Note 265-1 — LETTER FROM COLUMBUS TO LUIS DE SANTANGEL

The prevalent Spanish, estimate of the population of Española at the time of the first colonization was 1,100,000. The modern ethnologist and critical historian, Oscar Peschel, placed it at less than 300,000 and more than 200,000. The estimates of Indian population by the early writers were almost invariably greatly exaggerated. Cf. Bourne, Spain in America, pp. 213-214. and notes.