[8] At Last, p. 79, London, 1905. [↑]
[9] “At this point called Tierra de Brea or Piche,” writes Raleigh, “there is that abondance of stone pitch, that all the ships of the world may therewith loden from thence, and wee made triall of it in trimming our ships to be most excellent good, and melteth not with the sunne, as the pitch of Norway, and therefore for ships trading in the south partes very profitable.”—The Discovery of Guiana, pp. 3 and 4, published for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1848. [↑]
[10] Writings of Columbus, op. cit., pp. 120, 121. [↑]
[11] Coleccion de los Viajes y descubrunientos que hiaeron por mar los Españoles desde fines dil siglo XV. Tom. III, p. 583. [↑]
[12] See the aforementioned letter of Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella for the quotations above given. The whole letter will well repay perusal. See also Relaciones y Cartas de Cristobal Colon, Tom. CL, XIV, de la Biblioteca Clasica, Madrid, 1892, p. 268 et seq.
Americus Vespucius shared with Columbus the belief in the existence of the Terrestrial Paradise in the newly-discovered lands near the equator. Writing to his friend, Lorenzo de Medici, giving him an account of his second voyage, he declares “In the fields flourish so many sweet flowers and herbs, and the fruits are so delicious in their fragrance, that I fancied myself near the terrestrial paradise,” and again, “If there is a terrestrial paradise in the world it cannot be far from this region.”—The Life and Voyages of Americus Vespucius, pp. 197 and 214, by C. Edwards Lester and Andrew Foster, New York, 1846. [↑]
[13] The curious reader will be interested in learning that Sir Walter Raleigh, as well as Columbus and Vespucius, speculated about the probable site of Paradise. In his History of the World he devotes a long chapter to the subject, and several pages to the discussion “Of their Opinion which make paradise as high as the moon; and of others which make it higher than the middle region of the air,” Chap. III, Oxford, 1829. [↑]
[14] He who goes to the Orinoco dies or becomes crazy. [↑]
[15] The Discovery of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guiana, p. 46, edited by Sir Robert Schomburgk, printed for the Hakluyt Society, London, 1848. [↑]