8o

Naval Expeditions, &c. of the English, Book!'

the other Captains having the Bannersof their Conquest. Columbus, havingraised a beautiful Cross, took Possessionof the Land, in the Name of their Ca-And calls tholick Majesties , and called it St. Salva-ge Island S. ^ or . or St. Saviour. This being done,a vador. t p e p re f ence Q f aPublick Notary, and

in the Sight of a vast Number of theNatives, he caused himself to be ownedas Vice-roy, by all his People, and as' such they afterwards always acknow-ledged and obeyed him.

This Land, which proved to be anIsland, was about fifteen Leagues inLength, plain, very woody, but wellwatered, and having a .Lake of freshWater in the Middle of it. The Inha-bitants, who were very numerous, cal-led it, in their Tongue, Guanahani, andit is one of those which have since beencalled the Luc aids, situate betweenFlonda , and Cuba, in about twenty-sixDegrees of North Latitude. It is rec-koned nine Hundred and fifty Leagues,West from the Canaries, and they dis-covered it aster about three and thirtyDays Sail, from thence.

The Jsio- When the Ships came to an Anchor,nifhment of near the Shoar, the Indians appeared tothe Natives, be greatly astonished: But their Amaze-ment was not a little augmented, whenthey saw Men, of the same Form withthemselves, tho' of different Hue, and,to them, disguised by their Habits, com-ing out of the great Sea-Monsters, whichhad been the first Objects of their Admi-ration. They did not, however attemptto escape, nor did any Mark of Fear, orApprehension of Danger, appear inThey traf- their Countenances. They approachedj Hck with the t pe Spaniards, and accepted of suchSpaniards. j7 uro pean Baubles as they presentedthem, as red Caps, Strings of Beeds,and the like, and gave them Provisions,great Bottoms of spunCotton, Parrots,Ja-velins and other Things, which they seta greater Value upon, in the Room ofthem.

They found neither Beasts nor Fowls,excepting Parrots, and there appearedno Signs of Jewels, or other Things ofValue, among them, excepting somelittle Gold Plates, which hung at theirNoses. Being asked, by Signs, whencethey had that Gold, they answered, inthe same Manner, from the Southward,and that there was a King that Waywho had it in Abundance. They camein great Numbers on Board, some inCanoes, and others Swimming : Andthe Admiral gave Strings of Glass-beeds,Pins, Needles, and other Toys to them

all; He took seven of them, thinkingto teach them Spanijh : But two ofthem swam away and escaped.

Columbus, having got Intelligence, g evera lt'that there were other Islands in those ther iflan#Seas, set Sail again to discover them. discovert •The second he met with, he named San-ta Maria de la Conceptione, dedicatingit to the Virgin Mary. The third hecalled Fernandina, from the King hisMaster’s Name, and the fourth he gavethe Name of his Queen, Isabella. Hetook a formal Posleslion of them all, inthe fame Manner as he had done of St.

Salvador. But in all these he foundnothing remarkable, but what he hadseen at that Place.

On the nine and twentieth of Odiober, Cuba sjhe discovered the famous Island of Cuba,which he called Juana ; And entered {i C C0 ' vethe Port on the East End, called Bara-coa. There the Inhabitants, thinkingthey were descended from Heaven, a-dored them, and kissed their Hands andFeet. Soon after the Admiral had dis-covered this Island, on the twenty-firstof November , Martin Alonzo Pinzon ,having understood from the Natives, thatthere was much Gold at Bohio (after-wards Hispaniola ,) thinking to enrichhimself, deserted the Admiral, withoutany lawful Cause. The Admiral hav-ing sailed a Hundred and six Leaguesto the Eastward, along the Coast ofCuba, came to the Easter most Point of it,from whence he departed the fifth ofDecember, for the last Discovery hemade, this Voyage, which was the I- !

Hand since called Hispaniola, sixteenLeagues from Cuba, Eastward, wherehe found a great Quantity of Gold, andsome Birds and Fishes like those of Eu-rope. He found the Natives here morecivilized than in the other Islands, and.very free of parting with what they had.

But the Satisfaction they found heresoon met with an Allay, by the Loss of j

the Admiral’s Ship, which, thro’ the j

Negligence of the Steers-Man, struckon a Rock and burst, on Cbrifimas-Dzy.

The Admiral now resolved, that inthis Island should be the first Colony or AEstablishment of Spaniards, and havinggamed so far upon Guacanagari, theCacique, or Lord of the Place, from Theft

?m he received very extraordinary Fort M rCivilities, that he allowed him to build ^ i

a Fort of Earth and W ood on the Shoar, ma '

he called it the City or Fort of theNativity. Here he left eight and thir- , , 5ty pantards, under the Command of Co\^ (tJames de Ar an a, of Cardova, and ap- ret*f nS

pointed Spalst ’