The narrative given here of the third voyage of Columbus in which he discovered the mainland of South America is taken from the Historia de las Indias of Las Casas. In preparing his History Las Casas had the use of a larger body of Columbus’s papers than has come down to us. Among these papers was a journal of this third voyage which was incorporated in a condensed form by Las Casas in his History, just as he did in the case of the journals of the first and second voyages. This narrative is found in the second volume of the Historia de las Indias, pp. 220-317. The translation is, as is mentioned in the preface to this volume, that given in John Boyd Thacher’s Christopher Columbus.
In certain places the text differs slightly from that in the printed edition of Las Casas, as Mr. Thacher followed the critical text of Cesare de Lollis prepared for the Raccolta Colombiana by a collation of the manuscript in the Archives at Madrid with the recently discovered autograph manuscript of Las Casas. Mr. Thacher, following Lollis, omitted passages that were obviously comments on the text by Las Casas. These have been supplied either from Mr. Thacher’s notes or translated by the editor from the printed text. The editor has gone over the whole translation and can testify to its exceptional accuracy. A few slight changes have been made in the wording for the sake of greater clearness or exactness.
Columbus described this voyage in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella. This letter is included in Major’s Select Letters of Columbus and in P. L. Ford’s Writings of Columbus. This letter is of great importance in the study of Columbus’s geographical ideas. Other contemporary accounts of this voyage are contained in Ferdinand Columbus’s Historie, the life of his father, where the journal abridged by Las Casas is still further condensed, in Peter Martyr’s De Rebus Oceanicis, Dec. I., lib. VI., and in the letter of Simone Verde and the three letters of Angelo Trivigiano which will be found in Harrisse, Christophe Colomb, II. 95-98 and 119-123.
E. G. B.
NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS AS CONTAINED IN LAS CASAS’S HISTORY
May 30-August 31, 1498
He started then (our First Admiral)[319-1] “in the name of the Most Holy Trinity” (as he says and as he was always accustomed to say) from the port of San Lucar de Barrameda, Wednesday, May 30, 1498, with the intention of discovering new land not yet discovered, with his six ships, “greatly fatigued,” he says, “with my voyage, since as I was hoping for some quietude, when I left the Indies, I experienced double hardships;” they being the result of the labors, new obstacles and difficulties with which he obtained the funds for his starting upon the expedition and the annoyances in connection therewith received from the royal officials and the hindrance and the evil reports the people around about the Sovereigns gave concerning the affairs in the Indies, wherefore it appeared to him that what he already had done was not sufficient but that he must renew his labors to gain new credit. And because war had then broken out with France,[319-2] he had news of a French fleet which was waiting for the Admiral beyond the Cape of St. Vincent, to capture him. On this account he decided to steal away as they say and make a detour, directing his course straight to the island of Madeira.
He arrived at the island of Puerto Sancto, Thursday, June 7, where he stopped to take wood, water and supplies and to hear mass, and he found all the island disturbed and all the farms, goods and flocks guarded, fearing that the new-comers might be French; and then that night he left for the island of Madeira and arrived there the following Sunday, June 10. He was very well received in the town[320-1] and with much rejoicing, because he was well known there, having been a citizen thereof during some time.[320-2] He remained there six days, providing himself fully with water and wood and the other necessities for his journey.