The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 Part 21

[166-3] Punta de los Azules. (_Id._)

[167-1] Las Casas, I. 359, says, "This high and beautiful cape whither he would have liked to go I believe was Point Mayci, which is the extreme end of Cuba toward the east." According to the modern maps of Cuba it must have been one of the capes to the southwest of Point Maici.

[167-2] _Cf._ note 57. Las Casas, I. 359, remarks, "Its real name was Hayti, the last syllable long and accented." He thinks it possible that the cape first sighted may have been called Bohio.

[167-3] Columbus gave Cuba the name Juana "in memory of Prince Juan the heir of Castile." _Historie_, p. 83.

[167-4] "In leaving the cape or eastern point of Cuba he gave it the name Alpha and Omega, which means beginning and end, for he believed that this cape was the end of the mainland in the Orient." Las Casas, I. 360.

[168-1] The port of St. Nicholas Mole, in Hayti. (Navarrete.)

[168-2] Cape of St. Nicholas. (_Id._)

[168-3] Punta Palmista. (_Id._)

[168-4] Puerto Escudo. (_Id._)

[168-5] The channel between Tortuga Island and the main.

[168-6] Tortoise.

[169-1] _Atalayas_, "watchtowers."

[169-2] This method of giving names in honor of the saint on whose day a new cape or river was discovered was very commonly followed during the period of discoveries, and sometimes the date of a discovery, or the direction of a voyage, or other data can be verified by comparing the names given with the calender.

[169-3] This clause should be "It extends in this manner to the south-south-east two leagues."

[169-4] A gap in the ma.n.u.script.

[170-1] This is the "Carenero," within the port of St. Nicholas.

(Navarrete.)

[171-1] Accepting Navarrete's conjecture of _abrezuela_ or _anglezuela_ for the reading _agrezuela_ of the text.

[171-2] It should be north 11 miles. (Navarrete.)

[171-3] This is an error. It should be 15 miles. (Navarrete.) The direction _al Leste cuarta del Sueste_ is East by South.

[171-4] Puerto Escudo. (Navarrete.)

[172-1] Bahia Mosquito. (Navarrete.)

[172-2] Cuvier notes that neither the nightingale proper nor the Spanish myrtle are found in America.

[172-3] It should be 11 miles. (Navarrete.)

[173-1] _I.e._, Spanish Isle, not "Little Spain," which is sometimes erroneously given in explanation of the Latin Hispaniola. This last is a Latinized form of Espanola and not a diminutive. Las Casas, I. 367, in the corresponding pa.s.sage, has "Seeing the greatness and beauty of this island and its resemblance to Spain although much superior and that they had caught fish in it like the fish of Castile and for other similar reasons he decided on December 9 when in the harbor of Concepcion to name this island Spanish Island."

At a period some time later than his first voyage Columbus decided that Espanola and c.i.p.ango were the same and also identical with the Ophir of the Bible. _Cf._ his marginal note to Landino's Italian translation of Pliny's _Natural History_, "la isola de Feyti, vel de Ofir, vel de c.i.p.ango, a la quale habio posto nome Spagnola." _Raccolta Colombiana_, pt. I., vol. II., p. 472.

[174-1] The distance is 11 miles. (Navarrete.)

[175-1] _Camarones._

[175-2] The proper English equivalents for these names in the original are hard to find. The _corbina_ was a black fish and the name is found in both Spanish and Portuguese. _Pampanos_ is translated "giltheads," but the name is taken over into English as "pompano." It must be remembered that in many cases the names of European species were applied to American species which resembled them but which were really distinct species of the same genus.

[177-1] Rather, "bread of _niames_." _Cf._ note, p. 139.

[178-1] Las Casas, I. 373, says that at that season the length of the day in Espanola is somewhat over eleven hours. The correct lat.i.tude is 20.

[179-1] Elsewhere called Babeque. (Navarrete.)

[180-1] Paradise Valley.

[180-2] Rather, "There are on the edges or banks of the sh.o.r.e many beautiful stones and it is all suitable for walking." The Spanish text seems to be defective.

[181-1] Diego de Arana of Cordova, a near relation of Beatriz Henriquez, the mother of the Admiral's son Fernando. (Markham.) Alguazil means constable.

[181-2] _Ajes._ The same as _mames_. _Cf._ note, p. 139.

[183-1] This Indian word survives in modern Spanish with the meaning political boss.

[183-2] Diego de Arana.

[184-1] Rodrigo de Escobedo.

[184-2] In Spain in earlier times the Annunciation was celebrated on December 18 to avoid having it come in Lent. When the Roman usage in regard to Annunciation was adopted in Spain they inst.i.tuted the Feast of our Lady's Expectation on December 18. It was called "The Feast of O because the first of the greater antiphons is said in the vespers of its vigil." Addis and Arnold, _Catholic Dictionary_, under "Mary." The series of anthems all begin with "O."

[186-1] The excelente was worth two castellanos or about $6 in coin value.

[187-1] El Puerto de la Granja. (Navarrete.)

[187-2] The bay of Puerto Margot. (_Id._)

[188-1] Point and Island of Margot. (Navarrete.)

[188-2] _Camino_ for _Cabo_ (?). (Markham.)

[188-3] Mountain over Guarico. (Navarrete.)

[188-4] _Cf._ p. 178, note.

[188-5] Bahia de Acul. (Navarrete.)

[189-1] This conjecture proved to be wrong. The Peak of Teneriffe is over 12,000 ft. high, while 10,300 ft. (Mt. Tina) is the highest elevation in Santo Domingo.

[189-2] This is one of the pa.s.sages used to determine the date of Columbus's birth. By combining his statement quoted in the _Historie_ of Ferdinand, ch. IV., that he went to sea at 14, and this a.s.sertion that he followed the sea steadily for 23 years, we find that he was 37 years old in 1484 or 1485, when he left Portugal and ceased sea-faring till 1492.

[189-3] A gap of a line and a half in the ma.n.u.script.