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SPACE TIME PLAY
SPACE TIME PLAY
COMPUTER GAMES,
ARCHITECTURE
AND URBANISM:
THE NEXT LEVEL

Edited by

Friedrich von Borries,

Steffen P. Walz,
Matthias Böttger

In collaboration with

Drew Davidson, Heather Kelley, Julian Kücklich

Birkhäuser
Basel _ Boston _ Berlin
Imprint Acknowledgements

Design: onlab, Nicolas Bourquin Space Time Play would not exist without the help, inspiration and sup-
Prepress: Sebastian Schenk port of many colleagues and friends. Our deepest thanks go out to all
Translation from German into English: Jenna Krumminga, Ian Pepper the authors of the book, without whose contributions this compen-
Translation from Italian into English: Federico Roascio dium could not have come into being. We would also like to thank the
Copyediting: Jenna Krumminga, Tobias Kurtz, Ian Pepper studios and publishers that granted us the right to print pictures of
Proofreading: Lucinda Byatt (Edinburgh) their games.
Fonts: Grotesque MT, Walbaum
Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF ∞ We thank Ludger Hovestadt, Hans-Peter Schwarz, Gerhard M. Buurman
Printed in Germany and Kees Christiaanse for both their content contributions and their
financial commitment, without which we would not have been able to
www.spacetimeplay.org produce this book.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007933332 We owe the selection of Game Reviews collected in this book, as well
as our connections to many authors, to Drew Davidson, Heather Kelley
Bibliographic information published by the German National Library. and Julian Kücklich. We thank Nicolas Bourquin for the design and the
The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche patience with which he conducted his work. With much dedication,
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Jenna Krumminga edited the diverse texts into an easy-to-read whole.
Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Monika Annen, Tobias Kurtz, Anne Mikoleit, Caroline Pachoud and
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the Sibylla Spycher supported us in the editorial work with great dedication
whole or part of the material is concerned. Specifically, the rights of and great exertion, for which we would like to thank them sincerely.
translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting,
reproduction on microfilms or in other formats, and storage in data We thank our editor Robert Steiger for his faith, without which this
bases are reserved. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright experimental project would not have materialized; we thank Nora
owner must be obtained. Kempkens for a smooth work flow.

© 2007 Birkhäuser Verlag AG In addition to the many whom we unfortunately cannot name here, we
Basel _ Boston _ Berlin also thank Ulrich Brinkmann and Katrin Schöbel for their encourage-
P.O. Box 133, CH-4010 Basel, Switzerland ment, guidance and counsel.
Part of Springer Science+Business Media
© 2007 Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Böttger, au- This book has been sponsored by:
thors and individual copyright holders. ETH Zurich, Institute of Building Technology, Chair for Computer
© 2007 for images see detailed list in the appendix. Images not oth- Aided Architectural Design, Switzerland. Zurich University of the
erwise indicated are the property of the named project authors, text Arts (ZHdK), Switzerland. ZHdK, Department of Design, Interaction
authors and game developers. Design & Game Design Study Program, Switzerland. ETH Zurich,
Institute for Urban Design, Chair of Architecture and Urban Design,
ISBN: 978-3-7643-8414-2 Switzerland. KCAP, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ASTOC, Architects
and Planners, Cologne, Germany.

Interaction Design
Game Design

The editors’ work on this book has been partially funded by the
National Competence Center in Research on Mobile Information and
Communication Systems (NCCR-MICS), a center supported by the
987654321 Swiss National Science Foundation under grant number 5005-67322
www.birkhauser.ch and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

4
Table of contents

6 Table of contents: Essays, Statements, Interviews

8 Table of contents: Game Reviews

9 Table of contents: Project Descriptions

10 Introduction
Friedrich von Borries,
Steffen P. Walz,
Matthias Böttger

Level 1 14 THE ARCHITECTURE OF COMPUTER

AND VIDEO GAMES
A SHORT SPACE-TIME HISTORY OF
INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Level 2 138 MAKE BELIEVE URBANISM

THE LUDIC CONSTRUCTION OF
THE DIGITAL METROPOLIS

Level 3 216 UBIQUITOUS GAMES

ENCHANTING PLACES, BUILDINGS,
CITIES AND LANDSCAPES

Level 4 320 SERIOUS FUN

UTILIZING GAME ELEMENTS FOR ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN AND URBAN PLANNING

Level 5 410 FAITES VOS JEUX

GAMES BETWEEN UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA

488 Author biographies

495 Image copyrights

5
Table of contents Essays, Statements, Interviews

Level 1 16 PLACES TO PLAY Level 3 218 NEW BABYLON RELOADED

What Game Settings Can Tell Us about Games Learning from the Ludic City
Andreas Lange Lukas Feireiss
26 A SHORT HISTORY OF DIGITAL 230 PLAY AS CREATIVE MISUSE
GAMESPACE Barcode Battler and the Charm of the Real
Dariusz Jacob Boron Claus Pias
44 ALLEGORIES OF SPACE 233 UBIQUITOUS GAMING
The Question of Spatiality in Computer Games A Vision for the Future of Enchanted Spaces
Espen Aarseth Jane McGonigal
56 NARRATIVE SPACES 238 CREATING ALTERNATE REALITIES
Henry Jenkins A Quick Primer
61 GAME PHYSICS Christy Dena
The Look & Feel Challenges of Spectacular Worlds 248 PERVASIVE GAMES
Ronald Vuillemin Bridging the Gaps between the Virtual and the Physical
74 LABYRINTH AND MAZE Steve Benford, Carsten Magerkurth,
Video Game Navigation Challenges Peter Ljungstrand
Clara Fernández-Vara 251 THE POETICS OF AUGMENTED SPACE
88 STEERING THROUGH THE MICROWORLD The Art of Our Time
A Short History and Terminology of Video Game Lev Manovich
Controllers 266 URBAN ROLE-PLAY
Winnie Forster The Next Generation of Role-Playing in Urban Space
100 VARIATION OVER TIME Markus Montola
The Transformation of Space in Single-screen 276 CHANGING URBAN PERSPECTIVES
Action Games Illuminating Cracks and Drawing Illusionary Lines
Jesper Juul Staffan Björk
110 LISTEN TO THE BULK OF THE ICEBERG 290 PERVASIVE GAMESPACES
On the Impact of Sound in Digital Games Gameplay Out in the Open
Axel Stockburger Bo Kampmann Walther
118 WALLHACKS AND AIMBOTS 304 PERSUASION AND GAMESPACE
How Cheating Changes the Perception of Gamespace Ian Bogost
Julian Kücklich 312 LIFE IS NOT COMPLETELY A GAME
132 FORM FOLLOWS FUN Urban Space and Virtual Environments
Working as a Space Gameplay Architect Howard Rheingold
Olivier Azémar
134 LOAD AND SUPPORT Level 4 328 PLAY STATIONS
Architectural Realism in Video Games Neil Leach
Ulrich Götz 332 TACTICS FOR A PLAYFUL CITY
Iain Borden
Level 2 146 USE YOUR ILLUSION 335 WHY GAMES FOR ARCHITECTURE?
Immersion in Parallel Worlds Ludger Hovestadt
Florian Schmidt 340 GAME OF LIFE
158 MAKING PLACES On Architecture, Complexity
Richard A. Bartle and the Concept of Nature as a Game
164 ACTIVITY FLOW ARCHITECTURE Georg Vrachliotis
Environment Design in Active Worlds and EverQuest 351 DESIGN PATTERNS ARE DEAD
Mikael Jakobsson Long Live Design Patterns
174 WHAT IS A SYNTHETIC WORLD? Jussi Holopainen, Staffan Björk
Edward Castronova, James J. Cummings, 352 THE UNINHIBITED FREEDOM
Will Emigh, Michael Fatten, Nathan Mishler, OF PLAYFULNESS
Travis Ross, Will Ryan Marc Maurer, Nicole Maurer
182 COMPETING IN METAGAME GAMESPACE 354 VIVA PIÑATA
eSports as the First Professionalized Computer Architecture of the Everyday
Metagames Tor Lindstrand
Michael Wagner 358 798 MUTIPLAYER DESIGN GAME
186 PLAYING WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILIES A New Tool for Parametric Design
Current Scene of Reality-based Games in Beijing Kas Oosterhuis, Tomasz Jaskiewicz
Zhao Chen Ding 372 RULE-BASED URBAN PLANNING
200 NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENTS The Wijnhaven Project, KCAP (Rotterdam)
From Disneyland to World of Warcraft Kees Christiaanse
Celia Pearce 376 TIT FOR TAT AND URBAN RULES
206 PLAYING WITH URBAN LIFE Alexander Lehnerer
How SimCity Influences Planning Culture 380 LIGHTLY AUGMENTING REALITY
Daniel G. Lobo Learning through Authentic Augmented Reality Games
214 NEW PUBLIC SPHERE Eric Klopfer
The Return of the Salon and the End of Mass Media 384 SCENARIO GAMES
Peter Ludlow Vital Techniques for Interactive City Planning
Raoul Bunschoten

6 SPACE TIME PLAY

Table of contents Essays, Statements, Interviews

398 THE NEW MENTAL LANDSCAPE

Why Games are Important for Architecture
Antonino Saggio
401 “CAN I TELEPORT AROUND?”
Jesse Schell
404 TOWARDS A GAME THEORY OF
ARCHITECTURE
Bart Lootsma
407 ACTION IN THE HANDS OF THE USER
William J. Mitchell

Level 5 416 WAR/GAMES AFTER 9/11

James Der Derian
420 WAR PLAY
Practicing Urban Annihilation
Stephen Graham
425 ENDER’S GAME
Towards a Synthetic View of the World
James H. Korris
430 FORBIDDEN GAMES
Eyal Danon, Galit Eilat
438 OUTDOOR AUGMENTED REALITY
Technology and the Military
Wayne Piekarski, Bruce H. Thomas
441 AFTER NET ART, WE MAKE MONEY
Artists and Locative Media
Marc Tuters
444 “EASTERN EUROPE, 2008”
Maps and Geopolitics in Video Games
Stephan Günzel
450 THE GAME OF INTERACTION
Gerhard M. Buurman
452 ATOPIA (ON VICE CITY)
McKenzie Wark
456 PLAYING WITH ART
Hans-Peter Schwarz
462 CHINESE GOLD FARMERS
Immigrant Workers in the Game Land
Ge Jin
466 ADVERTISEMENT IN VIDEO GAMES
“Sell My Tears,” Says the Game Publisher
Christian Gaca
480 RE-PUBLIC PLAYSCAPE
A Concrete Urban Utopia
Alberto Iacovoni
484 GAMESPACE
Mark Wigley

7
Table of contents Game Reviews

Level 1 20 DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION 130 QUAKE

Gillian Andrews Patrick Curry
24 Wii SPORTS
Heather Kelley Level 2 140 TRON
32 TENNIS FOR TWO/PONG Rolf F. Nohr
Cindy Poremba 142 NEUROMANCER
34 ASTEROIDS Espen Aarseth
Jesper Juul 144 SNOW CRASH
36 BATTLEZONE Neil Alphonso
Andreas Schiffler 150 THE SIMS
38 DEFENDER Mary Flanagan
Jesper Juul 152 THERE
40 WOLFENSTEIN 3D Florian Schmidt
Alex de Jong 154 ENTROPIA UNIVERSE
42 COUNTER-STRIKE Florian Schmidt
Alex de Jong 156 SECOND LIFE
48 MYST Florian Schmidt
Drew Davidson 168 LINEAGE
50 SUPER MARIO BROS. Sungah Kim
Martin Nerurkar 170 KINGDOM HEARTS
52 TETRIS Troy Whitlock
Katie Salen 172 WORLD OF WARCRAFT
54 ICO Diane Carr
Drew Davidson 178 SID MEIER’S CIVILIZATION
64 ZORK Jochen Hamma
Nick Montfort 180 ANIMAL CROSSING
66 LEMMINGS Heather Kelley
Martin Nerurkar 190 DARK CHRONICLE
68 WORMS Dean Chan
Clara Fernández-Vara 192 THE GETAWAY
70 MAX PAYNE Gregory More
Paolo Ruffino 194 GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS
78 PAC-MAN Gregory More
Chaim Gingold 196 GRIM FANDANGO
80 DIABLO Julian Kücklich
Stephen Jacobs 198 PSYCHONAUTS
82 SILENT HILL 2 Drew Davidson
Frank Degler 210 SIMCITY
84 SPLINTER CELL David Thomas
Thé Chinh Ngo 212 MAJESTIC
86 SAM & MAX HIT THE ROAD Kurt Squire
Julian Kücklich
94 KIRBY: CANVAS CURSE Level 3 242 I LOVE BEES
Thiéry Adam Sean Stewart
96 KATAMARI DAMACY 244 PERPLEX CITY
Julian Kücklich Steve Peters
98 EYETOY PLAY 316 eXistenZ
Heather Kelley Adriana de Souza e Silva
104 ELITE
Ed Byrne Level 4 368 PASSPORT TO …
106 PRINCE OF PERSIA Ragna Körby, Tobias Kurtz
Drew Davidson
108 SUPER MARIO 64 Level 5 414 WARGAMES
Troy Whitlock Rolf F. Nohr
114 REZ 434 KUMA\WAR
Julian Kücklich Stefan Werning
116 DESCENT 436 AMERICA’S ARMY
James Everett Stefan Werning
122 SUPER MONKEY BALL 458 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL
Troels Degn Johansson Ernest W. Adams
124 TONY HAWK’S AMERICAN WASTELAND 460 SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
Dörte Küttler David Thomas
126 LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER 470 THE TRUMAN SHOW
Phil Fish Rolf F. Nohr
128 RESCUE ON FRACTALUS 472 MONOPOLY
Noah Falstein Marie Huber, Achim Nelke

8 SPACE TIME PLAY

Table of contents Project Descriptions

Level 1 22 BREAKOUT FOR TWO 344 SAUERBRATEN

Florian “Floyd” Müller Andreas Dieckmann, Peter Russell
72 CHARBITAT 346 TINMITH
Michael Nitsche Wayne Piekarski, Bruce H. Thomas
348 IMPLANT
Level 3 222 GEOCACHING Wayne Ashley
Jack W. Peters 350 GAMEGAME
224 MOGI Aki Järvinen
Benjamin Joffe 362 SPACEFIGHTER
226 BOTFIGHTERS Winy Maas
Mirjam Struppek, Katharine S. Willis 364 KAISERSROT
228 THE BEAST Alexander Lehnerer
Dave Szulborski 366 REXPLORER
246 THE ART OF THE HEIST Rafael Ballagas, Steffen P. Walz
Dave Szulborski 370 PLASTICITY
256 PIRATES! Mathias Fuchs
Staffan Björk, Peter Ljungstrand 388 THE HARBOUR GAME
258 CAN YOU SEE ME NOW Tobias Løssing, Rune Nielsen,
Steve Benford Andreas Lykke-Olesen, Thomas Fabian Delman
260 M.A.D. COUNTDOWN 390 BIG URBAN GAME
Steffen P. Walz Frank Lantz
262 PACMANHATTAN 392 SUBCITY
Frank Lantz Elizabeth Sikiaridi, Frans Vogelaar
264 TYCOON 394 SUPERCITY
Gregor Broll Troels Degn Johansson
270 PROSOPOPEIA 1 396 BLINKENLIGHTS
Staffan Jonsson Rahel Willhardt
272 RELIVING THE REVOLUTION
Karen Schrier Level 5 412 OPS ROOM
274 EPIDEMIC MENACE Sabine Himmelsbach
Irma Lindt 474 CHANGING THE GUARD
280 URBAN FREE FLOW Stephan Trüby, Stephan Henrich, Iassen Markov
Lukas Feireiss 476 THE SCALABLE CITY
282 ARQUAKE Sheldon Brown
Bruce H. Thomas, Wayne Piekarski 478 THE MINISTRY OF RESHELVING
284 CONQWEST Jane McGonigal
Frank Lantz
286 WHAVSM?
Martin Budzinski, Henrik Isermann
288 DEMOR
Claus Pias
294 INSECTOPIA
Johan Peitz, Staffan Björk
296 ’ERE BE DRAGONS
Stephen Boyd Davis, Rachel Jacobs,
Magnus Moar, Matt Watkins
298 FAUST – ACOUSTIC ADVENTURE
KP Ludwig John
300 CATCHBOB!
Nicolas Nova, Fabien Girardin
302 GEOGAMES
Christoph Schlieder, Sebastian
Matyas, Peter Kiefer
308 .WALK
a watchful passer-by
310 MANHATTAN STORY MASHUP
Jürgen Scheible, Ville Tuulos
318 FIRST PERSON SHOOTER
Aram Bartholl

Level 4 322 ARCHITECTURE_ENGINE_1.0

Jochen Hoog
324 NOZZLE ENGINE
Wolfgang Fiel, Margarete Jahrmann
326 GAMESCAPE
Beat Suter, René Bauer

9
WHY SHOULD AN
ARCHITECT CARE
ABOUT COMPUTER
GAMES?

10 SPACE TIME PLAY

Introduction

AND WHAT CAN A

GAME DESIGNER
TAKE FROM
ARCHITECTURE?

Computer games are part and parcel of our present; both their audiovisual language and the interaction
processes associated with them have worked their way into our everyday lives. Yet without space, there
is no place at which, in which or even based on which a game can take place. Similarly, the specific space
of a game is bred from the act of playing, from the gameplay itself. The digital spaces so often frequented
by gamers have changed and are changing our notion of space and time, just as film and television did
in the 20th century.
But games go even further: with the spread of the Internet, online role-playing games emerged
that often have less to do with winning and losing and more to do with the cultivation of social communi-
ties and human networks that are actually extended into “real” life. Equipped with wireless technologies
and GPS capacities, computer games have abandoned their original location – the stationary computer
– and made their way into physical space as mobile and pervasive applications. So-called “Alternate
Reality Games” cross-medially blend together the Internet, public phone booths and physical places and
conventions in order to create an alternative, ludic reality. The spaces of computer games range from
two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional spaces to complex constructions of social com-
munities to new conceptions of, applications for and interactions between existent physical spaces.
In his 1941 book Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, Siegfried
Giedion puts modern architecture and its typologies in their social and chronological context. Today, we
again face the development of new typologies of space – spaces that are emerging from the superimposi-
tion of the physical and the virtual. The spaces of the digital games that constitute themselves through
the convergence of “space,” “time” and “play” are only the beginning.
What are the parameters of these new spaces? To what practices and functional specifications
do they give rise? What design strategies will come into operation because of them?
In Space Time Play, authors with wholly different professional backgrounds try to provide
answers to these questions. Practitioners and theorists of architecture and urban planning as well as of
game design and game studies have contributed to the collection. The over 180 articles come in various
forms; in essays, short statements, interviews, descriptions of innovative projects and critical reviews of
commercial games, the synergies between computer games, architecture and urbanism are reflected
upon from diverse perspectives.

11
Introduction

Space Time Play contains five levels that – played on their own or in sequence – train a variety of skills
and address a range of issues:
The first level, THE ARCHITECTURE OF COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES, traces a short, spatiotemporal
history of the architecture of digital games. Here, architects are interested in the question of what spatial
qualities and characteristics arise from computer games and what implications these could have for con-
temporary architecture. For game designers and researchers, on the other hand, it’s about determining
what game elements constitute space and which spatial attributes give rise to specific types of interac-
tion. Moreover, it’s not just about the gamespaces in the computer, but about the places where the games
are actually played; playing on a living-room TV is different from playing in front of a PC, which, in turn,
is different from playing in a bar.
Many computer games draw spatial inspiration from physical architecture. Like in a film,
certain places and configurations are favored and retroactively shape our perceptions. Computer game
players also experience physical space differently and thus use it differently. Newer input possibilities
like gesture and substantial physical movement are making this hybridization of virtual and real space
available for the mass market, thereby posing new questions to game designers and bringing the dis-
ciplines of built and imagined spaces closer together. Computer game design is thus not just about the
“Rules of Play” anymore, but also about the “Rules of Place.”
In the second level, MAKE BELIEVE URBANISM, the focus of the texts is shifted to the social
cohesion of game-generated spaces – that is, to the ludic constructions of digital metropolises – and
the question of how such “community spaces” are produced and presented. At the same time, the
central topic of this level is the tension between the representation of the city in games and the city
as metaphor for the virtual spatialization of social relations. How can sociability across space-time
be established, and how will identity be “played out” there? The communities emerging in games,
after all, constitute not only parallel cultures and economies, but also previews of the public spaces
of the future.
The third level, UBI QUITOUS GAMES, on the other hand, demonstrates how real space – be it a
building, city or landscape – changes and expands when it is metamorphosed into a “game board” or
“place to play” by means of new technologies and creative game concepts. Here, a new dimension of the

12 SPACE TIME PLAY

notion and use of the city becomes conceivable, one which has the potential to permanently change the
composition of future cities. What happens when the spaces and social interactions of computer games
are superimposed over physical space? What new forms and control systems of city, architecture and
landscape become possible?
The migration of computer games onto the street – that is, the integration of physical spaces
into game systems – creates new localities; games intervene in existent spaces. Game designers are
thereby made aware of their social responsibility. Ubiquitous games fulfill not only the utopian dreams
of the Situationists, but also the early 1990s computer-science vision of a “magicization” of the world.
As in simulacra, the borders of the “magic circle” coined by Johan Huizinga blur, and the result is
ludic unification.
In the fourth level, SERIOUS FUN, the extent to which games and game elements also have se-
rious uses – namely, as tools for design and planning processes – is examined through examples from
architecture and city planning. The articles in this level demonstrate how the ludic conquest of real and
imagined gamespace becomes an instrument for the design of space-time. For the playing of cities can
affect the lived environment and its occupants just as the building of houses can. In this sense, playing is
a serious medium that will increasingly form part of the urban planner’s repertory and will open up new
prospects for participation. Play cannot replace seriousness, but it can help it along.
The concluding fifth level, FAITES VOS JEUX, critically reflects upon the cultural relevance
of games today and in the future. Which gamespaces are desirable and which are not? Which ones
should we expect? Life as computer-supported game? War as game? The possibilities range from lived
dreams to advertisements in gamespaces to the destruction of cities in games and in today’s reality of
war and terrorism.
What is the “next level” of architecture and game design? Both these creative worlds could
benefit from a mutual exchange: by emulating the complex conceptions of space and design possibilities
of the former and by using the expertise, interaction, immersion and spatial fun of the latter.
Game designers and architects can forge the future of ludic space-time as a new form of interactive
space, and they can do so in both virtual gamespaces and physical, architectural spaces; this is the “next
level” of Space Time Play.

13
THE
ARCHITECTURE OF
COMPUTER
AND VIDEO GAMES
 A SHORT SPACE-
TIME HISTORY
OF INTERACTIVE
ENTERTAINMENT
Level

1
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 “On Thursday afternoon, the fourth of October, a flock of more
than forty sparrows and two pelicans flew so near the ship that a
seaman killed one of them with a stone; and before this they had
seen another bird like a rush-tail, and another like a swallow, and a
great many flying-fish fell into the vessels. The next day there came
a rush-tail and a pelican from the west, and great numbers of
sparrows were seen.
“On Sunday, the seventh of October, about sunrise, some signs of
land appeared westward, but being undefined, no one said any
thing, for fear of the consequence of asserting what did not exist,
and also for fear of losing the thirty crowns which their catholic
majesties had promised as an annuity during the life of him who
should first discover land. In order to prevent the men from crying
land, land, at every turn, as they would likely have done without
cause to secure the gift, it was ordered that whoever said he saw
land, if it were not ascertained to exist in three days from that time,
should lose the reward, even if afterward he should be declared to
be the first discoverer of land. All on board of the admiral’s ship
being thus forewarned, none dared to cry out land, but those in the
caravel Nina, which was a better sailer, and kept ahead, once
believing that they actually saw land, fired a gun, and displayed their
colors to indicate land. But the farther they sailed the more their
joyous expectations diminished and the indication of land
disappeared. However, it pleased God to give them soon after some
comforting assurances, for they saw great flocks of large fowl and
others of small birds flying from the west toward the southwest.
Therefore, the admiral, being now so far from Spain, and sure that
such small birds would not go far from land, altered his course,
which until that time had been westward, and stood to the
southwest, saying, that his reason for changing his course was that
he would deviate but a little from his first intention and that he
would be following the example of the Portuguese, who had
discovered the greater number of their islands by means of such
birds, and more especially as the birds he saw flew generally in the
same direction. He also had always proposed to himself to find land
according to the place they were in; since, as they well knew, he
had often told them that he never expected to find land until he was
seven hundred and fifty leagues westward of the Canary Islands,
within which distance, he had further said, he should discover
Española, which, at this time, he called Cipango....
“On Monday, the eighth of October, there came to the ship twelve
singing-birds of several colors, and after flying about the vessel, they
held on their way. They also saw from the vessels many other birds
flying toward the southwest, and that same night great numbers of
large fowls were seen, and flocks of small birds coming from the
north, and flying after the others. Besides they saw a good number
of tunny-fish. In the morning they saw a jay, a pelican, some ducks,
and small birds, flying the same way as the others had done, and
they perceived that the air was fresh and odoriferous, as it is at
Seville in April. But they were now so eager to see land, that they
had no faith in any signs; so that, on Wednesday, the tenth of
October, although they saw a great many birds pass by during the
day and at night, the men did not cease to complain, or the admiral
to censure them for their want of confidence, declaring to them, that
right or wrong they must go farther to discover the Indies for which
purpose their catholic majesties had sent them.
“The admiral being no longer able to withstand the number that
opposed him, it pleased God that on Thursday afternoon, the
eleventh of October, the men took heart and rejoiced, because they
had unquestionable signs that they were near land. Those on board
the admiral’s ship saw a green rush float by the ship, and then a
large green fish of that class which go not far from the rocks. Those
on board the caravel Pinta saw a cane and a staff, and picked up
another staff curiously wrought, and a small board, and an
abundance of fresh weeds washed from the shore. Those in the
caravel Nina saw similar things, and a branch of a thorn full of red
berries, which seemed to be recently broken off. By these signs and
by his own consciousness, the admiral, being assured that he was
near land, made a speech to all the men in the evening, after
prayers, reminding them how merciful God had been in bringing
them on so long a voyage with such fair weather, and comforting
them with indications which every day were plainer and plainer. He
begged them to be very watchful that night, for they were aware
that in the first article of the instructions he had given each ship at
the Canary Islands, that he had ordered that when they had sailed
seven hundred leagues to the west, without discovering land, that
they should lie to from midnight until daylight. Therefore, since they
had not yet obtained their desires in discovering land, they should at
least manifest their zeal by being watchful. And inasmuch as he had
the strongest assurances of finding land that night, each should
watch in his place; for besides the annuity of thirty crowns which
their highnesses had promised for a life-time to the one that first
saw land, to the same person he would give a velvet doublet.
“After this, about ten at night, as the admiral was in the great
cabin, he saw a light on shore, but said it was so obscure that he
could not affirm it to be land, though he called Pedro Gutierrez, and
bid him observe whether he saw the light, who said he did. Shortly
afterward they called Rodrigo Sanchez, of Segovia, to look that way,
but he could not see it, because he did not come in time to the place
where it might have been seen. They did not see it more than once
or twice, which induced them to think that it might have been a
candle or a torch belonging to some fisherman or traveller, who lifted
it up and down; or, perhaps, that it was in the hands of people going
from one house to another, as the light vanished and suddenly
appeared again.... Being now very watchful, they still held on their
course, until about two in the morning, when the caravel Pinta,
which, being an excellent sailer, was far ahead, gave the signal of
land, which was first discovered by a sailor named Rodrigo de
Triana, when two leagues from the shore. But the annuity of thirty
crowns was not given to him by their catholic majesties, but to the
admiral, who had seen the light in the darkness, signifying the
spiritual light that he was then spreading in those dark regions.
Being now near land, all the ships lay to, those on board thinking it
was a long time until morning, when they might see what they had
so long desired.”[145]
 This island, says Bartolomé de las Casas, the Spanish historian,
[146] was “one of the Lucayos, called by the Indians Guanahani.[147]
Presently they descried people, naked, and the admiral landed in the
boat, which was armed, along with Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente
Yañez, his brother, captain of the Nina. The admiral bore the royal
standard, and the two captains each a banner of the green cross,
which all the vessels had carried. The banner was emblazoned with
the initials of the names of the king and queen[148] on each side of
the cross, with a crown over each letter. When they came on the
beach, they saw trees very green, an abundance of water, and fruit
of different kinds. The admiral called the two captains and the other
men who had come on land, and Rodrigo de Escovedo, notary of the
fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, and said that he had
summoned them to bear witness that he, before all other men, took
possession (as in act he did) of that island for the king and the
queen, his sovereigns, making the requisite declarations which are
more at large set down in the instrument which they made there in
writing.”
The natives who collected around the Spaniards at their landing
are thus described by Columbus: “I perceived that if they should
have much friendship for us that it was a people that could be
emancipated and converted to our holy religion better by love than
by force. I gave a number of them some red caps and some beads
of glass, which they placed around their necks, and many other
things of little value, with which they were much pleased, and they
became so friendly that their attachment seemed strange to us.
Afterward they came swimming to the boats of the ships, where we
were, bringing parrots and thread of cotton in hanks, javelins, and
many other things, which they exchanged for other articles we gave
them, such as glass beads and little bells. Finally they took every
thing and gave whatever they had with good-will. But to me they
seemed to be a very poor people. They were all naked, just as they
were born, and even the women, although I did not see but one
young girl. All the rest I saw were youths, but none more than thirty
years of age; very well made, of good shape, and very attractive
faces; their hair coarse as that of the tail of a horse, and short,
brought over the forehead to the eyebrows, except a little on the
back of the head, which is longer and never cut. Some paint
themselves black, for they are of the color of those of the Canary
Islands—neither black nor white; others paint themselves white or
red, or with any color they find. Some paint their faces, and some
their bodies; others only their eyes or their noses. They carry no
weapons and they have no knowledge of them; for when I showed
them swords they took them by the edge and they cut themselves
through ignorance. They have no iron. Their javelins are rods
without iron, and some of these have at the end a fish-tooth, and
others have other things. All of them, as a class, are of a
commanding stature, and are good-looking, well formed. I saw some
marks of wounds on their bodies, and I asked by signs what had
caused them. They answered me in the same way, that people came
from the other islands thereabout to capture them, and they
defended themselves. I thought then, and still believe, that those
people came from the continent, (tierra firme,) to take them
prisoners. They ought to be good servants and very capable,
because I perceived that they repeated very readily all that I told
them, and I believe that they would easily become Christians, for
they seemed to me as if they had no religion. If pleasing to our
Lord, I shall carry from this place, at the time of my departure, six of
them to your highnesses, in order that they may learn to talk in our
language. I did not see any animals of any kind on the island, except
parrots....
“Soon after day-break [on Saturday, the thirteenth of October,]
many of these people came to the beach, as I have said, all youths
and of good stature, a very handsome people; their hair not curled,
but straight and coarse, like horse-hair, and all with faces and heads
much broader than any other race that I have seen; their eyes very
beautiful and not small; they were not black, but the color of those
of the Canaries, nor ought it to be expected otherwise, for it is east-
west (Lesteoueste) with the island Ferro of the Canary group, on the
same parallel.[149] ... They came to the ship in canoes, log-boats,
made of the trunks of trees, all of one piece, and fashioned in a
wonderful manner, considering the country. In some of the large
ones were as many as forty or forty-five men, and in others that
were smaller there was only one person. They rowed with an oar
resembling the wooden shovel used by bakers, and went wonderfully
fast, and if the canoe upset, all swam and set it right again, bailing it
out with calabashes which they carried with them. They brought
balls of spun cotton, and parrots, and javelins, and other things
which it would be tedious to describe, and which they parted with
for any thing that was given them. And I was inquisitive and
endeavored to ascertain if they had gold, and I saw some who wore
small pieces hanging from holes in their noses, and I learned by
signs that, by going to the south, or by going around the island to
the south, I would find a king who had large vessels made of gold,
and great quantities of the precious metal.”[150]
Columbus describing this island, which he named San Salvador
(the Holy Saviour), under whose protection he had made the
discovery, continues: “This is a large and level island, with extremely
flourishing trees, and streams of water. There is a large lake in the
middle of the island, but no mountains. It is entirely covered with
verdure and it is delightful to behold. The natives are an inoffensive
people, and so desirous to possess any thing they saw with us that
they kept swimming off to the ships with whatever they could find,
and readily bartered for any article we saw fit to give them in return,
even such things as broken platters and pieces of glass. I saw in this
manner sixteen balls of cotton thread, which weighed about twenty-
five pounds, exchanged for three Portuguese ceutis.[151] This traffic
I forbade, and permitted no one to take their cotton from them,
unless I should order it to be procured for your highnesses, if
sufficient quantities could be obtained. It grows on this island, but
from my short stay here I could not inform myself fully respecting it.
The gold they wear in their noses is also found here. But not to lose
time, I am determined to proceed and ascertain whether I can reach
Cipango (Japan)....
 “In the morning, [Sunday, the fourteenth of October,] I ordered
the boats to be manned and furnished, and coasted along the island
toward the north-northeast, to examine that part of it, for we had
landed first on the eastern part. We soon discovered two or three
villages, and the people all came down to the shore, calling to us,
and giving thanks to God. Some brought us water, and others food.
Others seeing that I was not disposed to land plunged into the sea
and swam to us, and we observed that they interrogated us to know
if we had come from heaven. An old man came on board my boat.
The others, both men and women, cried with loud voices: ‘Come and
see the men who have come from heaven! Bring them food and
drink!’ Thereupon many of both sexes came to the beach, every one
bringing something, giving thanks to God, prostrating themselves on
the ground, and lifting their hands to heaven. They called to us
loudly to come on land, but I was apprehensive on account of a reef
of rocks, which, except where there is a narrow entrance, surrounds
the whole island, although within there is depth of water and space
sufficient for all the ships of Christendom....
“After I had taken a survey of these parts, I returned to the ship.
Setting sail, I discovered so many islands that I knew not which to
visit first. The natives whom I had taken on board informed me by
signs that there were so many of them that they could not be
numbered. They repeated the names of more than a hundred. I
determined to steer for the largest, which is about five leagues from
San Salvador; the others were at a greater or less distance from this
island....
“We stood off and on during the night [of Monday, the fifteenth of
October], determining not to come to anchor till morning, fearing to
meet with shoals. We continued our course in the morning, and as
the island was found to be six or seven leagues distant, and the tide
was against us, it was noon before we arrived there. I found that
part of it, toward San Salvador, extending from north to south to be
five leagues, and the other side, along which we coasted, running
from east to west, to be more than ten leagues. From this island,
espying a still larger one to the west, I set sail in that direction and
kept on till night without reaching the western extremity of the
island, where I gave it the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion....
I now set sail for another large island to the west.... This island is
nine leagues distant from Santa Maria, in a westerly direction. This
part of it extends from northwest to southeast, and it appears to be
twenty-eight leagues long, very level, without any mountains, as
were San Salvador and Santa Maria, having a good shore which was
not rocky, except a few ledges under the water, where it is necessary
to anchor at some distance out, although the water is clear and the
bottom can be seen....” This island he called Fernandina, in honor of
the king of Spain.
On Friday, the nineteenth of October, he descried an island,
“toward which,” he remarks, “we directed our course, and before
noon all three of the vessels arrived at the northern extremity, where
a rocky islet and reef extend toward the north, with another
between them and the main island. The Indians on board the ships
called this island Saomete. I named it Isabela [in honor of the
queen]. It lies westerly from the island of Fernandina, and the coast
extends from the islet twelve leagues west to a cape I called Cabo
Hermoso, for it was a beautiful, round headland, with a bold shore
free from shoals. Part of the shore is rocky, but the remainder of it,
like most of the coast here, a sandy beach.... This island is the most
beautiful that I have yet seen, the trees in great numbers,
flourishing and tall; the land is higher than the other islands, and
exhibits an eminence, which, though it cannot be called a mountain,
yet it adds a charm to the appearance of the island, and indicates
the existence of streams of water in the interior. From this part
toward the northeast is an extensive bay, with many large and dense
groves.... I am not solicitous to examine particularly every thing
here, which, indeed, could not be done in fifty years, for it is my
desire to make all possible discoveries, and return to your
highnesses, if it please our Lord, in April. However, should I meet
with gold or spices in great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as
much as possible, and for this purpose I am only proceeding in
search of them.” ...
 Under the date of Sunday, the twenty-first of October, while at
anchor off the island of Isabela, Columbus writes: “I shall depart
immediately, if the weather serve, and sail round the island till I
succeed in meeting with the king, in order to see if I can acquire any
of the gold which, I hear, he possesses. Afterward I shall set sail for
another very large island, which I believe to be Cipango, according
to the signs I receive from the Indians on board. They call the island
Colba [Cuba], and say there are many large ships and sailors there.
Another island they call Bosio, and inform me that it is very large.
The others that are on the course I shall examine on the way, and
accordingly as I find gold or spices in abundance, I shall determine
what to do. Nevertheless, I am determined to proceed to the
continent, and visit the city of Guisay [the city of heaven, the
residence of the Grand Khan], where I shall deliver the letters of
your highnesses to the Grand Khan, and demand an answer, with
which I shall return....
“Tuesday, the twenty-third of October.... It is now my
determination to depart for the island of Cuba, which I believe to be
Cipango from the accounts I have received here of the great number
and riches of the people. I have abandoned the intention of staying
here and sailing round the island in search of the king, as it would
be a waste of time, and I perceive there are no gold mines to be
found.... And as we are going to places where there is great
commerce, I judge it inexpedient to linger on the way, but to
proceed and survey the countries we meet with, till we arrive at that
one most favorable for our business. It is my opinion that we shall
find much profit there in spices, but my want of knowledge in these
articles occasions me extreme regret, inasmuch as I see a thousand
kinds of trees, each kind with its particular fruit, and as flourishing at
this time as the fields in Spain during the months of May and June.
Likewise a thousand kinds of herbs and flowers, of the properties of
which I remain in ignorance, with the exception of the aloe, which I
have directed to-day to be taken on board in large quantities for the
use of your highnesses....
 “Wednesday, the twenty-fourth of October.... At midnight weighed
anchor and set sail from Cabo del Isles of the island of Isabela,
being in the north part, where I had remained preparing to depart
for the island of Cuba, in which place the Indians tell me I shall find
great commerce, with abundance of gold and spices, and large
ships, and merchants. They direct me to steer toward the west-
southwest, which is the course I am holding. If the accounts which
the natives of the islands and those on board the ships have
communicated to me by signs (for their language I do not
understand) are credible, this must be the island of Cipango, of
which we have heard so many wonderful things. According to my
geographical knowledge it must be somewhere in this
neighborhood.”
On Sunday, the twenty-eighth of October, Columbus’s ships arrived
off the coast of Cuba and “entered an attractive river, free from
shallows and all other obstructions.... The mouth of the river had a
depth of twelve fathoms of water, and a breadth sufficient for ships
to beat in. They anchored within the river, and the admiral remarks
that the scenery here exceeded in beauty any thing he had ever
seen, the river being bordered with trees of the most beautiful and
luxuriant foliage of a peculiar appearance, and its banks covered
with flowers and fruits of different kinds. Birds were here in great
number singing most charmingly. Numerous palm trees were seen,
different from those of Guinea and Spain, not having the same kind
of bark. They were of a moderate height and bore very large leaves,
which the natives used to cover their houses. The land appeared
quite level. The admiral went ashore in a boat, and found two
dwellings, which he supposed to be those of fishermen, and that the
owners had fled. He found in one of them a dog unable to bark.
Both houses contained nets of palm, lines, horn fish-hooks,
harpoons of bone, and other implements for fishing, as also many
fire-places, and each house seemed sufficiently large to shelter a
great number of people. The admiral gave orders that nothing
should be touched.... They returned on board the boat and
ascended the river some distance.... The admiral declares this to be
the most beautiful island ever seen, abounding in good harbors and
deep rivers, with a shore upon which it appears the sea never breaks
high, as the grass grows down to the water’s edge, a thing that
never happens where the sea is rough. Indeed, a high sea they had
not yet had among these islands. This island, he says, is full of
attractive mountains, which are lofty, although not of great range.
The rest of the country is high, similar to Sicily, abounding in
streams, as they understood from the Indians of Guanahani that
were on board the ships, who informed them by signs that it
contained ten large rivers, and that the island was so large that with
their canoes they could not sail round it in twenty days.... The
Indians told them there were mines of gold here and pearls.... They
further informed him that large vessels came there from the Grand
Khan, and that the main-land was distant a voyage of ten days. The
admiral named the river and port San Salvador.” Farther westward,
along the northern side of the island, Columbus discovered the rivers
which he called Rio de la Luna (River of the Moon), and the Rio de
Mares (River of Seas). The houses which were built on the shores of
the latter river, he says, were “the finest he had yet seen, and
thinks, the nearer he approaches the continent, they will continue to
improve. They were of a large size, built in the shape of a tent, and
each collection of them appeared like a camp, without any order of
streets, the houses scattered here and there. Their interiors were
found very clean and neat, well furnished and set in order. The
houses were all built of fine palm branches. They found here many
statues shaped like women, and numerous heads somewhat like
masks, well made; whether these were used as ornaments, or
objects of worship, did not appear. Here, about the houses, were
small fowl originally wild, but now tame.”
On Tuesday, the thirtieth of October, “they sailed from the river
which they had named Rio de Mares, and standing to the northwest,
discovered a cape covered with palm trees, which the admiral called
Cabo de Palmas; it is fifteen leagues distant from the place of their
departure. The Indians on board the Pinta signified to the Spaniards,
that beyond this cape was a river, and from this river to Cuba was a
distance of a voyage or a journey of four days. The captain of the
Pinta declared that he understood Cuba to be a city, and that the
land here was a continent of great extent which stretched far to the
north; also that the king of this country was at war with the Grand
Khan, whom the Indians called Cami, and his country or city, Fava
and other names. The admiral determined to steer for this river, and
to send a present and the letter of the Spanish sovereigns to the
king.... Seemingly the admiral was forty-two degrees distant from
the equator toward the north, if the manuscript is not corrupted
from which I [Las Casas] have taken this [information], and he says
that he had undertaken to go to the Grand Khan, who, he thinks,
was near there or in the city of Cathay of the Grand Khan, which city
is very large according to what was told before he departed from
Spain.”
The vessels having returned on Wednesday to the Rio de Mares
from a short exploration of the coast, the admiral at sunrise, on
Thursday, sent some of his men ashore “to visit the houses they saw
there. They found the inhabitants had all fled, but after some time
they espied a man. The admiral then sent one of his Indians ashore,
who called to him from a distance and bade him not to fear any
harm as the Spaniards were a friendly people, not injuring any one
nor belonging to the Grand Khan, but on the contrary had made
many presents of their goods to the inhabitants of the islands. The
natives, having ascertained that no ill treatment was intended them,
regained confidence, and came in more than sixteen canoes to the
vessels, bringing cotton yarn and other things, which the admiral
ordered should not be taken from them, as he wished them to
understand that he was in search of nothing but gold, which they
called nucay. All day the canoes passed between the ships and the
shore. The admiral saw no gold among them, but remarks that,
having observed an Indian with a piece of wrought silver in his nose,
he conceived it to be an indication of the existence of that metal in
the country. The Indians informed them by signs that within three
days many traders would come there from the interior to purchase
the goods of the Spaniards to whom the traders would communicate
news of the king, who, as far as could be learned from the signs of
the natives, resided at a place that was a journey of four days from
there. They informed the Spaniards also that many persons had
been sent to tell the king respecting the admiral. These people were
found to be of the same race and manners as those already seen,
without any religion that could be discovered. The Spaniards never
saw the Indians who were kept on board the vessels engaged in any
act of worship, but they would, when directed, make the sign of the
cross, and repeat the Salve and Ave Maria, with their hands
extended toward heaven. The language is the same throughout
these islands and the people friendly toward one another, which the
admiral says he believes to be the case in all the neighboring parts,
and that they are at war with the Grand Khan, whom they call
Cavila, and his country Bafan. These people go naked as the
others.... It is certain, says the admiral, that this is the continent,
and that we are in the neighborhood of Zayto and Guinsay, a
hundred leagues more or less distant from the one or the other.”[152]
With his thoughts all aglow with his seeming power to prove the
correctness of his geographical conjecture that he had reached the
eastern coast of Asia, Columbus sent from this place, on the second
of November, Rodrigo de Jerez of Ayamonte, and Luis de Torres, a
Jew, (the latter having lived with the adelantado of Murcia, and who
knew Hebrew, Chaldaic, and some Arabic,) and two Indians, into the
interior of the island, with letters to the Grand Khan of Cathay. “He
gave them strings of beads to purchase provisions, and directed
them to return within six days. Specimens of spicery were intrusted
to them that they might know if any thing similar existed in the
country. He took care to instruct them how they should inquire for
the king, and what they were to say to inform him that the king and
queen of Castile had dispatched him with letters and a present for
his majesty. Furthermore, the envoys were instructed to obtain some
knowledge of the country, and observe the ports and rivers, with
their distances from the place where the ships lay. Here the admiral
took this night the altitude with a quadrant, and found that he was
forty-two degrees from the equator, and by his calculation eleven
hundred and forty-two leagues from Ferro, and he was confident
that it was the continent.”[153]
Among the noticeable things which the embassadors observed
while journeying into the interior of Cuba was the common use of
tobacco by the natives. “The two Spaniards,” says Las Casas, “met
upon their journey great numbers of people of both sexes: the men
always with a firebrand in their hands and certain herbs for smoking.
These were dry and were placed in a dry leaf, after the manner of
those paper tubes which the boys in Spain use at Whitsuntide.
Lighting one end, they drew the smoke by sucking at the other. This
causes drowsiness and a kind of intoxication, and according to the
statement of the natives relieves them from the feeling of fatigue.
These tubes they call by the name of tabacos.”[154]
While waiting the return of the embassadors to the Grand Khan,
Columbus acquired some knowledge of the productions of Cuba.
“The soil is very fertile, producing mames, a root like a carrot,
tasting like chestnuts. Beans are also found here but very dissimilar
to ours; also cotton, growing spontaneously among the mountains. I
am of the opinion that it is gathered at all seasons of the year, for I
observed upon a single plant blossoms, buds, and open pods. A
thousand other productions I have also observed, which doubtless
are of great value, but it is impossible for me to describe them.”
On the fifth of November, the party sent to the Grand Khan
returned, and gave these particulars of their journey: “After having
travelled a dozen leagues they came to a town containing about fifty
houses, where there were probably a thousand inhabitants; each
house containing a large number of people. The houses were built
after the manner of large tents. The inhabitants received them, after
their fashion, with great ceremony. The men and women flocked to
behold them, and they were lodged in their best houses. They
showed their admiration and reverence by touching the strangers,
kissing their hands and feet, and manifesting astonishment. They
imagined them to be from heaven, and signified as much to them.
They were feasted with such food as the natives had to offer. Upon
their arrival at the town the chief men of the place led them by the
arms to the principal building; here they gave them seats, and the
Indians sat upon the ground in a circle round them. The Indians who
had accompanied the Spaniards explained to the natives the manner
in which their strange guests lived, and gave a favorable account of
their character. The men then left the building, and the women
entered, and sat around the Spaniards as the men had done. They
kissed their hands and feet and examined them to see whether they
were flesh and bone like their own.... No village was seen upon the
road of a larger size than five houses.... Great numbers of birds were
observed, all different from those of Spain except the nightingales,
which delighted them with their songs. Partridges and geese were
also found in great number. Of quadrupeds they saw none except
dogs that could not bark. The soil appeared fertile and under good
cultivation, producing the mames already mentioned and beans very
dissimilar to ours, as well as the grain called panic. They saw large
quantities of cotton, spun and manufactured. A single house
contained more than five hundred arrobas[155] of it. Four thousand
quintals might be collected here yearly.... These people are
inoffensive and peaceable. They are unclothed, but the women wear
a slight covering about their loins. Their manners are very decent,
and their complexion not very dark, but lighter than the inhabitants
of the Canary Islands. ‘I have no doubt, most serene sovereigns,’
says the admiral, ‘that were some proper, devout, and religious
persons to come among them and learn their language, it would be
an easy matter to convert them all to Christianity, and I hope in our
Lord that your highnesses will devote yourselves with much diligence
to this object, and bring as great a multitude into the church,
inasmuch as you have exterminated those who refused to confess
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.’
“I have observed that these people have no religion, neither are
they idolaters, but are a very gentle race, without the knowledge of
any iniquity. They neither kill, steal, nor carry weapons, and are so
timid that one of our men can put a hundred of them to flight,
although they readily sport and play tricks with them. They have the
knowledge that there is a God above, and are firmly persuaded that
we have come from heaven. They quickly learn such prayers as we
repeat to them, and also to make the sign of the cross.’ ...
“Along the Rio de Mares, which I left last evening, [Sunday, the
eleventh of November,] there is undoubtedly considerable mastic,
and the quantity might be increased, for the trees when transplanted
easily take root. They are of a lofty size, bearing leaves and fruit like
the lentisk. The tree, however, is taller and has a larger leaf than the
lentisk, as is mentioned by Pliny, and as I have myself observed in
the island of Scio, in the Archipelago. I ordered many of these trees
to be tapped in order to extract the resin, but as the weather was
rainy all the time I was on the river, I was unable to procure more
than a very small quantity, which I have preserved for your
highnesses.... Great quantities of cotton might be raised here, and
sold profitably, as I think, without being carried to Spain, but to the
cities of the Grand Khan, which we shall doubtless discover, as well
as many others belonging to other sovereigns. These may become a
source of profit to your highnesses by trading there with the
productions of Spain and of the other countries of Europe. Here also
is to be found plenty of aloe, which, however, is not of very great
value, but the mastic assuredly is, as it is found nowhere else than in
the previously mentioned island of Scio, where, if I rightly remember,
it is produced to the amount of fifty thousand ducats annually.”
Columbus further remarks, that at this point, near the river which
he had called Rio del Sol, “he found the weather somewhat cold,
and, as it was in the winter, he thought it not prudent to prosecute
his discoveries any farther toward the north.”[156]
 A copy of a part of the map of the
New World (tabvla terre nove)
contained in the edition of Ptolemy’s
Geography printed at Strasburg in
1513. (This part of the original is 9½
inches long.)

Speaking of his explorations along the coast of Cuba, in his letter

to Rafael Sanchez, the admiral says: “I sailed along its coast toward
the west, discovering so great an extent of territory that I could not
imagine it to be an island, but the continent of Cathay.... I continued
on my course, still expecting to meet with some town or city, but
after having gone a great distance, and not arriving at any, and
finding myself proceeding toward the north, which I was desirous to
avoid on account of the cold, and, moreover, meeting with a
contrary wind, I determined to return to the south, and therefore
put about and sailed back to a harbor that I had observed.”[157]
On Monday, the twelfth of November, they had sailed by sunset
eighteen leagues, east by south, to a cape which Columbus called
Cabo de Cuba. “On the following Wednesday he entered a spacious
and deep harbor,” containing so many islands that they could not be
counted.... He declares that it is his opinion these islands are the
innumerable ones which, on the maps, are placed at the extreme
part of the East, and says that he believes they contain great riches,
precious stones, and spicery, and extend far to the south, spreading
out on each side. He named this place La Mar de Nuestra Senora,
and the port, near the strait that extends to these islands, Puerto del
Principe.
On Wednesday, the twenty-first of November, when the vessels
were about eighty miles southeast of Puerto del Principe, “the
admiral” says Las Casas, “found they were forty-two degrees north
of the equator as at Puerto de Mares,[158] but he says here that he
has stopped using the quadrant until he should go on land that he
might mend it. From this statement it would seem that he doubted
that he was so far from the equator, and he had reason, for it was
not likely since these islands are in ⸺ degrees.[159] To know
whether the quadrant was in good working order, it is said that he
took an observation to see if he was north as high as Castile; and if
this be true, and he was as high as Florida, what is the situation of
the islands already mentioned?[160] Moreover, it is said that the heat
was great. It is evident that if he were along the coast of Florida, it
should not have been hot, but cold.[161] And it is also manifest that
in no part of the world in the latitude of forty-two degrees is great
heat experienced except by some accidental cause, and even this
exception I [Las Casas] believe has never been known.”
A number of other places were sailed to by the inquisitive
navigator, which, in the chronological order of their discovery, he
named Puerto de Santa Catalina, Cabo del Pico, Cabo de Campana,
and Puerto Santo. At this last-named harbor, on Saturday, the first of
December, “they planted a cross in the solid rock.” Thence he sailed
to Cabo Lindo, and thence to Cabo del Monte. On Wednesday, the
fifth of December, “he determined to leave Cuba or Juana,[162]
which hitherto he had taken for a continent on account of its size,
having sailed along the coast a hundred and twenty leagues. He
therefore left the shore and steered southeast by east, as the land
last discovered appeared in that direction. He took this course
because the wind always came round from the north to northeast,
and from there to east and southeast. It blew hard and they carried
all sail, having a smooth sea and a current favoring them, so that
from morning to one in the afternoon they had sailed eight miles an
hour for nearly six hours. The nights here are said to be nearly
fifteen hours long. After this they went ten miles an hour, and by
sunset had sailed toward the southeast eighty-eight miles, which are
twenty-two leagues.”
On Thursday, the sixth of December, Columbus “found himself four
leagues from the harbor named Puerto Maria.” From this place he
descried several headlands to which he respectively gave the names
of Cabo del Estrella, Cabo del Elefante, and Cabo de Cinquin. “There
appeared to be between the two last-mentioned capes a very wide
channel, which the sailors said separated an island from the
mainland. This island he named Tortuga. The land here appeared
high, and not mountainous, but even and level, like the finest arable
tracts. The whole or the great part of it seemed to be cultivated, and
the plantations resembled the wheat fields in the plain of Cordova in
the month of May.”
In the evening the ships entered the harbor “which he named
Puerto de San Nicolas, for it was the day of that saint.” On Friday he
found the harbor which he named Puerto de la Concepcion. This
harbor “is about a thousand paces or a quarter of a league wide at
the mouth, without a bank or a shoal, but exceedingly deep to the
edge of the beach. It extends almost three thousand paces, with a
fine clear bottom. Any ship may enter it and anchor without the least
hazard. Here are two small streams, and opposite the mouth of the
harbor several plains, the most beautiful in the world, resembling
those of Castile, except that they surpass them. On this account the
admiral named the island Española.”[163]
On Wednesday, the twelfth of December, “a large cross was set up
at the entrance of the harbor upon a beautiful spot upon the
western side, ‘as an indication,’ in the words of the admiral, ‘that
your highnesses possess the country, and particularly for a memorial
of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the mark of Christianity.’ ... The
admiral here ascertained the length of the day and night, and found
that from sunrise to sunset there passed twenty glasses of half an
hour each, although he says there may be some error in the
calculation, as the glass may not have been turned quickly enough,
or the contrary. He states further, that he took an observation with
the astrolabe and found the latitude to be seventeen degrees....
“The people here were all naked, king as well as subjects, the
females showing no evidences of bashfulness. Both sexes were more
handsome than those they had hitherto seen. Their color was light,
and if they were clothed and protected from the sun and air they
would almost be as fair as the inhabitants of Spain. The temperature
of the air was cool and exceedingly pleasant. The land is high,
covered with plains and valleys, and the highest mountains are
arable. No part of Castile could produce a territory comparable to
this in beauty and fertility. The whole island and that of Tortuga are
covered with cultivated fields, like the plain of Cordova. In these
they raise ajes, which are slips set in the ground, at the end of
which roots grow like carrots. They grate these to powder, knead it,
and make it into bread of a very pleasant taste, like that of
chestnuts. The stalk is set out anew and produces another root, and
this is repeated four or five times. The largest and most excellent
that had been met with anywhere (the admiral says they are also
found in Guinea) were those of this island, being of the size of a
man’s leg. The natives here, according to the statement of the
admiral, were stoutly built and courageous, very different from the
timid islanders of the other parts; agreeable in their intercourse and
without any religion.... They saw a native whom the admiral took to
be the governor of the district, and whom the Indians called the
cacique. He had a plate of gold as large as one’s hand, with which
he seemed desirous of bartering. He carried it to his house and had
it cut into pieces, which he traded away one by one.”
One of the caciques of the island sent a messenger to Columbus
bearing as a present to him “a girdle, to which was attached, instead
of a pouch, a mask having the nose, tongue, and ears of beaten
gold.”
 “I think,” Columbus writes, “no one who has seen these parts can
say less in their praise than I have said. I repeat that it is a matter of
wonder to see the things we have beheld, and the multitudes of
people in this island, which I call Española, and the Indians Bohio.
The natives are singularly agreeable in their intercourse and
conversation with us, and are not like the others, who, when they
speak, appear to be uttering menaces. The figures of the men and
women are fine, and their color is not black, although they paint
themselves. The most of them paint themselves red, others a dark
hue, and others different colors, which, I understand, is done to
keep the sun from injuring them. The houses and towns are very
attractive, and the inhabitants live in each settlement under the rule
of a sovereign or judge, to whom they pay implicit obedience. These
magistrates are persons of excellent manners and great reserve, and
give their orders by a sign with the hand, which is understood by all
the people with surprising quickness.”
On Monday, the twenty-fourth of December, as Columbus’s ship,
the Santa Maria, was running along the north side of Española, off
the headland named Punta Santa, “at the end of the first watch,
about eleven at night, when the vessel was about a league distant
from the point of land, the admiral lay down to sleep, having taken
no rest for two days and a night. As the sea was calm, the man at
the helm left his post to a boy, and also went off to sleep, contrary
to the explicit orders of the admiral, who had throughout the voyage
forbidden, in calm or storm, the helm to be intrusted to a boy. The
admiral was free from any dread of rocks or shoals, for the Sunday
before, when he sent the sailors in boats to the king who had invited
him to visit him, they had passed three and a half leagues to the
east of Punta Santa, and had surveyed the whole coast for three
leagues beyond that point, and ascertained where the vessels might
pass, a thing never done before in the whole voyage. But as it
pleased our Lord, at midnight there being a dead calm and the sea
perfectly motionless, as in a cup, the whole crew, seeing the admiral
had retired, went off to sleep, leaving the ship in the care of the boy
already mentioned. The current carried her imperceptibly toward the
shoals in the neighborhood, upon which she struck with a noise that
could have been heard a league off.”
Although every thing was done to keep the damaged vessel afloat
by Columbus and the few men who remained on board, “she opened
between her ribs and slowly settled down on the shoal.” On the
morning of Christmas the ship was unloaded with the assistance of
the natives, who with their canoes conveyed the goods in her to the
beach. These were afterward stowed in some houses which the
cacique of the region had offered to Columbus for that purpose. The
same ruler afterward gave the admiral a large mask, with pieces of
gold at the ears, eyes, and other parts of it, and also some jewels of
the same metal. “All these things had a great effect upon the
admiral in assuaging his grief for the loss of his ship, and he became
convinced that our Lord had permitted the shipwreck in order that
he might select this place for a settlement.
“‘And to this end,’ he says, ‘so many favorable things conspired,
that it cannot be called a disaster, but a great turn of good fortune,
for if we had not run aground, we should have kept off without
anchoring here, the place being in a large bay inside of two or three
shoals. Neither should I otherwise have been induced to leave any
men in these parts during the voyage; even if I had, I could not
have spared them the needful provisions and materials for their
fortification. Many of my crew have solicited me for permission to
remain, and I have to-day [Wednesday, the twenty-sixth of
December] ordered the construction of a fort, with a tower and a
ditch, all to be well built, not that I think such a fortification
necessary as a defence against the inhabitants, for I have already
stated that with my present crew I could subjugate the whole island,
which I believe to be larger than the kingdom of Portugal, and twice
as populous, but that I think it prudent, since the territory is at such
a distance from our country, and that the natives may understand
the genius of the people of your highnesses and what they are able
to perform, so that they may be held in obedience by fear as well as
by love. For this purpose I have directed that a quantity of timber for
the construction of the fort shall be provided, also bread and wine
be left to suffice for more than a year, seed for planting, the long-
boat of the ship, a calker, a carpenter, a gunner, a cooper, and many
other persons of the number of those who have earnestly desired to
serve your highnesses, and oblige me by remaining here and
searching for the gold mine.’”
The admiral further remarks “that every piece of the ship was
saved, for not even so much as a thong, board, or nail was lost, for
she was as complete as when she first sailed, except that which was
lost by cutting her to get out the casks and merchandise. These
were carried on shore and well secured, as has already been
mentioned. He adds that he hopes to find, on his return from
Castile, a ton of gold collected by those who remained, by trading
with the natives, and that they will have succeeded in discovering
the mine and the spices, and all these in such quantities that before
three years the king and queen may undertake the recovery of the
holy sepulchre. ‘For I have before proposed to your highnesses,’ he
writes, ‘that the profits of this undertaking should be employed in
the conquest of Jerusalem, at which your highnesses smiled and said
you were pleased, and had the same inclination.’”
“He left on the island of Española, which the Indians called Bohio,
a fort and thirty-nine men, whom he states to have been great
friends of King Guacanagari. Over these he placed Diego de Arana, a
native of Cordova, Pedro Gutierrez, groom of the king’s wardrobe,
and Rodrigo de Escovedo, a native of Seville and nephew of Fray
Rodrigo Perez, with all the powers the king and queen had delegated
to him. He left them all the goods which had been sent for
trafficking, a great quantity, and every thing belonging to the ship
which had been wrecked. The goods he directed should be traded
away for gold.”
In commemoration of the day of Christ’s nativity, on which his ship
was wrecked at this place, he called the settlement Villa de la
Navidad (city of the Nativity). He further writes in his journal that
“he had heard of another island behind that of Juana, toward the
south, in which there was a still greater quantity of gold, and where
it was found in grains of the size of a bean.... This island was called
by the Indians Yamaye.”[164]
“It was the admiral’s intention to coast farther along the island of
Española, which he might have done upon his homeward course, but
as he considered that the captains of the two caravels were
brothers, namely, Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Yañez, and that
they had a party attached to them, and that they and their partisans
had manifested considerable haughtiness and avarice, disobeying his
commands regardless of the honors he had conferred upon them,
which misdemeanors, as well as the treachery of Martin Alonso, in
deserting him,[165] he had winked at, without complaining, in order
not to throw impediments in the way of the voyage—he thought it
best to return home as quickly as possible. He adds that he had
many faithful men among his crews, but resolved to overlook for the
time the behavior of the refractory ones, and not at such an
unfavorable season undertake to punish them.”
On Tuesday, the fifteenth of January, while the caravels were
anchored in the bay which he called the Golfo de las Flechas (the
Gulf of Arrows), he describes the weapons of the natives. “The
bows,” he says, “are equal in size to those of France and England,
and the arrows like the javelins used by the inhabitants of the other
islands, which are made of the stalks of the cane while it is in seed.
They are very straight, about a yard and a half in length, and
doubled, with a sharp piece of wood, a span and a half long, at the
end. At the point of this some attach a fish’s tooth, but the most of
them grass.... The bows of the Indians appear to be made of yew.”
The quantity of sea-weed which he found growing in this bay led
Columbus to infer that the Indies were near the Canary Islands, not
more than four hundred leagues distant.
On Wednesday morning, the sixteenth of January, they set sail
from the Golfo de las Flechas, to go to the island of Carib. “After
sailing sixty-four miles, as they estimated, the Indians on board
signified that the island was to the southeast, when they altered
their course, and proceeded in that direction, and after sailing
several leagues the wind freshened and blew very favorably for their
return to Spain. The crews began to grow despondent at leaving
their homeward course, on account of the leaky condition of the
vessels, (for there was no remedy for it but the help of God,) and
the admiral found himself constrained to change his course again,
and steer directly for Spain.”[166]
Columbus, afterward writing to Rafael Sanchez respecting his
explorations along the coast of Española, remarks that the island of
Española is “greater in circuit than all of Spain, from Colibre in
Catalonia, near Perpignan, round the coast of the sea of Spain, along
Granada, Portugal, Galicia, and Biscay, to Fuenterabia, at the cape of
Biscay.... Each native, as far as I can understand, has one wife, with
the exception of the king and princes, who are permitted to have as
many as twenty. The women appear to do more work than the men.
Whether there exist any such thing here as private property, I have
not been able to ascertain. I have seen an individual appointed to
distribute to the others, especially food and such things.
“People of an extraordinary description I did not see, neither did I
hear of any, except those of the island Caris, which is the second
island on the way from Española to India. This island is inhabited by
a people who are regarded by their neighbors as exceedingly
ferocious. They feed upon human flesh. These people have many
kinds of canoes with which they make incursions upon all the islands
of India, robbing and plundering wherever they go. Their difference
from the others consists in their wearing long hair like that of
women, and in using bows and arrows of cane; these last
constructed, as I have already related, by fixing a piece of
sharpened wood at the larger end. On this account they are
considered very ferocious by the other Indians, and are much feared
by them.”[167]
Speaking of the pecuniary profits of the voyage Columbus wrote:
“I am enabled to promise the acquisition, by a trifling assistance
from their majesties, of any quantity of gold, drugs, cotton, and
mastic, which last article is found in the island of Scio; also, any
quantity of aloe, and as many slaves for the service of the marine as
their majesties may need. The same may be said of rhubarb and a
great variety of other things which, I have no doubt, will be
discovered by those I have left at the fort, as I did not stop at any
single place, unless obliged to do so by the weather with the
exception of Villa de la Navidad, where we remained some time to
build the fort and provide the necessary means for the defence of
the place.
“Although the discoveries actually accomplished appear great and
surprising, yet I should have achieved much more had I been
furnished with a suitable fleet. Nevertheless the great success of this
undertaking is not to be ascribed to my own merits, but to the holy
catholic faith and to the piety of our sovereigns, the Lord often
granting to men what they never imagine themselves capable of
accomplishing, even that which appears impracticable, for he is
accustomed to hear the prayers of his servants and those who love
his commandments. In this way has it happened to me that I have
succeeded in an undertaking never before accomplished by
man.”[168]
On Thursday night, the fourteenth of February, a violent tempest
arose, “the waves crossing and dashing against one another so that
the vessel [the Nina] was overwhelmed, and not able to get out
from between them. The foresail was set very low, in order to carry
her somewhat out of her dangerous situation. They stood under it
for three hours, going twenty miles, when the wind and sea
increasing, they began to drive before it, not having any other
deliverance. At the same time the Pinta, in which was Martin Alonso
Pinzon, began to scud likewise, and they soon lost sight of her,
although the two caravels made signals to each other with lights,
until from the fury of the storm they were no longer visible.” The
fear of being lost now overcame Columbus and his men. They
prayed and made many vows. “The admiral ordered that lots should
be cast for one of them [if they safely reached land] to go on a
pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Guadalupe and carry a wax taper of five
pounds’ weight. He made them all to take an oath that the one on
whom the lot fell should perform the pilgrimage. For this purpose as
many peas were selected as there were persons on board. One of
the peas was marked with a cross, and all were shaken together in a
cap. The first who put his hand into the cap was the admiral, and he
drew out the crossed pea. So the lot fell on him, and he considered
himself as bound to accomplish the pilgrimage. Another lot was
taken for a pilgrimage to Santa Maria of Loretto, in the province of
Ancona, the territory of the pope, where is the house in which Our
Lady has performed so many miracles. This lot fell on a sailor of
Puerto de Santa Maria, called Pedro de Villa. The admiral promised
to furnish him with the money for his expenses. A third lot was
determined upon for the selection of a person who should watch a
whole night in Santa Clara de Moguer, and have a mass said there.
This lot fell on the admiral. After this he and all the crew made a
vow to go in procession, clothed in penitential garments, to the first
church dedicated to Our Lady which they should meet with on
arriving on land, and there pay their devotions. Besides these
general vows, every individual made a private one, all expecting to
be lost, so terrible was the violence of the hurricane. Their danger
was increased by the want of ballast in the vessel, ... which the
admiral had neglected to supply among the islands, because he
wished to husband his time in making discoveries, and expected to
take in ballast at the island of Matinino, which he intended to visit.
The only thing that they could do in this emergency was to fill with
sea-water such empty casks as they could find, and by doing this
they obtained some relief.
“Here the admiral speaks of the circumstances which caused him
to fear that our Lord would suffer them to perish, and of some which
made him hope that he would bring them safe to land, and not allow
the important information they were carrying to the king and queen
to be lost. He seems to have felt the greatest anxiety to have his
wonderful discovery known, so that the world might be convinced
that his assertions had been correct and that he had accomplished
what he had professed himself able to do. The thought of this not
being done gave him the greatest disquietude, and he was
constantly apprehending that the most trifling thing might defeat his
whole intention. He ascribes this to his want of faith and confidence
in a divine providence, but comforts himself by reflecting upon the
many mercies God had shown him in having enabled him to succeed
in his project, when so many adversities and hindrances opposed
him in Castile, and afterward to accomplish his great discovery. And
as he had made the service of God the aim and business of his
undertaking, and as he had hitherto favored him by granting all his
desires, he indulges in the hope that he will continue to favor him,
and will give him a safe return. He also remembered that God had
delivered him on the outward voyage, when he had much greater
reason to fear; that the eternal God gave him resolution and courage
to withstand his men when they conspired against him and with a
unanimous and menacing determination resolved to turn back. With
these thoughts, and the consideration of other wonderful favors he
had enjoyed, he says he ought not to be in fear of the tempest; but
he adds that his apprehensions and the anguish of his mind would
not allow him to rest. Besides, he continues, his anxiety was
increased by reflecting upon the condition of his two sons whom he
had left at their studies in Cordova,—these would be left orphans in
a foreign land, and the king and queen being ignorant of the
services he had rendered them by the voyage, would not feel any
inclination to provide for them. On this account, and that their
highnesses might be informed that our Lord had granted success to
the undertaking in the discovery of the Indies, and might know that
storms did not prevail in those regions (which was apparent from the
plants and trees growing down to the brink of the sea), he devised
the means of acquainting them with the circumstances of the voyage
in case they should perish in the storm. This he did by writing an
account of it on parchment, as full as possible, and earnestly
entreated the finder to carry it to the king and queen of Spain. The
parchment was rolled up in a waxed cloth and well tied. A large
wooden cask being brought, he placed the roll inside of it, and threw
the cask into the sea, none of the crew knowing what it was, but all
thinking that it was some act of devotion.”[169]
On the sixteenth of February the Nina reached the Azores, and
two days afterward was riding at anchor at the island of Santa
Maria. Departing from the Azores on the twenty-fourth of February,
the Nina again encountered another storm, which caused Columbus
to take refuge in the mouth of the river Tagus, on the fourth of
March. From this roadstead he sent a courier overland to Spain
bearing the intelligence of his arrival at this haven on the coast of
Portugal, and another to the king of Portugal to ask permission to
anchor in the harbor of Lisbon.
When, on the sixth of March, it became known in Lisbon, says
Ferdinand Columbus, “that the ship came from the Indies, such
throngs of people went aboard to see the Indians and to hear the
news, that the vessel could not contain them, and the water was
covered with boats, some of the people praising God for the success
of so great an undertaking, and others storming because the
Portuguese had lost the discovery through the king’s incredulity....
The next day the king wrote to the admiral congratulating him on his
safe return, and expressing the desire, since the admiral was in his
dominions, that he would visit him [at Valparaiso, nine leagues from
Lisbon].... The king ordered all the nobility of his court to go out to
meet him, and when the admiral came into the presence of the king,
he honored him by commanding him to put on his cap and to sit
down. The king, having heard the particulars of his fortunate
voyage, offered him all he stood in need of for the service of their
catholic majesties, although he thought that as the admiral had been
a captain in the service of Portugal, that the discovery belonged to
him. To which the admiral answered that he knew of no agreement
by which he could obtain it, and that he had strictly obeyed his
orders, which were that he should not go to the mines of Portugal or
to Guinea. The king said that it was all well, and he did not doubt
but justice would be done. Having spent considerable time in this
conversation, the king commanded the prior of Crato, the greatest
man then about him, to entertain the admiral, and show him all
civility and respect, which was done accordingly. Having remained
there all Sunday, and all Monday until after mass, the admiral took
leave of the king.... As he was on his way to Lisbon, he passed a
monastery, where the queen was, who sent him an earnest entreaty
that he would not pass by without seeing her. She was much pleased
to see him, and bestowed upon him all the favor and honor that
were due to the greatest lord. That night a messenger came from
the king to the admiral, to inform him that if he wished to go by land
to Spain he would attend him, provide lodgings on the way, and
furnish him all that he might require, as far as the borders of
Portugal.
“On Wednesday, the thirteenth of March, two hours after daylight,
the admiral set sail for Seville, and, on Friday following, at noon,
arrived at Saltes, and came to anchor in the port of Palos,[170] from
which he had departed on the third of August, the previous year,
1492, seven months and eleven days preceding his return.”[171]
Desiring as early as possible to make known his return and his
remarkable discoveries, Columbus, as soon as his vessel came to
anchor, sent letters to several of his friends, in which he gave brief
descriptions of the people and of the islands which he had found, as
he believed, in the eastern part of Asia. One of these letters, that
addressed on the fourteenth of March to Rafael or Gabriel Sanchez,
treasurer of Spain, was shortly afterward translated into Latin and
printed at Rome. The title given to the letter expresses the popular
belief respecting the situation of the discovered islands: “A letter of
Christopher Columbus, to whom our age is greatly indebted,
respecting the islands of India lately found beyond the Ganges.”[172]
Conscious of the greatness of his discovery, Columbus
enthusiastically closes his letter with these words: “And now the
king, the queen, the princes, and all their dominions, as well as the
whole of Christendom, ought to give thanks to our Saviour, Jesus
Christ, who has granted us such an achievement and success. Let
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