De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) by Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt

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Pedro Arias sailed from Seville on the Guadalquivir to the sea, in the
first days of the year 1514.[2] His departure took place under evil
auspices, for such a furious storm broke over the fleet that two
vessels were shattered to pieces, and the others were obliged to
lighten themselves by throwing overboard some of their stores. The
crews which survived returned to the coast of Spain, where the King's
agents promptly came to their assistance and they were enabled again
to set forth. The pilot of the flagship appointed by the King was
Giovanni Vespucci, a Florentine, nephew of Amerigo Vespucci, who had
inherited his uncle's great ability in the art of navigation and
taking reckonings. We recently learned from Hispaniola that the
crossing had been favourable, and a merchant ship, returning from the
neighbouring islands, had encountered the fleet.

[Note 2: The expedition sailed on April 14, 1514.]

As Galeazzo Butrigario and Giovanni Accursi who, to please Your
Holiness, constantly urge me on, are sending a courier who will
deliver my ocean Nereids, however imperfect they may be, to Your
Beatitude, I shall save time by leaving out many particulars and shall
only mention what, in my opinion, is worthy to be recorded and which I
have not reported at the time it happened.

The wife of the captain Pedro Arias, by name Elizabeth Bobadilla, is
the grandniece on the father's side of the Marchioness Bobadilla de
Moia, who opened the gates of Segovia to the friends of Isabella when
the Portuguese were invading Castile, thus enabling them to hold out
and later to take the offensive against the Portuguese; and still
later to defeat them. King Henry, brother of Queen Isabella, had in
fact taken possession of the treasures of that town. During her entire
life, whether in time of war or in time of peace, the Marchioness de
Moia displayed virile resolution, and it was due to her counsels that
many great deeds were done in Castile. The wife of Pedro Arias, being
niece of this marchioness, and inspired by courage equal to that of
her aunt, spoke to her husband on his departure for those unknown
lands, where he would encounter real perils, both on sea and on land,
in the following terms:

"My dear husband, we have been united from our youth, as I think, for
the purpose of living together and never being separated. Wherever
destiny may lead you, be it on the tempestuous ocean or be it among
the hardships that await you on land, I should be your companion.
There is nothing I would more fear, nor any kind of death that might
threaten me, which would not be more supportable than for me to live
without you and separated by such an immense distance. I would rather
die and even be eaten by fish in the sea or devoured on land by
cannibals, than to consume myself in perpetual mourning and in
unceasing sorrow, awaiting--not my husband--but his letters. My
determination is not sudden nor unconsidered; nor is it a woman's
caprice that moves me to a well-weighed and merited decision. You must
choose between two alternatives. Either you will kill me or you will
grant my request. The children God has given us (there were eight of
them, four boys and four girls) will not stop me for one moment. We
will leave them their heritage and their marriage portions, sufficient
to enable them to live in conformity with their rank, and besides
these, I have no other preoccupation."

Upon hearing his wife speak such words from her virile heart, the
husband knew that nothing could shake her resolution, and therefore,
dared not refuse her request. She followed him as Ipsicratea, with
flowing hair, followed Mithridates, for she loved her living husband
as did the Carian Artemisia of Halicarnassia her dead Mausolus. We
have learned that this Elizabeth Bobadilla brought up, as the proverb
says, on soft feathers, has braved the dangers of the ocean with as
much courage as her husband or the sailors who pass their lives at
sea.

The following are some other particulars I have noted. In my First
Decade I spoke, and not without some praise, of Vincent Yanez Pinzon,
who had accompanied the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, the future
Admiral, on his first voyage. Later, he undertook, by himself and at
his own cost, another voyage, with but one ship for which he received
the royal license. During the year preceding the departure of Hojeda
and Nicuesa, Vincent Yanez undertook a third exploration, sailing from
Hispaniola. His course was from east to west, following the southern
shore of Cuba, which, owing to its length, many people at that time
thought a continent; and he sailed round it. Many other persons have
since reported that they have done the same.

Having demonstrated by this expedition that Cuba was indeed an island,
Vincent Yanez sailed farther, and discovered other lands west of Cuba,
but such as the Admiral had first touched. He kept to the left and,
following the continental coasts towards the east, he crossed the
gulfs of Veragua, Uraba, and Cachibacoa, touching finally with his
ship at the region which, in our First Decade, we have explained was
called Paria and Boca de la Sierpe. He sailed into an immense gulf
noted by Columbus as remarkable for its fresh waters, the abundance of
fish, and the many islands it contained. It is situated about thirty
miles east of Curiana. Midway in this course Cumana and Manacapana
are passed; and it is at these places, not at Curiana, where the most
pearls are found.

The kings of that country, who are called _chiaconus_ just as they are
called caciques in Hispaniola, sent messengers when they learned of
the Spaniards' arrival, to ascertain who the unknown men might be,
what they brought with them, and what they wanted. They launched
upon the sea their barques dug out of tree trunks which are the same
mentioned in our First Decade, and are called canoes in Hispaniola;
but here the natives called them _chicos_. What most astonished them
was to see the swelling sails of the ship, for they did not understand
the use of sails; and if they did they would only require small ones,
because of the narrowness of their barques. They approached the ship
in great numbers and even ventured to shoot some arrows at the men who
defended the ship's sides as though they were walls, hoping either to
wound or frighten them.

The Spaniards fired their cannon, and the natives, alarmed by the
detonation and by the slaughter that resulted from the well-aimed
shot, took to flight in various directions. Pursuing them with a
ship's boat, the Spaniards killed some and took many prisoners. The
noise of the cannon and the report of what had happened so alarmed the
caciques, who feared their villages would be robbed and their people
massacred if the Spaniards landed to take vengeance, that they sent
messengers to Vincent Yanez. As far as could be understood from their
signs and gestures they sought peace; but our compatriots report
that they did not understand a word of their language. The better to
demonstrate their desire for peace, the natives made them beautiful
presents, consisting of a quantity of gold, equal in weight to three
thousand of the kind of coins we have said are called castellanos, and
in vulgar language pesos; also a wooden tub full of precious incense,
weighing about twenty-six hundred pounds, at eight ounces to the
pound. This showed the country was rich in incense, for the natives of
Paria have no intercourse with those of Saba; and in fact they know
nothing of any place outside their own country. In addition to the
gold and the incense, they presented peacocks such as are not found
elsewhere, for they differ largely from ours in the variety of their
colours. The hens were alive, for they kept them to propagate the
species, but the cocks, which they brought in great numbers, were
dressed to be immediately eaten. They likewise offered cotton stuffs,
similar to tapestries, for household decoration, very tastefully made
in various colours. These stuffs were fringed with golden bells such
as are called in Italy _sonaglios_ and in Spain _cascabeles_. Of
talking parrots, they gave as many of different colours as were
wanted; these parrots are as common in Paria as pigeons or sparrows
are amongst us.

All the natives wear cotton clothing, the men being covered to the
knees, and the women to the calves of their legs. In time of war the
men wear a carefully quilted coat of cotton, doubled in the Turkish
style. I have used the word cotton for what I have otherwise called in
the vulgar Italian _bombasio_. I have also used other analogous terms
which certain Latinists, dwelling along the Adriatic or Ligurian
coasts, may attribute to my negligence or ignorance, when my writings
reach them,[3] as we have seen in the case of my First Decade which
was printed without my authorisation. I would have them know that I
am a Lombard, not a Latin; that I was born at Milan,[4] a long way
distant from Latium, and have lived my life still farther away, for I
reside in Spain. Let those purists of Venice or Genoa who accuse me of
improprieties of composition because I have written as one speaks
in Spain of brigantines and caravels, of admiral and adelantado,
understand, once for all, that I am not ignorant that he who holds
these offices is called by the Hellenists _Archithalassus_ and by the
Latinists sometimes _Navarchus_ and sometimes _Pontarchus_. Despite
all such similar comments, and provided I may nourish the hope of not
displeasing Your Holiness, I shall confine myself to narrating these
great events with simplicity. Leaving these things aside, let us now
return to the caciques of Paria.

[Note 3: Peter Martyr was not ignorant of the jibes his Latin
evoked amongst the purists in Rome. The cultivated tympanum of
Cardinal Bembo and other Ciceronians at the Pontifical Court received
painful shocks from certain corrupt expressions in his decades. His
repeated explanations of his deflections from classical nomenclature
are, however, reasonable.]

[Note 4: Meaning, of course, in the duchy, not the city. The
passage reads: _Neutro cruciare statuo ad summum; voloque sciant, me
insubrem esse non Latium; et longe a Latio natum, quia Mediolani; et
longissime vitam egisse, quia in Hispania_.]

Vincent Yanez discovered that the chieftains were elected for only one
year. Their followers obeyed them in making war or in signing peace.
Their villages are built around this immense gulf. Five of these
caciques offered gifts to the Spaniards, and I have wished to record
their names in memory of their hospitality: Chiaconus Chianaocho,
Chiaconus Fintiguanos, Chiaconus Chamailaba, Chiaconus Polomus,
Chiaconus Pot.

This gulf is called Bahia de la Natividad, because Columbus discovered
it on the Feast of Christmas; but he only sailed by, without
penetrating into the interior. The Spaniards simply call it Bahia.
Having established friendship with these chieftains, Vincent Yanez
continued his voyage[5] and found to the east countries which had been
abandoned because of frequent inundations, and a vast extent of marsh
lands. He persisted in his undertaking until he reached the extreme
point of the continent[6]; if indeed we may call points, those corners
or promontories which terminate a coast. This one seems to reach out
towards the Atlas, and therefore opposite that part of Africa called
by the Portuguese the Cape of Good Hope, a promontory in the ocean
formed by the prolongation of the Atlas Mountains. The Cape of Good
Hope, however, is situated within thirty-four degrees of the antarctic
pole, whereas this point in the New World lies within the seventh
degree. I think it must be part of that continent which cosmographers
have named the Great Atlantis, but without giving further details as
to its situation or character.

[Note 5: Comparing this account of Pinzon's voyage with that
of Vespucci, it is seen that Peter Martyr describes the itinerary
reversed, making Pinzon finish where Vespucci makes him begin.]

[Note 6: Cape Sant Augustin.]

And since we have now reached the shores of the first land encountered
beyond the Pillars of Hercules, perhaps it may not be out of place to
say something of the motives which might have provoked war between the
Catholic King, Ferdinand of Spain, and Emanuel of Portugal, had they
not been father-in-law and son-in-law. Note that I say _Portugal_ and
not _Lusitania_, contrary to the opinion of many persons who certainly
are not ignorant, but are not less certainly, sadly mistaken. For if
it be Lusitania which eminent geographers locate between the Douro and
the Guadiana, in what part of Lusitania does Portugal lie?

BOOK VIII

During the reign of King John of Portugal, uncle and predecessor of
King Emanuel, now happily reigning, a serious divergence existed
between the Portuguese and the Spaniards concerning their discoveries.
The King of Portugal claimed that he alone possessed navigation rights
on the ocean, because the Portuguese had been the first since ancient
times to put out on the great sea. The Castilians asserted that
everything existing on the earth since God created the world is the
common property of mankind, and that it is, therefore, permissible to
take possession of any country not already inhabited by Christians.
The discussion on this point was very involved, and it was finally
decided to leave it to the arbitration of the Sovereign Pontiff.
Castile was at that time governed by the great Queen Isabella, with
whom was associated her husband, for Castile was her marriage portion.
The Queen being cousin to King John of Portugal, an agreement
between them was speedily reached. By mutual consent of both parties
concerned, and by virtue of a bull, the Sovereign Pontiff, Alexander
VI., under whose pontificate this discussion took place, traced from
north to south a line lying one hundred leagues outside the parallel
of the Cape Verde Islands.[1] The extreme point of the continent lies
on this side of that line and is called Cape San Augustin, and by
the terms of the Bull the Castilians are forbidden to land on that
extremity of the continent.

[Note 1: The famous bull marking the respective spheres of
discovery and colonisation for Spain and Portugal was given on May
4, 1493. Its terms were revised by the two states whose claims were
finally embodied in the conventions of Tordesillas, June 7, 1494, and
Setubal, September 4, 1494.]

After collecting the gold given him by the natives of the fertile
province of Chamba, Vincent Yanez returned from Cape San Augustin and
directed his course towards a lofty mountain chain which he saw on the
southern horizon. He had taken some prisoners in the Gulf of Paria,
which, beyond contest, lies in the Spanish dominions. He conducted
them to Hispaniola, where he delivered them to the young Admiral to be
instructed in our language, and afterwards to serve as interpreters in
the exploration of unknown countries. Pinzon betook himself to court
and petitioned the King for authorisation to assume the title of
Governor of the island of San Juan, which is only twenty-five leagues
distant from Hispaniola. He based his claim upon the fact that he had
been the first to discover the existence of gold in that island, which
we have said in our First Decade was called by the Indians Borrichena.

The governor of Borrichena, a Portuguese named Christopher, son of
Count Camigua, was massacred by the cannibals of the neighbouring
islands, together with all the Christians except the bishop and his
servants; the latter only succeeded in escaping, at the cost of
abandoning the sacred vessels. In response to the King's solicitation,
your Apostolic Holiness had just divided this country into five new
bishoprics. The Franciscan friar, Garcias de Padilla, was made Bishop
of Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola; the doctor Pedro Suarez
Deza was appointed to Concepcion, and for the island of San Juan, the
licenciate Alonzo Mauso was named; both these latter being observants
of the congregation of St. Peter. The fourth bishop was the friar
Bernardo de Mesa, a noble Toledan, and an orator of the Dominican
Order, who was appointed for Cuba. The fifth received the holy oils
from Your Holiness for the colony of Darien; he is a Franciscan, a
brilliant orator, and is called Juan Cabedo.

An expedition will, for the following reason, shortly set out to
punish the Caribs. After the first massacre, they returned several
months later from the neighbouring island of Santa Cruz, murdered
and ate a cacique who was our ally, with all his family, afterwards
completely destroying his town. They alleged that this cacique had
violated the laws of hospitality in his relations with several Caribs,
who were boat-builders. These men had been left at San Juan to build
more canoes, since that island grows lofty trees, better adapted for
canoe building than are those of the island of Santa Cruz. The Caribs
being still on the island, the Spaniards who arrived from Hispaniola
encountered them by accident. When the interpreters had made known
this recent crime, the Spaniards wished to exact satisfaction, but the
cannibals, drawing their bows and aiming their sharpened arrows at
them, gave it to be understood with menacing glances that they had
better keep quiet unless they wished to provoke a disaster. Fearing
the poisoned arrows and being likewise unprepared for fighting, our
men made amicable signs. When they asked the Caribs why they had
destroyed the village and murdered the cacique and his family, the
latter replied that they had done so to avenge the murder of several
workmen. They had collected the bones of the victims with the
intention of carrying them to the widows and children of the workmen,
so that the latter might understand that the murder of their husbands
and fathers had not been left unavenged. They exhibited a pile of
bones to the Spaniards who, shocked by this crime but forced to
conceal their real sentiments, remained silent, not daring to reprove
the Caribs, Similar stories which I suppress rather than offend
the ears of Your Holiness by such abominable narratives, are daily
repeated.

But we have strayed, O Most Holy Father, rather far from the regions
of Veragua and Uraba, which are the chief themes of our discourse.
Shall we not first treat of the immensity and the depth of the rivers
of Uraba, and of the products of the countries washed by their waters?
Shall I say nothing about the extent of the continent from east to
west, or of its breadth from north to south, nor of anything that
is reported concerning those regions as yet unknown? Let us return,
therefore, Most Holy Father, to Uraba, and begin by stating the new
names which have been given to those provinces, since they have come
under the authority of Christians.

BOOK IX

The Spaniards decided to name Veragua, _Castilla del Oro_, and Uraba,
_Nueva Andalusia_. As Hispaniola had been chosen to be the capital of
all the colonies of the islands, so likewise were the vast regions of
Paria divided into two parts, Uraba and Veragua, where two colonies
were established to serve as refuges and places of rest and
reprovisionment for all those who traversed those countries.

Everything the Spaniards sowed or planted in Uraba grew marvellously
well. Is this not worthy, Most Holy Father, of the highest admiration?
Every kind of seed, graftings, sugar-canes, and slips of trees and
plants, without speaking of the chickens and quadrupeds I have
mentioned, were brought from Europe. O admirable fertility! The
cucumbers and other similar vegetables sown were ready for picking in
less than twenty days. Cabbages, beets, lettuces, salads, and other
garden stuff were ripe within ten days; pumpkins and melons were
picked twenty-eight days after the seeds were sown. The slips and
sprouts, and such of our trees as we plant out in nurseries or
trenches, as well as the graftings of trees similar to those in Spain,
bore fruit as quickly as in Hispaniola.

The inhabitants of Darien have different kinds of fruit trees, whose
varied taste and good quality answer to their needs. I would like to
describe the more remarkable ones.

The _guaiana_ produces a lemon-like fruit similar to those commonly
called limes. Their flavour is sharp, but they are pleasant to the
taste. Nut-bearing pines are common, as are likewise various sorts of
palms bearing dates larger than ours but too sour to be eaten. The
cabbage palm grows everywhere, spontaneously, and is used both for
food and making brooms. There is a tree called _guaranana_, larger
than orange trees, and bearing a fruit about the size of a lemon; and
there is another closely resembling the chestnut. The fruit of
the latter is larger than a fig, and is pleasant to the taste and
wholesome. The _mamei_ bears a fruit about the size of an orange which
is as succulent as the best melon. The _guaranala_ bears a smaller
fruit than the foregoing, but of an aromatic scent and exquisite
taste. The _hovos_ bears a fruit resembling in its form and flavour
our plum, though it is somewhat larger, and appears really to be the
mirobolan, which grows so abundantly in Hispaniola that the pigs are
fed on its fruit. When it is ripe it is in vain the swineherd seeks to
keep his pigs, for they evade him and rush to the forest where these
trees grow; and it is for this reason that wild swine are so numerous
in Hispaniola. It is also claimed that the pork of Hispaniola has a
superior taste and is more wholesome than ours; and, indeed, nobody is
ignorant of the fact that diversity of foodstuffs produces firmer and
more savoury meat.

The most invincible King Ferdinand relates that he has eaten another
fruit brought from those countries. It is like a pine-nut in form and
colour, covered with scales, and firmer than a melon. Its flavour
excels all other fruits.[1] This fruit, which the King prefers to all
others, does not grow upon a tree but upon a plant, similar to an
artichoke or an acanthus. I myself have not tasted it, for it was the
only one which had arrived unspoiled, the others having rotted during
the long voyage. Spaniards who have eaten them fresh plucked where
they grow, speak with the highest appreciation of their delicate
flavour. There are certain roots which the natives call potatoes and
which grow spontaneously.[2] The first time I saw them, I took them
for Milanese turnips or huge mushrooms. No matter how they are cooked,
whether roasted or boiled, they are equal to any delicacy and indeed
to any food. Their skin is tougher than mushrooms or turnips, and is
earth-coloured, while the inside is quite white. The natives sow and
cultivate them in gardens as they do the yucca, which I have mentioned
in my First Decade; and they also eat them raw. When raw they taste
like green chestnuts, but are a little sweeter.

[Note 1: The pineapple.]

[Note 2: This is the first mention in literature of the potato.]

Having discoursed of trees, vegetables, and fruits, let us now come to
living creatures. Besides the lions and tigers[3] and other animals
which we already know, or which have been described by illustrious
writers, the native forests of these countries harbour many monsters.
One animal in particular has Nature created in prodigious form. It is
as large as a bull, and has a trunk like an elephant; and yet it is
not an elephant. Its hide is like a bull's, and yet it is not a bull.
Its hoofs resemble those of a horse, but it is not a horse. It has
ears like an elephant's, though smaller and drooping, yet they are
larger than those of any other animal.[4] There is also an animal
which lives in the trees, feeds upon fruits, and carries its young in
a pouch in the belly; no writer as far as I know has seen it, but I
have already sufficiently described it in the Decade which has already
reached Your Holiness before your elevation, as it was then stolen
from me to be printed.

[Note 3: It is hardly necessary to say that there were no lions or
tigers in America. Jaguars, panthers, leopards, and ocelots were the
most formidable beasts of prey found in the virgin forests of the New
World.]

[Note 4: This puzzling animal was the tapir.]

It now remains for me to speak of the rivers of Uraba. The Darien,
which is almost too narrow for the native canoes, flows into the Gulf
of Uraba, and on its banks stands a village built by the Spaniards.
Vasco Nunez explored the extremity of the gulf and discovered a river
one league broad and of the extraordinary depth of two hundred cubits,
which flows into the gulf by several mouths, just as the Danube flows
into the Black Sea, or the Nile waters the land of Egypt. It is
called, because of its size, Rio Grande. An immense number of huge
crocodiles live in the waters of this stream, which, as we know,
is the case with the Nile; particularly I, who have ascended and
descended that river on my embassy to the Sultan.[5]

[Note 5: See _De Legatione Babylonica_.]

I hardly know, after reading the writings of many men remarkable for
their knowledge and veracity, what to think of the Nile. It is claimed
that there are really two Niles, which take their rise either in the
Mountains of the Sun or of the Moon, or in the rugged Sierras of
Ethiopia. The waters of these streams, whatever be their source,
modify the nature of the land they traverse. One of the two flows to
the north and empties into the Egyptian Sea: the other empties into
the southern ocean. What conclusion shall we draw? We are not puzzled
by the Nile of Egypt, and the southern Nile has been discovered by the
Portuguese, who, in the course of their amazing expeditions, ventured
beyond the equinoctial line into the country of the negroes, and as
far as Melinde. They affirm that it rises in the Mountains of the
Moon, and that it is another Nile, since crocodiles are seen there,
and crocodiles only live in streams belonging to the basin of the
Nile. The Portuguese have named that river Senegal. It traverses the
country of the negroes, and the country on its northern banks is
admirable, while that on its southern banks is sandy and arid. From
time to time crocodiles are seen.

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