Narrative
of his third voyage to the Americas, 1498-1500
. . . I believe that
the earthly Paradise [the Garden of Eden] lies here, which no one can
enter except by God 's leave. I believe that this land which your
Highnesses have commanded me to discover is very great, and that there
are many other lands in the south of which there have never been
reports. . . . I do believe, however, that, distant though it [the summ
it of the Earthly Paradise] is, these waters may flow from there to
this place which I have reached, and form this lake. All this provides
great evidence of the earthly Paradise. . . . For I have never read or
heard of such a quantity of fresh water flow ing so close to the salt
And flowing into it, and the very temperate climate provides further
confirmation. . . .
A
Relation . . . Touching His Discovery of the Kingdom of. . . Cíbola
(ca.. 1535)
[Father de Niza and
many other Spaniards were searching for legendary cities of Gold they
believed to exist in Mexico and the Southwest. Father de Niza with two
chiefs and interpreters, come to the city of Cíbola, a large Aztec city
which he has been seeking]:
It
appears to be a very beautiful city, the best that I have seen in these
parts; the houses are of the type that the Indians described to me, all
of stone with their storeys and terraces, as it appeared to me from a
hill whence I could see it. The town is bigger than the city of Mexico
[a clear exaggeration by Father de Niza]. . . . When I said to the
chiefs who were with me how beautiful Cíbola appeared to me, they told
me it was the least of the seven cities, and that Totonteac is much bi
gger and better than all the seven, and that it has so many houses and
people that there is no end to it. Viewing the situation of the city,
it occurred to me to call that country the new kingdom of St. Francis,
and there, with the aid of the Indians, I made a heap of stones and on
top of it I placed a small, slender cross. . . [and] declared that I
placed that cross and landmark in the name of Don Antonio de Mendoza,
viceroy and governor of New Spain for our Emperor, our Lord, in sign of
possession. . . that I took possession there of all the seven cities
and of the kingdoms of Totonteac and Acus and Marata. . . .
The
Relation was written in 1539. It first became available to an
English-reading audience in the third volume of the final edition of
Richard Hakluyt's Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of
the English Nation (London: 1598-1600)
Longer Text: http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/aj/id/4517
The
Discovery and Conquest of Terra Florida
(1557)
[The Indians are] a people so warlike
and so nimble, that they care not a whit for any footemen. . . . They
never stand still, but are alwaies running and traversing from one
place to another; by reason whereof neither crossebow nor arcubus can
aime at th em; and before one crossbowman can make one shot, an Indian
wi ll discharge three or foure arrows; and seldom misseth what he
shooteth at. An arrow, where it findeth no armour, pierceth deeply as a
crossbow. Their bowes are very long, and their arrows made of certain
canes like reedes, very heavie, and so strong th at a sharpe cane
passeth thorow a target; some they arm in the point with a sharp bone
of a fish like a chisel, and in others they fasten certaine stones like
points of diamants. . . . The
Discovery and Conquest of Terra Florida was first published in Portugal
in 1557. The present text is taken from the 1611 printing in English by
Richard Hakluyt, under the title Virginia Richly Valued by the
Description of the Mainland of Florida (first printed 1609).
I sing of arms and
the heroic man, . . . the feats,
The deeds, of those
brave Spaniards. . .
In the far India of
the West,
Discovering in the
world that which was hid. . . .
Beneath the Arctic
Pole, in height,
Some thirty-three
degrees, which the same
Are, we know, of
sainted Jerusalem,
Not without mystery
and marvel great,
Are spread, extended,
sown and overflow
Some nations
barbarous, remote
From the bosom of the
Church. . .
Whose greatness it is
a shame it should be held
About the blood of
Christ, whose holiness
It causes
pain to think so many souls know not. . . . .
From La
Historia de la Nueva México, Canto I, 1-13
"Since its first printing in 1610, La Historia de la Nueva México has
been published in Spain and Mexico and in the United States, where it
is becoming recognized as one of the earliest accounts of America's
European heritage." (source: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/exploration/text1/villagra.pdf)
God goeth
before us, and hath given Virginia so rich a portion, to allure and
assure our loves; . . . in endowing Virginia with so large a jointure,
so temperate, so commodious for the climate compared with other
Countries, beyond [i.e., better than] other Countries in her own
diversified lands, Seas, Rivers; in so fertile a soyle, in so str ong,
sweete, stately, delicate Woods and Timbers, in her naturell hopes of
Wines, of Silkes, of the bodies of Natives servile and serviceable; in
Drugges, Irons, and probability also of other Mines; in all materials
for Shipping, and other buildings. . . .
Though Hakluyt took holy orders, he
devoted his time and energies to the intense study of geography and
travel. . . . The results of [his] studies [at Oxford] was this first
edition of the Pricipal Navigations. Ten years later a much larger
three-volume set was produced. In 1606, he was one of the chief
promoters to the King of England for the colonization of Virginia. DNB
. . .
In Hakluyt's old age, Purchase served as the great historian's
assistant and eventually inherited Hakluyt's manuscripts, which, when
gathered together, became the basis of this work Hakluytus Posthumus
(1625).
(info source:http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/masctour/earlyprinting/
)
"Vision
[in 1799] of How America Was Discovered" [Told by his brother
Cornplanter; recorded and published in 1923 by Arthur C. Parker, a
Senecan ethnographer]
A great queen [the
queen of Spain] had among her servants a young minister. Upon a certain
occasion she requested him to dust some books that she had hidden in an
old chest. Now when the young man reached the bottom of the chest, he
found a wonderful bo ok which he opened and read. It told that the
white men had killed the son of the Creator and it said, moreover, that
he had promised to return in three days and then again in forty but
that he never did. All his followers then began to despair but some
said., "He surely will come again in time." When the young preacher
read the book he was worried because he had discovered that he had been
deceived and that his Lord was not on earth and had not returned as
promised. So he went to some of the chief preachers and asked them
about the matter a nd they answered that he had better seek the Lord
himself and find if he were not on the earth now. So he prepared to
find the Lord. . . . [He sees a castle of gold on a beautiful island,
and while others are fearfully praying and raising crosses, he bol dly
crosses over the bridge and knocks on the door. A man tells him he has
been waiting for him to come.] "Listen to me [says the man to the young
preacher] and you will be rich. Across the ocean there is a great
country of which you have never heard. The people there are virtuous,
they have no evil habits or appetites but are honest and single-minded.
A great reward is yours if you enter into my plans and carry them out.
Here are five things. Carry them over to the people across the ocean
and never shall you want for wealth, position or power. Take these
cards, this money, this fiddle, this whiskey and this blood corruption
and give them all to the people across the water. The cards will make
them gamble away their goods and idle away their time, the money will
make them dishonest and covetous, the fiddle will make them dance with
women and their lower natures will command them, the whiskey will
excite their minds to evil doing and will turn their minds, and the
blood corruption will eat their strength and rot their bones." [The
young minister meets Columbus and tells his story. Columbus fits out
some boats, sails to the West, finds America, returns to his people,
and tells what he has seen. Soon many ships come, and the white men
swarm from their boats to the shore, bringing their cards, money,
fiddles, whiskey, and blood corruption. The man in the gold castle was
the devil, and when he saw what his words had done, even he
was sorry.]
* "Handsome Lake" was a Native
American who lived in the Pittsburgh region around 1800.
