The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci Part 9

[Footnote 66: Equal to 1333-1/3 leagues of three geographical miles.]

[Footnote 67: 70 W. of Canaria, or 85 W. of Greenwich, would be in the Pacific Ocean; but this is a specimen of Vespucci's romancing. There was no observation for longitude with instruments in those days. Columbus observed the time occasionally, when there was an eclipse, comparing it with the time at some place given in his almanac, but the result was too rough to be of any use.]

[Footnote 68: The part of the mainland in 16 is in the Gulf of Honduras.

In his second voyage he alleges that he reached 15, which is probably the reason why he chose 16 for a landfall on this voyage.]

[Footnote 69: Bombix.]

[Footnote 70: _Coltroni_. Varnhagen suggests the Spanish word _colchones_, mattresses; but _coltroni_ is a good Italian word, and suitable.]

[Footnote 71: _Yuca_ is a word in the language of the West Indian islanders for the root of _Jatophra Manihot_.]

[Footnote 72: _Cazabi_, the bread made from the same root.]

[Footnote 73: _Inhame_ (Port.), _name_ (Sp.), a word of African origin.

Yam.]

[Footnote 74: _Zibaldone_ (Lat. _Libellum_).]

[Footnote 75: _Cani alani_.]

[Footnote 76: This is a description of the iguana, which Vespucci would have seen on the coast of Venezuela.]

[Footnote 77: _Lariab_ in the Italian edition.]

[Footnote 78: _Maestrale_.]

[Footnote 79: He says he left Cadiz on 10th May 1497. According to this it was then 10th June 1498.]

[Footnote 80: I am indebted to Mr. Quaritch's translation for the suggestion that the word _allogiate_ may be _allegiate_ for _allegerite_ ("lightened").]

[Footnote 81: _I.e._, the course. _Infra Greco e Levante_.]

[Footnote 82: _Iti_ (sing. _Ito_), an old Italian word, meaning "gone".

Here he gives it as the name of an island. In the second voyage he uses it for "gone"--"Dipoi che fumo _iti_ circa di una legua." It is probably a name invented by himself. Navarrete suggests it may be _Ha-iti_, the native name for Espanola, which he adopted for his imaginary island.]

[Footnote 83: Two hours, in the Latin edition.]

[Footnote 84: Latin edition has 25.]

[Footnote 85: Both editions agree as to this number "222".]

[Footnote 86: This is untrue. There were four s.h.i.+ps. See _Las Casas_, chap. 165.]

[Footnote 87: He uses the word "wind" for rhumb or course.]

[Footnote 88: Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria.]

[Footnote 89: _Braccia_ is a yard, a measure of three spans.]

[Footnote 90: _Mirabolani_.]

[Footnote 91: Alonso Nino and Cristobal Guerra, in their voyage in 1500, observed the same practice among the natives, and said it was to keep their teeth white. (_Nav._, iii, p. 15.)]

[Footnote 92: Further on he says that the kinds of animals on the island were varied and numerous.]

[Footnote 93: _Iti_, an old Italian word for "gone"--"Dipoi che fumo _iti_ circa di una legua."]

[Footnote 94: The island of Curacoa.]

[Footnote 95: This is untrue, as Las Casas has proved.]

[Footnote 96: It should be 13. The coast explored by Hojeda is, in no part, north of 13.]

[Footnote 97: _Conta_, a Portuguese word.]

[Footnote 98: The island of Espanola, so called by the Portuguese.]

[Footnote 99: September 5th, 1499, to November 22nd, 1499.]

[Footnote 100: A false date. It should be November 22nd. He gives the _day_ correctly.]

[Footnote 101: These dates are shown by Las Casas to be false. Amerigo does not give any year; but the date of arrival at Cadiz was really about February 1500. Varnhagen (p. 107 _n._) suggested that Hojeda and La Cosa arrived first at Espanola, while Vespucci remained on the coast of the mainland for some months. He refers to the evidence of one Cristobal Garcia of Palos, given on October 1st, 1515, to the effect that, he being at San Domingo, Hojeda and La Cosa arrived there in a small bark, having lost their s.h.i.+ps, and with only fifteen or twenty men, the rest being dead (_Nav._, iii, 544). But this cannot refer to the voyage of 1499, when Hojeda had not lost his s.h.i.+ps, and did not go to San Domingo. The evidence, of course, relates to his disastrous second voyage. The narrative of Roldan, quoted by Las Casas, proves that Hojeda came to Espanola with all his s.h.i.+ps, that Vespucci was not left behind on the coast of the mainland, and that the dates given by Vespucci are false, either through carelessness or design.]

[Footnote 102: _Nav._, iii, 544.]

[Footnote 103: Vespucci.]

[Footnote 104: Casas and Herrera.]

[Footnote 105: In one of the forged letters published by Bandini. See p.

75 of Varnhagen.]

[Footnote 106: Only mentioned in the three instructions given by Hojeda in his second voyage, to his nephew Pedro de Hojeda and Vergara to search for the vessel _Santa Ana_, to Vergara to go to Jamaica to buy provisions, and to Lopez to go in search of Vergara.]

[Footnote 107: _Vita del Ammiraglio_, cap. 84.]

[Footnote 108: One of the forged letters in Bandini.]

[Footnote 109: _Beze quiche_, now Goree. _Biseghier_ in the Medici letter. _Besilieca_ in the Latin ed.]

[Footnote 110: S.W. 1/4 S.]

[Footnote 111: C. S. Roque.]

[Footnote 112: "_Traeua_ un gran palo", which is Spanish. In Italian, "portava un legno".]

[Footnote 113: _Fateixa (fatesce)_, a boat's anchor in Portuguese.]