[306-1] Port Dauphin. (Navarrete.)
[307-1] That is, three months from the time the fleet left Spain, September 25, 1493. Neither the Historie nor Las Casas mentions the date of landing. In the Syllacio-Coma letter the date is given as “eight days from Christmas.” See Thacher, Columbus, II. 236, 257.
[307-2] Port Isabelique, or Isabella, ten leagues to the east of Monte Cristi. (Navarrete.)
[308-1] Cosas introfatibles in the Spanish. The translation follows the French version. The text perhaps is corrupt. The word introfatibles is not found in any of the Spanish dictionaries nor is it a learned compound whose meaning is apparent from its etymology. Professor H. R. Lang suggests that cosas corruptibles may be the proper reading. The sentence is omitted in the corresponding passage in Bernaldez, II. 30.
[308-2] The river Isabella.
[308-3] I can offer no explanation for this name, which is found only in Dr. Chanca’s letter. Bernaldez, who copied Dr. Chanca, gives Isabela as the name of the city, II. 30, and the Historie and Las Casas, who preserve for us the gist of Columbus’s own narrative, both say that “he named the city Isabela in memory of Queen Isabela.” Las Casas, II. 21. Historie, p. 150.
[308-4] Yams, the Dioscorea sativa. Columbus had seen the yam in Guinea an applied the African negro name, igname, ñame, whence the English, yam. See [note] to Journal, [November 4].
[326-1] By the Indians Dr. Chanca means the Tainos, the native inhabitants of Española.
[326-2] “Every woman wears a tiny apron called a queyu, suspended by tying its strings around her waist.” Im Thurn, Among the Indians of Guiana, 194.
[326-3] On this body painting, see Im Thurn, ibid.