet to touche with her hande any parte of the beast that is taken vntyll her husbande reache her on the spytte suche a portion of fleshe as he thynketh good They tyll not the grounde The region nourysheth no kynde of Serpentes yet are there great and noysome Gnattes They take fyshe in great plentie by the commoditie whereof they lyue after the maner of the Ethiopians called Ichthiophagi For as these drye theyr fyshe with feruent heate so doe they drye them with colde and grynde or stampe them to pouder as small as meale or floure They haue suche aboundaunce of these fyshes that they hourd great plentie thereof in certeyne store houses to carry them vnto other landes neare about them as Northbothnia and whyte Russia Theyr shyppes are not made with nayles but are tyde togeather and made fast with cordes and wythes With these they sayle by the swyft ryuers betweene the mountaynes of Laponia beyng naked in sommer that they may the better swymme in the tyme of perill and geather togeather such wares as are in daunger to be lost by shypwracke Parte of them exercyse handie craftes as imbroderyng and weauyng of cloth interlaced with golde and syluer Suche as haue deuised any necessary Arte or doe increase and amende the inuentions of other are openly honoured and rewarded with a vesture in the which is imbrodered an argument or token of the thyng they deuised And this remayneth to the posteritie of theyr famelie in token of theyr desartes They frame shyppes buylde houses and make dyuers sortes of housholde stuffe artificially and transporte them to other places neare about They buye and sell both for exchaunge of wares and for money And this only by consent of both parties without communication yet not for lacke of wytte or for rudenesse of maners but bycause they haue a peculiar language vnknowen to theyr borderers It is a valiant nation and lyued long free and susteyned the warres of Norway and Suetia vntyll at the length they submitted them selues and payde ryche furres for theyr tribute They chose them selues a gouernour whom they cal a kyng But the kyng of Suetia gyueth him aucthoritie and administration Neuerthelesse the people in theyr suites and doubtful causes resorte to Suetia to haue theyr matters decised In theyr iourneys they goe not to any Inne nor yet enter into any house but lye all nyght vnder the firmament They haue no horses but in the steade of them they tame certayne wylde beastes which they call Reen beyng of the iust bygnesse of a Mâ—le with rough heare lyke an Asse clouen feete and braunched hornes lyke a Harte but lower and with fewer antlettes They will not abyde to be rydden But when theyr peytrels or drawyng collers are put on them and they so ioyned to the Chariotte or steade they runne in the space of .xxiiii. houres a hundred and fyftie myles or .xxx. Schoenos the whiche space they affyrme to chaunge the horizon thryse that is thryse to come to the furthest signe or
passing from one to an other appeare in the similitude of a lyght candel They are a token of securitie bycause they are litle not slowe or grosse whereby they myght haue ioyned altogeather in one and been thereby more malicious and lasted longer whereas beyng many and but little they are the sooner consumed Hytherto Cardanus But let vs nowe returne to the vyage When they had sayled paste the Equinoctiall lyne they loste the sight of the North starre and sayled by the southwest vntyll they came to a lande named the lande of Bressil whiche some call Brasilia beyng .xxii. degrees and a halfe towarde the south pole or pole Antartike This lande is continuate and one firme lande with the cape of saint Augustine whiche is .viii. degrees from the Equinoctiall In this lande they were refreshed with many good fruites of innumerable kyndes and founde here also very good suger canes and diuers kindes of beasts and other thinges which I omit for breuitie They entered into this hauen on saint Lucies day where the Sunne being theyr Zenith that is the poynte of heauen directly ouer theyr heades they felte greater heate that day then when they were vnder the Equinoctial lyne This lande of Brasile is very large and great and bygger then all Spayne Portugale Fraunce and Italie and is most abundaunt in all thinges The people of this countrey pray to no maner of thyng but lyue by the instincte of nature and to the age of C.xx and C.xl. yeeres Both the men and women goe naked and dwell in certayne long houses They are very docible and soone allured to the Christian fayth Thirtiene dayes after that they arryued at the sayde porte they departed from this lande and sayled to the xxxiiii degree and a halfe towarde the pole Antartike where they founde a great ryuer of freshe water and certayne Caniballes Of these they sawe one out of theyr shyppes of stature as byg as a Giant hauing a voice like a Bull. Our men pursued them but they were so swyfte of foote that they coulde not ouertake them About the mouth of this riuer are seuen Ilandes in the byggest whereof they founde certayne precious stones and called it the cape of sainct Marie The Spanyardes thought that by this ryuer they myght haue passed into the South sea but they were deceyued in theyr opinion For there was none other passage then by the riuer which is .xvii. leagues large in the mouth Thus folowing this coaste by the tracte of the lande towarde the pole Antartike they came to a place where were two Ilandes replenished with Geese and Wolues of the sea which some thinke to be those fyshes that we call Pikes These were in such number that in an houre all the fyue shyppes might haue ben laden with Geese being all of blacke colour and such as can not flee They liue of fish and are so fatte that they could scarsely flay them They haue no feathers but a certayne downe and theyr bylles lyke Rauens bylles These Woolues of the sea are of dyuers colours and of the bygnesse of Calues with theyr heades of golden colour Here were they in great danger by tempest But as soone as the three fyres called sainct Helen sainct Nycolas and saint Clare appeared vppon the cables of the shyppes sodaynely the tempeste and furie of the wyndes ceassed Departyng from hence they sayled to the .49 degree and a halfe vnder the pole Antartike where beyng wyntered they were inforced to remayne there for the space of two monethes all which tyme they sawe no man excepte that one day by chaunce they espyed a man of the stature of a Giant who came to the hauen daunsing and singyng and shortly after seemed to cast dust ouer his head The Captayne sent one of his men to the shore with the shyppe Boate who made the lyke signe of peace The which thyng the Giant seeyng was out of feare and came with the Captaynes seruaunt to his presence into a little Ilande When he sawe the Captayne with certayne of his company about him he was greatly amased and made signes holdyng vp his hande to heauen signifying thereby that our men came from thence This Giant was so byg that the head of one of our men of a meane stature came but to his waste He was of good corporature well made in all partes of his bodie with a large visage painted with diuers colours but for the most parte yelow Uppon his cheekes were paynted two Hartes and red circles about his eyes The heare of his head was coloured whyte and his apparell was the skynne of a beast sowde togeather This beast as seemed vnto vs had a large head and great eares lyke vnto a Mule with the body of a Camell and tayle of a horse The feete of the Giant were foulded in the sayde skynne after the maner of shooes He had in his hande a bygge and shorte bowe the stryng whereof was made of a sinewe of that beaste He had also a bundell of long arrows made of Reedes feathered after the maner of ours typte with sharpe stones in the steade of Iron heades The Captayne caused him to eate and drynke gaue him many thinges and among other a great lookyng glasse In the which as soone as he sawe his owne lykenesse was sodaynly afrayde and started backe with suche violence that hee ouerthrewe two that stoode nearest about him When the Captayne had thus gyuen him certayne Haukes belles and other great belles with also a lookyng glasse a combe and a payre of beades of glasse he sent him to lande with foure of his owne men well armed Shortly after they sawe an other Giant of somewhat greater stature with his bowe and arrowes in his hande As hee drewe neare vnto our men he layde his hande on his head and poynted vp towarde heauen and our men dyd the lyke The Captayne sent his shyppe Boate to bryng him to a litle Ilande beyng in the Hauen This Giant was very tractable and pleasaunte He soong and daunsed and in his daunsing lefte the print of his feete on the grounde He remayned long with our men who named him Iohan. He coulde well speake and playnely pronounce these woordes Iesus Aue Maria Iohannes euen as we doe but with a bygger voyce The Captayne gaue him a shert of linnen cloth a coate of white woollen cloth also a cappe a combe a looking glasse with diuers such other thinges and so sent him to his company The day folowing he resorted agayne to the shyppes and brought with him one of those great beastes which he gaue the Captayne But after that day they neuer saw him more supposing him to be slayne of his owne company for the conuersation he had with our men After other .xv. dayes were past there came foure other Giantes without any weapons but had hyd theyr bowes and arrowes in certaine bushes The Captaine retayned two of these
the continuall warres they haue with the Tartars of whom the greatest parte gyue obedience to the sayd great Cam as to theyr chiefe Emperour He made also demonstration in the sayde carde by the Northeast that being past the prouince of Permia and the ryuer Pescora which falleth into the North sea certeine mountaines named Catena Mundi there is thentraunce into the prouince of Obdora whereas is Vecchiadoro and the ryuer Obo whiche also falleth into the sayde sea and it is the furthest border of Th empyre of the Prince of Moscouia The sayde ryuer hath his originall in a great lake called Chethai which is the fyrst habitacion of the Tartars that paye tribute to the great Cane And from this lake for the space of two moneths vyage as they were credybly informed by certayne Tartares taken in the warres is the most noble citie of Cambalu beyng one of the chiefest in the dominion of the great Cane whom some call the great Cham. He also affyrmed that if shyppes should be made on the coastes of the sayde sea and sayle on the backe halfe of the coast thereof which he knew by many relations made to his Prince to reach infinitely towarde the Northeast they should doubtlesse in folowyng the same easily discouer that countrey Unto these woordes he added that although there were great difficultie in Moscouia by reason that the way to the sayde sea is full of thicke woods and waters whiche in the sommer make great maryshes and impossible to be traueyled aswell for lacke of victuals whiche can not there be founde not for certayne dayes but for the space of certayne monethes the place beyng desolate without inhabitauntes neuerthelesse he sayde that if there were with his Prince onely two Spanyardes or Portugales to whom the charge of this viage should be committed he no wayes doubted but that they would folowe it and fynde it forasmuch as with great ingeniousnesse and inestimable pacience these nations haue ouercome much greater difficulties then are these whiche are but litle in comparison to those that they haue ouerpassed and doe ouerpasse in all their viages to India He proceeded declaryng that not many yeeres since there came to the courte of his Prince an Ambassadour from pope Leo named maister Paulo Centurione a Genuese vnder dyuers pretenses But the princypall occasion of his commyng was bycause hee had conceyued great indignation and hatred agaynst the Portugales And therfore intended to proue if he could open any vyage by land wherby spyces myght be brought from India by the lande of Tartaria or by the sea Caspium otherwyse called Hircanum to Moscouia and from thence to be brought in shyppes by the ryuer Riga which runnyng by the countrey of Liuonia falleth into the sea of Germanie And that his Prince gaue eare vnto him and caused the sayde vyage to be attempted by certaine noble men of Lordo of the Tartars confinyng next vnto him But the warres which were then betweene them and the great desartes which they should of necessitie ouerpasse made them leaue of theyr enterpryse whiche if it had ben purposed by the coastes of this our North sea it might haue been easily fynyshed The sayde Ambassadour continued his narration saying that no man ought to doubt of that sea but that it may be sayled sixe monethes in the yeere forasmuche as the dayes are then very long in that clime and hot by reason of continuall reuerberation of the beames of the Sunne and shorte nyghtes And that this thing were as well woorthie to bee prooued as anye other nauigation whereby many partes of the worlde heeretofore vnknowen haue been discouered and brought to ciuilitie And heere makyng an ende of this talke he sayde Let vs now omyt this parte of Moscouia with his colde and speake somewhat of that parte of the newe worlde in whiche is the lande of Brytons called Terra Britonum and Baccaleos or Terra Baccalearum where in the yeere .1534 and .1535 Iaques Cartiar in two vyages made with three great French Gallies founde the great and large countreys named Canada Ochelaga and Sanguenai which reach from the .xlv. to the .51 degree beyng well inhabited and pleasaunt countreys and named by him Noua Francia And here staying a while and lyftyng vp his handes he sayde Oh what doe the Christian princes meane that in suche landes discouered they doe not assigne certayne colonies to inhabite the same to bryng those people whom God hath so blessed with naturall giftes to better ciuilitie and to embrase our religion then the whiche nothing can bee more acceptable to God The sayd regions also beyng so fayre and fruitfull with plentie of all sortes of corne hearbes fruites wood fyshes beastes metals and ryuers of suche greatnesse that shyppes may sayle more then .180 myles vpon one of them beyng on both sydes infinitely inhabited And to cause the gouernours of the sayde colonies to searche whether that lande towarde the North named Terra de Laborador doe ioyne as one firme lande with Norway Or whether there bee any streight or open place of sea as is most lyke there should be forasmuch as it is to bee thought that the sayde Indians dryuen by fortune about the coastes of Norway came by that streight or sea to the coastes of Germanie and by the sayde streight to sayle northwest to discouer the landes and countreys of Cathay and from thence to sayle to the Ilandes of Molucca and these surely should bee enterpryses able to make men immortall The which thing that ryght woorthie Gentleman maister Antony di Mendoza consideryng by the singular vertue and magnanimitie that is in him attempted to put this thyng in practyse For being viceroy of the countrey of Mexico so named of the great citie Mexico otherwyse called Temistitan now called new Spayne beyng in the .xx. degree aboue the Equinoctiall and parte of the sayde firme lande he sent certeyne of his Captaines by lande and also a nauie of shyppes by sea to search this secrete And I remember that when I was in Flaunders in Themperours court I saw his letter wrytten in the yeere .1541 and dated from Mexico wherein was declared howe towarde the Northwest he had founde the kyngdome of Sette Citta that is seuen Cities wheras is that called Ciuola by the reuerende father Marco da Niza and howe beyonde the sayde kyngdome yet further towarde the Northwest Captayne Francesco Vasques of Coronado hauing ouerpassed great desartes came to the sea syde where he founde certaine shyppes which sayled by that sea with merchandies and had in theyr banner vppon the prooes of theyr shyppes certayne foules made of golde and siluer which they of Mexico call Alcatrazzi and that theyr mariners shewed by signes that they were xxx dayes saylyng in commyng to that hauen whereby he vnderstoode that these shyppes could be of none other countrey then of Cathay forasmuch as it is situate on
the contrary parte of the sayde lande discouered The sayd maister Antonie wrote furthermore that by the opinion of men well practised there was discouered so great a space of that countrey vnto the sayde sea that it passed .950 leagues whiche make .2850 myles And doubtlesse if the Frenche men in this theyr newe Fraunce would haue passed by lande toward the sayd Northwest and by North they should also haue founde the sea whereby they myght haue sayled to Cathay But aboue all thynges this seemed vnto me most woorthie of commendation that the sayde maister Antonie wrote in his letter that he had made a booke of al the naturall and marueylous thinges whiche they founde in searchyng those countreys with also the measures of landes and altytudes of degrees A worke doubtlesse which sheweth a princely and magnificall mynd wherby we may conceiue that if God had giuen him the charge of the other hemispherie he would or now haue made it better knowen to vs. The which thing I suppose no man doth greatly esteeme at this tyme beyng neuerthelesse the greatest and most glorious enterpryse that may be imagined And heere makyng a certayne pause and turnyng him selfe towarde vs hee sayde Doe you not vnderstande to this purpose howe to passe to India towarde the Northwest wynde as dyd of late a citizen of Uenece so valiant a man and so well practised in all thinges perteynyng to nauigations and the science of Cosmographie that at this present hee hath not his lyke in Spayne insomuche that for his vertues hee is preferred aboue all other pylottes that sayle to the West Indies who may not passe thyther without his lycence and is therefore called Piloto Maggiore that is the graunde pylote And when we sayde that wee knewe him not hee proceeded saying that beyng certayne yeeres in the citie of Siuile and desirous to haue some knowledge of the nauigations of the Spanyardes it was tolde him that there was in the citie a valiant man a Uenecian borne named Sebastian Cabote who had the charge of those thinges beyng an expert man in that science and one that could make cardes for the sea with his owne hande and that by this reporte seekyng his acquayntaunce hee founde him a very gentle person who enterteyned him friendly and shewed him many thinges and among other a large Mappe of the worlde with certayne perticular nauigations aswell of the Portugales as of the Spanyardes and that hee spake further vnto him in this effecte When my father departed from Uenece many yeeres since to dwell in Englande to folowe the trade of merchandyes hee tooke mee with him to the citie of London whyle I was very young yet hauing neuerthelesse some knowledge of letters of humanitie and of the sphere And when my father dyed in that tyme when newes were brought that Don Christopher Colonus Genuese had discouered the coasts of India wherof was great talke in all the court of kyng Henry the seuenth who then reigned insomuche that all men with great admiration affirmed it to be a thing more diuine then humane to sayle by the West into the East where spyces growe by a way that was neuer knowen before By which fame and report there increased in my harte a great flame of desyre to attempte some notable thyng And vnderstandyng by reason of the sphere that if I should sayle by the way of the Northwest wynde I should by a shorter tracte come to India I therevppon caused the kyng to bee aduertised of my diuise who immediately commaunded two Carauels to be furnyshed with all thinges apperteynyng to the vyage which was as farre as I remember in the yeere .1496 in the begynnyng of sommer Beginning therefore to sayle toward Northwest not thinking to fynde any other lande then that of Cathay and from thence to turne toward India But after certayne dayes I founde that the lande ranne towarde the North which was to me a great displeasure Neuerthelesse saylyng along by the coast to see if I could fynde any gulfe that turned I founde the lande styll continent to the .56 degree vnder our pole And seeyng that there the coast turned toward the East dispayring to fynde the passage I turned backe agayne and sayled downe by the coast of that lande towarde the Equinoctiall euer with intent to fynde the sayde passage to India and came to that parte of this firme lande whiche is nowe called Florida Where my victualles faylyng I departed from thence and returned into Englande where I founde great tumultes among the people and preparance for warres in Scotlande by reason whereof there was no more consideration had to this vyage Whervppon I went into Spayne to the Catholyke kyng and queene Elizabeth who beyng aduertised what I had done enterteyned mee and at theyr charges furnyshed certayne shyppes wherewith they caused mee to sayle to discouer the coastes of Brasile where I founde an exceedyng great and large ryuer named at this present Rio della Plata that is the ryuer of siluer into the whiche I sayled and folowed it into the firme lande more then sixe hundred leagues fyndyng it euery where very fayre and inhabited with infinite people whiche with admiration came runnyng dayly to our shyppes Into this ryuer runne so many other riuers that it is in maner incredible After this I made many other vyages whiche I now permyt And wexyng olde I gyue my selfe to rest from suche traueyles bycause there are nowe many young and lusty Pylotes and mariners of good experience by whose forwardnesse I doe reioyce in the fruites of my labours and rest with the charge of this office as you see And this is as muche as I haue vnderstoode of maister Sebastian Cabote as I haue geathered out of dyuers nauigations written in the Italian tongue And whereas I haue before made mention howe Moscouia was in our tyme discouered by Richarde Chanceler in his viage towarde Cathay by the direction and information of the sayd maister Sebastian who long before had this secrete in his mynd I shall not neede heere to describe that viage forasmuche as the same is largely and faythfully written in the Latine tongue by that learned young man Clement Adams schoolemaister to the Queenes Henshemen as he receyued it at the mouth of the sayd Richard Chanceler Neuerthelesse I haue thought good heere to speake somewhat of Moscouia as I haue redde in the booke of Iohn Faber written in the Latine tongue to the ryght noble Prince Ferdinando Archeduke of Austria and Infant of Spaine of the maners and religion of the Moscouites as he was partly instructed by the Ambassadours of the Duke of Moscouie sent into Spayne to Themperours maiestie in the yeere .1525 He wryteth therefore as foloweth I thynke it fyrst conuenient to speake somewhat of the name of this region whereby it is called at this day and howe it was called in olde tyme. Conferryng therefore the moste