Note 391-2 — THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS

From the Queen’s Garden he sailed south July 27 (the Porras narrative of this voyage, Navarrete, II. 283; in English in Thacher, Columbus, II. 640 et seqq.), and after a passage of ninety leagues sighted an island Saturday, July 30. (Porras in Thacher, II. 643.) This was the island of Guanaja about twelve leagues north of Trujillo, Honduras. (Las Casas, III. 109.) Here a landing was made and a canoe was encountered which was covered with an awning and contained Indians well clothed and a load of merchandise. Notwithstanding these indications of a more advanced culture than had hitherto been found, the Admiral decided not to explore the country of these Indians, which would have led him into Yucatan and possibly Mexico, but to search for the strait which he supposed separated Asia from the continental mass he had discovered on his third voyage (Paria, South America). He struck the mainland near Trujillo, naming the point Caxinas. At or near this place they landed Sunday, August 14, to say mass. (Las Casas, III. 112; Ferdinand Columbus, Historie, p. 295.) From this point he coasted very slowly, sailing in sight of land by day and anchoring at night, distressed by storms and headwinds, some days losing as much ground as could be gained in two, till September 12, when he reached Cape Gracias á Dios. (Las Casas, III. 113; Historie, p. 297; Porras narrative in Thacher, Columbus, II. 644.) It will be seen from this collation of the sources that the statements in our text are far from exact, that they are in fact a very general and greatly exaggerated recollection of a most trying experience. It will be remembered that Ferdinand was on this voyage, but his narrative says nothing of any storm between July 14 when he left the Queen’s Gardens and the arrival at Guanaja, a passage which Porras says took three days. This passage, however, Las Casas describes apparently on the basis of this letter as having taken sixty days (Historia, III. 108). Next the text of the Historie presents a difficulty, for it places the tedious stormy voyage of sixty leagues and seventy days between Caxinas (Trujillo) and Cape Gracias á Dios (Historie, p. 296), although in another place it gives the beginning of this coasting as after August 14 and the date of arrival at the Cape as September 12. This last chronological difficulty may perhaps be accounted for in this way: The original manuscript of the Historie may have had “XXX dias,” which a copyist or the Italian translator may have taken for “LXX dias.”