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$Title{Discovery Of America
Part II}
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$Author{Fiske, John}
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$Subject{columbus
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$Date{1892}
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Title:       Discovery Of America
Book:        Chapter VI: The Finding Of Strange Coasts
Author:      Fiske, John
Date:        1892

Part II

     Already in April, 1493, without waiting for the Papal sanction, Ferdinand
and Isabella bent all their energies to the work of fitting out an expedition
for taking possession of "the Indies." First, a department of Indian affairs
was created, and at its head was placed Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, archdeacon
of Seville: in Spain a man in high office was apt to be a clergyman.  This
Fonseca was all-powerful in Indian affairs for the next thirty years.  He won
and retained the confidence of the sovereigns by virtue of his executive
ability.  He was a man of coarse fibre, ambitious and domineering,
cold-hearted and perfidious, with a cynical contempt - such as low-minded
people are apt to call "smart" - for the higher human feelings.  He was one of
those ugly customers who crush, without a twinge of compunction, whatever
comes in their way.  The slightest opposition made him furious, and his
vindictiveness was insatiable.  This dexterous and pushing Fonseca held one
after another the bishoprics of Badajoz, Cordova, Palencia, and Conde, the
archbishopric of Rosano in Italy, together with the bishopric of Burgos, and
he was also principal chaplain to Isabella and afterwards to Ferdinand.  As
Sir Arthur Helps observes, "the student of early American history will have a
bad opinion of many Spanish bishops, if he does not discover that it is Bishop
Fonseca who reappears under various designations." ^1 Sir Arthur fitly calls
him "the ungodly bishop."

[Footnote 1: History of the Spanish Conquest, vol. i. p. 487.]

     The headquarters of Fonseca and of the Indian department were established
at Seville, and a special Indian custom-house was set up at Cadiz.  There was
to be another custom-house upon the island of Hispaniola (supposed to be
Japan), and a minute registry was to be kept of all ships and their crews and
cargoes, going out or coming in.  Nobody was to be allowed to go to the Indies
for any purpose whatever without a license formally obtained.  Careful
regulations were made for hampering trade and making everything as vexatious
as possible for traders, according to the ordinary wisdom of governments in
such matters.  All expenses were to be borne and all profits received by the
crown of Castile, saving the rights formerly guaranteed to Columbus.  The cost
of the present expedition was partly defrayed with stolen money, the plunder
wrung from the worthy and industrious Jews who had been driven from their
homes by the infernal edict of the year before.  Extensive "requisitions" were
also made; in other words, when the sovereigns wanted a ship or a barrel of
gunpowder they seized it, and impressed it into the good work of converting
the heathen. To superintend this missionary work, a Franciscan monk ^2 was
selected who had lately distinguished himself as a diplomatist in the dispute
with France over the border province of Rousillon.  This person was a native
of Catalonia, and his name was Bernardo Boyle, which strongly suggests an
Irish origin.  Alexander VI. appointed him his apostolic vicar for the Indies,
^1 and he seems to have been the first clergyman to perform mass on the
western shores of the Atlantic.  To assist the vicar, the six Indians brought
over by Columbus were baptized at Barcelona, with the king and queen for their
godfather and godmother.  It was hoped that they would prove useful as
missionaries, and when one of them presently died he was said to be the first
Indian ever admitted to heaven. ^2

[Footnote 2: Irving calls him a Benedictine, but he is addressed as "fratri
ordinis Minorum" in the bull clothing him with apostolic authority in the
Indies, June 25, 1493.  See Raynaldus, Annales ecclesiastici, tom. xi. p. 216.
I cannot imagine what M. Harrisse means by calling him "religieux de
Saint-Vincent de Paule" (Christophe Colomb, tom. ii. p. 55).  Vincent de Paul
was not born till 1576.]

[Footnote 1: Not for "the New World," as Irving carelessly has it in his
Columbus, vol. i. p. 346.  No such phrase had been thought of in 1493, or
until long afterward.]

[Footnote 2: Herrera, Hist. de las Indias, decad. i. lib. ii. cap. 5.]

     The three summer months were occupied in fitting out the little fleet.
There were fourteen caravels, and three larger store-ships known as carracks.
Horses, mules, and other cattle were put on board, ^3 as well as vines and
sugar-canes, and the seeds of several European cereals, for it was intended to
establish a permanent colony upon Hispaniola.  In the course of this work some
slight matters of disagreement came up between Columbus and Fonseca, and the
question having been referred to the sovereigns, Fonseca was mildly snubbed
and told that he must in all respects be guided by the Admiral's wishes.  From
that time forth this ungodly prelate nourished a deadly hatred toward
Columbus, and never lost an opportunity for whispering evil things about him.
The worst of the grievous afflictions that afterward beset the great
discoverer must be ascribed to the secret machinations of this wretch.

[Footnote 3: Vita dell' Ammiraglio, cap. xliv.]

     At last the armament was ready.  People were so eager to embark that it
was felt necessary to restrain them.  It was not intended to have more than
1,200, but about 1,500 in all contrived to go, so that some of the caravels
must have been overcrowded.  The character of the company was very different
from that of the year before.  Those who went in the first voyage were chiefly
common sailors.  Now there were many aristocratic young men, hot-blooded and
feather-headed hidalgos whom the surrender of Granada had left without an
occupation.  Most distinguished among these was Alonso de Ojeda, a dare-devil
of unrivalled muscular strength, full of energy and fanfaronade, and not
without generous qualities, but with very little soundness of judgment or
character.  Other notable personages in this expedition were Columbus's
youngest brother Giacomo (henceforth called Diego), who had come from Genoa at
the first news of the Admiral's triumphant return; the monk Antonio de
Marchena, ^1 whom historians have so long confounded with the prior Juan
Perez; and Aragonese gentleman named Pedro Margarite, a favourite of the king
and destined to work sad mischief; Juan Ponce de Leon, who afterwards gave its
name to Florida; Francisco de Las Casas, father of the great apostle and
historian of the Indies; and, last but not least, the pilot Juan de La Cosa,
now charged with the work of chart-making, in which he was an acknowledged
master. ^1

[Footnote 1: He went as astronomer, from which we may perhaps suppose that
scientific considerations had made him one of the earliest and most steadfast
upholders of Columbus's views.]

[Footnote 1: See Harrisse, Christophe Colomb, tom. ii. pp. 55, 56; Las Casas,
Hist. de las Indias, tom. i. p. 498; Fabie, Vida de Las Casas, Madrid, 1879,
tom. i. p. 11; Oviedo, Hist. de las Indias, tom. i. p. 467; Navarrette,
Coleccion de viages, tom. ii. pp. 143-149.]

     The pomp and bustle of the departure from Cadiz, September 25, 1493, at
which the Admiral's two sons, Diego and Ferdinand, were present, must have
been one of the earliest recollections of the younger boy, then just five
years of age. ^2 Again Columbus stopped at the Canary islands, this time to
take on board goats and sheep, pigs and fowls, for he had been struck by the
absence of all such animals on the coasts which he had visited. ^3 Seeds of
melons, oranges, and lemons were also taken.  On the 7th of October the ships
weighed anchor, heading a trifle to the south of west, and after a pleasant
and uneventful voyage they sighted land on the 3d of November. ^4 It turned
out to be a small mountainous island, and as it was discovered on Sunday they
called it Dominica.  In a fortnight's cruise in these Caribbean waters they
discovered and named several islands, such as Marigalante, Guadaloupe,
Antigua, and others, and at length reached Porto Rico.  The inhabitants of
these islands were ferocious cannibals, very different from the natives
encountered on the former voyage.  There were skirmishes in which a few
Spaniards were killed with poisoned arrows.  On Guadaloupe the natives lived
in square houses made of saplings intertwined with reeds, and on the rude
porticoes attached to these houses some of the wooden pieces were carved so as
to look like serpents.  In some of these houses human limbs were hanging from
the roof, cured with smoke, like ham; and fresh pieces of human flesh were
found stewing in earthen kettles, along with the flesh of parrots.  Now at
length, said Peter Martyr, was proved the truth of the stories of Polyphemus
and the Laestrygonians, and the reader must look out lest his hair stand on
end. ^1 These western Laestrygonians were known as Caribbees, Caribales, or
Canibales, and have thus furnished an epithet which we have since learned to
apply to man-eaters the world over.

[Footnote 2: "E con questo preparamento il mercolede ai 25 del mese di
settembre dell' anno 1493 un' ora avanti il levar del sole, essendovi io e mio
fratel presenti, l' Ammiraglio levo le ancore," etc.  Vita dell' Ammiraglio,
cap. xliv.]

[Footnote 3: Eight sows were bought for 70 maravedis apiece, and "destas ocho
puercas se han multiplicado todos los puercos que, hasta hoy, ha habido y hay
en todas estas Indias," etc.  Las Casas, Historia, tom. ii. p. 3.]

[Footnote 4: The relation of this second voyage by Dr. Chanca may be found in
Navarette, tom. i. pp. 198-241; an interesting relation in Italian by Simone
Verde, a Florentine merchant then living in Valladolid, is published in
Harrisse, Christophe Colomb, tom. ii. pp. 68-78.  The narrative of the curate
of Los Palacios is of especial value for this voyage.]

[Footnote 1: Martyr, Epist. cxlvii. ad Pomponium Loetum; cf. Odyssey, x. 119;
Thucyd. vi. 2. - Irving (vol. i. p. 385) finds it hard to believe these
stories, but the prevalence of cannibalism, not only in these islands, but
throughout a very large part of aboriginal America, has been superabundantly
proved.]

     It was late at night on the 27th of November that Columbus arrived in the
harbour of La Navidad and fired a salute to arouse the attention of the party
that had been left there the year before.  There was no reply and the silence
seemed fraught with evil omen.  On going ashore next morning and exploring the
neighbourhood, the Spaniards came upon sights of dismal significance.  The
fortress was pulled to pieces and partly burnt, the chests of provisions were
broken open and emptied, tools and fragments of European clothing were found
in the houses of the natives, and finally eleven corpses, identifiable as
those of white men, were found buried near the fort.  Not one of the forty men
who had been left behind in that place ever turned up to tell the tale.  The
little colony of La Navidad had been wiped out of existence.  From the
Indians, however, Columbus gathered bits of information that made a
sufficiently probable story.  It was a typical instance of the beginnings of
colonization in wild countries.  In such instances human nature has shown
considerable uniformity.  Insubordination and deadly feuds among themselves
had combined with reckless outrages upon the natives to imperil the existence
of this little party of rough sailors. The cause to which Horace ascribes so
many direful wars, both before and since the days of fairest Helen, seems to
have been the principal cause on this occasion.  At length a fierce chieftain
named Caonabo, from the region of Xaragua, had attacked the Spaniards in
overwhelming force, knocked their blockhouse about their heads, and butchered
all that were left of them.

     This was a gloomy welcome to the land of promise.  There was nothing to
be done but to build new fortifications and found a town.  The site chosen for
this new settlement, which was named Isabella, was at a good harbour about
thirty miles east of Monte Christi.  It was chosen because Columbus understood
from the natives that it was not far from there to the gold-bearing mountains
of Cibao, a name which still seemed to signify Cipango. Quite a neat little
town was presently built, with church, marketplace, public granary, and
dwelling-houses, the whole encompassed with a stone wall.  An exploring party
led by Ojeda into the mountains of Cibao found gold dust and pieces of gold
ore in the beds of the brooks, and returned elated with this discovery.
Twelve of the ships were now sent back to Spain for further supplies and
reinforcements, and specimens of the gold were sent as an earnest of what was
likely to be found.  At length, in March, 1494, Columbus set forth, with 400
armed men, to explore the Cibao country.  The march was full of interest.  It
is upon this occasion that we first find mention of the frantic terror
manifested by Indians at the sight of horses. At first they supposed the horse
and his rider dismounted this separation of one creature into two overwhelmed
them with supernatural terror.  Even when they had begun to get over this
notion they were in dread of being eaten by the horses. ^1 These natives lived
in houses grouped into villages, and had carved wooden idols and rude estufas
for their tutelar divinities.  It was ascertained that different tribes tried
to steal each other's idols and even fought for the possession of valuable
objects of "medicine." ^2 Columbus observed and reported the customs of these
people with some minuteness. There was nothing that agreed with Marco Polo's
descriptions of Cipango, but so far as concerned the discovery of gold mines,
the indications were such as to leave little doubt of the success of this
reconnaissance.  The Admiral now arranged his forces so as to hold the inland
regions just visited and gave the general command to Margarite, who was to
continue the work of exploration.  He left his brother, Diego Columbus, in
charge of the colony, and taking three caravels set sail from Isabella on the
24th of April, on a cruise of discovery in these Asiatic waters.

[Footnote 1: For an instance of 400 hostile Indians fleeing before a single
armed horseman, see Vita dell' Ammiraglio, cap. lii.; Las Casas, Hist. tom.
ii. p. 46.]

[Footnote 2: Compare the Fisherman's story of Drogio.]

     A brief westward sail brought the little squadron into the Windward
Passage and in sight of Cape Mayzi, which Columbus on his first voyage had
named Cape Alpha and Omega as being the easternmost point on the Chinese
coast.  He believed that if he were to sail to the right of this cape he
should have the continent on his port side for a thousand miles and more, as
far as Quinsay and Cambaluc (Peking).  If he had sailed in this direction and
had succeeded in keeping to the east of Florida, he would have kept a
continent on his port side, and a thousand miles would have taken him a long
way toward that Vinland which our Scandinavian friends would fondly have us
believe was his secret guiding-star, and the geographical position of which
they suppose him to have known with such astounding accuracy.  But on this as
on other occasions, if the Admiral had ever received any information about
Vinland, it must be owned that he treated it very cavalierly, for he chose the
course to the left of Cape Mayzi.  His decision is intelligible if we bear in
mind that he had not yet circumnavigated Hayti and was not yet cured of his
belief that its northern shore was the shore of the great Cipango.  At the
same time he had seen enough on his first voyage to convince him that the
relative positions of Cipango and the mainland of Cathay were not correctly
laid down upon the Toscanelli map.  He had already inspected two or three
hundred miles of the coast to the right of Cape Mayzi without finding traces
of civilization; and whenever inquiries were made about gold or powerful
kingdoms the natives invariably pointed to the south or southwest.  Columbus,
therefore, decided to try his luck in this direction.  He passed to the left
of Cape Mayzi and followed the southern coast of Cuba.

     By the 3d of May the natives were pointing so persistently to the south
and off to sea that he changed his course in that direction and soon came upon
the northern coast of the island which we still know by its native
nameJamaica.  Here he found Indians more intelligent and more warlike than any
he had as yet seen.  He was especially struck with the elegance of their
canoes, some of them nearly a hundred feet in length, carved and hollowed from
the trunks of tall trees.  We may already observe that different tribes of
Indians comported themselves very differently at the first sight of white men.
While the natives of some of the islands prostrated themselves in adoration of
these sky-creatures, or behaved with a timorous politeness which the Spaniards
mistook for gentleness of disposition, in other places the red men showed
fight at once, acting upon the brute impulse to drive away strangers.  In both
cases, of course, dread of the unknown was the prompting impulse, though so
differently manifested.  As the Spaniards went ashore upon Jamaica, the
Indians greeted them with a shower of javelins and for a few moments stood up
against the deadly fire of the cross-bows, but when they turned to flee, a
single bloodhound, let loose upon them, scattered them in wildest panic. ^1

[Footnote 1: Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, cap. cxxv.  Domesticated dogs were
found generally in aboriginal America, but they were very paltry curs compared
to these fierce hounds, one of which could handle an unarmed man as easily as
a terrier handles a rat.]

     Finding no evidences of civilization upon this beautiful island, Columbus
turned northward and struck the Cuban coast again at the point which still
bears the name he gave it, Cape Cruz.  Between the general contour of this end
of Cuba and that of the eastern extremity of Cathay upon the Toscanelli map
there is a curious resemblance, save that the direction is in the one case
more east and west and in the other more north and south. Columbus passed no
cities like Zaiton, nor cities of any sort, but when he struck into the
smiling archipelago which he called the Queen's Gardens, now known as Cayos de
las Doce Leguas, he felt sure that he was among Marco Polo's seven thousand
spice islands.  On the 3d of June, at some point on the Cuban coast, probably
near Trinidad, the crops of several doves were opened and spices found in
them.  None of the natives here had ever heard of an end to Cuba, and they
believed it was endless. ^1 The next country to the west of themselves was
named Mangon, and it was inhabited by people with tails which they carefully
hid by wearing loose robes of cloth.  This information seemed decisive to
Columbus.  Evidently this Mangon was Mangi, the province in which was the city
of Zaiton, the province just south of Cathay.  And as for the tailed men, the
book of Mandeville had a story of some naked savages in eastern Asia who spoke
of their more civilized neighbours as wearing clothes in order to cover up
some bodily peculiarity or defect.  Could there be any doubt that the Spanish
caravels had come at length to the coast of opulent Mangi? ^2

[Footnote 1: As a Greek would have said, a continent.]

[Footnote 2: Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, cap. cxxvii.  Mr. Irving, in citing
these same incidents from Bernaldez, could not quite rid himself of the
feeling that there was something strange or peculiar in the Admiral's method
of interpreting such information: "Animated by one of the pleasing illusions
of his ardent imagination, Columbus pursued his voyage, with a prosperous
breeze, along the supposed continent of Asia." (Life of Columbus, vol. i. p.
493.) This lends a false colour to the picture, which the general reader is
pretty sure to make still falser.  To suppose the southern coast of Cuba to be
the southern coast of Toscanelli's Mangi required no illusion of an "ardent
imagination." It was simply a plain common-sense conclusion reached by sober
reasoning from such data as were then accessible (i.e. the Toscanelli map,
amended by information such as was understood to be given by the natives); it
was more probable than any other theory of the situation likely to be devised
from those data; and it seems fanciful to us to-day only because knowledge
acquired since the time of Columbus has shown us how far from correct it was.
Modern historians abound in unconscious turns of expression - as in this
quotation from Irving - which project modern knowledge back into the past, and
thus destroy the historical perspective. I shall mention several other
instances from Irving, and the reader must not suppose that this is any
indication of captiousness on my part toward a writer for whom my only feeling
is that of sincerest love and veneration.]

     Under the influence of this belief, when a few days later they landed in
search of fresh water, and a certain archer, on the lookout for game, caught
distant glimpses of a flock of tall white cranes feeding in an everglade, he
fled to his comrades with the story that he had seen a party of men clad in
long white tunics, and all agreed that these must be the people of Mangon. ^1
Columbus sent a small company ashore to find them.  It is needless to add that
the search was fruitless, but footprints of alligators, interpreted as
footprints of griffins guarding hoarded gold, frightened the men back to their
ships.  From the natives, with whom the Spaniards could converse only by
signs, they seemed to learn that they were going toward the realm of Prester
John; ^1 and in such wise did they creep along the coast to the point, some
fifty miles west of Broa Bay, where it begins to trend decidedly to the
southwest.  Before they had reached Point Mangles, a hundred miles farther on,
inasmuch as they found this southwesterly trend persistent, the proof that
they were upon the coast of the Asiatic continent began to seem complete.
Columbus thought that they had passed the point (lat. 23 Degrees, long. 145
Degrees on Toscanelli's map) where the coast of Asia began to trend steadily
toward the southwest. ^2 By pursuing this coast he felt sure that he would
eventually reach the peninsula (Malacca) which Ptolemy, who knew of it only by
vague hearsay, called the Golden Chersonese. ^1 An immense idea now flitted
through the mind of Columbus.  If he could reach and double that peninsula he
could then find his way to the mouth of the Ganges river; thence he might
cross the Indian ocean, pass the Cape of Good Hope (for Dias had surely shown
that the way was open), and return that way to Spain after circumnavigating
the globe! But fate had reserved this achievement for another man of great
heart and lofty thoughts, a quarter of a century later, who should indeed
accomplish what Columbus dreamed, but only after crossing another Sea of
Darkness, the most stupendous body of water on our globe, the mere existence
of which until after Columbus had died no European ever suspected.  If
Columbus had now sailed about a hundred miles farther, he would have found the
end of Cuba, and might perhaps have skirted the northern shore of Yucatan and
come upon the barbaric splendours of Uxmal and Campeche.  The excitement which
such news would have caused in Spain might perhaps have changed all the rest
of his life and saved him from the worst of his troubles.  But the crews were
now unwilling to go farther, and the Admiral realized that it would be
impossible to undertake such a voyage as he had in mind with no more than
their present outfit.  So it was decided to return to Hispaniola.

[Footnote 1: These tropical birds are called soldados, or "soldiers," because
their stately attitudes remind one of sentinels on duty.  The whole town of
Angostura, in Venezuela, was one day frightened out of its wits by the sudden
appearance of a flock of these cranes on the summit of a neighbouring hill.
They were mistaken for a war-party of Indians. Humboldt, Voyage aux regions
equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, tom. ii. p. 314.]

[Footnote 1: For these events, see Bernaldez, Reyes Catolicos, cap. cxxiii.;
F. Columbus, Vita dell' Ammiraglio, cap. lvi.; Historia del Nuevo Mundo, lib.
v. Section 16; Humboldt, Examen critique, tom. iv. pp. 237-263; Irving's
Columbus, vol. i. pp. 491-504.]

[Footnote 2: That is to say, he thought he had passed the coast of Mangi
(southern China) and reached the beginning of the coast of Champa (Cochin
China; see Yule's Marco Polo, vol. ii. p. 213).  The name Champa, coming to
European writers through an Italian source, was written Ciampa and Ciamba. See
its position on the Behaim and Toscanelli maps, and also on Ruysch's map,
1508.  Peter Martyr says that Columbus was sure that he had reached the coast
of Gangetic (i.e. what we call Farther) India: "Indiae Gangetidis continentem
eam (Cubae) plagam esse contendit Colonus." Epist. xciii. ad Bernardinum.  Of
course Columbus understood that this region, while agreeing well enough with
Toscanelli's latitude, was far from agreeing with his longitude.  But from the
moment when he turned eastward on his first voyage he seems to have made up
his mind that Toscanelli's longitudes needed serious amendment.  Indeed he had
always used different measurements from Toscanelli.]

[Footnote 1: For an account of Ptolemy's almost purely hypothetical and
curiously distorted notions about southeastern Asia, see Bunbury's History of
Ancient Geography, vol. ii. pp. 604-608.]

     Upon consultation with La Cosa and others, it was unanimously agreed that
they were upon the coast of the continent of Asia.  The evidence seemed
conclusive.  From Cape Mayzi (Alpha and Omega) they had observed, upon their
own reckoning, 335 leagues, or about 1,000 geographical miles, of continuous
coast running steadily in nearly the same direction. ^1 Clearly it was too
long for the coast of an island; and then there was the name Mangon = Mangi.
The only puzzling circumstance was that they did not find any of Marco Polo's
cities.  They kept getting scraps of information which seemed to refer to
gorgeous kingdoms, but these were always in the dim distance. Still there was
no doubt that they had discovered the coast of a continent, and of course such
a continent could be nothing else but Asia!

[Footnote 1: The length of Cuba from Cape Mayzi to Cape San Antonio is about
700 English miles.  But in following the sinuosities of the coast, and
including tacks, the estimate of these pilots was probably not far from
correct.]

     Such unanimity of opinion might seem to leave nothing to be desired. But
Columbus had already met with cavillers.  Before he started on this cruise
from Isabella, some impatient hidalgos, disgusted at finding much to do and
little to get, had begun to hint that the Admiral was a humbug, and that his
"Indies" were no such great affair after all.  In order to silence these
ill-natured critics, he sent his notary, accompanied by four witnesses, to
every person in those three caravels, to get a sworn statement.  If anybody
had a grain of doubt about this coast being the coast of Asia, so that you
could go ashore there and walk on dry land all the way to Spain if so
disposed, let him declare his doubts once for all, so that they might now be
duly considered.  No one expressed any doubts.  All declared, under oath,
their firm belief.  It was then agreed that if any of the number should
thereafter deny or contradict this sworn statement, he should have his tongue
slit; ^1 and if an officer, he should be further punished with a fine of
10,000 maravedis, or if a sailor, with a hundred lashes.  These proceedings
were embodied in a formal document, dated June 12, 1494, which is still to be
seen in the Archives of the Indies at Seville. ^2

[Footnote 1: "E cortada la lengua;" "y le cortarian la lengua." Irving
understands it to mean cutting off the tongue.  But in those days of symbolism
slitting the tip of that unruly member was a recognized punishment for serious
lying.]

[Footnote 2: It is printed in full in Navarrete, tom. ii. pp. 143-149.]

     Having disposed of this solemn matter, the three caravels turned
eastward, touching at the Isle of Pines and coasting back along the south side
of Cuba.  The headland where the Admiral first became convinced of the
significance of the curvature of the coast, he named Cape of Good Hope, ^3
believing it to be much nearer the goal which all were seeking than the other
cape of that name, discovered by Dias seven years before.

[Footnote 3: It is given upon La Cosa's map.]

     It will be remembered that the Admiral, upon his first voyage, had
carried home with him two theories, - first, that in the Cuban coast he had
already discovered that of the continent of Asia, secondly that Hispaniola was
Cipango.  The first theory seemed to be confirmed by further experience; the
second was now to receive a serious shock.  Leaving Cape Cruz the caravels
stood over to Jamaica, leisurely explored the southern side of that island,
and as soon as adverse winds would let them, kept on eastward till land
appeared on the port bow.  Nobody recognized it until an Indian chief who had
learned some Spanish hailed them from the shore and told them it was
Hispaniola.  They then followed that southern coast its whole length,
discovering the tiny islands, Beata, Saona, and Mona.  Here Columbus, overcome
by long-sustained fatigue and excitement, suddenly fell into a death-like
lethargy, and in this sad condition was carried all the way to Isabella, and
to his own house, where he was put to bed.  Hispaniola had thus been
circumnavigated, and either it was not Cipango or else that wonderland must be
a much smaller affair than Toscanelli and Martin Behaim had depicted it. ^1
There was something truly mysterious about these Strange Coasts!

[Footnote 1: Hispaniola continued, however, for many years to be commonly
identified with Cipango.]