[358-1] The reference is to II. Esdras, VI. 42, in the Apocrypha of the English Bible. The Apocryphal books of I. and II. Esdras were known as III. and IV. Esdras in the Middle Ages, and the canonical books in the Vulgate called I. and II. Esdras are called Ezra and Nehemiah in the English Bible. II. Esdras is an apocalyptic work and dates from the close of the first century A.D. The passage to which Columbus referred reads as follows: “Upon the third day thou didst command that the waters should be gathered in the seventh part of the earth; six parts hast thou dried up, and kept them, to the intent that of these some being planted of God and tilled might serve thee.”
[358-2] The reference is wrong, as Las Casas points out two or three pages further on (II. 266); it should be to the treatise De Bono Mortis, cap. 10
[359-1] Francis de Mayrones was an eminent Scotist philosopher. He died in 1327. Columbus here quotes from his Theologicae Veritates (Venice, 1493). See Raccolta Colombiana, Parte I., tomo II., p. 377. Las Casas (II. 266) was unable to verify the citation from St. Augustine.
[359-2] The passage omitted, Las Casas, II. 265-307, consists first, pp. 265-267, of his comments on these words of Columbus, and second, pp. 268-274, of a criticism of Vespucci’s claim to have made a voyage in 1497 to this region of Paria, and of his narratives and the naming of America from him. This criticism is translated with Las Casas’s other trenchant criticisms of Vespucci’s work and claims by Sir Clements R. Markham in his Letters of Amerigo Vespucci (London, 1894), pp. 68 et seq. These passages are very interesting as perhaps the earliest piece of detailed critical work relating to the discoveries, and they still constitute the cornerstone of the case against Vespucci. The third portion of the omitted passage, pp. 275-306, is a long essay on the location of the earthly paradise which Columbus placed in this new mainland he had just discovered. Cf. Columbus’s letter on the Third Voyage. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, pp. 140-146.
[360-1] On the Roldan revolt, see Irving, Christopher Columbus, II. 199 et seqq.
[360-2] April 10, 1495, the sovereigns authorized independent exploring expeditions. Columbus protested that such expeditions infringed upon his rights, and so, June 2, 1497, the sovereigns modified their ordinance and prohibited any infringements. Apparently Las Casas is in error in saying the permission had not been recalled in 1498, but the independent voyages of Hojeda and Pinzon, who first explored the northern coast of South America (Paria) in 1499-1500, may have led him to conclude that the authorization had not been recalled.
[361-1] See Journal of First Voyage, [December 25].
[362-1] The passage omitted, II. 309-313, of the printed edition, gives an account of the voyage and arrival of the vessels which came to Española directly from the Canaries.
[363-1] Northwest by north.
[363-2] Northeast in the printed text.