Letter From Hieronimo Vianelo to the Seigneury of Venice134
Burgos, December 23rd, 1506.
The two ships have arrived from the Indies, belonging to the King, my Lord, which went on a voyage of discovery under Juan Biscaino135 and Almerigo Fiorentino.136 They went to the S.W., 800 leagues beyond the island of Española, which is 2,000 leagues from the Straits of Hercules, and discovered mainland, which they judge to be 200 leagues from the land of Española, and after coasting along it for 600 leagues they came to a great river, with a mouth 40 leagues across, and went up it for 150 leagues, in which there are many islets inhabited by Indians. They live, for the most part, very miserably on fish, and go naked. Thence they went back with some of these Indians, and went along the coast of the said land for 600 leagues, where they met an Indian canoe, which is carved out of one piece of wood. It had a sail, and went to the mainland with eighty men, with many bows, and targets of a very light but strong wood. They went to the mainland to take Indians who live there, who do not serve them as slaves, but are eaten by them like deer, rabbits, and other animals. Our people took these Indians. Their bows are made of ebony and their arrows have corals made of the nerves of snakes. Having taken this canoe, they returned to the said island, where there came against them a great number of Indians, with bows and arrows in their hands. They defeated these natives and explored the island, which they found very sterile. At noon they came to a plain, which was so covered with serpents and snakes and dragons, that it was marvellous. They kept one, as it seemed to them to be a very wonderful thing. This dragon was larger than a cachalote.137
The island is intersected by a mountain, one part to the north the other to the south. The north side is inhabited by these Indians, the other side by those poisonous animals. They say that none of these serpents ever pass to the inhabited part, and in the whole of that side there are no serpents, nor any similar animals. Having seen this, the said ships departed, and took away seven Indians of that land, good sailors, and coasted along the coast to a place called Alseshij, and thence for 400 leagues to the westward, when they came to a land where they found many houses, out of which came many Indians to receive them and do them honour, and they say that one of these had previously predicted that certain ships of a great king, to them unknown, would come from the east and make them all slaves, and that all the strangers were gifted with life eternal, and that their persons would be adorned with various dresses. They say that when their king saw our ships he said: “Behold, here are the ships that I told you of ten years ago.” This king came with a breast-plate of massive gold on his breast and a chain of gold, and a mask of gold with four golden bells of a mark each at his feet; and with him came twenty Indians, all with gold masks on their faces, beating golden kettle-drums, each weighing thirty marks. When they saw the islanders with the Spaniards they began to be disdainful, and to fight fiercely with our people with poisoned arrows. They numbered 5,000, and 140 of our men had landed. They fell to and cut to pieces nearly 700 natives, one of ours being killed by an arrow. They came to the houses, and took those masks and bells, and arms of the said king, and 800 marks of gold. They set fire to the houses, and were there ninety-six days, because the three ships that remained were sunk and went to the bottom. Seeing this, they took out the provisions and stores, and fortified themselves on shore with a very good tower. Every day they fought with the Indians. At night they were within their enclosure, and in the day they went out in order, and as much as they marched, so much they acquired. But they did not dare to go out of their quarters. One day they went to a lake, and began to wash the earth with certain vernicali,138 each one in half an hour getting six, seven, or eight castellanos of gold. They were told by some of the Indian prisoners that they need not tire themselves with washing, for that from there to a very high mountain the distance was half a league, and that in a plain near there was a river, where it is not necessary to wash much, for each man in a day can gather ten marks of gold with little trouble. At length, as lost men, without hope of returning home, they repaired the ships and boats that were run up on the beach, eventually determining to return to Spain. During the time of ninety-six days that they were there several died from sickness, and there were forty-four survivors who were saved with the help of God. They left ten men in the tower, supplied with provisions and stores for a year, who were attacked three times by Indians with their canoes, but were always victorious, and have come safely here to the Court. I have seen all that gold and various things that they have brought back; another kind of pepper, but larger than ours, and nuts like nutmegs. They have also brought seventy pearls, all good green ones, and some of ten and twelve carats, round, and like139 Indian pearls bored in the middle. They have also found and brought a green stone like jasper, four fingers in length, and others worn on the lips of the people. They are generally without beards.
The Archbishop intends to send the said two captains, with eight ships and four hundred men, very well furnished with arms, artillery, etc.