The Admiral asked the Indians where they found them or fished them, and they showed him some mother-of-pearl where they are formed; and they replied to him by very clear signs, that they grow and are gathered towards the west, behind that island, which was the Cape of Lapa, the Point of Paria and mainland, which he believed to be an island, but it was the mainland. He sent the boats to land to know if there was any new thing which he had not seen, and they found the people so tractable, says the Admiral, that, “although the sailors did not go intending to land, there came two principal persons with all the village, who induced them to descend and who took them to a large house, built near two streams and not round, like a camp-tent, in the manner of the houses of the islands, where they received them very well and made them a feast and gave them a collation, bread and fruit of many kinds; and the drink was a white beverage which had a great value, which every one brought there, at this time, and some of it is tinted and better than the other, as the wine with us. The men were all together at one end of the house and the women at the other. Having taken the collation at the house of the older man, the younger conducted them to the other house, where they went through the same function. It appeared that one must be the cacique and lord, and the other must be his son. Afterwards the sailors returned to the boats and with them went back to the ships, very pleased with this people.” These are all the words of the Admiral. He says further: “They are of very handsome stature, and all uniformly large,” and whiter than any other he had seen in these Indies, and that yesterday he saw many as white as we are, and with better hair and well cut, and of very good speech. “No lands in the world can be more green and beautiful or more populated; moreover the temperature since I have been in this island,” says he, “is, I say, cool enough each morning for a lined gown, although it is so near the equinoctial line; the sea is however fresh. They called the island Paria.” All are the words of the Admiral. He called the mainland an island, however, because so he believed it to be.
Friday, August 10, he ordered sail to be made and went to the west of that which he thought to be an island, and travelled five leagues and anchored. For fear of not finding bottom, he went to search for an opening [mouth] by which to get out of that gulf, within which he was going, encircled by mainland and islands, although he did not believe it to be mainland, and he says it is certain that that was an island, because the Indians said thus, and thus it appears he did not understand them. From there he saw another island facing the south, which he called Ysabeta,[347-1] which extends from the south-east to north-west, afterwards another which he called La Tramontana,[348-1] a high land and very beautiful, and it seemed that it ran from north to south. It appeared very large. This was the mainland. The Indians whom he had taken said—according to what he understood—that the people there were Canibales and that yonder was where the gold was found and that the pearls which they had given the Admiral they had sought and found on the northern part of Paria toward the west. The water of that sea he says was as fresh as that of the river of Seville and in the same manner muddy. He would have wished to go to those islands except for turning backward because of the haste he felt in order not to lose the supplies that he was taking for the Christians of Española, which with so much labor, difficulty and fatigue he had gathered for them; and as being a thing for the sake of which he had suffered much, he repeats this about the provisions or supplies many times. He says he believes that in those islands he had seen, there must be things of value because they are all large and high lands with valleys and plains and with many waters and very well cultivated and populated and the people of very good speech, as their gestures showed. These are the words of the Admiral.
He says also that if the pearls are born as Pliny[348-2] says from the dew which falls in the oysters while they are open, there is good reason for having them there because much dew falls in that place and there are an infinite number of oysters and very large ones and because there are no tempests there, but the sea is always calm, a sign of which is that the trees enter into the sea, which shows there is never a storm there, and every branch of the trees which were in the water (and there are also roots of certain trees in the sea, which according to the language of this Española are called mangles[348-3]) was full of an infinite number of oysters so that breaking a branch, it comes out full of oysters attached to it. They are white within, and their flesh also, and very savory, not salt but fresh and they require some salt, and he says that they do not know or spring from mother-of-pearl. Wherever the pearls are generated, he says, they are extremely fine and they pierce them as in Venice. As for this that the Admiral says that the branches were full of oysters there, we say that those oysters that he saw and that are on the branches above the water and a little under the water are not those that produce pearls, but another species; because those that bear pearls are more careful from their natural instinct to hide themselves as much further under water as they can than those he saw on the branches....[349-1]
Returning to where I dropped the thread of the history, at this place the Admiral mentions many points of land and islands and the names he had given them, but it does not appear when. In this and elsewhere the Admiral shows himself to be a native of another country and of another tongue, because he does not apprehend all the signification of the Castilian words nor the manner of using them. He gave names to the Punta Seca, the Ysla Ysabeta, the Ysla Tramontana, the Punta Llana, Punta Sara, assuming them to be known, although he has said nothing of them or of any of them. He says that all that sea is fresh, and he does not know from whence it proceeds, because it did not appear to have the flow from great rivers, and that, if it had them, he says it would not cease to be a marvel. But he was mistaken in thinking there were no rivers, since the river Yuyaparí furnished so great a flow of fresh water, as well as others which come from near there.
Desiring to get out of this Gulf of Ballena, where he was encircled by mainland and La Trinidad, as already said, in going to the west by that coast of the mainland, which he called “de Gracia” towards the point Seca, although he does not say where it was, he found two fathoms of water, no more. He sent the small caravel to see if there was an outlet to the north, because, in front of the mainland and of the other which he called Ysabeta, to the west, there appeared a very high and beautiful island. The caravel returned, and said that they found a great gulf, and in it four great openings which appeared small gulfs, and at the end of each one a river. This gulf he named Golpho de las Perlas, although I believe there are no pearls there. It appears that this was the inside corner of all this great gulf,[350-1] in which the Admiral was going enclosed by the mainland and the island of Trinidad; those four bays or openings, the Admiral believed were four islands, and that there did not appear to be a sign of a river, which would make all that gulf, of 40 leagues, of sea, all fresh; but the sailors affirmed that those openings were mouths of rivers. And they say true, at least in regard to two of these openings, because by one comes the great river Yuyaparí and by the other comes another great river which to-day is called the river of Camarí.[350-2]
The Admiral would have liked very much to find out the truth of this secret, which was the cause of this great gulf being 40 leagues in length by 26 in width, containing fresh water, which was a thing, he says, for wonder, (and he was certainly right), and also to penetrate the secrets of those lands, where he did not believe it to be possible that there were not things of value, or that they were not in the Indies, especially from having found there traces of gold and pearls and the news of them, and discovered such lands, so many and such people in them; from which the things there and their riches might easily be known; but because the supplies he was carrying for the people who were in this Española, and which he carried that they who were in the mines gathering gold might have food, were being lost, which food and supplies he had gathered with great difficulty and fatigue, he did not allow himself to be detained, and he says that, if he had the hope of having more as quickly, he would postpone delivering them, in order to discover more lands and see the secrets of them; and finally he resolves to follow that which is most sure, and come to this island, and send from it moneys to Castile to bring supplies and people under hire, and at the earliest opportunity to send also his brother, the Adelantado, to prosecute his discovery and find great things, as he hoped they would be found, to serve our Lord and the Sovereigns.
Yet, just at the best time, the thread was cut, as will appear, of these his good desires, and he says thus: “Our Lord guides me by His pity and presents me things with which He may be served, and your Highnesses may have great pleasure, and certainly they ought to have pleasure, because here they have such a noble thing and so royal for great princes. And it is a great error to believe any one who speaks evil to them of this undertaking, but to abhor them, because there is not to be found a prince who has had so much grace from our Lord, and so much victory from a thing so signal and of so much honor to their high estate and realms, and by which God may receive endlessly more services and the people of Spain more refreshment and gains. Because it has been seen that there are infinite things of value, and although now this that I say may not be known, the time will come when it will be accounted of great excellence, and to the great reproach of those persons who oppose this project to your Highnesses; and although they may have expended something in this matter, it has been in a cause more noble and of greater account than any undertaking of any other prince until now, nor was it proper to withdraw from it hastily, but to proceed and give me aid and favor; because the Sovereigns of Portugal spent and had courage to spend in Guinea, for four or five years, money and people, before they received any benefit, and afterward God gave them advantages and gold. For certainly, if the people of the kingdom of Portugal be counted, and those of them who died in this undertaking of Guinea be enumerated, it would be found that they are more than half of the kingdom;[352-1] and certainly, it would be the greatest thing to have in Spain a revenue which would come from this undertaking. Your Highnesses would leave nothing of greater memory; and they may examine, and discover that no prince of Castile may be found, and I have not found such by history or by tradition,—who has ever gained land outside of Spain. And your Highnesses will gain these lands, so very great, which are another world,[352-2] and where Christianity will have so great pleasure, and our faith in time so great an increase.[352-3] All this I say with very honest intention, and because I desire that Your Highnesses may be the greatest Lords in the world,[352-4] I say Lords of it all; and that it may all be with great service and contentment of the Holy Trinity, for which at the end of their days they may have the glory of Paradise, and not for that which concerns me myself, whose hope is in His High Majesty, that Your Highnesses will soon see the truth of it, and this is my ardent desire.” All these are the actual words of the Admiral....[353-1]
So, in order to get out of this gulf, within which he was surrounded by land on all parts, with the intention already told of saving the supplies which he carried, which were being lost, in coming to this island of Española,—Saturday, August 11, at the appearance of the moon, he raised the anchors, spread the sails, and navigated toward the east (el leste), that is towards the place where the sun rises,[353-2] because he was in the corner of the gulf where was the river Yuyaparí as was said above, in order to go out between the Point of Paria and the mainland, which he called the Punta or Cabo de Lapa, and the land he named Ysla de Gracia, and between the cape which he called Cabo Boto of the island of Trinidad.
He arrived at a very good harbor, which he called Puerto de Gatos,[353-3] which is connected with the mouth where are the two little islands of the Caracol and Delfin, between the capes of Lapa and Cape Boto. And this occurred Sunday, August 12.
He anchored near the said harbor, in order to go out by the said mouth in the morning. He found another port near there, to examine which he sent a boat. It was very good. They found certain houses of fishermen, and much water and very fresh. He named it Puerto de las Cabañas.[353-4] They found, he says, myrobolans on the land: near the sea, infinite oysters attached to the branches of the trees which enter into the sea, the mouths open to receive the dew which drops from the leaves and which engenders the pearls, as Pliny says and as is alleged in the vocabulary which is called Catholicon.[353-5]