432 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vor. 48 
had been as good a sailer as the other vessels,' for many times the 
others had to shorten sail because they were leaving us much behind. 
During all this time we had great fortune, for throughout the 
voyage we encountered no storm, with the exception of one on St. 
Simon's eve, which for four hours put us in considerable danger.? 
“On the first Sunday after All Saints’ day, namely, the 3d. of 
November, about dawn, a pilot of the ship Capitana cried out: 
“The reward, I see land! ”? 
“The joy of the people was so great, that it was wonderful to 
hear their cries and exclamations of pleasure; and they had good 
reason to be delighted, for they had become so wearied of bad 
living, and of working the water out of the leaky ships, that all 
sighed most anxiously for land. The pilots of the fleet reckoned 
on that day that between the time of leaving the island of Ferro 
and first reaching land we had made eight hundred leagues ;4 
others said seven hundred and eighty, so that the difference was 
not great, and three hundred more between Ferro and Cadiz, made 
in all eleven hundred leagues.® I do not, therefore, feel now as 
one who had not seen enough water. 
“On the morning of the aforesaid Sunday we saw lying before 
‘us an island, and soon on the right hand another appeared: the first ® 
was high and mountainous on the side nearest to us; the other was 
flat and very thickly wooded.’ As soon as the light of day became 
brighter other islands began to appear on the right and on the 
left of us, so that that day there were six of them to be seen lying in 
different directions, and most of them of considerable size. 
1 Sixteen in number. 
2 They believed themselves in much peril that evening, October 27, as they 
certainly were in such a sudden and fierce storm, accompanied by heavy 
rain, rapid lightning and loud peals of thunder, so frequent in the tropics— 
until they beheld several of those lambent flames called by sailors “ St. Elmo’s 
tapers,” playing about the tops of the masts, and gliding along the rigging, 
which are occasionally seen about tempest-tossed vessels during a highly 
electrical state of the atmosphere. The sailors consider that phenomenon as 
of good omen. 
3The Spanish government had offered a reward in money. to the first 
person who should see land on this voyage, the same as had been done on 
the first voyage of discovery to America. 
4 That is, 2,400 Spanish miles, or about 2,057 English miles. 
5 3.300 Spanish miles, or about 2,829 English miles. 
® This was Dominica, so called by Columbus from having been discovered 
on a Sunday (Dies Dominica). It is 29 miles long and 13 miles in its greatest 
breadth, has an area of 291 square miles, and belongs to England. 
‘The island to which Columbus gave the name Marigalante, the real 
name of the galleon Capitana, in which he and Dr. Chanca sailed. It has 
an estimated area of 60 square miles, and belongs to France. 
es 
— 
