Amerigo Vespucci's Account Of His First Voyage
Author: Vespucci, Amerigo
Date: 1497
Amerigo Vespucci's Account Of His First Voyage
Introduction
Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence in 1452 and died in Seville in
1512. He was employed in the latter city in the business house which fitted
out Columbus' second expedition. The following letter gives his own account of
the first of the four voyages which he claimed to have made to the New World.
He seems to have touched the mainland a few weeks before Cabot, and some
fourteen months before Columbus. The suspicions which long clouded his title
to fame have been largely dissipated by modern investigation; and it seems to
have been not without reason that Waldseemuller in 1507 proposed to call the
new continent by his name.
The present translation is made from Vespucci's Italian (published at
Florence in 1505-6) by "M. K.", for Quaritch's edition, London, 1885.
Letter of Amerigo Vespucci To Pier Soderini Gonfalonier
To Pier Soderini Gonfalonier of the Republic of Florence
Magnificent Lord. After humble reverence and due commendations, etc. It
may be that your Magnificence will be surprised by (this conjunction of) my
rashness and your customary wisdom, in that I should so absurdly bestir myself
to write to your Magnificence the present so-prolix letter: knowing (as I do)
that your Magnificence is continually employed in high councils and affairs
concerning the good government of this sublime Republic. And will hold me not
only presumptuous, but also idlymeddlesome in setting myself to write things,
neither suitable to your station, nor entertaining, and written in barbarous
style, and outside of every canon of polite literature: but my confidence
which I have in your virtues and in the truth of my writing, which are things
(that) are not found written neither by the ancients nor by modern writers, as
your Magnificence will in the sequel perceive, makes me bold. The chief cause
which moved (me) to write to you, was at the request of the present bearer,
who is named Benvenuto Benvenuti our Florentine (fellow-citizen), very much,
as it is proven, your Magnificence's servant, and my very good friend: who
happening to be here in this city of Lisbon, begged that I should make
communication to your Magnificence of the things seen by me in divers regions
of the world, by virtue of four voyages which I have made in discovery of new
lands: two by order of the king of Castile, King Don Ferrando VI, across the
great gulf of the Ocean-sea, towards the west: and the other two by command of
the puissant King Don Manuel King of Portugal, towards the south; telling me
that your Magnificence would take pleasure thereof, and that herein he hoped
to do you service: wherefore I set me to do it: because I am assured that your
Magnificence holds me in the number of your servants, remembering that in the
time of our youth I was your friend, and now (am your) servant: and
(remembering our) going to hear the rudiments of grammar under the fair
example and instruction of the venerable monk friar of Saint Mark Fra Giorgio
Antonio Vespucci: whose counsels and teaching would to God that I had
followed: for as saith Petrarch, I should be another man than what I am.
Howbeit soever I grieve not: because I have ever taken delight in worthy
matters: and although these trifles of mine may not be suitable to your
virtues, I will say to you as said Pliny to Maecenas, you were sometime wont
to take pleasure in my prattlings: even though your Magnificence be
continuously busied in public affairs, you will take some hour of relaxation
to consume a little time in frivolous or amusing things: and as fennel is
customarily given atop of delicious viands to fit them for better digestion,
so may you, for a relief from your so heavy occupations, order this letter of
mine to be read: so that they may withdraw you somewhat from the continual
anxiety and assiduous reflection upon public affairs: and if I shall be
prolix, I crave pardon, my Magnificent Lord. Your Magnificence shall know that
the motive of my coming into his realm of Spain was to traffic in merchandise:
and that I pursued this intent about four years: during which I saw and knew
the inconstant shiftings of Fortune: and how she kept changing those frail and
transitory benefits: and how at one time she holds man on the summit of the
wheel, and at another time drives him back from her, and despoils him of what
may be called his borrowed riches: so that, knowing the continuous toil which
main undergoes to win them, submitting himself to so many anxieties and risks,
I resolved to abandon trade, and to fix my aim upon something more praise-
worthy and stable: whence it was that I made preparation for going to see part
of the world and its wonders: and herefor the time and place presented
themselves most opportunely to me: which was that the King Don Ferrando of
Castile being about to despatch four ships to discover new lands towards the
west, I was chosen by his Highness to go in that fleet to aid in making
discovery: and we set out from the port of Cadiz on the 10th day of May 1497,
and took our route through the great gulf of the Ocean-sea: in which voyage we
were eighteen months (engaged): and discovered much continental land and
innumerable islands, and great part of them inhabited: whereas there is no
mention made by the ancient writers of them: I believe, because they had no
knowledge thereof: for, if I remember well, I have read in some one (of those
writers) that he considered that this Ocean-sea was an unpeopled sea: and of
this opinion was Dante our poet in the xxvi. chapter of the Inferno, where he
feigns the death of Ulysses, in which voyage I beheld things of great
wondrousness, as your Magnificence shall understand. As I said above, we left
the port of Cadiz four consort ships: and began our voyage in direct course to
the Fortunates Isles which are called to-day la gran Canaria, which are
situated in the Ocean-sea at the extremity of the inhabited west, (and) set in
the third climate: over which the North Pole has an elevation of 27 and a half
degrees beyond their horizon ^1 and they are 280 leagues distant from this
city of Lisbon, by the wind between mezzo di and libeccio. ^2 where we
remained eight days, taking in provision of water, and wood and other
necessary things: and from here, having said our prayers, we weighed anchor,
and gave the sails to the wind, beginning our course to westward, taking one
quarter by south- west: ^3 and so we sailed on till at the end of 37 days we
reached a land which we deemed to be a continent: which is distant westwardly
from the isles of Canary about a thousand leagues beyond the inhabited region
^4 within the torrid zone: for we found the North Pole at an elevation of 16
degrees above its horizon, ^5 and (it was) westward, according to the shewing
of our instruments, 75 degrees from the isles of Canary: whereat we anchored
with our ships a league and a half from land; and we put out our boats
freighted with men and arms: we made towards the land, and before we reached
it, had sight of a great number of people who were going along the shore: by
which we were much rejoiced: and we observed that they were a naked race: they
shewed themselves to stand in fear of us: I believe (it was) because they saw
us clothed and of other appearance (than their own): they all withdrew to a
hill, and for whatsoever signals we made to them of peace and of friendliness,
they would not come to parley with us: so that, as the night was now coming
on, and as the ships were anchored in a dangerous place, being on a rough and
shelterless coast, we decided to remove from there the next day, and to go in
search of some harbour or bay, where we might place our ships in safety: and
we sailed with the maestrale wind, ^6 thus running along the coast with the
land ever in sight, continually in our course observing people along the
shore: till after having navigated for two days, we found a place sufficiently
secure for the ships, and anchored half a league from land, on which we saw a
very great number of people: and this same day we put to land with the boats,
and sprang on shore full 40 men in good trim: and still the land's people
appeared shy of converse with us, and we were unable to encourage them so much
as to make them come to speak with us: and this day we laboured so greatly in
giving them of our wares, such as rattles and mirrors, beads, spalline, and
other trifles, that some of them took confidence and came to discourse with
us: and after having made good friends with them, the night coming on, we took
our leave of them and returned to the ships: and the next day when the dawn
appeared we saw that there were infinite numbers of people upon the beach, and
they had their women and children with them: we went, ashore, and found that
they were all laden with their worldly goods ^7 which are suchlike as, in its
(proper) place, shall be related: and before we reached the land, many of them
jumped into the sea and came swimming to receive us at a bowshot's length
(from the shore), for they are very great swimmers, with as much confidence as
if they had for a long time been acquainted with us: and we were pleased with
this their confidence. For so much as we learned of their manner of life and
customs, it was that they go entirely naked, as well the men as the women. . .
. They are of medium stature, very well proportioned: their flesh is of a
colour the verges into red like a lion's mane: and I believe that if they went
clothed, they would be as white as we: they have not any hair upon the body,
except the hair of the head which is long and black, and especially in the
women, whom it renders handsome: in aspect they are not very good-looking,
because they have broad faces, so that they would seem Tartar-like: they let
no hair grow on their eyebrows, nor on their eyelids, nor elsewhere, except
the hair of the head: for they hold hairiness to be a filthy thing: they are
very light footed in walking and in running, as well the men as the women: so
that a woman recks nothing of running a league or two, as many times we saw
them do: and herein they have a very great advantage over us Christians: they
swim (with an expertness) beyond all belief, and the women better than the
men: for we have many times found and seen them swimming two leagues out at
sea without anything to rest upon. Their arms are bows and arrows very well
made, save that (the arrows) are not (tipped) with iron nor any other kind of
hard metal: and instead of iron they put animals' or fishes' teeth, or a spike
of tough wood, with the point hardened by fire: they are sure marksmen, for
they hit whatever they aim at: and in some places the women use these bows:
they have other weapons, such as fire-hardened spears, and also clubs with
knobs, beautifully carved. Warfare is used amongst them, which they carry on
against people not of their own language, very cruelly, without granting life
to any one, except (to reserve him) for greater suffering. When they go to
war, they take their women with them, not that these may fight, but because
they carry behind them their worldly goods, for a woman carries on her back
for thirty or forty leagues a load which no man could bear: as we have many
times seen them do. They are not accustomed to have any Captain, nor do they
go in any ordered array, for every one is lord of himself: and the cause of
their wars is not for lust of dominion, nor of extending their frontiers, no
for inordinate covetousness, but for some ancient enmity which in by-gone
times arose amongst them: and when asked why they made war, they knew not any
other reason to give than that they did so to avenge the death of their
ancestors, or of their parents: these people have neither King, nor Lord, nor
do they yield obedience to any one, for they live in their own liberty: and
how they be stirred up to go to war is (this) that when the enemies have slain
or captured any of them, his oldest kinsman rises up and goes about the
highways haranguing them to go with him and avenge the death of such his
kinsman: and so are they stirred up by fellow-feeling: they have no judicial
system, nor do they punish the ill-doer: nor does the father, nor the mother
chastise the children and marvelously (seldom) or never did we see any dispute
among them: in their conversation they appear simple, and they are very
cunning and acute in that which concerns them: they speak little and in a low
tone: they use the same articulations as we, since they form their utterances
either with the palate, or with the teeth, or on the lips: ^8 except that they
give different names to things. Many are the varieties of tongues: for in
every 100 leagues we found a change of language, so that they are not
understandable each to the other. The manner of their living is very
barbarous, for they do not eat at certain hours, and as often-times as they
will: and it is not much of a boon to them ^9 that the will may come more at
midnight than by day, for they eat at all hours: and they eat upon the ground
without a table-cloth or any other cover, for they have their meats either in
earthen basins which they make themselves, or in the halves of pumpkins: they
sleep in certain very large nettings made of cotton, suspended in the air: and
although this their (fashion of) sleeping may seem uncomfortable, I say that
it is sweet to sleep in those (nettings): and we slept better in them than in
the counterpanes. They are a people smooth and clean of body, because of so
continually washing themselves as they do. .
. . Amongst those people we did not learn that they had any law, nor can they
be called Moors nor Jews, and (they are) worse than pagans: because we did not
observe that they offered any sacrifice: nor even had they a house of prayer:
their manner of living I judge to be Epicurean: their dwellings are in common:
and their houses (are) made in the style of huts, but strongly made, and
constructed with very large trees, and covered over with palm-leaves, secure
against storms and winds: and in some places (they are) of so great breadth
and length, that in one single house we found there were 600 souls: and we saw
a village of only thirteen houses where there were four thousand souls: every
eight or ten years they change their habitations: and when asked why they did
so: (they said it was) because of the soil which, from its filthiness, was
already unhealthy and corrupted, and that it bred aches in their bodies, which
seemed to us a good reason: their riches consist of bird's plumes of many
colours, or of rosaries which they make from fishbones, or of white or green
stones which they put in their cheeks and in their lips and ears, and of many
other things which we in no wise value: they use no trade, they neither buy
nor sell. In fine, they live and are contended with that which nature gives
them. The wealth that we enjoy in this our Europe and elsewhere, such as gold,
jewels, pearls, and other riches, they hold as nothing; and although they have
them in their own lands, they do not labour to obtain them, nor do they value
them. They are liberal in giving, for it is rarely they deny you anything: and
on the other hand, liberal in asking, when they shew themselves your friends.
. . . When they die, they use divers manners of obsequies, and some they bury
with water and victuals at their heads: thinking that they shall have
(whereof) to eat: they have not nor do they use ceremonies of torches nor of
lamentation. In some other places, they use the most barbarous and inhuman
burial, which is that when a suffering or infirm (person) is as it were at the
last pass of death, his kinsmen carry him into a large forest, and attach one
of those nets, of theirs, in which they sleep, to two trees, and then put him
in it, and dance around him for a whole day: and when the night comes on they
place at his bolster, water with other victuals, so that he may be able to
subsist for four or six days: and then they leave him alone and return to the
village: and if the sick man helps himself, and eats, and drinks, and
survives, he returns to the village, and his (friends) receive him with
ceremony: but few are they who escape: without receiving any further visit
they die, and that is their sepulture: and they have many other customs which
for prolixity are not related. They use in their sicknesses various forms of
medicines, ^10 so different from ours that we marvelled how any one escaped:
for many times I saw that with a man sick of fever, when it heightened upon
him, they bathed him from head to foot with a large quantity of cold water:
then they lit a great fire around him, making him turn and turn again every
two hours, until they tired him and left him to sleep, and many were (thus)
cured: with this they make use of dieting, for they remain three days without
eating, and also of blood-letting, but not from the arm, only from the thighs
and the loins and the calf of the leg: also they provoke vomiting with their
herbs which are put into the mouth: and they use many other remedies which it
would be long to relate: they are much vitiated in the phlegm and in the blood
because of their food which consists chiefly of roots of herbs, and fruits and
fish: they have no seed of wheat nor other grain: and for their ordinary use
and feeding, they have a root of a tree, from which they make flour, tolerably
good, and they call it Iuca, and another which they call Cazabi, and another
Ignami: they eat little flesh except human flesh: for your Magnificence must
know that herein they are so inhuman that they outdo every custom (even) of
beasts; for they eat all their enemies whom they kill or capture, as well
females as males with so much savagery, that (merely) to relate it appears a
horrible thing: how much more so to see it, as, infinite times and in many
places, it was my hap to see it: and they wondered to hear us say that we did
not eat our enemies: and this your Magnificence may take for certain, that
their other barbarous customs are such that expression is too weak for the
reality: and as in these four voyages I have seen so many things diverse from
our customs, I prepared to write a common-place-book which I name Le quattro
Giornate: in which I have set down the greater part of the things which I saw,
sufficiently in detail, so far as my feeble wit has allowed me: which I have
not yet published, because I have so ill a taste for my own things that I do
not relish those which I have written, notwithstanding that many encourage me
to publish it: therein everything will be seen in detail: so that I shall not
enlarge further in this chapter: as in the course of the letter we shall come
to many other things which are particular: let this suffice for the general.
At this beginning, we saw nothing in the land of much profit, except some show
of gold: I believe the cause of it was that we did not know the language: but
in so far as concerns the situation and condition of the land, it could not be
better: we decided to leave that place, and to go further on, continuously
coasting the shore: upon which we made frequent descents, and held converse
with a great number of people: and at the end of some days we went into a
harbour where we underwent very great danger: and it pleased the Holy Ghost to
save us: and it was in this wise. We landed in a harbour, where we found a
village built like Venice upon the water: there were about 44 large dwellings
in the form of huts erected upon very thick piles, and they had their doors or
entrances in the style of drawbridges: and from each house one could pass
through all, by means of the drawbridges which stretched from house to house:
and when the people thereof had seen us, they appeared to be afraid of us, and
immediately drew up all the bridges: and while we were looking at this strange
action, we saw coming across the sea about 22 canoes, which are a kind of
boats of theirs, constructed from a single tree: which came towards our boats,
as they had been surprised by our appearance and clothes, and kept wide of us:
and thus remaining, we made signals to them that they should approach us,
encouraging them will every token of friendliness: and seeing that they did
not come, we went to them, and they did not stay for us, but made to the land,
and, by signs, told us to wait, and that they should soon return: and they
went to a hill in the background, and did not delay long: when they returned,
they led with them 16 of their girls, and entered with these into their
canoes, and came to the boats: and in each boat they put 4 of the girls. That
we marvelled at this behavior your Magnificence can imagine how much, and they
placed themselves with their canoes among our boats, coming to speak with us:
insomuch that we deemed it a mark of friendliness: and while thus engaged, we
beheld a great number of people advance swimming towards us across the sea,
who came from the houses: and as they were drawing near to us without any
apprehension: just then there appeared at the doors of the houses certain old
women, uttering very loud cries and tearing their hair to exhibit grief:
whereby they made us suspicious, and we each betook ourselves to arms: and
instantly the girls whom we had in the boats, threw themselves into the sea,
and the men of the canoes drew away from us, and began with their bows to
shoot arrows at us: and those who were swimming each carried a lance held, as
covertly as they could, beneath the water: so that, recognizing the treachery,
we engaged with them, not merely to defend ourselves, but to attack them
vigorously, and we overturned with our boats many of their almadie or canoes,
for so they call them, we made a slaughter (of them), and they all flung
themselves into the water to swim, leaving their canoes abandoned, with
considerable loss on their side, they went swimming away to the shore: there
died of them about 15 or 20, and many were left wounded: and of ours 5 were
wounded, and all, by the grace of God, escaped (death): we captured two of the
girls and two men: and we proceeded to their houses, and entered therein, and
in them all we found nothing else than two old women and a sick man: we took
away from them many things, but of small value: and we would not burn their
houses, because it seemed to us (as though that would be) a burden upon our
conscience: and we returned to our boats with five prisoners: and betook
ourselves to the ships, and put a pair of irons on the feet of each of the
captives, except the little girls: and when the night came on, the two girls
and one of the men fled away in the most subtle manner possible: and next day
we decided to quit that harbour and go further onwards: we proceeded
continuously skirting the coast, (until) we had sight of another tribe distant
perhaps some 80 leagues from the former tribe: and we found them very
different in speech and customs: we resolved to cast anchor, and went ashore
with the boats, and we saw on the beach a great number of people amounting
probably to 4000 souls: and when we had reached the shore, they did not stay
for us, but betook themselves to flight through the forests, abandoning their
things: we jumped on land, and took a pathway that led to the forest: and at
the distance of a bow-shot we found their tents, where they had made very
large fires, and two (of them) were cooking their victuals, and roasting
several animals, and fish of many kinds: where we saw that they were roasting
a certain animal which seemed to be a serpent, save that it had not wings, and
was in its appearance so loathsome that we marvelled much at its savageness:
Thus went we on through their houses, or rather tents, and found many of those
serpents alive, and they were tied by the feet and had a cord around their
snouts, so that they could not open their mouths, as is done (in Europe) with
mastiff-dogs so that they may not bite: they were of such savage aspect that
none of us dared to take one away, thinking that they were poisonous: they are
of the bigness of a kid, and in length an ell and a half: ^11 their feet are
long and thick, and armed with big claws: they have a hard skin, and are of
various colours: they have the muzzle and face of a serpent: and from their
snouts there rises a crest like a saw which extends along the middle of the
back as far as the tip of the tail: in fine we deemed them to be serpents and
venomous, and (nevertheless, those people) ate them: we found that they made
bread out of little fishes which they took from the sea, first boiling them,
(then) pounding them, and making thereof a paste, or bread, and they baked
them on the embers: thus did they eat them: we tried it, and found that it was
good: they had so many other kinds of eatables, and especially of fruits and
roots, that it would be a large matter to describe them in detail: and seeing
that the people did not return, we decided not to touch nor take away anything
of theirs, so as better to reassure them: and we left in the tents for them
many of our things, placed where they should see them, and returned by night
to our ships: and the next day, when it was light, we saw on the beach an
infinite number of people: and we landed: and although they appeared timorous
towards us, they took courage nevertheless to hold converse with us, giving us
whatever we asked of them: and shewing themselves very friendly towards us,
they told us that those were their dwellings, and that they had come hither
for the purpose of fishing: and they begged that we would visit their
dwellings and villages, because they desired to receive us as friends: and
they engaged in such friendship because of the two captured men whom we had
with us, as these were their enemies: insomuch that, in view of such
importunity on their part, holding a council, we determined that 28 of us
Christians in good array should go with them, and in the firm resolve to die
if it should be necessary: and after we had been here some three days, we went
with them inland: and at three leagues from the coast we came to a village of
many people and few houses, for there were no more than nine (of these): where
we were received with such and so many barbarous ceremonies that the pen
suffices not to write them down: for there were dances, and songs, and
lamentations mingled with rejoicing, and great quantities of food: and here we
remained the night: . . . and after having been here that night and half the
next day, so great was the number of people who came wondering to behold us
that they were beyond counting: and the most aged begged us to go with them to
other villages which were further inland, making display of doing us the
greatest honour: wherefore we decided to go: and it would be impossible to
tell you how much honour they did us: and we went to several villages, so that
we were nine days journeying, so that our Christians who had remained with the
ships were already apprehensive concerning us: and when we were about 18
leagues in the interior of the land, we resolved to return to the ships: and
on our way back, such was the number of people, as well men as women, that
came with us as far as the sea, that it was a wondrous thing: and if any of us
became weary of the march, they carried us in their nets very refreshingly:
and in crossing the rivers, which are many and very large, they passed us over
by skilful means so securely that we ran no danger whatever, and many of them
came laden with the things which they had given us, which consisted in their
sleeping-nets, and very rich feathers, many bows and arrows, innumerable
popinjays of divers colours: and others brought with them loads of their
household goods, and of animals: but a greater marvel will I tell you, that,
when we had to cross a river, he deemed himself lucky who was able to carry us
on his back: and when we reached the sea, our boats having arrived, we entered
into them: and so great was the struggle which they made to get into our
boats, and to come to see our ships, that we marvelled (thereat): and in our
boats we took as many of them as we could, and made our way to the ships, and
so many (others) came swimming that we found ourselves embarrassed in seeing
so many people in the ships, for there were over a thousand persons all naked
and unarmed: they were amazed by our (nautical) gear and contrivances, and the
size of the ships: and with them there occurred to us a very laughable affair,
which was that we decided to fire off some of our great guns, and when the
explosion took place, most of them through fear cast themselves (into the sea)
to swim, not otherwise than frogs on the margins of a pond, when they see
something that frightens them, will jump into the water, just so did those
people: and those who remained in the ships were so terrified that we
regretted our action: however we reassured them by telling them that with
those arms we slew our enemies: and when they had amused themselves in the
ships the whole day, we told them to go away because we desired to depart that
night, and so separating from us with much friendship and love, they went away
to land. Amongst that people and in their land, I knew and beheld so many of
their customs and ways of living, that I do not care to enlarge upon them: for
Your Magnificence must know that in each of my voyages I have noted the most
wonderful things, and I have indited it all in a volume after the manner of a
geography: and I entitle it Le Quattro Giornate: in which work the things are
comprised in detail, and as yet there is no copy of it given out, as it is
necessary for me to revise it. This land is very populous, and full of
inhabitants, and of numberless rivers, (and) animals: few (of which) resemble
ours, excepting lions, panthers, stags, pigs, goats, and deer: and even these
have some dissimilarities of form: they have no horses nor mules, nor, saving
your reverence, asses nor dogs, nor any kind of sheep or oxen: but so numerous
are the other animals which they have, and all are savage, and of none do they
make use for their service, that they could not be counted. What shall we say
of others (such as) birds? which are so numerous, and of so many kinds, and of
such various-coloured plumages, that it is a marvel to behold them. The soil
is very pleasant and fruitful, full of immense woods and forests: and it is
always green, for the foliage never drops off. The fruits are so many that
they are numberless and entirely different from ours. This land is within the
torrid zone, close to or just under the parallel described by the Tropic of
Cancer: where the pole of the horizon has an elevation of 23 degrees, at the
extremity of the second climate. ^12 Many tribes came to see us, and wondered
at our faces and our whiteness: and they asked us whence we came: and we gave
them to understand that we had come from heaven, and that we were going to see
the world, and they believed it. In this land we placed baptismal fonts, and
an infinite (number of) people were baptised, and they called us in their
language Carabi, which means men of great wisdom. We took our dhparture from
that port: and the province is called Lariab: and we navigated along the
coast, always in sight of land, until we had run 870 leagues of it, still
going in the direction of the maestrale (north-west) making in our course many
halts, and holding intercourse with many peoples: and in several places we
obtained gold by barter but not much in quantity, for we had done enough in
discovering the land and learning that they had gold. We had now been thirteen
months on the voyage: and the vessels and the tackling were already much
damaged, and the men worn out by fatigue: we decided by general council to
haul our ships on land and examine them for the purpose of stanching leaks, as
they made much water, and of caulking and tarring them afresh, and (then)
returning towards Spain: and when we came to this determination, we were close
to a harbour the best in the world: into which we entered with our vessels:
where we found an immense number of people: who received us with much
friendliness: and on the shore we made a bastion ^13 with our boats and with
barrels and casks, and our artillery, which commanded every point: and our
ships having been unloaded and lightened, we drew them upon land, and repaired
them in everything that was needful: and the land's people gave us very great
assistance: and continually furnished us with their victuals: so that in this
port we tasted little of our own, which suited our game well: for the stock of
provisions which we had for our return-passage was little and of sorry kind:
where (i.e., there) we remained 37 days: and went many times to their
villages: where they paid us the greatest honour: and (now) desiring to depart
upon our voyage, they made complaint to us how at certain times of the year
there came from over the sea to this their land, a race of people very cruel,
and enemies of theirs: and (who) by means of treachery or of violence slew
many of them, and ate them: and some they made captives, and carried them away
to their houses, or country: and how they could scarcely contrive to defend
themselves from them, making signs to us that (those) were an island-people
and lived out in the sea about a hundred leagues away: and so piteously did
they tell us this that we believed them: and we promised to avenge them of so
much wrong: and they remained overjoyed herewith: and many of them offered to
come along with us, but we did not wish to take them for many reasons, save
that we took seven of them, on condition that they should come (i.e., return
home) afterwards in (their own) canoes because we did not desire to be obliged
to take them back to their country: and they were contented: and so we
departed from those people, leaving them very friendly towards us: and having
repaired our ships, and sailing for seven days out to sea between northeast
and east: and at the end of the seven days we came upon the islands, which
were many, some (of them) inhabited, and others deserted: and we anchored at
one of them: where we saw a numerous people who called it Iti: and having
manned our boats with strong crews, and (taken ammunition for) three cannon -
shots in each, we made for land: where we found (assembled) about 400 men, and
many women, and all naked like the former (peoples). They were of good bodily
presence, and seemed right warlike men: for they were armed with their
weapons, which are bows, arrows, and lances: and most of them had square
wooden targets: and bore them in such wise that they did not impede the
drawing of the bow: and when we had come with our boats to about a bowshot of
the land, they all sprang into the water to shoot their arrows at us and to
prevent us from leaping upon shore: and they all had their bodies painted of
various colours, and (were) plumed with feathers: and the interpreters who
were with us told us that when (those) displayed themselves so painted and
plumed, it was to betoken that they wanted to fight: and so much did they
persist in preventing us from landing, that we were compelled to play with our
artillery: and when they heard the explosion, and saw one of them fall dead,
they all drew back to the land: wherefore, forming our council, we resolved
that 42 of our men should spring on shore, and, if they waited for us, fight
them: thus having leaped to land with our weapons, they advanced towards us,
and we fought for about an hour, for we had but little advantage of them,
except that our arbalasters and gunners killed some of them, and they wounded
certain of our men: and this was because they did not stand to receive us
within reach of lance-thrust or sword-blow: and so much vigour did we put
forth at last, that we came to sword-play, and when they tasted our weapons,
they betook themselves to flight through the mountains and the forests, and
left us conquerors of the field with many of them dead and a good number
wounded: and for that day we' took no other pains to pursue them, because we
were very weary, and we returned to our ships, with so much gladness on the
part of the seven men who had come with us that they could not contain
themselves (for joy): and when the next day arrived, we beheld coming across
the land a great number of people, with signals of battle, continually
sounding horns, and various other instruments which they use in their wars:
and all (of them) painted and feathered, so that it was a very strange sight
to behold them: wherefore all the ships held council, and it was resolved that
since this people desired hostility with us, we should proceed to encounter
them and try by every means to make them friends: in case they would not have
our friendship, that we should treat them as foes, and so many of them as we
might be able to capture should all be our slaves: and having armed ourselves
as best we could, we advanced towards the shore, and they sought not to hinder
us from landing, I believe from fear of the cannons: and we jumped on land, 57
men in four squadrons, each one (consisting of) a captain and his company: and
we came to blows with them: and after a long battle (in which) many of them
(were) slain, we put them to flight, and pursued them to a village, having
made about 250 of them captives, and we burnt the village, and returned to our
ships with victory and 250 prisoners, leaving many of them dead and wounded,
and of ours there were no more than one killed and 22 wounded, who all escaped
(i.e., recovered), God be thanked. We arranged our departure, and seven men,
of whom five were wounded, took an island-canoe, and with seven prisoners that
we gave them, four women and three men, returned to their (own) country full
of gladness, wondering at our strength: and we thereon made sail for Spain
with 222 captive slaves: and reached the port of Calis (Cadiz) on the 15th day
of October, 1498, where we were well received and sold our slaves. Such is
what befell me, most noteworthy, in this my first voyage.
[Footnote 1: That is, which are situate at 27 1/2 degrees north latitude.]
[Footnote 2: South-south-west. It is to be remarked that Vespucci always uses
the word wind to signify the course in which it blows, not the quarter from
which it rises.]
[Footnote 3: West and a quarter by south-west.]
[Footnote 4: This phrase is merely equivalent to a repetition of from the
Canaries, these islands having been already designated the extreme western
limit of inhabited land.]
[Footnote 5: That is, 16 degrees north latitude.]
[Footnote 6: North-west.]
[Footnote 7: Mantenimenti. The word "all" (tucte) is feminine, and probably
refers only to the women.]
[Footnote 8: He means that they have no sounds in their language unknown to
European organs of speech, all being either palatals or dentals of labials.]
[Footnote 9: I have translated "et non si da loro molto" as "it is not much of
a boon to them,." but may be "it matters not much to them."]
[Footnote 10: That is, "medical treatment."]
[Footnote 11: This animal was the iguana.]
[Footnote 12: That is, 23 degrees north latitude.]
[Footnote 13: Fort or barricade.]
