. Cleopatra would have been proud to own
such. Although this island is near to the shore, it extends beyond the
mouth of the gulf, out into the open sea. Vasco was glad to hear these
particulars, and perceived the profit he might derive. In order to
attach the two caciques more closely to his interest and to convert
them into allies, he denounced the chieftain of the island, with
direful threats. He pledged himself to land there and to conquer,
exterminate, and massacre the cacique. To give effect to his words,
he ordered the canoes to be prepared, but both Chiapes and Tumaco
amicably urged him to postpone this enterprise until the return of
fair weather, as no canoe could ride the sea at that season of the
year.

This was in November when storms and hurricanes prevail. The coasts
of the island are inhospitable, and among the channels separating
different islands is heard the horrible roaring of the waves battling
with one another. The rivers overflow their beds, and, rushing down
the mountain slopes, tear up the rocks and huge trees, and pour into
the sea with unparallelled uproar. Raging winds from the south and
southwest prevailing at that season, accompanied by perpetual thunder
and lightning, sweep over and destroy the houses. Whenever the weather
was clear, the nights were cold, but during the day the heat was
insufferable. Nor is this astonishing, for this region is near the
equator, and the pole star is no longer visible. In that country the
icy temperature during the night is due to the moon and other planets,
while the sun and its satellites cause the heat during the day.
Such were not the opinions of the ancients, who imagined that
the equinoctial circle was devoid of inhabitants because of the
perpendicular rays of the sun. Some few authors, whose theories the
Portuguese have shown by experience to be correct, dissented from this
view. Each year the Portuguese arrive at the antartic antipodes, and
carry on commerce with those people. I say the antipodes; yet I am not
ignorant that there are learned men, most illustrious for their genius
and their science, amongst whom there are some saints who deny the
existence of the antipodes. No one man can know everything. The
Portuguese have gone beyond the fifty-fifth degree of the other Pole,
where, in sailing about the point, they could see throughout the
heavenly vault certain nebulae, similar to the Milky Way, in which
rays of light shone. They say there is no no