He says here that the island of Trinidad is large, because from the Cape of Galera to the Point of Arenal, where he was at the present time, he says it is 35 leagues. I say that it is more than 45, as he that desires may see by the charts, although now those names are not written on the charts as they have been forgotten, and to understand the matter they must consider the course the Admiral pursued until he arrived there, and at what point he first saw land, and from there where he went till he stopped, and in that way, one will find out what he called the Cape of Galera and what the Point of Arenal. It is not a matter of surprise that the Admiral did not make an accurate estimate of the leagues of the island because he went along it piece by piece.
He ordered that his people should land on this Point of Arenal, the end of the island toward the west, to enjoy themselves and obtain recreation, because they had become wearied and fatigued; who found the land very much trampled by deer, although they believed they were goats. This Thursday, August 2, a large canoe came from towards the east, in which came twenty-five men, and having arrived at the distance of a lombard shot, they ceased to row, and cried out many words. The Admiral believed, and I also believe, that they were asking what people they were, as the others of the Indies were accustomed to do, to which they did not respond in words, but by showing them certain small boxes of brass and other shining things, in order that they should come to the ship, coaxing them with motions of the body and signs. They approached somewhat, and afterwards became terrified by the ship; and as they would not approach, the Admiral ordered a tambourine player to come up to the poop deck of the ship and that the young boys of the ship should dance, thinking to please them. But they did not understand it thus, but rather, as they saw dancing and playing, taking it for a signal of war, they distrusted them. They left all their oars and laid hold of their bows and arrows; and each one embracing his wooden shield, they commenced to shoot a great cloud of arrows. Having seen this, the Admiral ordered the playing and dancing to cease, and that some cross-bows should be drawn on deck and two of them shot off at them, nothing more than to frighten them. The Indians then, having shot the arrows, went to one of the two caravels, and suddenly, without fear, placed themselves below the poop, and the pilot of the caravel, also without any fear, glided down from the poop and entered with them in the canoe with some things which he gave them; and when he was with them he gave a smock frock and a bonnet to one of them who appeared to be the principal man. They took them and as if in gratitude for what had been given them, by signs said to him that he should go to land with them, and there they would give him what they had. He accepted and they went away to land. The pilot entered the boat and went to beg permission of the Admiral on the ship, and when they saw that he did not go directly with him, they did not expect him longer, and so they went away and neither the Admiral nor any other ever saw them more. From the sudden change in their bearing because of the playing on the tambourine and the dancing, it appears that this must be considered among them a sign of hostility.
A servant of the Admiral, called Bernaldo de Ibarro, who was on this voyage with him, told me and gave it to me in writing and I have this writing in my possession to-day, that a cacique came to the ship of the Admiral and was wearing upon his head a diadem of gold; and he went to the Admiral who was wearing a scarlet cap and greeted him and kissed his own diadem, and with the other hand he removed the cap of the Admiral and placed upon-him the diadem, and he himself put upon his own head the scarlet cap, appearing very content and pleased.
The Admiral says here that these were all youths and very well shaped and adorned, although I do not believe they wore much silk or brocade, with which, also, I believe the Spaniards and the Admiral might be more pleased; but they came armed with bows and arrows and wooden shields. They were not as short as others he had seen in the Indies and they were whiter, and of very good movements and handsome bodies, the hair long and smooth and cut in the manner of Castile. They had the head tied with a large handkerchief of cotton, symmetrically woven in colors, which the Admiral believed to be the almaiçar;[336-1] he says that others had this cloth around them, and they covered themselves with it in place of trousers. He says that they are not black although they are near the equinoctial,[337-1] but of an Indian color like all the others he has found. They are of very fine stature, go naked, are warlike, wear the hair very long like the women in Castile, carry bows and arrows with plumes, and at the end of the arrows a sharp bone with a point like a fish-hook, and they carry wooden shields, which he had not seen before; and according to the signs and gestures which they made, he says he could understand from them that they believed the Admiral came from the south, from which he judged that there must be great lands toward the south, and he said well since the mainland is so large that it occupies a large part of the south.
The temperature of this land, he says, is very high, and according to him this causes the color of the people, and the hair which is all flowing, and the very thick groves which abound everywhere. He says it must be believed that when once the boundary is passed, 100 leagues to the west of the Azores, that many times he has said that there is a change in the sky and the sea and the temperature, “and this,” he says, “is manifest,” because here where he was, so near to the equinoctial line, each morning, he says, it was cool and the sun was in Leo. What he says is very true, since I who write this have been there and required a robe nights and mornings especially at Navidad.[337-2]
The waters were running toward the west with a current stronger than the river of Seville; the water of the sea rose and fell 65 paces and more, as in Barrameda so that they are able to beach carracks;[337-3] he says that the current flows very strongly going between these two islands, Trinidad and that one which he called Sancta, and the land which afterwards and farther on he called Isla de Gracia. And he calls the mainland an island, since he was already between the two which are two leagues apart which [i.e., the channel] is like a river as it appears on the map. They found fruits[338-1] like those of this Española, and the trees and the soil, and the temperature of the sky. In this Española they found few fruits native to the soil. The temperature of that country is much higher than it is in this Española, except in the mines of Cibao and in some other districts, as has been said above.
They found hostias or oysters, very large, infinite fish, parrots as large as hens, he says. In this land and in all the mainland the parrots are larger than any of those in these islands and are green, the color being very light, but those of the islands are of a green somewhat darker. Those of the mainland have the yellow with spots and the upper part of the wings with reddish spots, and some are of yellow plumage; those of the islands have no yellow, the neck being red with spots. The parrots of Española have a little white over the back; those of Cuba have that part red and they are very pretty. Those of the island of San Juan I believe are similar to those of this island [Española] and I have not observed this feature in those of Jamaica. Finally it appears that those of each island are somewhat different. In this mainland where the Admiral is now, there is a species of parrots which I believe are found nowhere else, very large, not much smaller than hens, reddish with blue and black feathers in the wings. These never speak nor are attractive except in appearance. They are called by the Indians guacamayas. It is marvellous how all the other kinds can speak except the smallest, which are called xaxaues.
Being at this Point of Arenal, which is the end of the island of Trinidad, they saw toward the north, quarter north-east,[339-1] a distance of 15 leagues, a cape or point of the same mainland, and this is that which is called Paria. The Admiral believing that it was another distinct island named it “Isla de Gracia”: which island he says goes to the west [Oeste] which is the west [poniente], and that it is a very high land. And he says truly, for through all that land run great chains of very high mountains.
Saturday, August 4, he determined to go to the said island of Gracia and raised the anchors and made sail from the said Point of Arenal, where he was anchored; and because that strait by which he entered into the Gulf of Ballena was not more than two leagues wide between Trinidad on one side and the mainland on the other, the fresh water came out very swiftly. There came from the direction of the Arenal, on the island of Trinidad, such a great current from the south, like a mighty flood (and it was because of the great force of the river Yuyaparí which is toward the south and which he had not yet seen), with such great thundering and noise, that all were frightened and did not think to escape from it, and when the water of the sea withstood it, coming in opposition, the sea was raised making a great and very high swell[339-2] of water which raised the ship and placed it on top of the swell, a thing which was never heard of nor seen, and raised the anchors of the other ship which must have been already cast and forced it toward the sea, and the Admiral made sail to get away from the said slope. “It pleased God not to injure us,” says the Admiral here, and when he wrote this thing to the Sovereigns he said, “even to-day I feel the fear in my body which I felt lest it should upset the ship when it came under her.”[340-1] For this great danger, he named the mouth “Boca de la Sierpe.”[340-2]
Having reached that land which he saw in that direction and believed was an island, he saw near that cape two small islands in the middle of another channel which is made by that cape which he called Cabo de Lapa and another cape of the Trinidad which he called Cabo Boto, because of being thick and blunt,—the one island he named El Caracol, the other El Delfin.[340-3] It is only five leagues in this strait between the Point of Paria and Cape Boto of Trinidad, and the said islands are in the middle of the strait. The impetus of the great river Yuyaparí and the tempestuous waves of the sea make the entrance and exit by this strait greatly dangerous, and because the Admiral experienced this difficulty and also danger, he called that difficult entrance Boca del Drago[340-4] and thus it is called to this day. He went along the coast of the mainland of Paria,[340-5] which he believed to be an island, and named it Isla de Gracia, towards the west in search of a harbor. From the point of the Arenal, which is one cape of Trinidad as has been said, and is towards the south, as far as the other Cape Boto, which is of the same island and is towards the sea, the Admiral says it is 26 large leagues, and this part appears to be the width of the island, and these two said capes are north and south. There were great currents, the one against the other; there came many showers as it was the rainy season, as aforesaid. The Isla de Gracia is, as has been said, mainland. The Admiral says that it is a very high land and all full of trees which reach to the sea; this is because the gulf being surrounded by land, there is no surf and no waves which break on the land as where the shores are uncovered. He says that, being at the point or end of it, he saw an island of very high land to the north-east, which might be 26 leagues from there. He named it “Belaforma,” because it must have looked very well from a distance, yet all this is the mainland, which, as the ships changed their position from one side to the other within the gulf enclosed by land, some inlets appeared as if they separated lands which might be detached, and these the Admiral called islands; for such was his opinion.[341-1]