That the commandary Lores[3], who had been sent out by their majesties to call Bovadilla to account for his mal-administration, might not be surprised at our unexpected arrival, the admiral sent on the 29th of June, being then near the port, Peter de Terreros, captain of one of the ships, with a message to him signifying the necessity there was for exchanging one of the ships. For which reason, and because he apprehended the approach of a great storm, he requested permission to secure his squadron in the harbour; and he advised him not to allow the fleet then preparing to sail for Spain to quit the port for eight days to come, as it would otherwise be in great danger. But the governor would not permit the admiral to come into the harbour; neither did he delay the sailing of the fleet which was bound for Spain. That fleet consisted of 18 sail, and was to carry Bovadilla who had imprisoned the admiral and his brothers, and Francis Roldan with all those who had been in rebellion and done so much harm; all of whom it pleased God so to infatuate that they would not listen to the admirals good advice. I am satisfied that the hand of God was in this; for had they arrived in Spain they would never have been punished as their crimes deserved, as they enjoyed the protection of the bishop Fonseca. This impunity was prevented by their setting out from St Domingo for Spain, as no sooner were they come to the east point of Hispaniola than there arose a terrible storm; the admiral of the fleet went to the bottom, and in her perished Bovadilla with most of the rebels, and so great was the havock among the rest, that only three or four vessels escaped of the whole eighteen.
[3] He was formerly called Obando; and is named Nicholas de Ovando by Herrera: Perhaps he had a commandary of the above name.--E.
This event happened on Thursday the 30th of June; when the admiral, who had foreseen the storm and had been refused admittance into the port, drew up as close to the land as he could to shelter himself from its effects. The people on board his vessels were exceedingly dissatisfied at being denied that shelter which would have been given to strangers, much more to them who were of the same nation, and they feared they might be so served if any misfortune should afterwards befal them in the prosecution of their voyage. The admiral was greatly concerned on the same account, and was yet more vexed to experience such base ingratitude in a country which he had given to the honour and benefit of Spain, where he was thus refused shelter for his life. Yet by his prudence and judgment he secured his ships for that day. But next night the tempest increasing, and the night being extremely dark, three of the ships broke from their anchors and drifted from him. All were in imminent danger, and the people on board of each concluded that all the others were certainly lost. Those in the Santo suffered greatly by endeavouring to save their boat, which had been ashore with their captain Terreros, and now dragged astern where it overset, and they were obliged to cast it loose to save themselves. The caravel Bermuda was in infinite danger; for running out to sea it was almost covered and overwhelmed by the waves, by which it appeared what good reason the admiral had to endeavour to exchange that vessel, which all men concluded was saved, under God, by the wisdom and resolution of the admirals brother, than whom there was not at that time a more expert sailor. After all had suffered extremely, except the admiral who rode out the gale, it pleased God that they all met again on Sunday the 3d of July in the port of Azna on the south side of Hispaniola, where every one gave an account of his misfortunes. It appeared that Bartholomew Columbus had weathered this great storm by standing out to sea like an able sailor; while the admiral had avoided all danger by hugging close to the land like a wise astronomer, who knew whence the peril was to come.
His enemies might well blame him, by saying that he had raised this storm by magic art to be revenged on Bovadilla and the rest of his enemies who perished with him, since none of his own four ships were lost; whereas of the eighteen which had set out at the same time with Bovadilla, the Ajuga, or Needle, only held on its course for Spain, where it arrived in safety though the worst of the whole fleet, the other three that escaped having returned to St Domingo in a shattered and distressed condition. In the Ajuga there were 4000 pesos of gold belonging to the admiral, each peso being worth eight shillings.
The admiral gave his men a breathing time in the port of Azua, to recover from the fatigues which they had encountered in the storm; and as it is one of the usual diversions of seamen to fish when they have nothing else to do, I shall make mention of two sorts of fish in particular which I remember to have seen taken at that place, one of which was pleasant, and the other wonderful. The first was a fish called Saavina, as big as half an ordinary bull, which lay asleep on the surface of the water, and was struck by a harpoon from the boat of the ship Biscaina; being held fast by a rope so that it could not break loose, it drew the boat after it with the swiftness of an arrow in various directions, so that those who were in the ship, seeing the boat scud about at a strange rate without knowing the cause, could not imagine how it could do so without the help of oars. At length it sunk, and being drawn to the ships side was hoisted on deck by the tackle. The other fish is called Manati by the Indians, and there is nothing of the kind seen in Europe. It is about as large as an ordinary calf, nothing differing from it in the colour and taste of the flesh, except that it is perhaps better and fatter. Those who affirm that there are all sorts of creatures to be found in the sea, will have it that these fishes are real calves, since they have nothing within them resembling a fish, and feed only on the grass which they find along the banks[4].
[4] The historian of Columbus does not appear to have been at all conversant in zoology. What the Saavina was cannot be conjectured from his slight notices, unless a basking shark. The other, no way allied to fish except by living in the water, is a real mammiferous quadruped, the Trichechus Manati of naturalists, or the sea cow.--E.
Having refreshed his men and repaired his ships, the admiral went from Azua to the port of Brazil called Yaquimo by the Indians, to shun another storm of which he observed the approach. From thence he sailed again on the 14th of July, and was so becalmed that instead of holding on his course he was carried away by the current to certain small sandy islands near Jamaica; not finding any springs in these islands, the people had to dig pits or wells in the sand whence they procured water; on account of which circumstance the admiral named them Islas de los Poros, or the Well Islands. Then sailing southwards[5] for the continent, we came to certain islands, where we went on shore on the biggest only called Guanaia; whence those who make sea charts took occasion to call all those the islands of Guanaia, which are almost twelve leagues from that part of the continent now called the province of Honduras, but which the admiral then named Cape Casinas. These fabricators of charts often commit vast mistakes from ignorance; thus these same islands and that part of the continent nearest them are twice inserted in their charts, as if they were different countries; and though cape Garcias a Dios, and that they call Cape[6] ----. The occasion of this mistake was, that after the admiral had discovered these countries, one John Diaz de Solis, from whom the Rio de Plata was named Rio de Solis because he was there killed by the Indians, and one Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who commanded a ship in the first voyage when the admiral discovered the Indies, set out together on a voyage of discovery in the year 1508, designing to sail along that coast which the admiral discovered in his voyage from Veragua westwards; and following almost the same track which he had done, they put into the port of Cariari and passed by Cape Garcias a Dios as far as Cape Casinas, which they called Cape Honduras, and they named the before mentioned islands the Guanaias, giving the name of the biggest to them all. Thence they proceeded farther on without acknowledging that the admiral had been in those parts, that the discovery might be attributed to them, and that it might be believed they had found out extensive countries; although Peter de Ledesma, one of their pilots who had been with the admiral in his voyage to Veragua, told them that he knew the country, having been there with the admiral, and from whom I afterwards learnt these circumstances. But, independent of this authority, the nature of the charts plainly demonstrates that they have laid the same thing down twice, as the island is of the same shape and at the same distance; they having brought a true draught of the country, only saying that it lay beyond that which the admiral had before discovered. Hence the same country is twice delineated on the same chart, as time will make apparent when it shall please God that this coast shall be better known; for they will then find but one country of that sort. But to return to our voyage; the admiral ordered his brother Bartholomew to land with two boats on the island of Guanaia, where he found people like those of the other islands, except that their foreheads were not so high. They also saw abundance of pine trees, and found pieces of lapis calaminaris, such as is used for mixing with copper in the process for making brass; and which some of the seamen mistaking for gold concealed for a long time.
[5] The author or his original translator, falls into a great error here. The land first discovered in this voyage was the island of Guanaia off Cape Casinas or Cape Honduras, therefore W.S.W. from Jamaica, not south. Guanaia seems to be the island named Bonaea in our maps, about ten leagues west from the isle of Ratan.--E.
While the admirals brother was on shore, using his endeavours to learn the nature of the country, it so happened that a canoe eight feet wide and as long as a galley, made all of one piece, and shaped like those which were common among the islands, put in there. It was loaded with commodities brought from the westwards, and bound towards New Spain[7]. In the middle of this canoe there was an awning made of palm-tree leaves, not unlike those of the Venetian gondolas, which kept all underneath so close, that neither rain nor sea water could penetrate to wet the goods. Under this awning were the women and children, and all the commodities; and though there were twenty-five men in the canoe, they had not the courage to defend themselves against the people in our boats who pursued them. The canoe being thus taken without any opposition, was brought along side of the admiral, who blessed GOD for having given him samples of the commodities of that country, without exposing his men to any danger. He therefore ordered such things to be taken as he judged most sightly and valuable; such as quilts, cotton shirts without sleeves, curiously wrought and dyed of several colours; some small cloths for covering the nudities, large sheets, in which the women in the canoe wrapped themselves, as the Moorish women in Granada used to do, long wooden swords, having a channel on each side where the edge should be, in which many pieces of sharp-edged flints were fixed by means of thread and a tenacious bituminous matter; these swords could cut naked men as well as if they had been made of steel; hatchets for cutting wood made of good copper, and resembling the stone hatchets usual among the other islanders, also bells and plates of the same metal, and crucibles for melting it. For provisions, they had such roots and grains as they eat in Hispaniola, and a sort of liquor made of maize like English beer. They likewise had abundance of cacao nuts, which serve as money in New Spain, and on which they seemed to place great value; for when these were brought on board along with their other goods, I observed that when any of them fell, they all anxiously stooped to gather them up as if they had been of great importance.
[6] A blank is left here in the edition of this voyage published by Churchill.--E.