at St Juan de Ulua, and account of
occurrences at that place.
V. The Spanish army advances into the country; an account of their
proceedings before commencing their march to Mexico.
[1] By error of the press, a considerable part of this Section is
marked in the running title as Section V. and the next is numbered
Section VI. so that, numerically only, Section V; is entirely omitted.
[Illustration: West Indies]
A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
PART II.
BOOK II.
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, AND OF SOME OF THE EARLY CONQUESTS
IN THE NEW WORLD.
* * * * *
CHAP. I.
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, BY CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS; WRITTEN BY
HIS SON DON FERDINAND COLUMBUS[1].
INTRODUCTION.
[Illustration: West Indies]
The whole of this chapter contains an original record, being a distinct
narrative of the discovery of America by COLUMBUS, written by his own son,
who accompanied him in his latter voyages. It has been adopted into the
present work from the Collection of Voyages and Travels published at
London in 1704, by Awnsham and John Churchill, in four volumes folio; in
which it is said to have been translated from the original Italian of Don
Ferdinand Columbus, expressly for the use of that work. The language of
that translation is often obscure and ungrammatical, as if the work of a
foreigner; but, having no access to the original, has necessarily been
adopted for the present occasion, after being carefully revised and
corrected. No farther alteration has been taken with that version, except
a new division into sections, instead of the prolix and needlessly minute
subdivision of the original translation into a multitude of chapters;
which change was necessary to accommodate this interesting original
document to our plan of arrangement; and except in a few rare instances,
where uninteresting controversial argumentations have been somewhat
abridged, and even these chiefly because the original translator left the
sense obscure or unintelligible, from ignorance of the language or of the
subject.
It is hardly necessary to remark, that the new grand division of the world
which was discovered by this _great navigator_, ought from him to
have been named COLUMBIA. Before setting out upon this grand discovery,
which was planned entirely by his own transcendent genius, he was misled
to believe that the new lands he
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