[132]: Letter from Jamaica. Navarrete, Colec., tom. i.
[133]: Las Casas, lib ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91.
[134]: P. Martyr, decad. iii. lib. iv. These may have been the lime, a small and extremely acid species of the lemon.
[135]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91. Journal of Porras.
[136]: Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91.
[137]: Letter from Jamaica.
[138]: Note.—We find instances of the same kind of superstition in the work of Marco Polo, and as Columbus considered himself in the vicinity of the countries described by that traveler, he may have been influenced in this respect by his narrations. Speaking of the island of Soccotera (Socotra), Marco Polo observes: "The inhabitants deal more in sorcery and witchcraft than any other people, although forbidden by their archbishop, who excommunicates and anathematizes them for the sin. Of this, however, they make little account, and if any vessel belong to a pirate should injure one of theirs, they do not fail to lay him under a spell, so that he cannot proceed on his cruise until he has made satisfaction for the damage; and even although he should have a fair and leading wind, they have the power of causing it to change, and thereby obliging him, in spite of himself, to return to the island. They can, in like manner, cause the sea to become calm, and at their will can raise tempests, occasion ship-wrecks, and produce many other extraordinary effects that need not be particularized."—Marco Polo, Book iii. cap. 35, Eng. translation by W. Marsden.
[139]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante cap. 91.
[140]: Las Casas, lib. ii. cap. 21. Hist. del Almirante, cap. 91. Letter of Columbus from Jamaica.
[141]: In some English maps this bay is called Almirante, or Carnabaco Bay. The channel by which Columbus entered is still called Boca del Almirante, or the mouth of the Admiral.