Note 12 — Chapter II · TRINIDAD AND THE ORINOCO
Reading edition
See the aforementioned letter of Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella for the quotations above given. The whole letter will well repay perusal. See also Relaciones y Cartas de Cristobal Colon, Tom. CL, XIV, de la Biblioteca Clasica, Madrid, 1892, p. 268 et seq.
Americus Vespucius shared with Columbus the belief in the existence of the Terrestrial Paradise in the newly-discovered lands near the equator. Writing to his friend, Lorenzo de Medici, giving him an account of his second voyage, he declares “In the fields flourish so many sweet flowers and herbs, and the fruits are so delicious in their fragrance, that I fancied myself near the terrestrial paradise,” and again, “If there is a terrestrial paradise in the world it cannot be far from this region.”—The Life and Voyages of Americus Vespucius, pp. 197 and 214, by C. Edwards Lester and Andrew Foster, New York, 1846. ↑