152 



COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER. 



by lone watching ; and although on my former voy- 

 age, when I discovered terra firma, 1 passed thirty- 

 three days without natural rest, and was all that time 

 deprived of sight, vet never were my eyes so much 

 affected or so painful as at this period. I formed the 

 conjecture that at one time there was a continuous 

 nock of land from the island of Trinidad and with the 

 land of Gracia, where the two straits now are, as your 



CATHEDRAL OF HAVANA. 



highnesses will see by the drawing which accom- 

 panies this letter. I passed out by this northern strait, 

 and found the fresh water came even there ; and 

 when by the aid of the wind I was enabled to pro- 

 ceed, I remarked, while on one of the watery billows 

 which I have described, that in the channel the water 

 on the inner side of the current was fresh, and on the 

 outside salt. 



I have always read that the world, comprising the 

 land and the water, was spherical, as is testified by 

 the investigations of Ptolemy and others, who have 

 proved it by the eclipses of the moon, and other ob- 

 servations made from east to west, as well as by the 

 elevation of the pole from north to south. But I 

 have now seen so much irregularity, that I have come 

 to another conclusion respecting the earth, namely, 

 that it is not round, as they describe, but of the form 

 of a pear, which is very round except where the stalk 

 grows, at which part it is most prominent. Ptolemy 

 and the others who have written upon the globe 

 had no information respecting this part of the world, 

 which was then unexplored ; they only established 

 their arguments with respect to their own hemi- 

 sphere, which is half of a perfect sphere. And a 

 great confirmation of this is, that when our Lord 

 made the sun, the first light appeared in the first 

 point of the east, where the most elevated point of 



the globe is; and although it was the opinion of 

 Aristotle that the antarctic pole, or the land which is 

 below it, was the highest part of the world and the 

 nearest to the heavens, other philosophers oppose 

 him, and say that the highest part was below the arc- 

 tic pole, by which reasoning it appears that they un- 

 derstood that one part of the world ought to be loftier 

 and nearer the sky than the other ; but it never struck 

 them that it might be under the equinoctial, in the 

 way that I have said, which is not to be wondered at, 

 because thev had no certain knowledge respecting 

 this hemisphere. In the southern strait, which 1 

 named the Serpent's Month, I found that toward 

 evening the polar star was nearly at 5 elevation ; 

 and in the northern, which I called the Dragon's 

 Mouth, it was at an elevation of nearly 7 degrees. 

 The before-mentioned Gulf of Pearls is to the west 

 of the [words lacking in the MS.] of Ptolemy, nearly 

 3,900 miles, which make nearly 70 equinoctiaf degrees, 

 reckoning 56f to a degree. *l'he Holy Scriptures re- 

 cord that our Lord made the earthly paradise and 

 planted in it the tree of life, and thence springs a 

 fountain from which the 4 principal rivers in'the 

 world take their source. 



I do not find, nor have ever found, any account by 

 the Romans or Greeks which fixes in a positive man- 

 ner the site of the terrestrial paradise, neither have 1 

 seen it given in any mappe-monde laid down from 

 authentic sources. 



I do not suppose that the earthly paradise is in the 

 form of a rugged mountain, as the descriptions of it 

 have made it appear, but that it is on the summit of 

 the spot which I have described as being in the form 

 of the stalk of a pear : the approach of it from a dis- 

 tance must be by a constant and gradual ascent ; but 

 I believe that no one could ever reach the top. 1 

 think that the water I have described may proceed 

 from it, though it be far oft, and that, stopping at the 

 place which 1 have just left, it forms this lake, for I 

 nave never either read or heard of fresh water com- 

 ing in so large a quantity in close conjunction with 

 the water of the sea; the idea is also corroborated by 

 the blandness of the temperature ; and if the water 

 of which I speak does not proceed from the earthly 

 paradise, it appears to be still more marvelous, for I 

 do not believe that there is any river in the world so 

 large or so deep. 



Meantime affairs had continued to go ill with 

 the colony. Don Bartholomew proved to be 

 both an efficient and a wise commander; but 

 too many of the colonists came for plunder 

 and not for work, and no sagacity could fore- 

 see or correct the evils. The most serious was 

 the conspiracy of Roldan, a man whom Colum- 

 bus had raised from a menial office to be al- 

 calde, because he believed he saw in him great 

 natural talent and capacity. These had been 

 turned with vigor against his benefactor. The 

 adelantado had laid the foundations for the city 

 desired by Columbus, first building a fort, to 

 which he gave the name of Santo Domingo. He 

 built several new forts, and 2 caravels. But re- 

 bellion and riot had spread, and Columbus found 

 almost everything for which he had striven made 

 vain through sedition. By prompt and severe 

 measures he succeeded in restoring order, and 

 the good effects soon began to appear in a hap- 

 pier condition of both white men and Indians. 

 But at home things had been going from bad to 

 worse. Columbus had sent thither accounts of 

 the troubles and their causes ; but enemies were 

 numerous, and the expected riches were slow in 

 coming. Columbus had frequently urged that 

 a person be sent out who was learned and fair- 

 minded, who could act as judge, though his 

 powers should not conflict with those of the ad- 



