The Life of Columbus / From His Own Letters and Journals and Other Documents of His Time

-SEARCH FOR GOLD-CUBA DISCOVERED

in the armed boat, with Martin Alonzo Pinzon and, Vicente Yanez, his brother, who was captain of the Nina. The Admiral unfurled the Royal Standard, and the captain's two standards of the Greek Cross, which the Admiral raised on all

ust give him their faith and witness how he took possession before all others, as in fact he did take possession of the said island for the king and the queen, his lord and l

d and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force, I gave to some of them red caps and glass bells which they put round their ne

many other things. And they bartered them with us for other things, which we gave them, such as little glass beads and little bells. In shor

y good faces; their hair thick like the hairs of horses' tails, and cut short. They bring their hair above their eyebrows, except a little behind, which they wear long, and never cut. Some of them paint themselves blackish (and they are of the color of

ish's tooth at the end, and some of them other things. They are all of good stature, and good graceful appearance, well made. I saw some who had scars of wounds in their bodies, and I made signs to them (to ask) what that was, and they

hat they could easily be made Christians, for it seems to me that they have no belief. I, if it please our Lord, will take six of them to your H

iral, says Las Casas. The journal

, but straight and coarse, like horse hair, and all with much wider foreheads and heads than any other people I have seen up to this time. And their eyes are very fine and not small, a

on of the country-and large enough for some of them to hold forty or forty-five men. And others are smaller, down to such as hold one man alone. They row with a shovel

r raft or float; h

, and other little things which it would be wearisome to write

their noses. And by signs I was able to understand that going to the south, or going round the island to the southward, there was a king there who ha

found land, call

gave the name of San

bt whether this is

aps. Of late years

the island thus di

island. In 1860 A

visited all these

anew, visiting the

o the account of Co

x the spot from whi

that the island of d

tling's island, but

subject is so curi

re length in

told me that there was land to the south and southwest and northwest, and that those from the north

ng can be given them unless they give something and do not keep it back. They take what they can, and at once jump (into the water) and swim (away). But all that they have they give for whatever is given them. For they barter even for pieces of porringus, and of broken glass cups, so that I

And there is found here also the gold which they wear hanging to their noses; but s

they all went ashore

saw two or three, and the people, who all were coming to the shore, calling us and giving thanks to God. Some brought us water, others things to eat. Others, when they saw that I did not care to go ashore, threw themselves into the sea and came swim

thanks to God, casting themselves on the ground, and raising their head

here is bottom and harbor for as many ships as there are in all Christendom, and its entrance very nar

which there were six houses, which could be cut off in two days so as to become an island; although I do not see that it is necessary, as this people is very ignorant of arms, as your Highnesses will see from seven whom I had taken, to carry them of

eautiful I have seen, and as green and full of leaves as tho

that they were without number, and they repeated by name more than a hundred. At last I set sail for the largest one, and there I determined to go. And so I am doing, and it will be five leagues from the island of San Salvador, and

had set sail, went on to a cape, near which he anchored at about su

pposed to be C

of San Salvador told me that there they wore very large rings of gold on their legs and arms. I think that all they said w

, Tuesday, when at the break of day I wen

the same condition as those of San Salvador, let us land

ea, took this boat, and made off; and the night before, at midnight, another jumped out. And the almadia went back so fast that there never was a boat which could come up

n. And some of the sailors threw themselves into the sea, because he did not wish to enter the caravel, and took him. And I, who was on the stern of the ship, and saw it all, sent for hi

to take the skein of cotton, though he wished to give it to me), all the others went to him and thought it a great wonder, and it seemed to them that we were good people, and that the other man, who had fled, had done us some harm, and that therefore we were carrying him off. And this wa

rying a little of their bread, as big as one's fist, and a calabash of water and a piece of red earth made into dust, and then kneaded, and some dry leaves, which must be a thing much valued among them, since at San Salvador they brought them to me as a present.(*) And he had a little basket of their sort, in which he ha

his perha

hat he may give good accounts of us, so that, if it please our Lord, when your Highness

near a town. Here the man had gone, who had been picked up the day before, and he had given such good accounts that all night long the ship had been boarded by almadias, bringing supplies. Columbus directed some trifle t

and the same customs, except that these seem to me a somewhat more domestic race, and mor

nd many of them which had branches of many sorts, and all on one trunk. And one branch is of one sort and one of another, and so different that it is the greatest wonder in the world. * * * One branch has its leaves like canes, and

so fine that there is no man who does not wonder at them and take great pleasure in seeing them. Also, there are whales. As for wild creatures on shore, I saw none of any sort, except parrots and lizards; a boy told me tha

found a fine harbor two leagues further on, where he found some friendly Indians, and sent a party ashore for water. "During this time," he says, "I went (to look at) these trees, which were the most beautiful things to see which have been seen; there was as much verdure in the same degree as in the month of May in Andalusia, and all the trees were as d

e very well swept and clean, and their beds and furniture (made) of things which are like n

are calle

they were not mean

ave no opening be

ound one man who had on his nose a piece of gold which was like half a castellano, on which there were cut letters.(*) I blamed them for not barga

s a piece of gold,

th of a

st and southeast. The weather being thick and heavy, and "threatening immediate rain

mself, with the Santa Maria, the SHIP, as he calls it, went to the southeast. He ordered the caravels to keep their courses till noon, and then join him. This they did

autiful Cape, "so green and so beautiful," he says, "like all the other things and lands of these islands, that I do not know where to go first, nor can I weary my eyes with seeing such beautiful verdure and so different from ours. And I believe that there are in them many herbs and many t

that whatever small quantity of it the king wore it would appear large to them, he decided to visit him the next day. He did not do

auty of the island, even greater than that of the others he had seen. "The singing of the birds," he says, "seems as if a man would never seek to leave this place, and the flocks of parrots which darken the sun, and fowls and birds of so many kind

s upon this island, which Las Casas says

them rallied, and one of them approached the visitors. Columbus gave him some little bells and glass beads, with

y a mistake in the manuscript for Cuba, which is what is meant. It continues, "and to that other island which they call Bosio" (probably Bohio) "and the others which are on the way, I will see

ear, and then for a favorable wind. "To sail round these islands," he says, "one needs many sorts of wind, and it does not b

go to it by the west-southwest, and I think so. For I think that if I may trust the signs which all the Indians of these islands have made me, and those whom I am carrying in the ships, for by t

ame the old geogra

rn and southern keys of the Grand Bank of Bahama. He anchored to the south of th

om those of Guinea, and from ours." He found the island the "most beautiful which eyes have seen, full of very good ports and deep rivers," and that apparently the sea is never rough there, as the grass grows down to the water's edge. This gree