Note 359-2 — NARRATIVE OF THE THIRD VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS AS CONTAINED IN LAS CASAS’S HISTORY

The passage omitted, Las Casas, II. 265-307, consists first, pp. 265-267, of his comments on these words of Columbus, and second, pp. 268-274, of a criticism of Vespucci’s claim to have made a voyage in 1497 to this region of Paria, and of his narratives and the naming of America from him. This criticism is translated with Las Casas’s other trenchant criticisms of Vespucci’s work and claims by Sir Clements R. Markham in his Letters of Amerigo Vespucci (London, 1894), pp. 68 et seq. These passages are very interesting as perhaps the earliest piece of detailed critical work relating to the discoveries, and they still constitute the cornerstone of the case against Vespucci. The third portion of the omitted passage, pp. 275-306, is a long essay on the location of the earthly paradise which Columbus placed in this new mainland he had just discovered. Cf. Columbus’s letter on the Third Voyage. Major, Select Letters of Columbus, pp. 140-146.