Monday, August 13, at the rising of the moon, he weighed anchor from where he was, and came towards the Cape of Lapa, which is Paria, in order to go to the north by the mouth called Del Drago, for the following cause and danger in which he saw himself there; the Mouth of the Dragon, he says, is a strait which is between the Point of Lapa, the end of the island of Gracia, which is at the east end of the land of Paria and between Cape Boto which is the western end of the island of Trinidad. He says it is about a league and a half between the two capes. This must be after having passed four little islands which he says lie in the centre of the channel, although now we do not really see more than two, by which he could not go out, and there remained of the strait only a league and a half in the passage. From the Punta de la Lapa to the Cabo de Boto it is five leagues. Arriving at the said mouth at the hour of tierce,[354-1] he found a great struggle between the fresh water striving to go out to the sea and the salt water of the sea striving to enter into the gulf, and it was so strong and fearful, that it raised a great swell, like a very high hill, and with this, both waters made a noise and thundering, from east to west, very great and fearful, with currents of water, and after one came four great waves one after the other, which made contending currents; here they thought to perish, no less than in the other mouth of the Sierpe by the Cape of Arenal when they entered into the gulf. This danger was doubly more than the other, because the wind with which they hoped to get out died away, and they wished to anchor, because there was no remedy other than that, although it was not without danger from the fierceness of the waters, but they did not find bottom, because the sea was very deep there. They feared that the wind having calmed, the fresh or salt water might throw them on the rocks with their currents, when there would be no help. It is related that the Admiral here said, although I did not find it written with his own hand as I found the above, that if they escaped from that place they could report that they escaped from the mouth of the dragon, and for this reason that name was given to it and with reason.
It pleased the goodness of God that from the same danger safety and deliverance came to them and the current of the fresh water overcame the current of the salt water and carried the ships safely out, and thus they were placed in security; because when God wills that one or many shall be kept alive, water is a remedy for them.[355-1] Thus they went out, Monday, August 13, from the said dangerous Gulf and Mouth of the Dragon. He says that there are 48 leagues from the first land of La Trinidad to the gulf which the sailors discovered whom he sent in the caravel, where they saw the rivers and he did not believe them, which gulf he called “de las Perlas,” and this is the interior angle of all the large gulf, which he called “de la Ballena,” where he travelled so many days encircled by land. I add that it is a good 50 leagues, as appears from the chart.
Having gone out of the gulf and the Boca del Drago and having passed his danger, he decides to go to the west by the coast below[355-2] of the mainland, believing yet that it was the island of Gracia, in order to get abreast, on the right, of the said Gulf of the Pearls, north and south, and to go around it,[355-3] and see whence comes so great abundance of water, and to see if it proceeded from rivers, as the sailors affirmed and which he says he did not believe because he had not heard that either the Ganges, the Nile or the Euphrates[355-4] carried so much fresh water. The reason which moved him was because he did not see lands large enough to give birth to such great rivers, “unless indeed,” he says, “that this is mainland.” These are his words. So that he was already beginning to suspect that the land of Gracia which he believed to be an island is mainland, which it certainly was and is, and the sailors had been right, from which land there came such a quantity of water from the rivers, Yuyaparí and the other which flows out near it, which we now call Camarí, and others which must empty there, so that, going in search of that Gulf of the Pearls, where the said rivers empty, thinking to find it surrounded by land, considering it an island and to see if there was an entrance there, or an outlet to the south, and if he did not find it, he says he would affirm then that it was a river, and that both were a great wonder,—he went down the coast that Monday until the setting of the sun.
He saw that the coast was filled with good harbors and a very high land; by that lower coast he saw many islands toward the north and many capes on the mainland, to all of which he gave names: to one, Cabo de Conchas; to another, Cabo Luengo; to another, Cabo de Sabor; to another, Cabo Rico. A high and very beautiful land. He says that on that way there are many harbors and very large gulfs which must be populated, and the farther he went to the west he saw the land more level and more beautiful. On going out of the mouth, he saw an island to the north, which might be 26 leagues from the north, and named it La Isla de la Asuncion; he saw another island and named it La Concepcion, and three other small islands together he called Los Testigos.[356-1] They are called this to-day. Another near them he called El Romero, and three other little small islands he called Las Guardias. Afterwards he arrived near the Isla Margarita, and called it Margarita, and another near it he named El Martinet.
This Margarita is an island 15 leagues long, and 5 or 6 wide, and is very green and beautiful on the coast and is very good within, for which reason it is inhabited; it has near it extending lengthwise east and west, three small islands, and two behind them extending north and south. The Admiral did not see more than the three, as he was going along the southern part of Margarita. It is six or seven leagues from the mainland, and this makes a small gulf between it and the mainland, and in the middle of the gulf are two small islands, east and west, beside each other: the one is called Coche, which means deer, and the other Cubagua, which is the one we have described in chapter 136, and said that there are an infinite quantity of pearls gathered there. So that the Admiral, although he did not know that the pearls were formed in this gulf, appears to have divined that fact in naming it Margarita; he was very near it, although he does not express it, because he says he was nine leagues from the island of Martinet, which he says was near Margarita, on the northern part, and he says near it, because as he was going along the southern part of Margarita, it appeared to be near, although it was eight or nine leagues away; and this is the small island to the north, near Margarita, which is now called Blanca, and is distant eight or nine leagues from Margarita as I said. For here it seems that the Admiral must have been close to or near Margarita and I believe that he anchored because the wind failed him. Finally of all the names that he gave to the islands and capes of the mainland which he took for the island of Gracia none have lasted or are used to-day except Trinidad, Boca del Drago, Los Testigos, and Margarita.
There the eyes of the Admiral became very bad from not sleeping. Because always, as he was in so many dangers sailing among islands, it was his custom himself to watch on deck, and whoever takes ships with cargo should for the most part do that very thing, like the pilots, and he says that he found himself more fatigued here than when he discovered the other mainland, which is the island of Cuba, (which he regarded as mainland even until now), because his eyes were bloodshot; and thus his labors on the sea were incomparable. For this reason he was in bed this night, and therefore he found himself farther out in the sea than he would have been if he had himself watched, from which he did not trust himself to the sailors, nor should any one who is a diligent and perfect pilot trust to anybody, because dependent on him and on his head are all those who go in the ship, and that which is most necessary and proper to his office is to watch and not sleep all the time while he navigates.
The Admiral appears to have gone down the coast after he came out of the Mouth of the Dragon, yesterday Monday and to-day Tuesday, 30 or 40 leagues at least, although he does not say so, as he complains that he did not write all that he had to write, as he could not on account of his being so ill here. And as he saw that the land was becoming very extended below to the west, and appeared more level and more beautiful, and the Gulf of the Pearls which was in the back part of the gulf, or fresh-water sea, whence the river of Yuyaparí flowed, in the search of which he was going, had no outlet, which he hoped to see, believing that this mainland was an island, he now became conscious that a land so great was not an island, but mainland, and as if speaking with the Sovereigns, he says here: “I believe that this is mainland, very great, which until to-day has not been known. And reason aids me greatly because of this being such a great river and because of this sea which is fresh, and next the saying of Esdras aids me, in the 4th book, chapter 6th, which says that the six parts of the world are of dry land and the one of water.[358-1] Which book St. Ambrose approves in his Examenon[358-2] and St. Augustine on the passage, ‘Morietur filius meus Christus,’ as Francisco de Mayrones alleges.[359-1] And further, I am supported by the sayings of many Canibales Indians, whom I took at other times, who said that to the south of them was mainland, and at that time I was on the island of Guadeloupe, and also I heard it from others of the island of Sancta Cruz and of Sant Juan, and they said that in it there was much gold, and, as your Highnesses know, a very short time ago, there was no other land known than that which Ptolemy wrote of, and there was not in my time any one who would believe that one could navigate from Spain to the Indies; about which matter I was seven years in your Court, and there were few who understood it; and finally the very great courage of your Highnesses caused it to be tried, against the opinion of those who contradicted it. And now the truth appears, and it will appear before long, much greater; and if this is mainland, it is a thing of wonder, and it will be so among all the learned, since so great a river flows out that it makes a fresh-water sea of 48 leagues.” These are his words....[359-2]
Having finished this digression let us return then to our history and to what the Admiral resolved to do in the place where he was, and that is, going as fast as possible, he wished to come to this Española, for some reasons which impelled him greatly: one, because he was going with great anxiety and affliction, as he had not had news of the condition of this island for so many days; and it would seem that he had some, premonition of the disorder and the losses and the travail which with the rising of Francisco Roldan[360-1] all this land and his brothers were suffering; the other in order to despatch immediately the Adelantado, his brother, with three ships, to continue his discovery of the mainland which he had already begun to explore; and it is certain that if Francisco Roldan with his rebellion and shamelessness had not prevented him, the Admiral or his brother for him would have discovered the mainland as far as New Spain; but, according to the decree of Divine Providence, the hour of its discovery had not come, nor was the permission recalled[360-2] by which many were being enabled to distinguish themselves in unjust works under color of making discoveries.
The third cause which hastened him in coming to this island, was from seeing that the supplies were spoiling and being lost, of which he had such great need for the relief of those who were here, which made him weep again, considering that he had obtained them with great difficulties and fatigues, and he says that, if they are lost, he has no hope of getting others, from the great opposition he always encountered from those who counselled the Sovereigns, “who,” he says here, “are not friends nor desire the honor of the high condition of their Highnesses, the persons who have spoken evil to them of such a noble undertaking. Nor was the cost so great that it should not be expended, although benefits might not be had quickly to recompense it, since the service was very great which was rendered our Lord in spreading His Holy Name through unknown lands. And besides this, it would be a much greater memorial than any Prince had left, spiritual and temporal.” And the Admiral says further, “And for this the revenue of a good bishopric or archbishopric would be well secured, and I say,” says he, “as good as the best in Spain, since there are here so many resources and as yet no priesthood. They may have heard that here there are infinite peoples, which may have determined the sending here of learned and intelligent persons and friends of Christ to try and make them Christians and commence the work; the establishment of which bishopric I am very sure will be made, please our Lord, and the revenues will soon come from here and be carried there.” These are his words. How much truth he spoke and how clear a case there was of inattention and remissness and lukewarmness of charity in the men of that day, spiritual or ecclesiastical and temporal, who held the power and resources, not to make provision for the healing and conversion of these peoples, so disposed and ready to receive the faith, the day of universal judgment will reveal.
The fourth cause for coming to this island and not stopping to discover more, which he would have very much wished, as he says, was because the seamen did not come prepared to make discoveries, since he says that he did not dare to say in Castile that he came with intention to make discoveries, because they would have placed some impediments in his way, or would have demanded more money of him than he had, and he says that the people were becoming very tired. The fifth cause, was because the ships he had were large for making discoveries, as the one was of more than 100 tons and the other more than 70, and only smaller ones are needed to make discoveries; and because of the ship which he took on his first voyage being large, he lost it in the harbor of Navidad, kingdom of the King Guacanagarí.[361-1] Also the sixth reason which very much constrained him to leave the discoveries and come to this island, was because of having his eyes almost lost from not sleeping, from the long and continued watches or vigils he had had; and in this place he says thus: “May it please our Lord to free me from this malady,” he says. “He well knows that I did not suffer these fatigues in order to find treasures for myself, since surely I recognize that all is vanity which is done in this age, save that which is for the honor and service of God, which is not to amass pomps or riches, nor the many other things we use in this world, in which we are more inclined than to the things which can save us.” These are his words.