FOOTNOTES
[III-1] The island known to-day as Hayti was named by Columbus Insula Hispaniæ, Island of Spain. On one of his maps it is called Insula Hyspaniæ, and on another Hyspana. By the early navigators and chroniclers the name was turned into Spanish and spoken and written La Isla Española, the Spanish Isle, or La Española. Hispaniola, as it is called at a later period by English authors, is neither Latin nor Spanish; it may be a syncope of the words Insula Hyspaniæ, or more likely it is a corruption of La Española by foreigners to whom the Spanish ñ was not familiar. The choice lies between the mutilation, Hispaniola, of English authors, and the correct but unfamiliar Española, and I adopt the latter.
[III-2] Usually two royal officers went out by each departure; a treasurer to take charge of the gold, and a notary to watch the treasurer and write down what was seen and done. The government was exceedingly strict in its regulations of discoveries by sea, as well as in all matters relative to commerce and colonization. Notice was given by Ferdinand and Isabella September 3, 1501, by Charles V. November 17, 1526, and by Philip II. in 1563, that no one should go to the Indies except under express license from the king. In 1526 Charles V. ordered that the captain of any discovering or trading vessel should not go ashore within the limits mentioned in his patent without the permission of the royal officers and priests on board, under penalty of confiscation of half the goods. The law of 1556 stipulates that ships must be properly equipped, provisioned for one year, always sail in pairs, and carry in each two pilots and two priests. In his ordenanzas de poblaciones of 1563 Philip II. directs that vessels making discoveries shall carry scissors, combs, knives, looking-glasses, rifles, axes, fishhooks, colored caps, glass beads, and the like, as means of introduction and traffic. Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias, ii. 6-7. In regard to the share of the crown in the gold gathered our popular writers seem to have found original authorities somewhat vague. It is clearly enough stated that settlers are to pay two thirds; the question is whether in relation to discoverers gold is included in products of which one tenth was to go to the crown, or whether the exception to a rule was unintentionally omitted. Mr Irving glides gracefully over the difficulty with the same degree of indefiniteness that he finds in the authorities. Mr Prescott states positively, History of Ferdinand and Isabella, ii. 488, that 'the ships fitted out under the general license were required to reserve ... two thirds of all the gold' for the crown, quoting Muñoz and Navarrete as vouchers, the words of neither justifying the statement. Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. 240, says, 'se concedió á todos generalmente, sin mas gravamen que pagar la décima de lo que se rescatase,' while Navarrete, Col. de Viages, ii. 167, printing the real provision itself, states simply 'es nuestra merced que de lo que las dichas personas hallaren en las dichas islas é tierra-firme hayan para sí las nueve partes, é la otra diezma parte sea para Nos.' The misstatement of the talented author of Ferdinand and Isabella is rendered all the more conspicuous when on the very next page quoted by him Muñoz settles the whole matter exactly contrary to Prescott's account. 'todos se permitió llevar víveres y mercancías, rescatar oro de los naturales contribuyendo al rey con la décima.' And after thus stating distinctly that all might trade with the natives for gold on paying one tenth to the crown, he gives the reason why miners must pay two thirds to the crown; or if the recipient of pecuniary aid from the crown, then four fifths; it was because of the supposed exceeding richness of the mines, the ease with which gold could be obtained; and, further, the dependence of the crown on its mines, more than on anything else for a colonial revenue. Prior to 1504 the regulation of the royal share was not fixed, some of the traders paying one tenth gross, some one fifth gross, and some one fourth net. Bobadilla, in 1500, granted twenty years' licenses to settlers in Española to work gold mines by paying only one eleventh to the crown. Summarizing the subsequent laws upon the subject, we find ordered by Ferdinand and Isabella, February 5, 1504, reiterated by Philip, 1572, that all dwellers in the Indies must pay to the crown one fifth of all gold, silver, lead, tin, quicksilver, iron, or other metal obtained by them; likewise traders were to pay one fifth of all gold, silver, or other metals, pearls, precious stones, or amber obtained by them. September 14, 1519, Charles V. declared that of all gold received in trade from the natives one fifth must be paid to him; and March 8, 1530, he said that where a reward has been promised to a prospector of mines the royal treasury would pay two thirds of that reward, and the private persons interested one third. It was ordered September 4, 1536, and reiterated June 19, 1540, that all persons must pay the king's fifth on the before-mentioned articles, whether obtained in battle or by plundering-expeditions, or by trade. Of all gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones received as ransom of a cacique or other principal personage the king was to have one third; the remainder, after deducting the king's fifth, was to be divided among the members of the expedition. Of the spoils secured from a cacique slain in battle, or executed, one half was the crown's, and one half, except the king's fifth, the property of the conquerors. June 5, 1551, it was ordered, and reiterated August 24, 1619, that beside the king's share, there be levied a duty of 1½ per cent. to pay for smelting, assaying, and stamping. By the ordenanzas de poblaciones of Philip II., 1563, the adelantado of a discovery by land, and his successor, and the settlers were to pay the crown but one tenth on metals and precious stones for the term of ten years. Recop. de Indias, ii. 10, 68, 75-7, 79, and 480-1.
[III-3] The document may be seen to-day in the archives of the Indies. Beginning: 'El Rey é La Reina. El asiento que se tomó por nuestro mandado con vos Rodrigo de Bastidas, vecino de la cibdad de Sevilla, para ir á descobrir por el mar Océano, con dos navios, es lo siguiente:'—it goes on to state, 'First, that we give license to you, the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that with two vessels of your own, and at your own cost and risk, you may go by the said Ocean Sea to discover, and you may discover islands and firm land; in the parts of the Indies and in any other parts, provided it be not the islands and firm land already discovered by the Admiral Don Cristóbal Colon, our admiral of the Ocean Sea, or by Cristóbal Guerra; nor those which have been or may be discovered by other person or persons by our order and with our license before you; nor the islands and firm land which belong to the most serene prince, the king of Portugal, our very dear and beloved son; for from them nor from any of them you shall not take anything, save only such things as for your maintenance, and for the provision of your ships and crew you may need. Furthermore, that all the gold, and silver, and copper, and lead, and tin, and quicksilver, and any other metal whatever; and aljofar, and pearls, and precious stones and jewels, and slaves and negroes, and mixed breeds, which in these our kingdoms may be held and reputed as slaves; and monsters and serpents, and whatever other animals and fishes and birds, and spices and drugs, and every other thing of whatsoever name or quality or value it may be; deducting therefrom the freight expenses, and cost of vessels, which in said voyage and fleet may be made; of the remainder to us will belong the fourth part of the whole, and the other three fourths may be freely for you the said Rodrigo de Bastidas, that you may do therewith as you choose and may be pleased to do, as a thing of your own, free and unincumbered. Item, that we will place in each one of the said ships one or two persons, who in our name or by our order shall be witnesses to all which may be obtained and trafficked in said vessels of the aforesaid things; and that they may put the same in writing and keep a book and account thereof, so that no fraud or mistake happen.' After stating further under whose direction the ships should be fitted out, and what should be done on the return of the expedition, the document is dated at Seville, June 5, 1500, and the signatures follow: 'Yo El Rey. Yo La Reina. Por mandado del Rey é de la Reina, Gaspar De Grizio.' All this under penalty of the forfeiture of the property and life of the captain of the expedition, Rodrigo de Bastidas. Archivo de Indias, printed in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 362-6.
It is often remarked with wonder in what small and apparently insecure vessels the early navigators traversed perilous seas and explored unknown coasts. That shipwreck so often attended their ventures is less surprising than that so many escaped destruction. Two of the three vessels employed by Columbus were open boats, according to March y Labores, Historia de la Marina Real Española, i. 98, of forty tons each, and the decked Santa María, only sixty tons. The term caravel was originally given to ships navigated wholly by sails as distinguished from the galley propelled by oars. It has been applied to a great variety of vessels of different size and construction. The caravels of the New World discoverers may be generally described as long, narrow boats of from twenty to one hundred tons burden, with three or four masts of about equal height carrying sometimes square and sometimes lateen sails, the fourth mast set at the heel of the bowsprit carrying square sails. They were usually half-decked, and adorned with the lofty forecastle and loftier poop of the day. The latter constituted over that part of the vessel a double or treble deck, which was pierced for cannon. A class of vessels like the Santa María, beside a double stern deck, had a forward deck armed with small pieces for throwing stones and grape. In the archives of Mallorca is a picture of a caravel drawn in 1397, and a very fair representation of those in use a century later may be found on Juan de la Cosa's map. The large decked ships of from 100 to 1200 tons had two, three, or four masts, and square sails, with high poop and sometimes high prow. In naval engagements and in discovery the smaller vessels seemed to be preferred, being more easily handled. Columbus, at Paria, complained of his vessel of 100 tons as being too large. In his ordenanzas de poblaciones of 1563 Philip II. required every discoverer to take at least two vessels of not over sixty tons each, in order to enter inlets, cross the bars of rivers, and pass over shoals. The larger ships, if any were of the expedition, must remain in a safe port until another safe port was found by the small craft. Thirty men and no more were to go in every ship, and the pilots must write down what they encountered for the benefit of other pilots. Recop. de Indias, ii. 5-6. The galera was a vessel of low bulwarks, navigated by sails and oars, usually twenty or thirty oars on either side, four or five oarsmen to a bench. It frequently carried a large cannon, called cruxia, two of medium size, and two small guns. The galeaza was the largest class of galera, or craft propelled wholly or in part by oars. It had three masts; it commonly carried twenty cannon, and the poop accommodated a small army of fusileers and sharpshooters. A galeota was a small galera, having only sixteen or twenty oarsmen on a side, and two masts. The galeon was a large armed merchant vessel with high bulwarks, three or four decks, with two or three masts, square-rigged spreading courses and top-sails, and sometimes top-gallant sails. One fleet of twelve galleons, from 1000 to 1200 tons burden, was named after the twelve apostles. Those which plied between Acapulco and Manila were from 1200 to 2000 tons burden. A galeoncillo was a small galeon. The carac was a large carrying vessel, the one intended for Columbus' second voyage being 1250 toneles, or 1500 tons. A nao, or navío, was a large ship with high bulwarks and three masts. A nave was a vessel with deck and sails; the former distinguishing it from the barca, and the absence of oars from a galera. The bergantin, or brig, had low bulwarks; the bergantin-goleta was a hermaphrodite brig, or brigantine, built for fast sailing. The name brigantine was applied in America also to an open flat-bottomed boat which usually carried one sail and from eight to sixteen men, with a capacity for about 100 persons.
[III-5] The Spanish league varies with time and place. It was not until 1801 that the diverse measurements of the several original kingdoms were by royal order made uniform, the legal league then becoming throughout all Spain 20,000 Spanish feet. Of these leagues there are twenty to the degree, making each three geographical miles, being, as specified by the law, the distance travelled on foot at a steady gait in one hour. The land league was, by law of Alfonso the Wise, 3000 paces, as specified by the Siete Partidas. The discoverers roughly estimated a league at from two and a half to three and a half English miles. A marine or geographical league at that time was about 7500 varas, or little less than four English miles, there being nearly 17½ to a degree of latitude. In different parts of Spanish America the league is different, being sometimes quite short. In Cuba a league consists of 5078 varas, and in Mexico of 5000 varas. The vara is the Spanish yard, comprising three Spanish feet of eleven English inches each. Since the decline of Roman influence, the Spaniards have had no equivalent for the English mile.
[III-6] See next chapter, note 18.
[III-7] Called by the Venetians bissas, and by the Spaniards broma; a terrible pest to tropical navigators before the days of copper-bottoming. This, and another tropical marine worm, the Simnoria terebrans, brought hither by ships, play havoc with the wharf-piling of San Francisco and other west-coast harbors.
[III-8] The early chroniclers make their reckonings of values under different names at different times. Thus during the discoveries of Columbus we hear of little else but maravedís; then the peso de oro takes the lead, together with the castellano; all along marco and ducado being occasionally used. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, and before and after, Spanish values were reckoned from a mark of silver, which was the standard. A mark was half a pound either of gold or silver. The gold mark was divided into fifty castellanos; the silver mark into eight ounces. In the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the mark was divided by law into 65 reales de vellon of 34 maravedís each, making 2210 maravedís in a mark. To show how changeable were the values of subsidiary Spanish coins, and how utterly impossible it is accurately and at all times to determine by their names the amount of metal they represent, it is only necessary to state that in the reign of Alfonso XI., 1312-1350, there were 125 maravedís to the mark, while in the reign of Ferdinand VII., 1808-1833, a mark was divided into 5440 maravedís. In Spanish America a real is one eighth of a peso, and equal to 2½ reales de vellon. The peso contains one ounce of silver; it was formerly called peso de ocho reales de plata, whence came the term pieces of eight, a vulgarism at one time in vogue among the merchants and buccaneers in the West Indies. This coin is designated more particularly as peso fuerte, or peso duro, to distinguish it from peso sencillo, equivalent in value to four fifths of the former. The mutilator of Herrera translates pesos de oro as pieces of eight, in which as in other things he is about as far as possible wrong. The castellano, the one fiftieth of the golden mark, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, was equivalent to 490 maravedís of that day. The peso de oro, according to Oviedo, was exactly equivalent to the castellano, and either was one third greater than the ducado, or ducat. The doblon, the popular name for the excelente, was first struck by Ferdinand and Isabella as a gold coin of the weight of two castellanos. The modern doubloon is an ounce of coined gold, and is worth 16 pesos fuertes. Reduced to United States currency the peso fuerte, as slightly alloyed bullion, is in weight nearly enough equivalent to one dollar. Therefore a mark of silver is equal to eight dollars; a piece of eight, equal to one peso, which equals one dollar; a real de vellon, five cents; a Spanish-American real, 12½ cents; a maravedí, 100/276 of a cent; a castellano, or peso de oro, $2.56; a doubloon, $5.14; a ducat, $1.92; a mark of gold, $128, assuming the United States alloy. The fact that a castellano was equivalent to only 490 maravedís shows the exceedingly high value of silver as compared with gold at the period in question. The modern ounce, or doubloon, is valued at about $16. As to the relative purchasing power of the precious metals at different times during the past four centuries economists differ. The returns brought by the first discoverers began the depreciation, which was rapidly accelerated by the successive conquests, notably of Mexico and Peru. Any one may estimate; no one can determine with exactness. Robertson, Prescott, and other writers make but guess-work of it (see Hist. America, and Conq. Mexico, passim) when they attempt to measure the uncertain and widely diversified denominations of centuries ago by the current coin of to-day.
[III-9] Las Casas, who was at Santo Domingo when the shipwrecked mariners arrived, saw Bastidas, and part of his gold, and the natives of Darien whom he had brought, and who in place of the Adamic fig-leaf wore a funnel-shaped covering of gold. There were great riches, it was said; three chests full of gold and pearls, which on reaching Spain were ordered to be publicly displayed in all the towns through which the notary passed on his way to court. This, as an advertisement of the Indies, was done to kindle the fires of avarice and discontent in sluggish breasts, that therefrom others might be induced to go and gather gold and pay the king his fifth. Afterward Bastidas returned with his wife and children to Santo Domingo, and became rich in horned cattle, having at one time 8000 head; and that when a cow in Española was worth 50 pesos de oro. In 1504 he again visited Urabá, in two ships, and brought thence 600 natives, whom he enslaved in Española. In 1520 the emperor gave him the pacification of Trinidad with the title of adelantado; which grant being opposed by Diego Colon, on the ground that the island was of his father's discovering, Bastidas waived his claim, and accepted the governorship of Santa Marta, where he went with 450 men, and was assassinated by his lieutenant, Villafuerte, who thought to succeed him, and to silence the governor's interposed objections to the maltreatment of the natives. Thus if the humane Bastidas, in accordance with the custom of the day, did inhumanly enslave his fellow-creatures, he gave his life at last to save them from other cruelties; which act, standing as it does luminous and alone in a century of continuous outrage, entitles him to the honorable distinction of Spain's best and noblest conquistador. As the eloquent Quintana says: 'Bastidas no se hizo célebre ni como descubridor ni como conquistador; pero su memoria debe ser grata á todos los amantes de la justicia y de la humanidad, por haber sido uno de los pocos que trataron á los indios con equidad y mansedumbre, considerando aquel pais mas bien como un objeto de especulaciones mercantiles con iguales, que como campo de gloria y de conquistas.'
Among the standard authorities mention is made of Bastidas and his voyage by Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iii. 10-12, who refutes certain of Oviedo's unimportant statements in Historia General y Natural de las Indias, i. 76-7; ii. 334-5; by Herrera, i. 148-9; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 67; and in Galvano's Discov., 99-100, and 102-3. But before these I should place original documents found in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, iii. 25-28, 545-6, and 591-3, and in the Coleccion of Pacheco and Cárdenas, of both of which works I shall presently speak more fully. In tom. ii. pp. 362-6 of this latter collection is given the Asiento que hizo con sus Majestades Católicas Rodrigo de Bastidas, before mentioned; and on pp. 366-467, same volume, is Informacion de los servicios del adelantado Rodrigo de Bastidas, conquistador y pacificador de Santa Marta. Next in importance to the chroniclers are, Historia de la Marina Real Española, i. 284; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 11; Robertson's Hist. Am., i. 159; Help's Spanish Conquest, i. 294; Acosta, Compend. Hist. Nueva Granada, 21; Irving's Columbus, iii. 53-6, and Quintana, Vidas de Españoles Célebres, 'Vasco Nuñez de Balboa,' 1. Robinson's Acct. Discov. in West, 105; Lardner's Maritime Discovery, ii. 32; Holmes' Annals of America, i. 20; Lerdo de Tejada, Apuntes Hist., 89; Harris' Voy., i. 270; Major's Prince Henry, 369, and like allusions are worthless. In Kerr's Col. Voy., ii. 58-63, is given a translation of Galvano. In Aa's collection the narrative is substantially the same as in Gottfried's.
[IV-1] His nephew, Fernando, in his Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, passim, and those who follow this author closely, as Napione and De Conti, call him El Prefecto; Herrera, Diego Mendez, Diego de Porras, Robertson, Navarrete, and others, employ the title adelantado. Herrera says he was captain of one of the ships.
[IV-2] Ferdinand Columbus, or as he is more commonly called Fernando Colon, was an illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus, by a lady of respectable family. He was born at Córdova, and in 1494, after his father became famous, was brought with his elder brother to court, where he was placed as page to Prince Juan. Upon the death of the heir apparent young Fernando served Queen Isabella in the same capacity, thereby securing an excellent education. During this perilous voyage he was an object no less of comfort than of anxiety to his father, now infirm and troubled in spirit, and his conduct throughout merited and received paternal commendation. 'El ha salido y sale de muy buen saber,' writes the fond father, 'bien que él sea niño en dias, no es assi en el entendimiento.' Cartas de Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 341 and 344. See also Zúñiga, Anales de Sevilla. His manhood fulfilled the promise of his youth. He cultivated literature with considerable success, and became, as Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. viii., expresses it, 'doctísimo para su siglo, y de grandes pensamientos en materias literarias, segun demostraré á su tiempo.' He travelled extensively in Europe, in the train of Charles V., probably visited Africa and Asia, and is said to have made two voyages to America after his father's death. He formed a collection of over 20,000 printed books and manuscripts, which went to the cathedral of Seville. He neither married, nor left any recognized progeny. He was the author of several works which have not been preserved, the inscription on his tomb mentioning one in four divisions relating partly to the New World and his father's voyages. Antonio de Leon Pinelo, Epitome, 565, 633 and 711, speaks of a work, Apuntamientos sobre la Demarcacion del Maluco, preserved in manuscript at Simancas. The only printed book of Fernando Colon is a history of the admiral, his father. The original title is not known, the manuscript disappearing before its publication in Spanish. Luis Colon, duke of Veraguas, and grandson of the admiral, brought the manuscript to Genoa about 1568, and delivered it to one Fornari, an old man who, according to Barcia, began to print it in Spanish, Italian, and Latin. Others assert that it passed into the hands of Marini, who caused it to be translated into Italian by Alfonso de Ulloa. Spotorno, Codice Diplomatico, 1823, lxiii. Ulloa's translation, badly made from a bad copy—'sans doute d'après un texte assez fautif,' Humboldt, Exam. Crit., i. 13,—was printed in Venice, in 1571, under the title, Historie del Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell' Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, suo padre, etc. It was reprinted in Italian some six or eight times. A French translation was published in 1680-1, and an English translation has gone the rounds, appearing in Churchill's Col. Voy., ii. 480-604; Kerr's Col. Voy., iii. 1-242; and Pinkerton's Col. Voy., xii. 1-155. It was carelessly retranslated from the Italian into Spanish by Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia, and printed in his Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, 3 vols., Madrid, 1749, comprising pp. 1-128, tom. i., of that series, and entitled, La Historia de D. Fernando Colon, en la qual se da Particular, y verdadera relacion de la vida, y hechos de el Almirante D. Christoval Colon, su Padre, etc. This is the edition most commonly used, and to this I refer, although I have before me an Italian copy of the edition of 1709. Fernando Colon had peculiar advantages for writing his father's history. Himself an actor in the events described, he was moreover personally acquainted with his father's friends, and held possession of his father's papers. All agree that he made good use of his opportunity, and that he has given a clear statement of events which even in his own time began to be distorted. If he was silent touching his father's family, country, and birth, we must remember that poverty and obscurity were a disgrace in those days, and that the son Fernando was a Spaniard. Those who should best know the merits of this author pay him the highest tribute. Of his work says Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. viii., 'Confieso deberle mucho;' and the author Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. lxx., remarks, 'habló siempre con verdad y exactitud, salvo alguna equivocacion fácil de discernir en buena crítica ... y por tanto pueden aun estas leves faltas ser efecto de la incuria ó poca inteligencia de ambos traductores.' Attempts have been made to deny to Fernando the authorship, but this, if correct, does not materially affect its value, since it is allowed to have been written from his documents and under his supervision. The vicissitudes to which the work has been subjected and the mutilation it has suffered afford grounds for caution not to be disregarded by the historian. Still, the general tenor and details of the narrative, and the literary bent of the reputed author, present in themselves sufficient evidence of its authenticity.
With regard to the use of certain proper names encountered thus far in this history I would say a word. The question presents difficulties in whatsoever aspect viewed. There are Spanish names of places and persons which custom has so anglicized as to give to their use in the original the appearance of affectation—instance Castilla, for Castile; Sevilla, Seville; Fernando and Isabel, Ferdinand and Isabella; Cárlos V., Charles V.; Felipe II., Philip II. On the other hand, in writing in English of Spanish affairs, the attempt to continue indefinitely the anglicizing of Spanish names would be as impossible as absurd. The two chief objects with me have been to adopt the best forms, and to preserve consistency; I do not claim eminent success in either attempt. The result, however, has been the adoption of the following method, if it may be called a method: The prominent places and persons of Spain, whose names are invariably given in their anglicized form in current English literature, I write in the same way; but those same names, as well as all others, appearing in the New World, where no prominent English writers have made them familiar in an English form, I present in the original as written by the best Spanish scholars. Thus the name of the great Genoese I give in its common latinized form, Christopher Columbus, while in the use of those of his less eminent brothers and sons, who soon became almost or altogether Spaniards, I adopt the forms employed by Spaniards.
[IV-3] Instance the title-page of the first work published on the New World, in 1493:—Epistola Christofori Colom: cui etas nostra multũ a debet: de Insulis Indie supra Gangem nuper inuentis. Ad quas perquirendas octauo antea mense auspiciis et ere inuictissimi Fernandi Hispaniarum Regis missus fuerat: ad Magnificum dum Raphaelem Sanxis: eiusdem serenissimi Regis Tesaurariũ missa: quam nobilis ac litteratus vir Aliander de Cosco ab Hispano ideomate in latinum conuertit: tertio kal's Maij. M.cccc.xciij. Pontificatus Alexandri Sexti Anno Primo. Letter of Christopher Colom, to whom our age is greatly indebted, respecting the Islands of India beyond the Ganges, lately discovered. In search of which he was sent eight months since, under the auspices and at the expense of the most invincible Ferdinand, king of the Spains. Sent to the magnificent lord Raphael Sanxis, treasurer of the same most serene king, and which the noble and learned man, Aliander de Cosco, translated from the Spanish idiom into Latin. The third day of the Calends of May, 1493. Pontificate of Alexander VI., Year One.
[IV-4] Guanaja is the most easterly of a group called the Bay Islands. To the west of Guanaja, in the order here named, lie Barbaretta, Helena, Morat, Ruatan, the largest, and Utila. On Peter Martyr's map, India beyond the Ganges, 1510, Guanaja is written guanasa. On map iv., Munich Atlas, supposed to have been drawn by Salvat Pilestrina in 1515, Guanaja is called sam fir.co, San Francisco; Ruatan, todo samto; and Utila, I:lhana. Fernando Colon locates on his map, 1527, y:llana, s:francisco, and todos sanctos, and between the last two, sancta ffe. On the map of Diego de Ribera, 1529, are s:franco, to stõs, la llana, and s∴ fe. Vaz Dourado, 1571, map x., Munich Atlas, calls Guanaja, lla ganaxa; Ruatan, aguba; and Utila, dotila. Mercator's Atlas, 1574, gives Guanaxos; Ogilby's Map, 1671, Guanaja, Guajama, Roatan, and Vtila; Laet, Novvs Orbis, 1633, the same; Jefferys' Voyages, 1776, Guanaja or Bonaka, Guajama or Rattan, and Utila. Of Guanaja, Diego de Porras in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 283, remarks:—'es pequeña, bojará veinte leguas, no tiene cosa de provecho.' Utila is low and level; hence the name, La Llana. In his remarks on the two oldest maps of America, Kohl says of Guanaja:—'Das Columbus sie schon gesehen hat, ist zu bezweifeln, da er wohl nicht so weit westwärts segelte oder blickte. Vielleicht sahen sie jedoch Pinzon und Solis 1508. Gewiss ist es, dass sie schon 1516 von einer spanischen Expedition, die zum Menschenraub von Cuba nach Süden ausgelaufen war, besucht wurde.' Fernando Colon complains that Solis and Pinzon, visiting these regions in 1508, re-named many localities, claiming to be the first discoverers, and thus causing much confusion in the charts of the times.
And here as well as elsewhere I may speak of a work from which I have derived no inconsiderable advantage in tracing the metamorphoses of names from those originally given to those finally established. Believing that much curious and valuable historical information might be obtained by instituting a close comparison of the nomenclature employed by the earlier makers of charts at their respective dates, in 1873 I directed Mr Goldschmidt to bring out and arrange for convenient reference all such relevant maps as my library contained. Beginning then with the earliest, we entered on paper prepared for the purpose the names of all the principal places contained within our territory. And so with the next, and the next, through the successive periods of discovery, following the coast on one side from Darien to Texas, and on the other from Panamá to Alaska, and along the Arctic seaboard to the Mackenzie River. Inland names were included, but their number was small as compared with those along the ocean. Some 200 maps, each original authority for its time and place, were thus examined, and the names which had been applied at various times and by various persons to the several important geographical points along this vast shore line, and throughout the inland area, were brought together so that comparisons might be made, and the nomenclatural history of the several places be quickly and correctly traced. All of the authorities I cannot mention here, but they will severally be referred to in their proper places during the course of this history. The result of this labor at the end of six months, Mr Goldschmidt working alone after the first fortnight, was three folio manuscript volumes, entitled Cartography of the Pacific Coast of North America, and of the Eastern Coasts of Mexico and Central America. The maps more particularly examined in writing this volume are as follows. Passing the sea charts of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, made about 1390, and used by Frobisher; the ocean and islands between western Europe and eastern Asia from the globe of Martin Behaim, 1492; the chart of Juan de la Cosa, 1500, showing the West India Islands, but omitting the coast of Central America; and the map of Johann Ruysch, 1508,—we have, in part most important, the following: Map of India beyond the Ganges, drawn by Peter Martyr in 1511, and showing a coast line from Brazil to the middle of Yucatan. Along this line, in the order here given, from east to west, are vraba, tariene, el mamol, beragua, c gra de dios, guanasa, b de lagartos. North of Cuba is a section of the continental shore line lettered isla de beimini, parte. In Ptolemy's Cosmography, 1513, the coast between Brazil and Florida is given, but without names. The Atlantic is called Oceanus Occidentalis; and South America, Terra Incognita. By Reisch, in Margaritha Philosophica, 1515, the map is called Typvs Vniversalis Terre Ivxta. Two only of the islands are given and both called Isabella. South of Oceanus Occidentalis is a large continent called Paria sev Prisilia, Paria or Brazil. There are no names on the line of Central America, and the only lettering on the small portion of the northern continent are the mysterious words Zoana Mela, which have given rise to much discussion. In 1859 was published at Munich, by the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, from manuscripts in the university library and army archives, under the auspices of Friedrich Kunstmann, Karl von Spruner, and Georg M. Thomas, and as supplementary to the text of Kunstmann's Die Entdeckung Amerikas, a collection of fac-similes of thirteen early maps of America, entitled Atlas zur Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas. This work I shall cite briefly as the Munich Atlas. Parts of the Pacific States are shown on maps numbers iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xii. and xiii., which will be further mentioned in their several places. Map iv. was drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina probably in 1515. It shows none of the main-land above Yucatan, which is a peninsula. The northern coast of Central America is given, and the southern seaboard only of the Isthmus. No names are written on the southern coast. The South Sea is called Mar Visto pelos castelhanos, Sea seen by the Spaniards. Map v. is supposed to be by Visconte de Maiollo, 1519. It shows the northern coast of the continent only from Cape Camaron to about 30° south latitude. In a book entitled Apiano, Cosmographia, 1575, a copy of a map supposed to have been drawn by Peter Apianus in 1520, and the first upon which I have seen the name 'America.' The northern part is long and narrow, of a horseshoe shape, and lettered Baccalearum. A large continent is placed north of a strait running round the northern end of North America. Evidently Master Apianus was determined no one during his time should out-north him in map-delineation of a region of which absolutely nothing was known, either then or for a long time after. On a map of North America from the globe of Johann Schöner, 1520, the name 'America' likewise appears, the lettering on the globe being placed in Brazil, and being in these words:—America Vel Brasilia Sive Papagalli Terra. The northern and southern continents are separated by a strait at the Isthmus. It is to be regretted that Master Schöner had not the making of the world, so that it should agree with his map, and save canal-cutting. The western line of the northern continent runs north and south; the western line of the southern continent north-west and south-east. The extreme northern end of the northern continent is called Terra de Cuba. Along the western shore are the words Ultra mondv lustratum. West of the northern continent lie the large island of Zipangri and a multitude of islets. The north Pacific is called Orientalis Oceanus. Cortés' chart of the Gulf of Mexico, 1520, is a rough draft of oval shape with several names along the coast, many of which are obsolete. Yucatan is represented as an island. In 1860 J. G. Kohl published at Weimar a dissertation on two of the oldest general maps of America, with the origin of the names on each. The maps were those of Fernando Colon, 1527, and Diego Ribero, 1529, then in the grand-ducal library at Weimar. The text accompanying these fac-similes is entitled Die Beiden Ältesten General-Karten von Amerika. Ausgeführt in den Jahren 1527 und 1529, auf Befehl Kaiser Karl's V. The maps being full of names, concerning many of which there has been much discussion, 185 royal folio pages are devoted to their explanation. Beside a critical review of nomenclature is given much information, both geographical and historical. Colon's map shows the eastern coasts of North and South America, and the southern shores of the Isthmus and Central America to about Nicaragua. Ribero's map contains more names than Colon's, and a section of the Peruvian coast; otherwise they are not unlike. Continuing the present list we have all of South America, and part of North America, given in 1527 by Robert Thorne; and the western side of the New World in 1528 by Bordone. Ptolemy, in Munster, Cosmography, 1530, gives the two Americas entirely surrounded by water, with Yucatan an island; in the interior of Mexico Chamaho, and Temistitan; and near Zipangu Archipelagus 7448 insularum, counted in all probability specially for this map. Orontius Fine's globe, 1531, unites the southern continent, which it calls America, by the isthmus dariena to the northern, which extends toward the north-west across the ocean and forms part of Asia, with a continuous coast line to Japan. The Atlantic is Alanticum, and the Pacific Mar del Sur. Yucatan is an island. It is difficult to tell where Mexico ends and Asia begins. Temistitan is just south of Catay, and Mexican and Asiatic names promiscuously occur. Grynæus, in 1532, gives America in two parts, divided by a strait at the Isthmus; the western end of the northern continent is called Terra de Cuba. Map vi., Munich Atlas, 1532-40, shows the Pacific coast from Peru to California, which is represented as a peninsula. The gulf of California is called the Red Sea. Yucatan is an island. Baptista Agnese, 1536, gives North America in the shape of a horseshoe, with Yucatan an island. Map vii., Munich Atlas, is supposed to be by Baptista Agnese, 1540-50. It shows the whole of the Atlantic coast, and the Pacific coast from Peru to Mexico. Ramusio, Viaggi, iii. fol. 455-56, 1565, lays down about half the Pacific coast. Maps ix. x. and xii., Munich Atlas, are supposed to have been drawn by Vaz Dourado in 1571. The first delineates South America, and a small part of the Isthmus; the second both shores of Central America, and the Gulf of Mexico; the third the Pacific coast only from Mexico to Anian Strait. On map x. is a large lake north of Mexico, in latitude 40° to 43°, and under it in large letters, Bimenii Regio. Gerard Mercator, Atlas sive cosmographicæ, 1569, and another edition 1574, represents the world on two globes, and surrounds the two Americas with water, beside capping either pole with a huge continent. In the north-eastern corner of Asia, map iv., is Americæ pars. There are also Anian reg, Quiuira reg, Tuchano, a city, and El freto de Anian. On map v. the strait of Magellan separates the southern continent from another large continent to the south of it, on which is placed Terra del fuego. Luckily this antarctic polar continent is labeled Terra Avstralis nondvm cognita, lest the author be embarrassed by questions about it. After well passing the strait of Magellan, El Mar Pacifico is entered, though as the tropics are reached it becomes Mar del Zur. The northern part of this map v., the two Americas, is quite interesting, and will be explained elsewhere. This cartographical monstrosity Michael Lock, Hakluyt's Divers Voy., 1582, endeavored, and with very fair success, to exceed. Map xiii., Munich Atlas, by Thomas Hood, 1592, gives the Gulf of Mexico, the Islands, and the eastern coast of North America. In Drake's World Encompassed, 1595, another source of information not remarkable for reliability, Hondius traces the western coast to Bering Strait. Hondius' map, 1625, in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, iv. 857, gives North America to the mythical strait of Anian. Ioanne de Laet, Novvs Orbis, 1633, has at p. 220 a map of Nveva España, Nveva Galicia, and Gvatimala, and at p. 346 a map of Tierra Firma. A map of the world in the atlas of Jacob Colom, 1663, will require mention hereafter. Ogilby's America, 1671, gives the northern continent to Anian Strait with Nova Albion in the northern part, and California as an island; and a map at p. 222 shows parts of Mexico and Central America. There is a map of the middle part of America in Dampier's Voyages, i. 44, 1699. Beside these, I shall have occasion to mention others, such as the maps in the Buccaniers of America, 1704; Funnell's Voyage, 1707; the Dutch collection of voyages by Pieter Van der Aa; the German collection of Gottfried; Voyages de François Coreal, 1722; Anson's Voyage, 1756; Morden's Geography Rectified, 1693; Harris, Harleian, Oxford, Rogers, Shelvocke, Jefferys, and other collections of voyages. I may also mention incidentally in this volume maps and charts relating more especially to another part of the Pacific States and described more fully in a succeeding volume.
[IV-5] Cacique, lord of vassals, was the name by which the natives of Cuba designated their chiefs. Learning this, the conquerors applied the name generally to the rulers of wild tribes, although in none of the dialects of the continent is the word found. Peter Martyr says that 'in some places they call a king Cacicus, in other places they call him Quebi, and somewhere Tiba.'
[IV-6] 'Porque,' says Herrera, 'auia muchos arboles, cuya fruta es vnas mançanillas buenas de comer.' Navarrete calls the place Punta Castilla y Puerto de Trujillo, and the coast La Costa de Trujillo. The name Honduras was applied first to the cape and afterward to a long stretch of shore. Fernando Colon, Hist. Almirante, 103, Barcia, i., gives 'Cabo de Onduras.' In Oviedo, lib. iii. cap. ix., is written 'el cabo de Higueras;' this chronicler also employs the word Honduras; Galvano's Discov., 100, 'the Cape of Higueras, and vnto the Islands Gamares, and to the Cape of Honduras, that is to say, the Cape of the Depthes;' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 28, 'Prouincia grande, che da' paesani è nominata Iguera, è da' Spagnuoli Capo di Fonduri;' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 31, 'cabo de Higueras.'
[IV-7] Named by Columbus Rio de la Posesion, now known as Rio Tinto.
[IV-8] For full descriptions of the several peoples inhabiting this region at the coming of the Europeans, their physique, character, customs, myths, and languages, I must refer the reader to my Native Races of the Pacific States, 5 vols., passim.
[IV-9] This name has never changed. On Peter Martyr's India beyond the Ganges, 1510, it is put down as c. gr̃a de dios; Maiollo, 1519, writes C de gratia dios; Fernando Colon, 1527, C. de gracias, á dios; Ribero, 1529, C∴ de grãc a dios; Maps vi. and vii., Munich Atlas, 1532-50, C. de gracia dios; Vaz Dourado, C∴ de grasias adios; Mercator, C. de Gracias á Dios; Dampier, C. Gratia Dios, etc.
[IV-10] Rio Escondido, or Bluefields, sometimes spelt Blewfields, but erroneously. The name originated from the Dutch pirate Bleeveldt. On map iv., Munich Atlas, in this vicinity are found the words R∴ del su.
[IV-11] Mercator places half-way between Cape Gracias á Dios and Laguna de Chiriqui, Quicuri, designating a town. Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. iv., says: 'He came to a region which the inhabitants call Quicuris, in which is the hauen called Cariari, named Mirobalanus by the Admirall, because the Mirobalane trees are natiue in the regions thereabout.'
[IV-12] The name of the province also. Diego de Porras calls it Cariay; Herrera and those who follow him write Cariari. On the maps of Colon and Ribero, and also in Mercator's atlas, the word is Cariay. On the map of Vaz Dourado in this locality is written masnoro. 'Einige Geographen haben geglaubt, dass unsere heutige "Blewfields-Lagune" dieser Ankerplatz des Columbus sei. Andere haben dafür die Mündung des grossen Flusses von Nicaragua den Rio San Juan genommen.' Kohl, Beiden ältesten Karten, 114-15.
[IV-13] 'En Cariay, y en esas tierras de su comarca, son grandes fechiceros y muy medrosos.' Carta de Colon, Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 307. 'Nos parecian à nosotros grandes hechiceros, i no sin alguna raçon, pues quando se acercaban à los Christianos, esparcian, por el aire cierto polvo à su buelta, i con perfumes, que hechaban del polvo, hacian, que el humo fuese acía los Christianos.' Colon, Hist. Almirante, 107, in Barcia, i.
[IV-14] Says Fernando Colon, Hist. Almirante, 108, in Barcia, i., of this place:—'arribò al Canal de Zerabora, que son 6 leguas de largo, i mas de tres de ancho, en el qual, ai muchas Isletas, i tres, ò quatro Bocas mui à proposito para entrar.' And Mr Kohl remarks, Beiden ältesten Karten, 115, 'Diese Schilderung passt auf kein anderes Gewässer südlich vom San Juan 'Cariay,' als auf unsere 'Laguna de Chiriqui,' die auch wohl noch heutiges Tages besonders in ihrer westlichen Abtheilung 'Baia del Almirante' ... genannt wird.' Ribero places ysa de cerebaro in the laguna. Vaz Dourado writes Carabare; Maiollo puts here somewhere la casera bruxada, and near by oro boro. Mercator makes Cerebaro a town. Hondius, in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, places in this vicinity the town, Quicari. West-Indische Spieghel, 1624, gives Carabaro, and a little to the north a town, Quicura.
[IV-15] Aboriginally the name of a town, province, and river famous for gold. Later the name became historically celebrated, being applied by the Spaniards to that whole region, and given as a title to the descendants of Columbus, who were called dukes of Veraguas. Peter Martyr, Colon, and Ribero, all write beragua; Vaz Dourado, baraga; Ptolemy, Beragua, as a province; Laet and Jefferys, Veragua. Porras calls the province Cobraba.
[IV-16] Off Nombre de Dios on Vaz Dourado's map, is a group called I∴ de bastimẽtos; in the Novvs Orbis of Laet they are Yas de Bastimentos; Jefferys calls them los Bastimentos; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 285, gives Puerto del Retrete in the text, and Puerto Escribanos in a note.
[IV-17] The locality of this little harbor was soon lost. Herrera affirms that in his time its situation was uncertain, some believing Nombre de Dios to be the place mentioned. Peschel locates it near the town of Colon; Humboldt at Puerto de Escribanos. Ribero places fifteen leagues west of Nombre de Dios, po retre. Kohl says, Beiden ältesten Karten, 116: 'Er findet sich nicht auf N. Vallard (1547), nicht auf Dourado (1580) und nicht auf den Karten vom Isthmus von Darien in Herrera.' But it would seem from the description of Fernando Colon, Hist. Almirante, 110, in Barcia, i., that the place should be easily enough found. He says:—'entramos en vn Puertecillo, que se llamò el Retrete, porque no cabian en èl mas de 5 ò 6 Navios; su entrada era por vna boca de quince, ò veinte pasos de ancho, i ambos lados eran Rocas, que salian del Agua, como punta de Diamante, i era tan profundo de Canal, por enmedio, que acercandose à la orilla, vn poco, se podia saltar desde el Navio en Tierra.'
[IV-18] Although the authorities are somewhat vague and conflicting as to the terminal point of the main-land coastings of Bastidas, there is no doubt that the two discoveries here united. Oviedo, ii. 334-36, and those copying his errors, take Bastidas direct from Urabá to Jamaica; but Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iii. 11, states:—'Salieron del golfo de Urabá, y fueron la costa del Poniente abajo, y llegaron al puerto que llamaron del Retrete, donde agora está la ciudad y puerto que nombramos del Nombre de Dios.' Later, in chapter xxiii. 123, he corrects himself in regard to El Retrete and Nombre de Dios being the same place:—'Por esto parece que el puerto del Retrete no es el que agora llamamos del Nombre de Dios, como arriba dijimos por relacion de otros, sino más adelante, hácia el Oriente.' Speaking of El Retrete, Diego de Porras, Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 285, remarks:—'En algunas cartas de navegar de algunos de los marineros juntaba esta tierra con la que habian descubierto Hojeda y Bastidas.' Navarrete himself, Col. de Viages, iii. 26, says of Bastidas, 'terminó su descubrimiento por los diez grados de altura en el puerto del Retrete ó de Escribanos y del nombre de Dios;' and again in a note concerning Nombre de Dios:—'En este puerto entró posteriormente el Almirante Colon el dia 26 de Noviembre de 1502 con noticia que ya tenia de los descubrimientos de Bastidas.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 67, accredits Bastidas with the new discovery of 170 leagues of coast, 'que ay del cabo de la Vela al golfo de Vraua, y Farallones del Darien,' resting with Oviedo at that point. From the evidence Humboldt, Exam. Crit., i. 360, infers that Bastidas continued 'vers l'ouest jusqu'au Puerto de Retrete.' Loose statements are quite the habit now as of old; instance that of Lerdo de Tejada, who says, Apuntes Hist., 89, referring to Bastidas, 'Y siguió hasta el puerto llamado despues el Retiro, donde se fundó posteriormente el del Nombre de Dios.'
[IV-19] That is to say, Bethlehem. Porras enters it Y. n. ebra; Herrera, Yebra; and Fernando Colon, Kiebra. On Ribero's map the name bele is given to a lagoon; Vaz Dourado writes belen; and Jacob Colom, Belem.
[IV-20] Although used by most Spanish and English writers as a proper name, the word quibian is an appellative, and signifies the chief of a nation, or the ruler of a dynasty, as the cacique of the Cubans, the inca of the Peruvians, the ahau of the Quichés, etc. Columbus, writing from Jamaica, employs the term el Quibian de Veragua; and again, Carta de Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 302, 'Asenté pueblo, y dí muchas dádivas al Quibian, que así llaman al Señor de la tierra.' Napione and De Conti write il Quibio o cacico di Beragua. See their Biog. di Colombo, 388:—"Il Prefetto andò colle barche al mare per entrare nel fiume e portarsi alla popolazione del Quibio, cosi chiamato da quei popoli il loro Re.'
[IV-21] Rio de la Concepcion.
[IV-22] Irving, Columbus, ii. 402, carelessly calls him 'the chief notary,' confounding him with Diego de Porras, who was notary of the expedition. The notary was not a fighting man, but rather must withhold himself from action that he might write down what was done by others.
[IV-23] 'Y como luego mandó prender al Cacique do se le fizo mucho daño que le quemaron su poblacion, que era la mejor que habia en la costa é de mejores casas, de muy buena madera, todas cubiertas de fojas de palmas, é prendieron á sus fijos, é aquí traen algunos dellos de que quedó toda aquella tierra escandalizada, desto no sé dar cuenta sino que lo mandó facer é aun apregonar escala franca.' Diego de Porras, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 286-7.
[IV-24] There are two accounts of this affair; one by Fernando Colon, and one by Diego Mendez. Both are biased; the former in favor of Bartolomé, the latter in favor of the writer. Fernando tells how, when the settlement was taken by surprise, his uncle seized a lance, and supported by seven men fought with desperate valor until the main body of the Spaniards came to his relief, when the enemy was routed. The other states, Relacion hecha por Diego Mendez, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, i. 317, that the admiral had just left the harbor, accompanied by the larger part of the Spaniards, who had gone to say farewell. Mendez, newly appointed contador, held the town of Belen with twenty men. Suddenly four hundred Indians appeared on the hill above, and sent upon the Spaniards a shower of darts and arrows. Fortunately the yells were in advance of the weapons, and thus time was given Mendez to arm. The fight was desperate, and lasted three hours. Ten natives who ventured to close with their war clubs were slain by the sword. Seven of the twenty Christians were killed; but a miracle at last gave victory to the remainder. During the next four days, by the ingenuity of Mendez, and under his direction, the effects of the colony were placed on shipboard, and in return for his invaluable services he was made captain of Tristan's ship.
[IV-25] The final burial-place, not only of Columbus, but of his son Diego, and of his grandson Luis, was the cathedral of Santo Domingo. For seven years after his death the remains of Columbus lay in the convent of San Francisco at Valladolid. Then they were removed to Seville and placed in the monastery of Las Cuevas; and in 1536 were transferred to Santo Domingo. When Española was ceded to France in 1795, the Spanish naval commander asked permission to remove the remains to Cuba, which was granted; and what were supposed to be the remains were so removed midst pomp and ceremony in December-January following. But later investigations, the result of long-standing suspicions, satisfied many that a blunder had been committed; and that the bones of Columbus still rest at Santo Domingo. This has been proved beyond a doubt by the recent researches of the distinguished French savant and Americaniste A. Pinart.
[IV-26] I have remarked at some length on Fernando Colon's life of his father, and on the letters of the admiral, and other documents in Navarrete, Salvá and Baranda, Pacheco and Cárdenas, and Mendoza, and elsewhere. The standard historians, Las Casas, Oviedo, Peter Martyr, Gomara, and Herrera, I will pass for the present, only remarking that each in his own way tells the story of the admiral, and all must be carefully considered in a study of his life and achievements. Other early or important authorities are Zorzi, Paesi Nouamente retrouati, Vicentia, 1507; Ruchamer, Newe unbekanthe landte, Nuremberg, 1508; Stamler, Dyalogvs, Augsburg, 1508; Marineo, Obra Compuesta de las Cosas Memorables e Claros Varones de España, Alcala, 1530; Geraldini, Itinerarivm ad Regiones svb Æqvinoctiali, Rome, 1631; Grynævs, Novvs Orbis Regionvm ac Insularvm veteribvs incognitarvm, Basle, 1532; Maffei, Historiarum indicarum, Florence, 1588; Gambaræ, De navigatione Christophori Columbi, Rome, 1585; Charlevoix, Histoire de l'Isle-Espagnole, Paris, 1730; Cladera, Investigaciones historicas, Madrid, 1794; Bossi, Vita di Colombo, Milan, 1818. Die vierdte Reise so vollenbracht hat Christoffel Columb, at page 6 of Löw, Meer oder Seehanen Buch, Cologne, 1598, should be read in reference with the maps, to be appreciated. See also Ramusio, Viaggi, iii. 16-18 and 98-9; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nvovo, 27-30; Galvano's Discov., 100-1; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., passim; Major's Select Letters of Columbus, Hakluyt Soc., London, 1847; Castellanos, Elegías de Varones ilustres de Indias, 42-3; Acosta, Compend. Hist Nueva Granada, 1-17; Repertorio Americano, iii. 186-225; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., 3-6 and 101-6; Lerdo de Tejada, Apuntes Hist., 77-80; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, 162-3; Gordon's Hist. Am., i. 247-64; Lardner's Hist. Discov., ii. 16; Payno, Cronología Mex., in Soc. Mex. Geog.; Robertson's Hist. Am., i. 59-175; Corradi, Descub. de la Am., i. 6-312; Simon, Conq. tierra firme, 44-50; Mesa y Leompart, Hist. Am., i. 1-64; Torquemada, i. 20-1, and iii. 283-94; Vega, Comentarios Reales, ii. 7; Acosta, Hist. Ind., passim; Villagvtierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, 5-19; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 13-39; Cavanilles, Hist. España, v. 27-55 and 104-9; Nueva España, Breve Resumen, MS., i. 1-14; Maglianos, St Francis and Franciscans, 521-32; Aa, Naaukeurige Versameling, ii. and iii. passim; Holmes' Annals Am., i. 1-16; Puga, Cedulario, 4-5; Gonzalez Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 255-6; Burke's Europ. Set., i. 1-45; Major's Prince Henry, 347-67; Help's Span. Conq., passim; Heylyn's Cosmog., 1083; Ogilby's Am., 55-6; Ens, West- und Ost-Indischer Lustgart, 178-84 and 408-9; Campe, Hist. Descub. Am., 1-133; Poussin, De la Puissance Américaine, passim; Hist. Mag., Aug. and Sept. 1864, and Feb. 1868; Mariana, Hist. España, vi. 307 etc. and vii. 80; Muñoz, Hist. Nuevo Mundo, i. 27-312; Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 11-12; Purchas, His Pilgrimes, v. 801-4; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo, 1-53; Montanus, De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld, 1-43; and Laet, Nov. Orb., 345-6. The first work to throw a clear light on the question of birthplace was the Della patria di Cristoforo Colombo, by Conte Napione di Coconato, Florence, 1808, a dissertation published by the Academy of Sciences, of Turin. In this and supplementary works the ability and zeal of the author are manifest. In 1853, at Rome, was issued a new edition of Napione and de Conti, entitled Patria e Biografia Del Grande Ammíraglio D. Cristóforo Colombo ... rischiarita e comprovata dai celebri scrittori Gio. Francesco Conte Napione di Coconato e Vincenzo de Conti, the latter author of Storia del Monferrato, in which appears a wealth of new information second only to the original narratives and documents themselves. The Dissertazioni epistolari bibliografiche, Rome, 1809, of Francesco Cancellieri, which Leclerc calls 'savante et fort curieuse,' should not be overlooked. John S. C. Abbott throws together a Life of Christopher Columbus, New York, 1875, in popular form, in which extracts are conspicuous, the author having made quite free with the writings of his predecessors.
[V-1] Chief judge, or highest judicial officer in the colony, to take the place of Roldan, who was to be returned to Spain. Irving, Columbus, ii. 331, writes erroneously alguazil mayor, evidently confounding the two offices. For Las Casas, Hist. Ind., iii. 18, says plainly enough:—'Trujo consigo por Alcalde mayor un caballero de Salamanca y licenciado, llamado Alonso Maldonado.' An alguacil mayor was a chief constable, or high sheriff, a very different person from a chief judge. These terms, and the offices represented by them, will be fully explained in another place.
[V-2] As this word will often occur in these pages, and as neither the term nor the institution it symbolizes has any equivalent in English, I will enter here a full explanation. Residencia was the examination or account taken of the official acts of an executive or judicial officer during the term of his residence within the province of his jurisdiction, and while in the exercise of the functions of his office. This was done at the expiration of the term of office, or at stated periods, or in case of malefeasance at any time. The person making the examination was appointed by the king, or in New World affairs by the Consejo de Indias, or by a viceroy, and was called a juez de residencia. Before this judge, within a given time, any one might appear and make complaint, and offer evidence against the retiring or suspended official, who might refute and rebut as in an ordinary tribunal. The residencia of any officer appointed by the crown must be taken by a judge appointed by the crown; the residencia of officers appointed in the Indies by viceroys, audiencias, or president-governors, was taken by a judge appointed by the same authority. Following are some of the changes rung upon the subject by royal decrees, the better to make it fit the government of the Indies. The 10th of June, 1523, and again the 17th of November, 1526, Charles V. decreed that appeal might be made from the judge of residencia to the Council of the Indies, except in private demands not exceeding 600 pesos de oro, when appeal was to the audiencia. In 1530 viceroys and president-governors were directed to take the residencia of visitadores de Indios that wrong-doing to the natives might not escape punishment; and by a later law proclamations of residencias must be made in such manner that the Indians might know thereof. The Ordenanzas de Audiencias of Philip II. of 1563 and 1567, state that in some cities of the Indies it was customary to appoint at certain seasons two regidores, who, with an alcalde, acted as fieles ejecutores. At the beginning of every year the viceroy, or the president, in a city which was the residence of an audiencia, had to appoint an oidor to take the residencia of the fieles ejecutores of the previous year. The same was to be done if those offices had been sold to the city, villa, or lugar; but in such cases it was left to the discretion of the viceroy or president to cause them to be taken when necessary, not allowing them to become too commonplace. Philip II. in 1573, and his successors as late as 1680, directed that in residencias of governors and their subordinates, when the fine did not exceed 20,000 maravedís, execution should issue immediately; in damages granted from private demands to the amount of 200 ducats, the condemned was to give bonds to respond. While an official was undergoing his residencia it was equivalent to his being under arrest, as he could neither exercise office nor, except in certain cases specified, leave the place. Thus the law of 1530, reiterated in 1581, stated that from the time of the proclamation of a residencia till its conclusion alguaciles mayores and their tenientes should be suspended from carrying the varas, or from exercising any of the functions of office. In 1583, in 1620, and in 1680, it was ordered that such judges of residencia as were appointed in the Indies should be selected by a viceroy and audiencia, or by a president and audiencia, acting in accord. Salaries of jueces de residencia were ordered by Felipe III. in 1618 to be paid by the official tried if found guilty, if not by the audiencia appointing. Before this, in 1610, the same sovereign had ordered notaries employed in residencias taken by corregidores to be paid in like manner. The next monarch directed that ships' officers should be subject to residencia in the form of a visita; and in visitas to galeones and flotas none but common sailors, artillerymen, and soldiers should be exempt. Cárlos II. in 1667 decreed that the residencia of a viceroy must be terminated within six months from the publication of the notice of the judge taking it. Felipe III. in 1619, and Cárlos II. in 1680, ordered that viceroys and presidents should send annually to the crown lists of persons suitable for conducting residencias, so that no one might be chosen to act upon the official under whose jurisdiction he resided. See Recop. de Indias, ii. 176-89. Of the report of the residencia the original was sent to the Council of the Indies, and a copy deposited in the archives of the audiencia. So burdensome were these trials, so corrupt became the judges, that later, in America, the residencia seemed rather to defeat than to promote justice, and in 1799 it was abolished so far as the subordinate officers were concerned.
[V-3] Originally written fijodalgo, son of something. Later applied to gentlemen, country gentlemen perhaps more particularly. Oviedo, ii. 466, calls Diego de Nicuesa 'hombre de limpia sangre de hijosdalgo,' a man of pure gentle blood. Concerning the origin of the word hidalgo, Juan de la Puente states that during the Moorish wars, whenever a large town was captured the king kept it; the villages he gave to captains who had distinguished themselves, and who were called at first ricos homes, and afterward grandes. To minor meritorious persons something less was given, a portion of the spoils or a grant of land, but always something; hence their descendants were called fijosdalgos, hijosdalgos, or hidalgos, sons of something. In the Dic. Univ. authorities are quoted showing that the word hidalgo originated with the Roman colonists of Spain, called Itálicos, who were exempt from imposts. Hence those enjoying similar benefits were called Itálicos, which word in lapse of time became hidalgo.
[V-4] 'Por justas causas, y consideraciones conviene, que en todas las capitulaciones que se hicieron para nuevos descubrimientos, se excuse esta palabra conquista, y en su lugar se use de las de pacificacion y poblacion, pues habiéndose de hacer con toda paz y caridad, es nuestra voluntad, que aun este nombre interpretado contra nuestra intencion, no ocasione, ni dé color á lo capitulado, para que se pueda hacer fuerza ni agravio á los Indios.' Recop. de Indias, ii. 2.
[V-5] The best proof of the policy of Spain in regard to the natives of the New World is found in her laws upon the subject. Writers may possibly color their assertions, but by following the royal decrees through successive reigns we have what cannot be controverted. The subject of the treatment of the Indians occupies no inconsiderable space in the Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias. At the beginning of tit. x. lib. vi. is placed a clause of Isabella's will, solemnly enjoining her successors to see that the Indians were always equitably and kindly treated; and this was the text for future legislation. And now let us glance at the laws; I cannot give them all; but I can assure the reader they are of one tenor. First of all the natives were to be protected by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. They might marry freely, but always in accordance with Christian usage; must not be taken to Spain; must be civilized, Christianized, taught to speak Spanish, and to love labor, if possible; they might sow seed, breed stock, keep their ancient market-days, buy and sell at pleasure, and even dispose of their lands, only the Spaniards were not allowed to sell them arms or alcoholic liquors. The Inquisition could not touch them, for in religious matters they were subject to the bishop's jurisdiction, and in cases of witchcraft to the civil power. They might have their municipal organizations in imitation of the Spanish town government, with their alcaldes, fiscales, and regidores, elected from among themselves to serve for one year, elections to be held in the presence of the priest. It was made the duty of priests, prelates, all officers of the government, and in fact every Spanish subject, to watch over and protect the Indians. Governors and judges were charged under the severest penalties to see justice done them. Two officers were created at an early day for this purpose, those of protector and defensor, the former having general oversight of the natives and their interests, and the latter appearing in their behalf in court. After a time, when it was thought the aborigines could stand alone, the offices were abolished. But the action was premature, and in 1589 Philip II. ordered them revived. These officers were appointed by the viceroys and president-governors. Indians might appear in courts of law and have counsel assigned them free of any cost; and even in suits between the natives themselves there was to be no expense, the fiscal appearing on one side, and the protector on the other. Philip also gave notice in 1593 that Spaniards who maltreated Indians were to be punished with greater rigor than for badly treating a Spaniard. This was a remarkable law; it is a pity the Puritans and their descendants lacked such a one. Indians might be hired, but they must be paid promptly. They might work in the mines, or carry burdens if they chose, but it must be done voluntarily. Enforced personal service, or any approach to it, was jealously and repeatedly prohibited. Indians under eighteen must not be employed to carry burdens. Let those who sneer at Philip and Spain remember that two centuries after this England could calmly look on and see her own little children, six years of age, working with their mothers in coal-pits. There were many ways the Spaniards had of evading the just and humane laws of their monarchs—instance the trick of employers of getting miners or other laborers in debt to them, and keeping them so, and if they attempted to run away interpose the law for their restraint. It was equivalent to slavery. A native might even sell his labor for an indefinite time, until Felipe III. in 1618 decreed that no Indian could bind himself to work for more than one year. The law endeavored to throw all severe labor upon the negro, who was supposed to be better able to endure it. The black man was likewise placed far below the red in the social scale. It was criminal for a negro or mixed-breed to have an Indian work for him, although voluntarily and for pay; nor might an African even go to the house of an American. The law endeavored to guard the Indian in his privacy, as well as in his rights. It studied to make the lot of the aboriginal as peaceful and comfortable under Christian civilization as under heathen barbarism. More it could not do; it could not do this much; after the pacifying raid through the primeval garden, all Europe could not restore it. But Spain's monarchs did their best to mitigate the sufferings caused by Spain's unruly sons. The cacique might hold his place among his people, and follow ancient usage in regard to his succession, but he must not enslave them, or inflict upon them the ancient cruel customs, such as giving Indian girls in lieu of tribute, or burying servants with their dead masters. And these petty rulers must stay at home and attend to their affairs; Indians could not leave one pueblo to take up their residence in another, and caciques could not go to Spain without special license from the king. The natives were ordered to live in communities, and have a fixed residence, and their lands were not in consequence to be taken from them. They must not ride on horseback, for that would make them too nearly equal to the cavalier in battle; they must not hold dances without permission, for then they might plot conspiracies, or give themselves up to serve heathen gods as of old; they must not work in gold or silver, an illiberal restriction which lost to the world the finest of America's arts. Spaniards could not place a cattle rancho within 1½ leagues of a native pueblo; or swine, sheep, or goats within half a league; the Indians might lawfully kill cattle trespassing on their lands. In a pueblo of Indians neither Spaniard, nor mulatto, nor negro should live. No traveller might spend the night at the house of a native if an inn was at hand. No Spanish or mestizo merchant might remain in an Indian pueblo more than three days, nor another white man more than two days. Beside the property of individuals each Indian pueblo had some common property, and a strong-box in which the community money and title-deeds were kept. Caciques must not call themselves lords of pueblos, as that detracted from royal preëminence; they must be called caciques simply. The cacique must not attempt feudal fashions; he must not oppress his people, or take more than the stipulated tribute; and he who worked for the cacique must be paid by the cacique. In criminal matters the jurisdiction of caciques over their people could not extend to death or mutilation. On the other hand a cacique could not be tried by the ordinary Spanish justice of the peace, but only by the judge of a district. The last four laws were made by Charles V. in 1538. And beside these were many other edicts promulgated by the Spanish monarchs during two and a half centuries, notable for their wisdom, energy, and humanity. By the continued outrages and excesses of their subjects in the New World the temper of the crown was often severely tried. Thus was found written by Felipe IV. with his own hand, on a decree of the council ordering the immediate suppression of all those infamous evils practised in spite of laws against them, a sentiment which was fully reiterated by his son Cárlos II. in 1680:—'I will that you give satisfaction to me and to the world concerning the manner of treating those my vassals,' so reads the writing; 'and if this be not done, so that as in response to this letter I may see exemplary punishment meted offenders, I shall hold myself disobeyed; and be assured that if you do not remedy it, I will. The least omissions I shall consider grave crimes against God and against me; the evil conduct tending as it does to the total ruin and destruction of those realms whose natives I hold in estimation; and I will that they be treated as is merited by vassals who serve the monarchy so well, and have so contributed to its grandeur and enlightenment.' See further, Tapia, Hist. Civ. Española, passim; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, 71-3; Ramirez, Vida Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. lxvi.; Las Casas, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vii. 290-338.