Taken from The Log of Christopher Columbus (Part 2 of 2)
Monday, 14 January 1493
The caravels are leaking badly at the keel, largely because they were caulked very badly in Palos. Before we departed Spain, when I saw the poor work of the caulkers and tried to compel them to do the job right, they fled. Despite the considerable amount of water that the caravels are taking in, I have faith in Our Lord that He who brought me here will lead me back in His pity and mercy, for His Divine Majesty well knows how much controversy I had before starting from Castile, and no one else was supportive of me except God, because He knew my heart; and, after God, Your Highnesses supported me, but everyone else opposed me without any reason whatsoever. And they have been the reason why the Royal Crown of Your Highnesses does not have a hundred million more in revenue that it has, because I came to serve you seven years ago, on the 20th of January, this very month. In addition, there would have been the natural increase from that time on. But Almighty God will take care of everything.
Taken from The Log of Christopher Columbus (Part 1 of 2)
Monday, 14 January 1493
I could not go ashore last night and search for the houses of the people I believe to be Caribes because the wind blew strongly from the east and NE and the sea was very rough. At daylight we saw many Indians on the shore. I ordered the boat to go to the land with well-armed men, and the Indians all came to the stern of the boat, including the Indian who had come to the caravel yesterday and to whom I had given various articles of trade. Along with this Indian came a king who had given this Indian some beads for the people in the boat, as a sign of security and peace. This king, with three of his people, got into the boat and came to the caravel. I ordered that they be given honey and biscuits to eat, and I gave the king a red cap and beads and a piece of red cloth; to the others I also gave pieces of red cloth. The king promised that tomorrow he would bring a gold mask and said that there was a great deal of gold in Caribe and Matinino. I then sent them ashore well pleased.
Taken from The Log of Christopher Columbus (Part 4 of 4)
Sunday, 13 January 1493
When the boat reached land there were at least 55 men behind the trees, all naked and wearing their hair long, as the women wear it in Castile. On the back of their heads they wore headdresses of parrot feathers and other feathers, and each one carried a bow. The Indian in the boat went ashore and made the others lay down their bows and arrows, and the heavy, club like sticks that they carry in place of a sword. These Indians came to the boat, and my men landed and began to trade for the bows and arrows and other arms because I had ordered them to do so. But after trading two bows, these Indians did not wish to give up any more; rather, they prepared to attack the sailors and capture them. They ran to get their bows and arrows where they had laid them and returned with cords in their hands to bind the men. The sailors were ready, since I always advised my men to be on guard; when the Indians approached, the sailors attacked. They gave one Indian a great cut o the buttocks and wounded another in the breast with an arrow. When the Indians saw that they could gain little, although there were only seven Spaniards and more than 50 of them, they took flight until not one remained. One left his arrows here; another, his bow there. The men would have killed many of them if the pilot who went ashore as captain had not prevented it. The men then returned to the caravel and told me of the affair. In one way it troubled me and in another it did not, I.e., in that now they might be afraid of us. Without doubt, the people here are evil, and I believe they are from the island of Caribe, and that they eat men. If the boat I left with 39 men in the fortress and Villa de la Navidad comes here, these people may be afraid to do them any harm. If these people are not Caribes, they must at least be inhabitants of lands fronting them and have the same customs and the same fearlessness, not like the others on the other islands who are without arms and cowardly beyond reason. These people also build many fires according to the custom on this Isla Espanola, and I would like to take some of them with me.
Taken from The Log of Christopher Columbus (Part 3 of 4)
Sunday, 13 January 1493
I sent the men ashore to a beautiful beach to get some ajes to eat, and they found some men with bows and arrows. They traded for two bows and many arrows and begged one of the Indians to come to the ship to speak to me. He came, and he is much uglier in the face than any of the other Indians I have seen; it was all smeared with charcoal, although everywhere the Indians are accustomed to painting themselves different colors. He wears his hair very long, drawn back, and tied in a pony tail, then gathered in a net of parrot feathers. He was naked like all the others. I assume that he is one of the Caribes (Columbus has encountered the Ciguayos, according to Las Casas, further evidence that he is on the cultural frontier.) who eat men, and that the bay I saw yesterday separates the land and makes this an island by itself. When I asked him about the Caribes, he made signs to the east, nearby, which I saw yesterday before I entered this bay. The Indian told me that there is a great deal of gold in that land; he pointed to the poop of the caravel, which is very large, and indicated there are pieces as large as that. He called gold tuob and did not understand it as caoma, as it is called in the first part of Isla Espanola, nor as nozay (On 1 November Columbus used the word nuzay (nucay). This appears to be the same word for gold as nozay. Caoma was the most common word for gold, according to Las Casas.) as it is called in San Salvador and the other islands. On the Isla Espanola they call copper or a poor quality of gold tuob. This Indian told me of the island of Matatinino (The island of Martinique. The Island of Women was a myth, but it certainly fired up a lot of explorers, rivaling the legend of the Seven Cities and El Dorado.), farther to the east of Caribe, and said that it is inhabited only by women, and that on it is a great deal of tuob, which is gold or copper. He also told me about the island of Goanin (Goanin was not an island, but a gold/copper alloy, mostly the latter. Today the word is guanin.),where there is a lot of tuob. I have already been told about these islands by many persons in the past several days. In the islands I have passed the inhabitants greatly fear the Caribes, which in some places they call the Canibas, but in the Isla Espanola they are called Caribes. They must be very daring people since they go to all the islands and eat the people they are able to capture. I understood a few words, and in this way I learned other things; the Indians with me understood more, although the languages are different because of the great distances of these lands from each other. I ordered that the Indian be given something to eat, and I gave him pieces of green and red cloth and some small glass beads, which they like very much. I sent him ashore and told him to bring gold if he had it, which I think he had, based on some of the jewelry he wore.
Taken from The Log of Christopher Columbus (Part 2 of 4)
Sunday, 13 January 1493
I did not leave this anchorage because there was no land breeze. I would like to have left to get a better harbor because this place is somewhat exposed. Also, I wanted to observe the conjunction of the moon* with the sun, which is expected to occur on the 17th of this month, as well as the conjunction of the moon with Mercury, and the opposition of both the moon and the sun to Jupiter, which is the cause of great winds.
(The astronomy is correct, except that Mars is omitted; it is Mars that is in conjunction with Mercury. Columbus obviously carried an astronomical table with him on the voyage.)
Taken from The Log of Christopher Columbus (Part 1 of 4)
Sunday, 13 January 1493
At dawn I saw the land; a cape that I named Cabo de Padre e Hijo (Father and Son Cape; now known as Punta Pescadores) because at the eastern end it has two small rocky points, one larger than the other. Six miles to the east I came to a large and very beautiful inlet between two great mountains and saw that it was a spacious harbor, well protected, with a very nice entrance. But it was quite early in the morning, and in order not to lose time (because most of the time the wind here blows from the east and one is carried NNW), I could not delay any longer. I continued on to the east as far as a very high and beautiful cape of jagged rock, which I named Cabo del Enamorado (Lover’s (Leap) Cape; now known as Cabo Cabron). This cape is 24 miles east of the harbor mentioned above, which I named Puerto Sacro (Sacred Port; now known as Puerto Escondido). Upon arriving at this cape, I discovered yet another, even more beautiful and higher and rounded, (The name is not formally mentioned in the Log until 16 January, but Columbus is referring to Cabo de San Theramo (Cape of Saint Theramo); now known as Cabo Samana), all rock, like the Cabo de San Vincente in Portugal. It is 9 miles east of Cabo del Enamorado. Between these two capes there is a large bay, (Bahia de Samana; now known as Golfo de las Flechas, as it was on the shores of this bay that Columbus and his men had their first skirmish with the Indians) 9 miles wide, in the middle of which there is a very tiny island. The water of the bay is quite deep right up to the land. I anchored here in 12 fathoms of water and sent the boat ashore for water and to see if my men could speak with the people, but they all fled. Another reason I anchored was to see if this land is part of the Isla Espanola, or if the two are separated by this bay. I am amazed to find that the Isla Espanola is so large.
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This picture of Cabo Enamorado/Cabo Cabron was found on the Internet
Taken from the Log of Columbus
Saturday, 12 January 1493
Before dawn I sailed to the east with a fresh breeze, making 15 miles by sunrise, and in the next two hours I went another 18 miles. From there I saw land to the south, at a distance of about 36 miles, and I made for it. I remained a safe distance from land and steered SSE this night for 21 miles.
