444 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE LEGENDS. 



FIRST TABLE. 



Of the Admiral 



N" 1. The admiral Don Cristoval Colon, a Genoese by birth, offered to their 

 Catholic Majesties of glorious memory to discover the islands and mainland of the 

 Indies,^ by the west, provided they gave him for this puipose a sufficient fleet and 

 favor ; "^ and having it, and having fitted out thi^ee caravels in the year 1492, he pro- 

 ceeded to discover them, and from that time on many other persons have continued 

 the said discovery, as is shown by the present description. 



N° 2. In the island Espanola there is much virgin gold and very fine lapislazuli 

 [blue copper ore ?] and much sugar and cassia fistula, and an infinite number of cattle^ 

 of all kinds. * The swine of this island they give to the sick, as here in our pai-ts thfy 

 give mutton. This said island contains many harbors,^ and very good ones, and the 

 chief one of them is the city of Santo Domingo, which is a very good city and of much 

 trade, and all the others are places built and settled by the Spaniards ; and in the 

 island of Cuba and of San Juan, and in all the other islands, and on the mainland 

 virgin gold is found f and in the city of Santo Domingo his Majesty has his royal 

 chancery, and in all the other towns'' and provinces governors and riders who govern 

 and rule them* with much justice ; and every day are discovered» new lands and pro- 

 vinces, very rich, by means of which our Holy Catholic Faith is, and will be, much 

 increased, and these kingdoms of Castile have become great with much glorious fame 

 and riches. 



N° 3. This mainland which the Spaniards named New Spain, the most illustrious 

 gentleman, Don Fernando Cortez, marquis del Valle de Guaxacon, conquered. There 

 are, in this land provinces and cities innumerable : the chief of them is the city of 

 Mexico,^" which contains more than fifty thousajul inhabitants ; it is in a salt lake 

 which extends over forty leagues. There is in the said city, and in all the other pro- 

 vinces, much gold, virgin silver, and all kinds of precious stones ; and there is pro- 

 duced in the said laud and provinces much very good silk, and cotton, alum, orchil, 

 dyewood, cochineal, and saËFron, and sugar, ^^ of all the aforesaid great quantities, 

 with which many ships come loaded to these kingdoms of Spain. ^^ The natives of this 

 land are very expert in all that relates to trade ; instead of coins, they make use of 

 certain kernels, split in halves, which they call cacao, or cacanghnate, a baibarous 

 expression.^'' They have much wheat and barley, and many other grains, and vines, 

 and many fruits of different kinds. It is a land of many animals, deer, mountain 

 boars, lions, leopards, tigers, and much other game, both birds and land animals. It 

 is a people^* very skilful in moulding any object after nature, and in painting pictures. 

 The women usually adorn themselves with precious stones and valuable pearls. These 

 Indians use a certain kind of paper, on which they draw what they wish to express 

 witli figures [pictures] instead of letters. They never harl peace among themselves ; 

 on the contrary, .some persecuted others in continuous figlits in which the prisoners on 

 either side were sacrificed by their enemies to tlieir gods, and tlieir dead bodies were 

 given to the army, as public banquets. They were idolaters, and adored whatever 

 took their fancy ; they were very fond of eating human flesh, whereas now they have 

 laid aside these fierce and cruel customs, and have clad themselves in J( sus Christ, 

 believing heartily in our holy evangelical faith, ^^ and obeying our most holy mother^' 

 church and its most lioly precepts. 



1 the western islands and uiiiiiilMnd of the Tixlios. 



2 if they provided him sufficiently with the things needful to him. 



3 and flocks. 



4 [In the Latin ver.<ion the Inst cliiuse of this sentence comes first.] 



5 and ports. 



6 all thes" places are filled with many inhabitants. 



7 cities and islands. 



8 rather by the reason and integrity of the laws thnn by iivbitrary will. 



9 nnd coi'.qucrcd. 



10 is called Mcvioo by the name of the Indians. 



11 or juice f the cane. U very learned and. 



12 to Seville of Andalusia. 15 and the religion of the Christians. 



13 by tlic barbarous Indian name. 16 orthodox Citholic. 



