In December, 1499, Vincente Yañez Pinzon sailed from Palos, and came in sight of the coast of Brazil at a point of land which he called Cabo Santa Maria de la Consolacion. The same month Diego de Lepe sailed from Palos and made discoveries south of this cape. Rodrigo de Bastidas sailed from Cadiz in October, 1500, and explored the coast of Paria westward to the isthmus of Darien.
[207] Nueva España (New Spain), was the name which the Spaniards gave to Yucatan and Mexico when they first explored these countries.
[208] Mar del Sur, the early Spanish name for the Pacific Ocean.
[209] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. lxxxviii-xc.
[210] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xcii.
[211] Historie del S. D. Fernando Colombo. cap. xciv-xcvi.
[212] Vide Select letters of Christopher Columbus. Major.
[213] Columbus, in his letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, from Jamaica, dated July 7, 1503, says: “This is the account I have to give of my voyage. The men who accompanied me were a hundred and fifty in number, among whom were many considered to be pilots and good sailors, but none of them can explain whither I went nor whence I came. The explanation is simply this: I sailed from a point above the port of Brazil, and while I was in Española, a storm prevented me from following my intended route, for I was compelled to go wherever the wind drove me. At the same time I became very sick, and there was no one who had sailed in these parts before. However, after some days the wind and sea became tranquil, but there were rapid currents. I put into a harbor at the island called Isla de las Bocas, and afterward steered for Tierra-firme. However, it is impossible to give a correct account of all our movements, for I was carried away by the current for many days without seeing land.
“I ascertained, notwithstanding, by the compass and by observation, that I was running parallel with the coast of Tierra-firme. No one could tell under what part of the heavens we were, nor at what time I changed my course for the island of Española. The pilots thought we had arrived at the island of St. John, whereas it was the land of Mango, four hundred leagues westward of the place mentioned by them. Let them answer and say if they know where Veragua is situated. I assert that they can give no other information than that they went to lands where there was plenty of gold, and this they can surely affirm; but they do not know the way to return there for it. They would be obliged to go on a voyage of discovery as if they had never been there before. There is a way of reckoning [the course and distance sailed] derived from astronomy which is trustworthy and safe, and a sufficient guide to any one who understands it. This resembles prophetic vision.
“The vessels of India do not sail except with the wind abaft. This is done, not because they are badly built or clumsy, but because the strong currents in those parts, together with the wind, make it impracticable for them to sail with the bowline (con bolina), for in one day they would lose as much way as they might have made in seven. For a similar reason I could not use caravels, even though they were Portuguese lateens. This is the reason for their [the vessels of India] not sailing except with a favorable wind, and they will sometimes remain in port, waiting for one, seven or eight months at a time, nor is this particularly strange, for the same occurs often in Spain.”—Vide Select letters of Christopher Columbus. Major.