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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LIII 



voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1494. This 

 account given below is to be found in the writings of 

 Peter Martyr d'Anghera, who was a prominent figure 

 at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella and the foremost 

 letter writer of his day. In 1511 Martyr published at 

 Seville nine books and part of the tenth of his Decade I, 

 tlie Decade of the Ocean, one of the component parts of 

 his ''De Orbe Novo," which has since appeared in many 

 edit ions and translations. Possibly the best translation 

 available for the general reader is MacNutt's, published 

 by Putnam in 1912, but as better preserving the spirit of 

 the times, I prefer to give Eichard Eden's translation 

 made in 1555, the quaint English of which reads as fol- 

 lows : 



Al tho Lies of Mayo, tlie watclie men lokin^re owte of the toppe 

 ciistell (.r tli(^ shviM'c iownrdo the Soiithe, sawe a multitude of Tlandes 

 standinao thick lo-H lior. l)e>n£re all well replenished with tree^:, crra^^e. 



[(\)lunibu<] cliaunced into "a nauig-able ryyev who^o water was^oo 



Tlie daye followin-e. es'pyin-e a farre off a eanoa of fysliermen of tii(e) 



But they fearincre nothin<?e, taryed the of owre men. Nowe 



slial you lieare a newe kind of fyshinire. T.yke as we with -reylioundes 

 dno Iniiit liaros. in the playne fieldes so d.u. Ihcv as it w(M'<" witli a 



^icaic mAv. liavmirc on the hynder parte .>! ili.. in.hl, . \uv muizh 

 skymie. lyke vnto a prreate ba,£?ge or purse. Tins tysslie is iye,l hy llie 

 syde of tlie boate with a corde litte downe soo farre into tlie water. 



for shee may in no" case abyde the sight of the ayer. Thus when they 

 espie any areate fysshe. or tortoyse (whereof there is great abundance 

 hv--er tlien -roat targrettes) they let the corde at lengthe. But when 



~ • ii l\ 1- ,1' ,11 inue. And where she hath once fa.stened her howld she 

 .-i^hMli the piiise of skynne whereof we spoke before; And Ity dra^v-yng 



then, as sone as she seeth the bniihi iiess u\ inc iiycr. she lettethe goo 



