446 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
with the object of taking their reckoning of where they are and 
flying after that in a straight line towards land to sleep. These 
birds could not have been going to spend the night at more than 
twelve or fifteen leagues’ distance from where they were, because 
it was already late in the evening, and the direction they took in 
their flight was toward the South.' From all this we concluded 
that there was land in that direction still undiscovered; but we did 
not go in search of it because it would have taken us out of our 
intended route. I hope that in a few more voyages it will be 
discovered.’ 
“Tt was at dawn when we left the above-mentioned island of 
Borinquen,* and on that day prior to nightfall we caught sight of 
land, which although not recognized by any of those who had 
come hither in the former voyage, we believed to be Hispaniola 
from the information given us by the Indian women we had with 
us; and in said island we remain at present.* 
“Between it and Borinquen another island appeared at a dis- 
tance, but it was not of great size.° 
“When we reached Hispaniola, the land at the place where we 
approached it was low and very flat,° on seeing which a general 
1Probably these sea-birds were going to spend the night on the island 
of Martinique, 30 miles southwest of Dominica and 20 miles north of St. 
Lucia. 
2And that land was in fact discovered, as predicted by the learned author 
of this overlooked important historical document, in the very next, or third 
voyage of Columbus. On July 31, 1408, he discovered the island of Trinidad, 
and caught a glimpse of terra firma at the delta of the Orinoco river. After- 
wards he discovered the islands of Margarita, Tobago, Buen Aire, and 
Curacoa, although he did not land at any of them. In his passage from 
the Gulf of Paria to the island of Hispaniola, Columbus also discovered 
on his third voyage, sailing along without touching at them, the little islands 
to which he gave the names of Asuncién, Concepcion, Sola, de los Testigos, 
de la Guarda, and de los Frailes, all belonging to the group known as the 
Windward Islands. 
3That was the dawn of November 18, 1493. The explorers sailed from 
the bay known to-day as Mayagiiez, where they had landed and visited a 
village located on the shore and construeted, as usual among these Indians, 
around a common square, like a market-place, from which a spacious road 
led to the sea-shore, having fences on each side of the way made of inter- 
woven reeds and enclosing fruitful gardens. At the end of this road was 
a kind of terrace, or lookout, overhanging the waters of the bay. 
4It was in fact the island of Hispaniola. 
5 This was the small island to which Columbus gave the name Mona, situ- 
ated in the channel between Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, now known 
as Mona Passage. 
6 That locality must have been between Point Macao and Point Engafio, 
which is flat. The higher land of the north coast begins at Point Macao. 
we 
a 
