Jacksonland
President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and the Great American Land Grab

By Steve Inskeep

Surely everyone knows, or should know, about the Cherokee Trail of Tears — an ordeal imposed upon thousands of Cherokees who, after fighting and winning a judgment in the Supreme Court against their removal from the Eastern Seaboard, were nonetheless dispossessed of their tribal lands and marched to Indian Territory in the early 1830s. The scale of the removal was staggering. Not only the Cherokee but also the Muskogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and many of their African American slaves were removed in one of the largest and most brutal acts of aggression ever committed by the United States. But not till now, with the coming of NPR journalist Steve Inskeep’s magnificent book, focusing as it does on the two key players — President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross — has this episode in American history been rendered in such personal detail and with such a human touch.

Inskeep begins his tale of dispossession in earnest at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. By that time Jackson was already famous for his modest origins and his politics. It was at Horseshoe Bend, in what is now Alabama, that what could be called the “war of settlement” truly began, when the U.S. military and its Indian allies attacked and demolished the Creek “Red Stick” separatists. And it was at Horseshoe Bend that John Ross — a young Cherokee statesman and fighter — fought for and became acquainted with Jackson. The two men’s destinies became linked during the battle, and they remained linked through their long struggle for control of the American Southeast. What Inskeep shows us — through letters, first-rate historical research and able prose — is how the Cherokee (dispossessors and colonists of other neighboring tribes such as the Creek, Catawba and Tuscarora) fought for the United States and then, after their destinies were intertwined, ended up fighting against the government, in court and through lobbyists and by any other means except outright warfare. What emerges from the story of the two men is a bigger portrait of power and conflict in early America, which wasn’t simply a matter of white transgression and Indian resistance. Rather, Indians and whites were sometimes allies, sometimes not, sometimes united in cause, sometimes not. And the map of power wasn’t simply federal-vs.-tribal. There was a complex web of relationships among Indian tribes, the federal government and states (like Georgia) that wanted to dictate state sovereignty on their own terms.

More than that, Inskeep — by focusing tightly on the public and private movements of the two antagonists and keeping his story confined to the events leading up to the removal rather than on the hardships of the removal itself — shows us that the Indian Wars in the latter part of the 19th century (what could be called the War of the West) really began in the East; the Cherokee removal marked the end of a policy of diplomacy and negotiation between the tribes and the United States and ushered in a vast and bloody period that touched tribes from the Plains to California. We can also see that the Civil War in some ways began in the 1830s over issues of sovereignty and control, and that at the bottom of all of it was a deep, almost insatiable quest for land.

Perhaps no American president was more rapacious than Jackson. After the War of 1812, as a colonel in the Army responsible for fighting Indians in the Southeastern United States, he used his military conquests to buy huge tracts of land in Alabama and Tennessee for himself and his business partners. After “liberating” millions of acres of Indian land and bringing it into settlement, he used his government status to position himself and his friends as first in line at land auctions, to hire his friends as surveyors, and to make side deals with tribal leaders (complete with doceurs — sweeteners, or bribes — to have some of the best parcels set aside for himself).

Inskeep explains this kind of unseemly, if not illegal, dealing diplomatically: “In his abiding interest in land, Andrew Jackson was a reflection of his country as well as his time. The settlement of land quite literally underlay the entire project of building the United States. But Jackson’s acute sensitivity to rumors about his real estate business revealed another layer to the story. While the speculator was not necessarily immoral or corrupt . . . speculation was a morally fraught enterprise.” But perhaps Inskeep is a little too diplomatic. While Jackson was, of course, a man of his time and culture, not all men were like Jackson. There were many others, inside and outside government, who deplored his greed and violence. Even by the measure of his time, he was a self-serving, greedy and immoral speculator who casually disposed of his Indian allies and friends in order to increase his own market share.

As for Ross, his story is painful to read. We meet him in full flower: young, bilingual, articulate, literate. He has done everything asked of him by the U.S. government, and he expects the United States, and Jackson, to honor the sacrifices of his people. By degrees, his faith is undone. Yet still — by visiting Washington, lobbying lawmakers, funding the first Cherokee newspaper out of his own pocket — he fights for his people with words, and he loses by force. After taking his fight to the courts and winning a victory against removal in the Supreme Court, he is rebuffed by then-President Jackson, who allegedly says: “That’s their decision. Now let’s see them try to enforce it.” After that, the removal is unavoidable. So, too, is a major shift in federal Indian policy. Until that point the U.S. government had dealt with tribes through — and often with — diplomacy. After that, the United States and tribes across the country slide inevitably toward open conflict that doesn’t end until the close of the century.

The story of the Cherokee removal has been told many times, but never before has a single book given us such a sense of how it happened and what it meant, not only for Indians, but also for the future and soul of America.

Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly said that Gen. Andrew Jackson was known for having won the Battle of New Orleans when he fought the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, in March 1814, preceded the December 1814-January 1815 Battle of New Orleans. This version has been corrected.

Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review

Volume 13 | Issue 2 Article 4

12-1-1986

Aboriginal Title Claims in the Indian Claims Commission: United States v. Dann and Its Due Process

Implications

Caroline L. Orlando

Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/ealr
Part of the IndianandAboriginalLawCommons

Recommended Citation
Caroline L. Orlando, Aboriginal Title Claims in the Indian Claims Commission: United States v. Dann and Its Due Process Implications, 13 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 241 (1986), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/ealr/vol13/iss2/4

This Comments is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact nick.szydlowski@bc.edu.

ABORIGINAL TITLE CLAIMS IN THE INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION: UNITED STATES V. DANN AND ITS DUE PROCESS IMPLICATIONS

Caroline L. Orlando*

I. INTRODUCTION

Six hundred years ago the Indians of North America were the sole possessors of the United States’ current land mass. 1 Today, they possess less than two percent of that land.2 The United States gov­ ernment acquired much of the land from the Indians by treaties, which the government did not always keep; by purchases, for which the government did not always pay; or by force.3 Federal policy toward this displacement fluctuated until 1946, when Congress en­ acted the Indian Claims Commission Act of 19464 (the Act), and thereby created the Indian Claims Commission (the ICC) to right all wrongs, legal and moral, which the United States government had committed against the Indians. 5
Most claims brought before the ICC, which was authorized to award money judgments to tribal descendants whose land had been confiscated, 6 were based in the doctrine of aboriginal, or Indian, title. Aboriginal title describes the possessory rights of American
Indians to lands they have occupied since time immemorial. 7 Occu-

*Citations and Articles Editor, 1985-1986, BOSTON COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS LAW REVIEW.
1 Barsh, Indian Land Claims Policy in the United States, 58 N.D.L. REV. 7, 8 (1982).
2 !d.
3 See generally F.P. PRUCHA, THE GREAT FATHER: THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS (1984), for a comprehensive history of the relations between the United States government and the Indians.
4 Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946, §§ 1-28, ch. 959, 60 Stat. 1049 (codified at 25
U.S.C. §§ 70 to 70v-3 (1976) (repealed 1978)).
5 Barsh, supra note 1, at 11.
6 See Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946, 25 U.S.C. §§ 70-70v-3 (1976) (repealed 1978).
7 Inupiat Community of Arctic Slope v. United States, 680 F.2d 122, 128 (Ct. Cl. 1982),
cert. denied, 459 U.S. 969 (1982).
241

242 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

pancy under the doctrine is determined with reference to Indian habits and modes of life; thus aboriginal title vests in the tribal group in its entirety.8 Many tribes or bands, however, are now divided or defunct, so tribal descendants who brought claims before the ICC may not have had a formal tribal structure in which to resolve conflicts among themselves. 9 Instead, disagreements about whether tribal descendants still hold aboriginal title to a particular parcel of land often arose only after proceedings before the ICC were begun.
The ICC was dissolved in 1978,10 but its actions are the focus of continuing controversy regarding aboriginal title. The ICC often granted compensation for lands to which some tribal descendants might still have had valid aboriginal title. 11 This occurred because many tribal descendants filed claims for lands to which the United States had never formally obtained title. 12 In such claims, the attor­ neys for the tribal descendants, and for the government, stipulated to dates of extinguishment, in order to determine a money value for the land.13 The ICC then awarded compensation, even though ab­ original title was never actually extinguished. 14
The Act provides that determination of a claim by the ICC, and
payment of the judgment, forever discharges the United States government, and bars any other claims on the matter at issue. 15 ICC judgments therefore may have the unexpected effect of extinguish­ ing aboriginal title. 16 Indians who contended that their title had been extinguished would file claims before the ICC; those who disputed that contention, usually because they still occupied the supposedly confiscated lands, had no reason to file a claim but were later barred from intervening in the claimants’ actions before the ICC. 17 The

8 Mitchel v. United States, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 711, 745 (1835). See infra notes 25-83 and accompanying text.
9 Note, however, that a “majority of Indians in this country continue to be tribal members, regardless of where they live and regardless of whether or not their tribe is recognized by the Federal government ….”American Indian Policy Review Comm., FINAL REPORT, vol. I, at 434 (Comm. Print 1977).
10 UNITED STATES INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION, FINAL REPORT (1978) [hereinafter cited as FINAL REPORT].
11 See, e.g., Temoak Band of W. Shoshone Indians v. United States, 593 F.2d 994, ceri. denied, 444 U.S. 973 (1979).
12 See, e.g., Shoshone Tribe v. United States, lll.C.C. 87 (1962).
13 See, e.g., Temoak Band, 593 F.2d at 996.
14 !d.
15 25 U.S.C. § 70u (1976).
16 Claimants seeking compensation for aboriginal title land before the ICC did not have to assert extinguishment. Alternative claims could have been asserted – for example, for restricted use and enjoyment of aboriginal lands.
17 See infra notes 174-215 and accompanying text.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 243 tribal foundation of aboriginal title resulted in the ICC’s inability to accommodate individual Indians with differing contentions respect­ ing aboriginal lands. Thus, it was often claimed that decisions by the ICC violated the procedural due process rights of Indians who con­ tended, in conflict with their fellow Indians, that the federal govern­ ment had not extinguished their aboriginal title.

In United States v. Dann,19 the United States Supreme Court recently addressed the issue which may determine the ultimate ef­ fectiveness of many of the ICC’s judgments. The Dann case is the most recent of a series of actions brought by Indians who claim that their aboriginal title was not lawfully extinguished, and that they were not represented before the ICC.20 In practical terms, the Court determined in Dann that a judgment by the ICC can extinguish aboriginal title,21 although in Dann22 the Court did not address the constitutional issue of whether failed intervenors before the ICC had a protectable right of due process.

This article addresses the issues associated with the ICC’s at­ tempts to resolve aboriginal title claims, and concludes that the ICC’s consideration of aboriginal title claims often violated the right to due process of would-be intervenors. The first section introduces the doctrine of aboriginal title, which, since its inception in the American common law, established overlapping and sometimes con­ tradictory property rights in native Americans and the United States government. The second section discusses the legislative history behind the Indian Claims Commission Act, the claims brought before the ICC, and the positions of the parties bringing those claims. The third section examines the procedural history and outcome of the Dann case, in order to illustrate the inadequacies of the doctrine of aboriginal title. In conclusion, the article considers alternative ave­ nues of relief for Indian groups whose aboriginal title was declared extinguished by the ICC. As one commentator noted, “[t]he time has passed when it would have been possible to create a Commission

18 See, e.g., Brief for Respondents at 29-33, United States v. Dann, 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985) [hereinafter cited as Brief for Danns].
19 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985).
20 See, e.g.,•Six Nations Confederacy v. Andrus, 610 F.2d 996 (D.C. Cir. 1979), cert. denied,
447 u.s. 922 (1980).
21 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985); see also United States v. Dann, 706 F.2d 919,
923 (1983) [hereinafter cited as Dann II]. Legally, the issue is whether members of a tribal descendant group may assert unextinguished aboriginal title as a defense in collateral litigation when the ICC has granted a judgment for extinguishment of that title to claimants repre­ senting the descendant group. See infra notes 216-90 and accompanying text.
22 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985); see infra notes 291-322 and accompanying text.

244 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

most appropriate to its purpose,”23 but it is not too late to seek to rectify further injustices by the ICC.

II. THE DOCTRINE OF ABORIGINAL TITLE

The legal doctrine of aboriginal title has developed in every Anglo­ European culture that conquered lands inhabited by people viewed as primitive and culturally disadvantaged. 24 The legal centerpiece of the doctrine is that the conquered people maintain merely the right to occupy their own land once the conquering nations have “discov­ ered” it. This notion developed from the conquerors’ prevailing belief in Anglo-European superiority and manifest destiny. Another of the doctrine’s principles is that aboriginal title vests in the entire tribe so that the individual has no rights outside of the tribal group. This notion originated in the collective character of many conquered peo­ ples’ culture. This section will discuss the common law development of aboriginal title doctrine, to conclude that aboriginal title is an outmoded theory which has no rational basis in present-day Indian land claims.

A. Common Law of Aboriginal Title

The doctrine of aboriginal title was first enunciated in 1823, in the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Johnson v. M’Intosh.25 In this case, the plaintiff sued to eject the defendant from land in Illinois which plaintiff had purchased from the Piakeshaw Indians.26 The federal government, however, had granted the same land to the defendant’s predecessor-in-interest. 27 The issue before the Court was whether plaintiff’s title, derived by a purchase from the Indians, was legally enforceable. 28
The Court in Johnson 29 held that a private land sale, by an Indian to a nongovernmental party, to which the government had not con­ sented, gave the purchaser no valid title against the government’s
claim. The federal government alone had the right to extinguish

23 Note, Repaying Historical Debts: The Indian Claims Commission, 49 N.D.L. REV. 359, 380 (1975).
24 Newton, Federal Power Over Indians: Its Sources, Scope, and Limitations, 132 U. PA.
L. REv. 195, 209 (1984) [hereinafter cited as Federal Power].
25 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823).
26 Id.
27 Id.
28 I d. at 572.
29 I d. at 604-05.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 245

Indian title; Indians had no independent power to sell or to convey their lands without the government’s approval. 30 Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Marshall set forth the doctrine of discovery, and reasoned that sovereign nations obtained “ultimate title” by discovering land inhabited by non-Europeans. 31 This sovereign title gave the United States government, as the discovering nations’ successor, an exclusive right to extinguish Indian title by purchase or conquest. In contrast, the Indians retained a legal claim merely to possess the land.32 Based on these principles, Marshall concluded that until the United States exercised its right to confiscate, both the Indians and the government held simultaneous rights in the territory. After extinguishing aboriginal title, however, the govern­ ment obtained “absolute title,” unencumbered by any Indian prop­ erty rights. 33
To the extent that it effectively split the title to land possessed by the Indians into two distinct bundles of rights, the Johnson decision provided a sensible compromise. 34 However, this compro­ mise has uncertain implications. In theory, the “doctrine of discov­ ery” leaves title vested in the Indians, and merely grants to the government a preemptive right to purchase or take by conquest. 35 Practically, however, the J ohnson36 opinion denies recognition of Indian title by denying Indians the right to transfer their title through sale or conveyance without governmental participation. Or­ dinarily, such a disabling restraint on alienation of real property ownership would be unconstitutional. 37 Despite the resulting re­ straint on alienation, subsequent decisions involving aboriginal title38 follow Johnson’s practical result, and characterize the government’s interest as full title ownership, 39 and the Indians’ interest as mere possession. 40

30 I d. at 585.
31 I d. at 591.
32 I d. at 603.
33 I d. at 592.
34 See Federal Power, supra note 24, at 208 n.69.
35 The federal government’s preemptive right means that Indians have a perpetual right to use and occupy aboriginal title lands “virtually equivalent to a fee interest against all but the United States.” F. COHEN, FEDERAL HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LAW 489 (1982 ed.).
36 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823); see supra notes 25–33 and accompanying text.
37 See, e.g., Blackstone Bank v. Davis, 38 Mass. 42 (1838).
38 Sac and Fox Tribe v. United States, 383 F.2d 991 (Ct. Cl. 1967); Oneida Indian Nation
v. County of Oneida, 414 U.S. 661 (1974); United States v. Alcea Band of Tillamooks, 329
u.s. 40 (1946).
39 See, e.g., Oneida Indian Nation, 414 U.S. at 667 (“[A]lthough fee title to the lands occupied
by Indians when the colonists arrived became vested in the sovereign -first the discovering

246 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

The federal government may extinguish Indian title rights only by a clear and specific act of CongressY In United States ex rel. Hualpai Indians v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad,42 the Court concluded that a series of congressional and executive actions that treated Indian lands as public lands43 did not divest Indians of their aborig­ inal title since none of the actions evinced a “clear and plain indica­ tion” that Congress intended to extinguish the Hualpai’s title.44 The Court indicated, however, that once Congress has evinced a positive intent to do so, Congress is free to determine the manner, method, and time of such extinguishment without judicial interference. 45 The Court in Santa Fe listed the ways by which Congress could extin­ guish aboriginal title: “by treaty, by the sword, by purchase, by the exercise of complete dominion adverse to the right of occupancy, or otherwise ….”46 Absent such an action indicating clear congres­ sional intent to extinguish, however, the Court concluded that the government’s duty toward “its Indian wards” precludes implied ex­ tinguishment. 47
Although Congress may extinguish aboriginal title by evincing a
specific intent to do so, there is no right to compensation under the taking clause of the fifth amendment unless Congress has recognized the title.48 The takings clause of the fifth amendment provides, “nor shall any private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”49 However, in Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States,50 the Court held that mere aboriginal title, which Congress has not recognized, is not “property” within the meaning of the fifth

European nation and later the original States and the United States- a right of occupancy in the Indian tribes was nevertheless recognized.”)
40 See, e.g., Mitchel v. United States, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 711, 745 (1835).
41 F. COHEN, supra note 35, at 490.
42 314 u.s. 339 (1941).
43 Congress had granted Indian lands to “certain qualified citizens,” one of which was the
railroad’s predecessor-in-interest. Id. at 348. See F. COHEN, supra note 35, at 210 (“Indian property … is more properly classified as private property, subject to broad congressional control and special fiduciary obligations, rather than as public lands or other federal territory or property.”).
44 314 U.S. at 353.
45 I d. at 347.
46 ld.
47 I d. at 353-54 (“Extinguishment cannot be lightly implied in view of the avowed solicitude of the Federal Government for the welfare of its Indian wards.”).
48 Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States, 348 U.S. 272, 288-91 (1955). For a well-reasoned argument for overruling Tee-Hit-Ton, see Newton, At the Whim of the Sovereign: Aboriginal Title Reconsidered, 31 HASTINGS L.J. 1215 (1980) [hereinafter cited as Whim].
49 U.S. CONST. amend V.
50 348 u.s. 272 (1955).

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 247

amendment. Therefore, the Court concluded, such property may be taken by the government without compensation. 51
In Tee-Hit-Ton,52 a band of Tlingit Indians sought compensation
under the fifth amendment for the government’s confiscation of lum­
ber from aboriginal title lands in Alaska. The Court rejected the claim on the grounds that Congress had not recognized, by treaty or other unambiguous legislation, the tribe’s right to live perma­ nently on the land.53 Aboriginal title was determined to grant per­ mission from the government to possess the land, but not to own it.54 Congress may choose to recognize Indians’ permanent right to occupy a territory, but until the Indians obtain such recognized title, the government does not violate the fifth amendment when it takes their lands without paying compensation. 55
As it developed in these and other Supreme Court cases,56 the
doctrine of aboriginal title asserts, and simultaneously denies, In­ dians’ title rights to lands that they have continuously occupied. Although courts have held that aboriginal title is as sacred as the fee simple,57 it is not a constitutionally protected property right. 58 Even though Indians have an absolute present right to possess aboriginal land, the federal government may legitimately extinguish that right by force as well as by purchase. 59 In sum, aboriginal title grants Indians less than its name suggests. The government effec­ tively holds fee simple title, while the Indians hold a revocable right of occupancy.
However characterized, aboriginal title vests in the tribe itself;60 it is not divisible into title rights for individuals who move away from tribal lands and forfeit tribal membership. 61 In Eastern Band

51 I d. at 284-85. To determine whether a taking has occurred in all other types of property, a federal court must determine “when ‘justice and fairness’ require that economic injuries caused by public action be compensated by the government, rather than remain dispropor­ tionately concentrated in a few persons.” Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York, 438 U.S. 104, 124 (1978).
52 348 U.S. at 273.
53 348 U.S. at 288-89.
54 I d. at 279.
55 I d. at 285.
56 See, e.g., Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515, 581 (1832). See generally Cohen, Original Indian Title, 32 MINN. L. REV. 28 (1947); Berman, The Concept of Aboriginal Rights in the Early Legal History of the United States, 27 BUFFALO L. REV. 637 (1978).
57 Santa Fe, 314 U.S. at 345 (citing Mitchel v. United States, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 711, 746
(1835)).
58 Tee-Hit-Ton, 348 U.S. at 284-85.
59 M’Intosh v. Johnson, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) at 589.
60 F. COHEN, supra note 35, at 605.
61 Id. at 607.

248 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

of Cherokee Indians v. United States,62 the Court applied this prin­ ciple to deny the claim of a group of Cherokees who had abandoned their tribal membership, yet who sought a share of the proceeds from the sale of tribal lands.63 Since the tribe holds property for the common benefit of all tribal members, individual Indians were not permitted to possess a separable interest in such property. 64 Indi­ viduals have the right to use and share in tribal property. 65 That right, however, is conditioned upon tribal membership, governed by the applicable tribal laws, and revocable at the will of the tribe. 66 Thus, the Court in Eastern Band 67 held that the claimants forfeited their rights in tribal property by abandoning their tribal member­ ship.
This is not the rule for individual Indians who are unaffiliated with any tribe. They may possess a recognizable claim of Indian title to a homestead, or the parcel of land that they continuously occupied. 68 For example, in Cramer v. United States,69 three individual Indians claimed a right of occupancy in a parcel of land which the Central Pacific Rail Road Company had claimed under a federal land grant statute.70 The government brought suit on behalf of the Indians, 71 claiming that the Indians’ land was excluded from the grant to the railroad by a clause in the statute exempting land that had been “reserved . . . or otherwise disposed of.”72 The Court held that the grant to the railroad did not include title to the parcel held by the three Indians. 73 The Court reasoned that respect for tribal aboriginal title is extended to individual Indians’ occupancy claims because of the federal government’s “well understood policy … of inducing

62 117 u.s. 288 (1886).
63 !d. at 308.
64 !d. at 309.
65 I d. at 308.
66 !d. at 308-09.
67 !d. at 311.
68 F. COHEN, supra note 35.
69 261 u.s. 219 (1923).
70 !d. at 224-25. Most federal land grant statutes conveyed federal lands by means of patents
(the governmental equivalents of deeds), issued pursuant to general laws. III AM. LAW OF PROP. § 12.20, at 231-32 (1952). However, even a grant by the United States government is entirely ineffective as to land to which the government does not hold title. !d. at 235.
71 The Court determined, as a threshold matter, that the government had the right to sue
as guardian of its Indian wards in order to effectuate Congress’ policy of protecting Indian title which had not yet been explicitly extinguished. 261 U.S. at 232-33.
72 !d. at 227. The three individual Indians’ right of occupancy in Cramer is analogous to tribal aboriginal title, because it was not explicitly protected by any statute or treaty. See Aguilar v. United States, 474 F. Supp. 840, 844 (1979).
73 261 U.S. at 227.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 249

the Indian to foresake his wandering habits and adopt those of civilized life. “74

B. Modern Problems with Aboriginal Title

Because Indian tribal structure has changed so radically since aboriginal title first developed as a legal doctrine, the common law’s continued application complicates present-day Indian land claims. Since title vests in the tribe as a group, tribal descendants collec­ tively possess aboriginal title, regardless of whether the tribe still exists as a political, social, or economic entity.75 Many tribes are now defunct or so divided that no coherent tribal organization exists. Thus, the principle that aboriginal title vests in the tribe has no clear legal meaning. 76 In addition, vesting title in the tribe presents three specific complications. First, Indian bands who have lived on a parcel of land for generations, without tribal or governmental interference, may consider such lands their own, despite the legal technicality that they lack fee simple title.77 Second, without a formal tribal structure, such Indians have rio organization from which to derive their continuing legal rights to use or to occupy the land.78 Third, Indian bands or groups may disagree about which entity has aboriginal title rights to particular parcels of land. Without cohesive tribal organizations, no Indian forum exists where such disputes are resolved. 79 In short, individual Indians, unaffiliated with any tribe, may possess parcels of land, but they have no tribal organizations from which to derive aboriginal title, and no forum within which to resolve disputes.

74 !d. However, the Court’s reasoning in Cramer, that individual Indians have a legally enforceable right to occupancy in addition to tribal aboriginal title, has not been applied in subsequent decisions. See E. Band of Cherokee Indians v. United States, 117 U.S. 288 (1886); Delaware Tribal Business Comm. v. Weeks, 430 U.S. 73 (1977).
75 See Eastern Band, 117 U.S. at 308-09.
76 See, e.g., Osceola v. Kuykendall, 4 INDIAN L. REP. (AM. INDIAN LAW. TRAINING PRO­
GRAM) F-80 (Mar. 11, 1977). Of course, many Indian tribes do still exist, and exercise powers of self-government. Indian tribes are distinct, independent political communities, and still have rights of local self-government to regulate internal and social relations. See, e.g., Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49 (1978).
77 See, e.g., United States v. Dann, 572 F.2d 222 (9th Cir. 1978) [hereinafter cited as Dann
/].
78 Claims by individual Indians were beyond the jurisdictional scope of the ICC. See 25
U.S.C. § 70a (1976) (authorizing “claims against the United States on behalf of any Indian tribe, band, or other identifiable group of American Indians ….”). See also Delaware Tribal Business Comm. v. Weeks, 430 U.S. 73 (1977) (ICC is not empowered to hear individual claims).
79 See, e.g., Cramer v. United States, 261 U.S. 219 (1923).

250 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

In addition to these complications, in 1871 Congress withdrew recognition of Indian tribes as independent nations with which the United States may contract by treaty.80 In 1924, Congress granted United States citizenship to all Indians.81 Thus, Indian tribes are no longer politically or legally autonomous, but individual Indians pos­ sess the constitutionally protected rights of all American citizens.
The doctrine of aboriginal title, however, did not accommodate any of these fundamental changes. Furthermore, when it created the ICC, Congress did not address the legal quagmire of aboriginal title doctrine. It merely created a forum to resolve claims by Indians against the federal government. 82 Unfortunately, the majority of such claims are based on issues of aboriginal title.83 The ICC merely inherited, in toto, an outmoded and unclear common law framework for ascertaining the existence, or the extinguishment, of aboriginal title.

III. THE INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION

Despite its limitations, the ICC became the primary legal forum in which Indians could bring suit against the federal government. The legislative history of the Indian Claims Commission Act indi­ cates that Congress intended the ICC to serve several purposes: to remedy the denial of due process that occurred when Indians were denied a forum in which to sue the federal government; 84 to resolve the financial and administrative problem resulting from Indian de­ pendence on federal assistance;85 and to settle all Indian grievances with finality. 86 The ICC did provide a viable legal forum for Indian groups, but it denied individual Indian citizens any opportunity to present individual claims or protect individual rights.87 Furthermore, the ICC’s group representation standard for claimants,88 and its reluctance to permit intervention by other interested Indian groups,89 so severely restricted the ICC’s effectiveness that it failed

80 Act of Mar. 3, 1871, ch. 120, § 1, 16 Stat. 544 (codified at 25 U.S.C. § 71 (1983)).
81 Citizenship Act of 1924, ch. 233, 43 Stat. 253 (codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(1) (1983)).
82 See infra notes 84-136 and accompanying text.
83 Pierce, The Work of the Indian Claims Commission, 63 A.B.A. J. 227, 229 (1977).
84 See infra notes 119-22 and accompanying text; see also H.R. REP. No. 1466, 79th Cong., 2d Sess. (1945), reprinted in 1946 U.S. CODE CONG’L SERV. 1347, 1348.
85 See infra notes 123-28 and accompanying text. 86 See infra notes 132-36 and accompanying text. 87 See infra notes 137-215 and accompanying text 88 See infra notes 137-81 and accompanying text. 88 See infra notes 159-76 and accompanying text.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 251

to develop into an effective forum to settle definitively Indian claims.90

A. Legislative History

Before the ICC was formed in 1946, Indians were barred from suing the federal government directly by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. 91 Congress attempted to resolve this problem by enacting special jurisdictional statutes that waived sovereign immunity and granted jurisdiction to the Court of Claims.92 However, Indians could not bring their claims to the Court of Claims because a provision passed in 1863 expressly removed from the court’s jurisdiction all claims arising out of treaties with Indian tribes.93 In response to Indian petitions, Congress enacted more than one hundred special jurisdictional statutes that granted the Court of Claims jurisdiction over specified claims.94 Both Congress and the Indian community grew dissatisfied with this time-consuming, costly, and often unfair process, 95 so they introduced a number of bills designed to settle all Indian grievances fairly and efficiently. 96
The Indian Claims Commission Act of 194697 was one such bill. It created a commission with authority to hear and finally determine all Indian claims against the federal government that accrued before
August 13, 1946.98 Congress authorized the ICC to adopt its own

90 See infra notes 177-215 and accompanying text.
91 See, e.g., Morrison v. Work, 266 U.S. 481, 488 (1925) (sovereign immunity barred suit raising due process claim against Secretary of the Interior arising out of cession of timber lands in trust).
92 F. CoHEN, supra note 35, at 563. The Court of Claims was succeeded by the Claims
Court in October, 1982. Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, Pub. L. No. 97-164, Apr. 2, 1982, 96 Stat. 25 (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 171 (1982)).
93 The Court of Claims Act of March 3, 1863, ch. 92, § 9, 12 Stat. 765, 767 (recodified as
amended at 28 U.S.C. § 1502 (1982)). This Act was passed because some large, well-known Indian tribes had owned slaves and supported the Confederacy in the Civil War. Pierce, supra note 83, at 227. When Indians obtained citizenship status in 1924, 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a)(1) (1924), this prohibition became a serious violation of Indians’ constitutional rights of due process. See infra at notes 291-322 and accompanying text. The prohibition remained in effect until 1949. See 28 U.S.C. § 259 (1940).
94 Barsh, supra note 1, at 10.
95 Otoe and Missouria Tribe v. United States, 131 F. Supp. 265, 272 (Ct. Cl. 1955) cert.
denied, 350 U.S. 848 (1955).
96 For a list of bills proposed, see id. at 272-73, nn. 11-12. For a detailed comparison of the enacted version of the Act with a proposed version of 1935, which effectively illustrates the evolution of the form and function of the ICC, see Note, supra note 23, at 367-70.
97 25 U.S.C. §§ 70-70v-3 (1976).
98 /d. at § 70. Jurisdiction of claims accruing after that date is granted to the Court of Claims. 28 U.S.C. § 1505 (1976).

252 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

rules of procedure and provided a framework for fair, efficient and final determination of Indian claims.99 According to the terms of the Act, during the first five years of the ICC’s ten-year existence, 100 any Indian tribe, band, or identifiable group101 was permitted to present claims. 102 When the Secretary of the Interior determined that one tribal organization was authorized to represent a group, that organization was recognized as having an exclusive privilege to represent that group before the ICC. 103 Both the government and the Indian claimants could appeal an ICC decision to the Court of Claims, and subsequently to the Supreme Court. 104 The ICC itself was authorized to certify to the Court of Claims any questions of law. 105 The Act provided that any attorney hired to represent a claimant group before the ICC must be hired according to the sta­ tutory provisions governing all contracts with Indian groups. 106 These provisions required that to create a valid contract with an Indian group, the contract terms must be approved by both the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 107 In addition, Congress authorized the ICC to set the fees payable to an attorney representing a claim before the ICC. 108
The Act listed five broad classes of claims that could be brought before the ICC. 109 This article discusses the three such classes that encompass land claims: claims based on the Constitution;110 claims involving treaties; 111 and claims that land owned or occupied by

99 25 u.s.c. § 70h (1976).
100 /d. at § 70a. Sixty-two percent of all claims before the ICC were filed in the last six
weeks of the five-year period. Hearings Before the Subcomm. of the Dept. of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1960 of the House Comm. on Appropriations, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 1079 (1952). Because the 370 claims filed could not be completely resolved within the ten-year statutory time limit, Congress amended the Act four times to extend the life of the ICC. The final amendment called for the ICC to complete its work by the end of fiscal year 1978. 25 U.S.C. § 70v (1976). The ICC transferred its unfinished dockets to the Court of Claims. FINAL REPORT, supra note 10, at 20.
101 25 U.S.C. § 70a (1976).
102 /d. at § 70i.
103 I d.
104 /d. at § 70s(b)-(c). The decisions published by the ICC are not readily available, nor conveniently indexed. Thus, appellate decisions by the Court of Claims and the Supreme Court provide the most accessible, though limited, view of the ICC’s proceedings.
105 25 U.S. C. § 70s(a) (1976).
106 I d. at § 70n (1976).
107 /d. at § 81.
108 /d. at § 70n. The fee was not to exceed ten percent of the ICC’s award. /d.
109 Whim, supra note 48, at 1256.
110 25 U.S. C. § 70a (1976).
lll /d.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 253

Indians had been confiscated without the payment of agreed upon compensation. 112 According to the language of the Act, these claims could sound in either law or equity. 113 Thus, the Act seemed to empower the ICC to grant equitable compensation, in the form of fee simple title to the land in question.
Despite this implicit recognition of equitable claims, the wording
of the Act also implied that Congress intended to limit the remedy available to monetary compensation. 114 One section of the Act, for example, provided that “[t]he final determination of the Commission
… shall include … a statement [ofJ whether there are any just grounds for relief and, if so, the amount thereof ….”115 Another section provided that “there is hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to pay the final determination of the Commission.”116 The ICC and the Court of Claims interpreted this

112 !d.
113 !d.
114 Note, supra note 23, at 390. Congress’ creation of the ICC to hear Indian claims against the government had the anomalous result of establishing a quasi-judicial proceeding in which equitable claims could be heard but no equitable remedy could be granted. The Indian Claims Commission Act made possible equitable and moral claims otherwise not permitted under the common Jaw that had developed in the era of special jurisdictional acts, see supra note 94 and accompanying text, but it implicitly limited the remedy available to Indian claimants to money judgments. See infra notes 114-17 and accompanying text. Since the Act’s language was general, its interpretation was left to the discretion of the ICC and the courts. The Act’s language did not, however, appear to leave any opportunity for the ICC to settle title disputes. In Otoe & Missouria Tribe of Indians v. United States, 131 F. Supp. 265 (Ct. Cl. 1955), cert. denied, 350 U.S. 848 (1955), the Court of Claims rejected an interpretation of the Act which would have precluded claims based on aboriginal title that had not been “recognized” by Congress in the sense described in Tee-Hit-Ton. 131 F. Supp. at 285; see supra notes 48- 55 and accompanying text. Had the court accepted the government’s interpretation of the Act, many tribes would have been prevented from recovering for either unjust land transac­ tions, or for outright confiscations of their aboriginal land. Whim, supra note 48, at 1256. Instead, the court unanimously concluded that claimants asserting extinguished aboriginal title before the ICC could recover the land’s fair market value at the time of confiscation. 131
F. Supp. at 290-91. Otoe thus mitigated the potentially preclusive effect of the Tee-Hit-Ton decision on aboriginal claims before the ICC. Whim, supra note 48, at 1257. In addition, the court in Otoe reviewed extensively the congressional intent of the Act, and held that the ICC possessed broad authority to hear all outstanding Indian claims against the government, regardless of whether they were legal, equitable, or moral. 131 F. Supp. at 275. See 25 U.S. C.
§ 70a (1976). Indian individuals as well as groups may bring claims accruing after August 13,
1946 before the Court of Claims. 28 U.S. C. § 1505 (1976).
While the Court of Claims interpreted the Act broadly to allow the ICC to hear equitable and moral claims (otherwise not permitted under the common law that had developed in the era of special jurisdictional acts), neither the ICC nor the Court of Claims ever addressed the issue of whether any remedy other than monetary compensation was available under the Act. The silence of both the Act and the courts indicates that the ICC was not intended to decide title disputes.
115 25 U.S.C. § 70r (1976) (emphasis added).
116 !d. at § 70u (emphasis added).

254 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

language to limit relief to monetary compensation. 117 The Act’s fail­ ure to address the possibility of granting title as compensation in­ dicated that Congress did not intend the ICC to settle title dis­ putes.118
Instead, Congress intended the Act to accomplish three goals. First, the Act was to eliminate the injustice of denying Indians the opportunity to bring suits directly before the Court of Claims. 119 The
report of the House Committee on Indian Affairs120 that recom­ mended passage of the Act stated that the Act was designed

not only to grant the Indian his long-delay[ed] day in court, but also to set up an impartial fact-finding commission which [would] facilitate the judicial solution of disputed cases, and report di­ rectly to the Congress on those cases where the law is undisputed and the facts are clear.121
Although the Act did not provide for the ICC to hear valid claims by individual Indians, the Act was considered a sufficient forum for all Indian suits because Indian claims were assumed to be tribal and not individual. 122
Second, Congress provided a forum for Indian claims to encourage Indians to sever their tribal ties and to become assimilated into American society. 123 Until all land claims were settled, the committee report claimed, Indians were “impelled to cling to tribal associa­ tions, “124 in order to maintain their right to any forthcoming settle­ ment from the government. 125 The Act would effectively diminish federal expenditures for Indians, because Congress intended the ICC’s judgment funds to lessen Indian dependence on other federal assistance. 126 The committee report stated:

117 See, e.g., Osage Nation v. United States, 1 I.C.C. 54, 65-66 (1948), rev’d on other
grounds, 119 Ct. Cl. 592 (1951), cert. denied, 342 U.S. 896 (1951) (“The Indian Claims Commission Act does not specifically state the character of relief the Commission may grant, but this lack of specificity is not vital, for its provisions plainly limit the relief to that which is compensable in money …. No other kind of relief is provided for in the act.”).
118 !d. Settling a title dispute, however, is in effect what the ICC did in the Dann case. See infra note 217 and accompanying text.
119 H.R. REP. No. 1466, 79th Cong., 2d Sess. (1945), reprinted in 1946 U.S. CODE CONG’L
SERV. 1347, 1348 [hereinafter cited as House Committee on Indian Affairs].
120 I d. at 1349.
121 I d. at 1348.
122 !d. at 1349 (“Once Indian tribes are given the same right as any non-Indian to bring suit on grievances that may arise in the future, there would be no need to accord any special treatment to such Indian claims as may subsequently arise.” (emphasis added)).
123 !d. at 1351.
124 !d. See supra notes 60-67 and accompanying text.
125 !d.
126 I d. at 1354.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 255

[i]f the result of the proposed adjudication of existing claims will be, as your committee confidently expects, to permit a reduction of at least 50 percent in Federal expenditures on Indians during the next 50 years, tM total ultimate saving in such expenditures would be in the neighborhood of $750,000,000, a sum many times the most optimistic estimate made by the Indians of probable recoveries on all existing claims. 127
If the estimates proved true, 128 the ICC would benefit all concerned
-government as well as Indians.
Third, Congress intended the ICC to accomodate all Indian claims with finality, so that Congress could be rid of cumbersome Indian
claims forever. The process of passing special jurisdictional acts “impose[d] a vast and growing burden upon the legislative and ex­
ecutive branches of the Government. “129 Special jurisdictional acts took time and resources to secure.13° Claims presented in the pro­
posed jurisdictional acts may have been incomplete or subsequently changed, thereby requiring some amendment to the original juris­ dictional act, or additional legislation. 131 Although the committee report initially stated the Act’s primary purpose was “to grant the Indian his long-delay[ed] day in court,”132 the report later stated that the “chief purpose” of the Act was “to dispose of the Indian claims problem with finality. “133 The report referred to the explicit listing of all classes of cases, 134 and the treatment of an ICC decision as a final judgment of the Court of Claims, 135 as provisions intended to provide finality. 136 Although Congress clearly articulated its three goals of providing a fair forum for Indian grievances, reducing fed­ eral assistance to Indians, and settling all pendent claims, Congress did not indicate which goal had priority over the others. Instead, Congress left the task of establishing the relative weight of its three goals to the ICC and the Court of Claims.

127 /d.
128 One commentator notes the inaccuracy of the committee report’s analysis:
Ideally, claims payments would give Indian people the necessary stake to begin a new life as ordinary citizens far from the reservations. In actual fact, the amounts paid were relatively small on a per capita basis and Indian communities persisted.
Laurie, Historical Background, in THE AMERICAN INDIAN TODAY 81 (L. Stuart & N. Lurie ed. 1968).
129 House Committee on Indian Affairs, supra note 119, at 1352.
130 /d.
131 I d. at 1352–53.
132 I d. at 1348.
133 I d. at 1356.
134/d.
135 I d. at 1358.
136 I d. at 1356, 1358.

256 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

B. Representation before the Indian Claims Commission

As a result of the ICC’s internal procedures, the congressional goals of reducing the federal burden of both Indian dependency and numerous pending claims were satisfied, but the less explicitly ar­ ticulated congressional goal of providing Indians with a forum to protect their constitutional rights was not. However, while it did provide an adequate forum for Indian groups, the ICC failed to provide a similar forum for individual Indians.
Congress in the Indian Claims Commission Act 137 granted the ICC
authority to establish its own rules of procedure, but specified that potential claimants could only represent group claims:

[a]ny claim within the provisions of this Act may be presented to the Commission by any member of an Indian tribe, band, or other identifiable group of Indians as the representative of all its members; but wherever any tribal organization exists, rec­ ognized by the Secretary of the Interior as having authority to represent such tribe, band, or group, such organization shall be accorded the exclusive privilege of representing such Indians, unless fraud, collusion, or laches on the part of such organization be shown to the satisfaction of the Commission. 138

The ICC’s regulations regarding recognized successors-in-interest 139 closely echoed this language. These regulations authorized three types of claimants: (1) a duly elected or appointed officer of a group that had been authorized by the Secretary of the Interior; 140 (2) any member of such a group if the group’s organization did not bring a claim because of fraud, collusion, or laches;141 and (3) any member of a group that was not formally authorized. 142 These categories of potential claimants were broadly framed, apparently to ensure that all viable Indian claims could be pursued.
In its opinions construing the parameters of the ICC’s represen­ tation standards, 143 the Court of Claims allowed the broadly permis­ sive representation of claims. For example, in Thompson v. United States,144 the court held that claimants could bring suit on behalf of

137 25 u.s.c. § 70h (1976).
138 Id. at § 70i.
139 25 C.F.R. § 503.1 (1978).
140 ld. at§ 503.1(b).
141 Id. at§ 503.1(c).
142 ld. at § 503.1(d).
143 See, e.g., Thompson v. United States, 122 Ct. Cl. 348 (1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 856
(1956); McGhee v. Creek Nation, 122 Ct. Cl. 380 (1952).
144 122 Ct. Cl. 348 (1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 856 (1952).

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 257

the “Indians of California,” without identifying specific tribes or bands. The court reasoned that the inclusion of the phrase “or other identifiable groups” in the Act indicated congressional intent to broaden the category of Indian groups entitled to present claims
against the government. 145 The court ruled that the Act permitted
a single representative action on behalf of several groups where the claimants can be identified as members or descendants of members of tribes, bands, or communities existing when the claim arose.146
In Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. United States,147 the Court of Claims addressed the issue of whether the ICC properly
had designated the ancestral land-owning group. Three distinct bands of the same ancestral group filed separate claims before the ICC. 148 All three claims involved the same 10 million acre parcel of
land in North Dakota, and each sought fair compensation for the extinguishment of the ancestral group’s aboriginal title. 149
In a consolidated proceeding, the ICC coined a name for the identifiable ancestral group, and ruled that the identifiable group
had held aboriginal title to most of the land involved in the agree­ ment.150 One of the five issues raised on appeal was whether the ICC properly had designated the ancestral land-owning entity. 151 Two of the three claimant bands asserted that the correct designation of the identifiable group was the name of their own band. 152 They claimed
that the ICC’s designation was either too broad, too recently coined, or too vague. 153 The Court of Claims agreed, and modified the ICC’s designation into a definitional, 24-word title, 154 accompanied by an

145 I d. at 360.
146 !d. at 357.
147 490 F.2d 935 (Ct. Cl. 1974).
148 I d. at 938.
149 !d. The court described the extinguishing transaction as follows:
After two unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a cession, Congress established the McCumber Commission to acquire this Pembina North Dakota region. This agency negotiated with the Chippewas until Little Shell, the hereditary chief, withdrew along with several others from the negotiations in protest. The local Indian agent selected a “Committee of 32” to represent the Indians, and the negotiations continued, concluding with a pact on October 22, 1892. After a long delay, Congress amended and approved the agreement on April 21, 1904, … and the Indians approved [it] on February 15, 1905.
!d.
150 !d. at 938, 939.
151 !d. at 939.
152 !d. at 950-51.
153 !d.
154 !d. at 952. The court designated the identifiable group as the “American Pembina Chip-

258 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

apologetic explanation: “[t]his title, although somewhat ungainly, accomplishes the purpose of excluding those not in interest, and including all with colorable claims. “155
The court’s premise was that the ICC was to determine which identifiable group of Indians had been wronged. 156 Therefore the ICC should not have described the identifiable group “in such a way
as to exclude any claimant with a colorable right, or to give a ‘leg up’ to any one of several, possibly competing, entities all deriving [their claims] through the same ancestral group.”157 At the same time, the court acknowledged that the ICC merely had the duty to denominate the wronged entity. Congress alone had the authority to decide such questions as which members may share in the judg­ ment award. 158
The court’s decisions in Thompson and Turtle Mountain Band
illustrate their concern for designating the identifiable group broadly
in order to include all claimants with a viable interest in the lands in question. Its holding in Thompson, that the loosely named “In­ dians of California” constituted an “identifiable group” under the Act, and its holding in Turtle Mountain Band, that the ICC’s des­ ignation of the identifiable group should be as inclusive yet precise as possible, reinforced the broad sweep of the Act’s phrase “identi­ fiable group.”
One of the ICC’s noteworthy inadequacies is that neither its es­ tablishing Act 159 nor its own rules of procedure 160 contain any pro­ vision concerning standards for intervention by interested parties. This is surprising, in light of Congress’ concern for full, fair, and final determination of all outstanding Indian claims. 161 In a report of the House Committee on Indian Affairs, for example, the Committee expressed its concern that the classes of claims to be heard by the ICC should “be broad enough to include all possible claims,” to prevent further appeals for special jurisdictional acts. 162 Apparently, however, Congress did not foresee the similar potential for dispute

pewa group (full and mixed bloods), including the subgroups of the Turtle Mountain Band, the Pembina Band, and the Little Shell Bands.” !d.
155 !d.
156 !d. at 951.
157 Id. at 951-52.
158 I d. at 952-53.
159 25 U.S.C. §§ 70-70v (1976).
160 25 C.F.R. §§ 503.1-503.42 (1978).
161 House Committee on Indian Affairs, supra note 119, at 1355.
162 !d. at 1355-56.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 259

resulting from a deficient intervention policy. Although decisions in the Court of Claims indicate that the standard for intervention should be as permissive as that for bringing a claim, 163 the ICC itself limited parties’ rights to intervene once a claim had been filed. 164
For example, in McGhee v. Creek Nation, 165 the Court of Claims held that any group identified as descendants of the tribe or band
existing when the claim arose, met the statute’s jurisdictional re­ quirements, and may intervene in an action brought by another group of descendants. 166 The claimants recognized by the ICC in McGhee represented that part of the Creek Nation which had emi­ grated west to Oklahoma to establish a new tribal government. The United States government formally recognized the new tribe. The attempted intervenors descended from a group which had remained east of the Mississippi, and had become United States citizens. 167 The ICC denied their motion to intervene. 168 Because the intervenors did not constitute a tribe recognized by the United States, the ICC concluded that they were individuals with separate claims, and not a recognized tribe. Thus, the ICC determined that it lacked the authority to hear the claims. 169 Creek descendants who had brought the claim, on the other hand, represented the recognized Creek tribe. 170
The Court of Claims reversed the ICC and granted the interven­
ors’ motion. 171 The court reasoned that the disbanding of the tribe as it existed at the time the claim arose did not change the group

163 See, e.g., McGhee v. United States, 122 Ct. Cl. 380, 391 (1952); see infra note 175 and accompanying text.
164 See infra notes 178-215 and accompanying text.
165 122 Ct. Cl. 380 (1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 856 (1952).
166 I d. at 391.
167 !d. at 385. The land cession which was the basis of the claim before the ICC was part of a treaty entered into in 1814, between the Creek Nation and the United States, whereby the Creek Nation ceded to the United States some 23,000,000 acres of their aboriginal title land without compensation. !d. at 383-84. The claimant group before the ICC contended that the Creeks entered this treaty under duress, and the United States had violated the standards of fair and honorable dealings developed by the Indian Claims Commission Act. !d. at 384 n.6. See 25 U.S.C. § 70a(5) (1976).
168 !d. at 382. The motion to intervene was filed in 1951, before the Act’s deadline for filing
new claims. !d.
169 I d. at 391.
170 !d. at 383. The ICC also concluded that it could not grant intervention because it did not
have the authority; only Congress could identify the individual Indians eligible to recover on a claim. !d.
171 I d. at 391.

260 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

character of the claim. 172 Thus, both an officially organized group of descendants and unorganized but identifiable group of descendants of the same ancestral entity may be separately represented before the ICC.173
The court recognized the ICC’s authority to allow all interested
parties, consisting of an identifiable group of Indians, to intervene or become parties to the suit.174 The legislative purpose of complete
and expeditious settlement of all Indian claims would be thwarted if the ICC denied intervention to descendants of the tribe which held
the aboriginal title when the claim arose. 175 This conclusion, however,
has not been interpreted to require the ICC to permit the interven­
tion of all contesting tribal descendants. 176
The ICC’s broad group representation standards were flawed be­ cause Congress, in its attempt to prevent claims from unrepresented
Indians, failed to foresee the possibility of competing interests within ancestral groups. 177 Thus, the group representation standards as
drafted created problems for unrepresented descendant subgroups or individuals when they attempted to intervene later in the ICC proceedings. These problems are best illustrated by the lawsuits involving the Seminoles and the Six Nations Confederacy.

172 !d. at 392.
173 !d. at 392. The court dismissed the ICC’s reasoning that because only Congress had the authority to determine the individual Indians eligible to share in an ICC judgment, the ICC could not grant the petition to intervene. !d. at 386-88. The court reasoned that the petition to intervene did not require the ICC to make an ultra vires determination, but merely raised the issue of whether the petitioner had the exclusive right to prosecute the claim, or whether representatives of descendants of the entire Creek Nation were the proper claimants. !d. at 395.
174 !d. at 394 (dicta).
175 I d. at 395.
176 Barsh, supra note 1, at 20. The intervenors in McGhee may be distinguished. They filed their motion to intervene in early 1951, months before the Act’s deadline for filing claims. See
supra note 168 and accompanying text.
177 Indians filing claims before the ICC sought monetary compensation for their confiscated land; some Indians did not file claims, however, because they wanted to retain the land itself. The Act’s legislative history indicates that Congress assumed the United States government had already paid some consideration for confiscated land involved in claims before the ICC. See, e.g., House Committee on Indian Affairs, supra note 119, at 1355 (“[A]bout 95 percent of the land that has been brought under the control of the Federal Government from 1776 to the present day has been acquired by open sale and agreement from the Indian tribes. It is only the exceptional, rather than the normal, case that presents the situation of land taken by the United States without compensation fixed by formal agreement.”). Based on this assumption, Congress did not expect Indians to have legitimate claims for the land itself. Barsh, supra note 1, at 21.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 261

1. The Seminole Nation

Despite the court’s decisions in M cGhee 178 and Turtle Mountain, 179 once the representative of an identifiable group is recognized, this claimant group is the exclusive representative of all tribal descen­ dants, even though not all of the competing interests are repre­ sented. This situation arises where Indians still occupy aboriginal land, and are therefore unlikely to file a claim with the ICC for lands to which they apparently still hold title. 180 Members who were dis­ placed by the government from a portion of the tribal land, however, had a monetary incentive to include the entire ancestral parcel in their claim. Furthermore, Indians still living on aboriginal land may not have had notice that a separate descendant group claimed the extinguishment of aboriginal title. Then, when the Indians occupying aboriginal land attempted to intervene in the ICC proceedings, they were usually denied the right because the proceedings were at an advanced stage.181 The Seminole Nation’s claim is the earliest ex­ ample of such conflicting interests within a tribal group. 182
The Seminole Nation in Florida is divided into “reservation” Sem­
inoles, and “traditional,” or unaffiliated Seminoles, who continue to live on aboriginal land in the Everglades. 183 At the suggestion of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a group of reservation Seminoles filed a claim for lands allegedly taken by the government. 184 This claim included the lands on which the traditional Seminoles continued to live. In 1954, the traditional Seminoles filed a motion to dismiss the reservation Seminoles’ claim before the ICC. 185 In a summary pro­ ceeding, the ICC denied the motion and struck it from the record. 186

178 122 Ct. Cl. 380 (1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 856 (1952). See supra notes 165-76 and accompanying text.
179 490 F.2d 935 (Ct. Cl. 1974). See supra notes 147-58 and accompanying text.
180 This is particularly troublesome because of the widespread Indian custom of registering disapproval of a certain tribal course of action by refusing to participate. P. MATTHIESEN, IN THE SPIRIT OF CRAZY HORSE 27 (1983).
181 See, e.g., statement of Robert Coulter, attorney for traditional Seminoles, in Distribution of Seminole Judgment Funds: Hearings Before the Senate Select Comm. on Indian Affairs, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 61 (1978) [hereinafter cited as 1978 Hearings].
182 See 1978 Hearings, supra note 181, at 61-127.
183 !d. at 50.
184 Billie v. United States, 146 F.Supp. 459, 459 (Ct. Cl. 1956), cert. denied, 355 U.S. 843
(1957).
185 146 F. Supp. at 460. Although the traditional Seminoles incorrectly filed a motion to quash, the court entertained the motion as a motion to dismiss. I d.
186 !d. No reason was given for the denial. 1978 Hearings, supra note 181, at 61.

262 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

On appeal, the Court of Claims refused to review the ICC’s decision because it did not constitute a final order. 187 The court added, how­ ever, that

[i]t seems to be appellant’s position that although it is not and does not wish to be a party to the suit, its title to part of the land which is the subject matter of the suit is paramount, and that a decree of the Indian Claims Commission establishing the rights of the original parties to that subject matter (land) would work an injustice and irreparable injury on the appellant. If appellant’s title to the land which is the subject matter of the suit is indeed paramount, his paramount title will not be affected by the decree of the Commission as to the rights of the original parties since it will not purport to adjudicate appellant’s title or right to the land in question. 188

After another unsuccessful attempt to intervene in the ICC pro­ ceedings, 189 the traditional Seminoles contacted the Interior Depart­ ment, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, members of Congress, and members of the Eisenhower Administration. 190 In response to their plea, President Eisenhower assigned a special representative to meet with the traditional Seminoles. 191
The ICC proceedings continued, however, without the traditional Seminoles’ participation, and in 1976 the ICC approved a compromise
settlement of $16 million. 192 Once the judgment was rendered, the government broke off negotiations with the traditional group. 193 The Justice Department contended that by including the traditional Sem­ inoles in a judgment, with or without the group’s consent, the ICC settled all outstanding claims against the government. 194 It remains

187 146 F. Supp. at 461.
188 I d. The court then declared the issue not ripe for appeal. Id.
189 1978 Hearings, supra note 181, at 60.
190 I d. at 58.
191 I d. at 98.
192 I d. at 2.
193 Barsh, supra note 1, at 20.
194 1978 Hearings, supra note 181, at 58. Traditional Seminoles brought an action seeking an injunction to halt the distribution of the ICC’s judgment in 1977. Osceola v. Kuykendall, 4 INDIAN L. REP. F-80 (AM. INDIAN LAW. TRAINING PROGRAM) (Mar. 11, 1977). A district
court for the District of Columbia dismissed the claim, holding that the ICC proceedings did not threaten the Indians’ possessory interest:
Entry of the judgment will create no new property rights in the United States, for the United States already holds fee simple title to the land, subject only to any rights of possession which plaintiffs and others like him may have. Similarly, plaintiff’s right of possession and occupancy will not be affected by the judgment.
Id. at F-82. The court observed that in the future, the traditional Seminoles might have to

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 263

unclear whether the claim of the traditional Seminoles is conclusively decided. 195

2. Six Nations Confederacy

The ICC’s recognition of a given claimant as the representative of an identifiable group presents another obstacle to the equitable res­ olution of claims. Such a policy does not preclude suits by subgroups on behalf of larger groups which have organized governing bodies, and which have refused to approve or ratify claims. 196 Instead, the ICC regulations permitted any member of a formally organized group to bring a claim on behalf of the group, providing the claimant could prove that the group officers had refused to bring suit.197 Moreover, the ICC procedures do not require formal tribal repre­ sentatives to testify about the reason for their refusal to file a claim. The ICC relies instead on the claimant group’s proof that its request to the tribal entity to bring suit has been refused. 198 The problems engendered by the ICC’s permissive allowance of claims, without regard for conflict within the tribal organization, are illustrated by the Six Nations Confederacy claim.
A group of Six Nations Indians filed a claim on behalf of the Six Nations in 1950,199 even though the Six Nations’ official leadership had denied the claimants’ attorneys the authority to represent the
Confederacy before the ICC.200 In 1973 the ICC entered its final judgment. 201 The governing body of the Six Nations continued to
assert that the claimants before the ICC were not authorized to represent the Six Nations. Rather than present his assertions to the ICC in its hearings on the disposition of the award, Chief Shenan­ doah contacted President Nixon and negotiated with the Department

prove possession of Indian title and continuous use and occupancy of the land “to protect [their] rights against interference by the United States or third parties.” ld. at F-83.
The traditional Seminoles also attempted to amend the bill authorizing the distribution of the judgment funds, with a provision reserving their aboriginal title to land and forestalling any res judicata effect the judgment might have. They were unsuccessful here as well. 1978 Hearings, supra note 181, at 56.
195 The Dann decision provides precedent for the proposition that the Seminole claim can
no longer be asserted. See infra notes 276-91 and accompanying text.
196 Such a prohibition might have ensured fuller and fairer representation of the tribal group
when differences within the• group existed.
197 25 C.F.R. § 501(c) (1978).
198 /d.
199 Six Nations Confederacy v. Andrus, 447 F. Supp. 40, 41 (D.D.C. 1977).
200 ld. at 42 n.5.
201 I d. at 41.

264 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

of the Interior.202 Despite these negotiations, the Department of the Interior submitted to Congress a plan for distribution of the ICC’s judgment. 203 The plan became effective in 1977.204 The Six Nations leadership sought redress in Six Nations Confederacy v. Andrus. 205 They claimed that payment of the award would irreparably impair
the leadership’s rights under certain treaties, and that such an im­ pairment would be effected without due process. 206 The district court dismissed the Six Nations’ claim because the ICC’s judgment was final once reported to Congress, and could not be set aside.207 The
appellate court affirmed 208 on the grounds that the tribal leadership
had forfeited their only remedy by not intervening before the ICC.209 The Six Nations Confederacy and Seminole examples illustrate
that the ICC’s narrow intervention standards foreclosed valid ab­ original title claims. This unanticipated effect occurred despite the ICC’s broadly construed representation standards that were origi­ nally intended to allow fairer and fuller representation of Indian claims. In light of the breakdown of tribal structures, and the diffi­ culty of ascertaining present-day tribal title and descendants, the ICC was an unsuccessful attempt by Congress to settle claims that arose at a time when Indian tribes were recognized as sovereign entities by the conquering European culture.
The ICC required claimants, as an initial matter, to prove that they were the successors-in-interest to the aboriginal title in ques­ tion.210 At this stage the ICC determined whether the Indian group
was legally entitled to bring their claim.211 The ICC established broad group representation standards in order to permit the maxi­ mum number of recoveries. The Court of Claims also interpreted these standards broadly.
Despite the ICC’s permissive representation standards, however,
complete representation of valid claims was limited by a restrictive

202 I d. at 42.
203 !d.
204 !d.
w5 610 F.2d 996 (D.C. Cir. 1979) (per curiam), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 922 (1980).
206 447 F. Supp. at 42.
207 I d. at 43.
ws 610 F.2d at 998.
209 !d.
210 1971 Indian Claims Commission 1-2. The second, or valuation, stage determined the liability of the government, which was computed by subtracting any previously paid compen­ sation from the value of the acreage in question at the time of extinguishment. !d. In the third stage, the ICC offset gratuitous payments by the government against the amount owed.
!d.
211 !d.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 265

intervention standard. Many Indians no longer live in their ances­ tors’ tribal groups since, through forcible or gradual dispersal, tribes have splintered into subgroups. 212 The ICC’s narrow intervention policy provided that once a subgroup filed a claim with the ICC on behalf of the entire ancestral group, other subgroups that had not filed during that period were excluded from representation. 213 Non­ claimant subgroups thus were not permitted to intervene; there were no provisions for the possibility that conflicting subgroups may not have filed as claimants, either 6ecause they believed that the claim filed would fairly represent their interests, or because their claims were addressed to other branches of the federal government. 214 By adhering to a strict group representation standard without a corre­ spondingly lenient intervention policy, the ICC may have violated the procedural due process rights of unrepresented individuals. 215

IV. UNITED STATES V. DANN

The difficulties inherent in the ICC’s permissive representation and strict intervention standards that were discussed above, com­ pounded the problems of compensating non-affiliated Indians for aboriginal lands taken by the government. The inadequacies of both the outmoded definition of aboriginal title rights and the ICC’s rep­ resentation standards, culminated in the case of United States v. Dann.216 In Dann, the federal district court in Nevada held that aboriginal title was extinguished on the date when the ICC’s judg­ ment became final, which was more than a century after the date of extinguishment used by the ICC to value the claim.217 The court’s decision in Dann presented a welter of overlapping legal, moral, and constitutional issues that plagued ICC proceedings since 1946. The history of the case itself is a tangled web of litigation.

A. The Western Shoshone Claim

The Western Shoshone Indians were a tribe comprised of smaller groups or bands who occupied territories in the present-day states

212 Weatherhead, What is an Indian Tribe? – The Question of Tribal Existence, 8 AM. IND. L. REV. 1, 43 (1980) (“the social fact of assimilation – intermarriage, loss of tribal custom, adoption of Western life-styles, ‘checkerboarding’ of reservations”).
213 See supra notes 178-82, 196-210 and accompanying text.
214 See supra notes 190-92, 203 and accompanying text.
215 See infra notes 292-323 and accompanying text.
216 Civil No. R-74-60 (Apr. 25, 1980), rev’d, 706 F.2d 919, 926 (1983), cert. granted, 52
U.S.L.W. 3763 (U.S. Apr. 17, 1984), rev’d, 53 U.S.L.W. 4169, 4171 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985).
217 706 F.2d at 923.

266 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

of Nevada and California.218 Some groups of Western Shoshone In­ dians have continuously asserted that there has been no government action to extinguish their aboriginal title. 219 A year after the ICC was created, the Temoak band of the Western Shoshone Indians initiated the claims procedure by approving a claims attorney con­ tract.220 The contract was also approved by the Secretary of the Interior, as required by ICC regulations. 221 The Temoak band’s at­ torney filed a claim with the ICC in 1951, seeking compensation for confiscated lands on behalf of the Western Shoshone tribe.222 Their complaint alleged that “from time to time,” the federal government had extinguished the Western Shoshone’s aboriginal title by confis­ cation.223 The Temoak band council did not object to the characteri­ zation of the claim as one for compensation for extinguished title because its attorney repeatedly assured the council that the ICC proceeding would have no effect on present Western Shoshone title or possessory rights. 224 In 1962, the ICC found that the Western Shoshone tribe had held aboriginal title to a total of 24,396,403 acres in Nevada, and that their title to most of this land was extinguished over an unspecified period of time by gradual encroachment of both the federal government and third parties. 225 Four years later, the Temoak claimants, and the government, agreed to stipulate an av­ erage extinguishment date in order to determine the amount of compensation due. The ICC approved the agreed upon date.226

218 Steward, The Foundations of Basin-Plateau Shoshonean Society, in LANGUAGES AND CULTURES OF WESTERN NORTH AMERICA 113 (E. Swanson ed. 1970).
219 See, e.g., Western Shoshone Legal Defense & Educ. Ass’n v. United States, 531 F.2d 495, 499 (Ct. Cl. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 885 (1976) (unsuccessful attempt to intervene in ICC proceedings to remove certain lands from pending claim); Temoak Band ofW. Shoshone Indians v. United States, 593 F.2d 994 (Ct. Cl. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 973 (1979) (unsuccessful attempt to stay ICC award).
220 See supra notes 106-07 and accompanying text.
221 !d.
“22 Shoshone Tribe v. United States, 11 I.C.C. 87 (1962).
223 !d.
224 Transcript, Oral Argument, Temoak Band of W. Shoshone Indians v. United States,
I.C.C. Docket No. 326-K, at 21, 25-26 (Nov. 14, 1974). The claims attorney for the Temoak band stated:
I’ve met with the Indians many times to determine these problems and have sought guidance. And the question has been raised, well, we want our land. We don’t want termination …. This litigation means we are selling our land. And the answer is very simple. You are not selling your land. Anything that has been taken has been taken. This lawsuit is for compensation. It doesn’t change your title one bit.
!d. at 21.
225 Shoshone Tribe, 11 I.C.C. at 413-14, 416.
226 Temoak Band, 593 F.2d at 996.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 267

The Temoak band council allowed its claims attorney contract to expire in 1968.227 The attorney continued to represent the Temoak claim before the ICC, however, by consulting with a group ofTemoak Indians who called themselves the “Western Shoshone Claims Com­ mission,” even though the Temoak band council was named as both the official representative of the Western Shoshone identifiable group, and as the client in the approved claims attorney contract.228 During this period, the Dann band of Western Shoshone still lived
on several of the 24,000,000 acres involved in the Temoak’s claim. The Western Shoshone Legal Defense and Education Association, with which the Dann band was affiliated, attempted to intervene in the ICC proceedings. 229 The Association argued that any lands to which it claimed aboriginal title should be excluded from the deter­ mination of the final award. The ICC denied their motion to inter­ vene on the ground that the issue of title extinguishment had been decided in an earlier ruling. 230 The Court of Claims affirmed. 231 The court held that in light of the lateness of the Association’s motion, the petitioners failed to make a showing sufficient to require their participation in the ICC proceedings. 232 The court distinguished the Turile M ountain233 decision on the basis that both subgroups in that case had participated in the ICC proceeding from the beginning. 234 The Association’s petition for certiorari to the United States Su­ preme Court was denied. 235

227 !d. at 997.
228 !d.
229 Western Shoshone Legal Defense & Educ. Ass’n v. United States, 531 F.2d at 497 (Ct. Cl. 1976).
230 35 I.c.c. 457 (1955).
231 Western Shoshone Legal Defense & Educ. Ass’n, 531 F.2d at 497.
232 !d. at 503 (“The hour is very late and the showing is not strong.”).
233 490 F.2d 935 (Ct. Cl. 1974); see supra notes 147-58 and accompanying text.
234 531 F.2d at 504 n.18.
235 419 U.S. 855 (1976). The litigation did not end there. In support of the Association, the Temoak claimants obtained new counsel and filed new pleadings that adopted the Association’s position. The reformulated claim asserted that aboriginal title to the lands in question had never been extinguished. Temoak Band, 593 F.2d at 997. The new pleadings also asserted that the Temoak band’s previous attorney had not presented them with the choice of whether to include all ancestral lands in the claim, or to assert that title to a portion of the land was not extinguished. !d. The Temoaks’ new attorney filed a motion to stay the ICC proceedings, pending a determination by the Department of the Interior on their newly endorsed title claim. The ICC denied the stay, however, and entered a final judgment. 40 I.C.C. 305 (1977). The Court of Claims affirmed the ICC’s ruling on appeal, reasoning that it was too late for the claimants to reverse their litigation strategy. 593 F.2d at 996. The court suggested that the Temoak claimants could petition Congress for relief from the ICC’s final judgment. !d. at 999.

268 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

B. United States Government Claim Against the Dann Band

The claims in United States v. Dann236 were entirely separate from ICC proceedings involving the Western Shoshone claim. The federal government filed suit against the Dann band in district court in 1974, alleging that the Dann band was grazing its livestock on public land without a permit. 237 The Danns asserted that the grazing lands were not public, but were lands to which they held unextin­ guished aboriginal title.238 Summary judgment was granted for the government, on the grounds that the Danns were collaterally es­ topped by the ICC’s 1962 decision that the United States had ac­ quired all twenty-two million acres of Western Shoshone land.239
In United States v. Dann (Dann 1),240 the Ninth Circuit reversed.
The court held that collateral estoppel did not preclude litigation of
the issue of extinguishment of aboriginal title because that issue had not been actually litigated before the ICC.241 Neither res judicata nor collateral estoppel applied because the ICC’s award had not yet been paid to the Western Shoshone.242
On remand, the district court ignored the appellate court’s decision
and enjoined the Dann band from grazing their livestock on the lands in question.243 The court reasoned that its final judgment for the Western Shoshone rendered the award final for purposes of res judicata and collateral estoppel,244 The Western Shoshone’s aborigi­ nal title was held to be extinguished on the date the award was certified.245
In United States v. Dann (Dann II),246 the Ninth Circuit again reversed the district court’s holding. 247 Relying on its holding in
Dann 1,248 the Ninth Circuit reiterated that the Dann band was not collaterally estopped from raising aboriginal title as a defense in the
present proceedings because the issue of extinguishment of title was not actually litigated before the ICC.249 The court also held that the

236 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985).
237 Dann I, 572 F.2d at 223.
238 !d.
239 I d. at 223.
240 572 F.2d 222 (9th Cir. 1978).
241 I d. at 226.
242 /d.
243 Dann II, 706 F.2d at 923.
244 !d.
245 /d.
246 706 F.2d 919 (9th Cir. 1983).
247 /d.
248 See supra notes 240-42 and accompanying text.
249 706 F.2d at 924. The court also denied that the ICC’s decision had any res judicata effect

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 269

Western Shoshone’s aboriginal title had never been extinguished. 250 Title had not been extinguished by prior application of public land laws or by creation of a Western Shoshone reservation because these actions did not evince a clear indication of congressional intent to extinguish aboriginal title.251 Furthermore, despite the statutorily mandated finality of its judgment, the ICC itself did not have the authority to extinguish aboriginal title.252

1. The Supreme Court’s Decision

When the United States Supreme Court granted the ICC’s peti­ tion for certiorari, 253 the question before the Court was whether one group of Indians could assert in collateral litigation that aboriginal title was not extinguished, despite the entry by the ICC of a final judgment to compensate them for extinguishment of that title, when the judgment fund had not yet been distributed. 254 The resolution of this legal issue would decide the underlying question of whether an ICC decision may extinguish aboriginal title.
The government’s primary claim was that a provision of the Indian
Claims Commission Act255 barred the Danns’ assertion of any re­ tained interest in the lands covered by the judgment. 256 The govern­ ment presented three supporting arguments. First, since the ICC’s judgment fund is in trust for all descendants of the Western Shosh­ one tribe, the government has paid the claim under the Act. Actual distribution of the funds to individual Western Shoshone descendants was not necessary to constitute payment under the Act because the claim at issue was tribal, not individual. 257

under the statutory provision that states that payment of any claim decided by the ICC would discharge the United States from any further claims. !d. See also 25 U.S.C. § 70u (1976). Only congressional approval of the award distribution plan constitutes payment within the meaning of the Act. 706 F.2d at 925-26. The court thus distinguished Six Nations Confederacy, because in that case C ngress had already approved a plan for distribution of the award. I d. at 927 n.6; see supra notes 205-09 and accompanying text.
250 706 F.2d at 928.
251 I d. at 929-31.
252 I d. at 928.
253 52 U.S.L.W. 3763 (U.S. Apr. 17, 1984).
254 !d.
255 25 U.S.C. § 70u (1976).
256 Brief for the United States at 22, United States v. Dann, 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985) [hereinafter cited as Brief for the United States]. The government cited a provision of the Act which reads:
The payment of any claim, after its determination in accordance with this [Act], shall
be a full discharge of the United States of all claims and demands touching any of the matters involved in the controversy.
25 U.S.C. § 70u (1976), cited in Brief for the United States, supra, at 2.
257 Brief for the United States, supra note 256, at 26.

270 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

Second, the government relied on the language, legislative history, and purpose of the Act to show that Congress intended appropriation of the judgment fund to constitute final payment. 258 The government asserted that the legislative history of the Act indicated that by creating the ICC, Congress intended to delegate final responsibility for Indian claims against the government to the ICC, and did not intend to retain any authority over the finality of claims determined by the ICC.259
Finally, the government argued that the claimants could have
appealed to Congress at any time during the claims process. 260 The Court’s duty was to apply the Act as written, and then to wait for Congress to decide whether to address particular claims in future legislative action.261
In response, the Danns presented three arguments to support
their claim that aboriginal title in the land on which they live was not precluded, regardless of whether the ICC judgment was paid. First, the Danns asserted that the language of the Act did not support the government’s attempt to seek, in effect, a federal court order to take Indian lands for the first time.262 This argument pre­ sumed that aboriginal title to the land which the Dann band contin­ ued to occupy had not yet been extinguished, even though the ICC judgment in part compensated for the extinguishment of their ti­ tle.263 The Danns relied on the decision in Osceola v. Kuykendall 264

258 I d. at 30–31.
259 !d. at 33. The government also argued that subsequent legislation that authorized au­ tomatic appropriation and distribution of judgment funds further evidenced Congress’ intent to eschew any final veto over the resolution of a claim before the ICC. !d. at 44. The government contended that by requiring in 1965 congressional authorization of distribution plans recommended by the Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior & Related Agencies Appropriation Act, Pub. L. No. 88–356, 78 Stat. 276 (1965), Congress intended only to oversee the Secretary’s performance of his fiduciary duty to manage tribal property. Brief for the United States, supra note 256, at 40. In 1973, the Distribution of Judgment Funds Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 1401-1408 (1983 & Supp. 1985), removed this requirement because Congress recognized that the 1965 authorization requirement created too heavy a legislative burden. Brief for the United States, supra note 256, at 41. Congress amended other existing statutes in 1977 and 1978 in order to eliminate legislative authorization of appropriation of funds. !d. at 44.
260 !d. at 46-47.
261 !d.
262 Brief for the Danns, supra note 18, at 25-26.
263 !d. at 26-27. This argument reasoned further that the Danns’ assertion of unextinguished aboriginal title in the present case was not a claim or demand discharged by operation of the Act, but merely a defense. !d. at 27.
264 4 INDIAN L. REP. F-80 (AM. INDIAN LAW. TRAINING PROGRAM) (Mar. 11, 1977), cited
in Brief for the Danns, supra note 18, at 28. In Osceola, the traditional Seminole Indians in possession of aboriginal lands in the Everglades brought an action to restrain the ICC from processing a claim, brought by reservation Seminoles, for the extinguishment of all Seminole

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 271

to argue that the ICC judgment for the Western Shoshone did not affect the Danns’ present possession of aboriginal title, and that therefore the Danns should have had the opportunity to prove pres­ ent possession of aboriginal title as a defense in this action. 265
The Danns’ second argument was a constitutional one. The Danns
claimed that to bind them to the ICC’s decision as to the Western Shoshone claim deprived them of due process because they were not adequately represented by the Western Shoshone band. 266 Due pro­ cess required verification that the representative claimant ade­ quately represented the affected parties. 267 In the Western Shoshone claim before the ICC, however, the Danns asserted that the Temoak band, which sought compensation for extinguished aboriginal title, did not adequately represent those Western Shoshone who, like the Danns, would claim that the tribe’s aboriginal title was not extin­ guished. 268
Finally, the Danns asserted their individual rights of use and
occupancy that survived abandonment by the Western Shoshone tribe. 269 The Danns relied on Cramer v. United States,270 where the Court held that individual Indian occupancy is entitled to the same protection as tribal rights of occupancy. 271 Furthermore, the Court in United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Rail Road Company272 held that any individual rights of occupancy such as those recognized in Cramer would not be affected by a finding that a tribe had relin­ quished its tribal claim to land.273
In the alternative, the Danns resorted to the claim that had been unsuccessful below: even if the ICC judgment for the tribe precluded
the Danns’ defense of aboriginal title, it did not discharge their claim because there has been no payment of the ICC’s award within the
meaning of the Act.274

aboriginal title in Florida. Brief for the Danns, supra note 18, at 28. The district court in Osceola dismissed the traditional Seminoles’ complaint, reasoning was that the traditional Seminoles had asserted aboriginal title, which confers the right of possession; that the tradi­ tional Seminoles were currently in possession of the lands in question; and that the government did not contest their possession. /d.
265 !d. at 27.
266 /d. at 29.
267 /d. at 30.
268 I d. at 32-33.
269 I d. at 33.
270 261 U.S. 219 (1923). See supra notes 68-74 and accompanying text.
271 /d. at 227.
272 314 U.S. 339 (1941). See supra notes 41-47 and accompanying text.
273 /d. at 357–58 n.23.
274 Brief for the Danns, supra note 18, at 38. The Danns asserted first that an existing statute, 25 U.S.C. § 118 (1983), implicitly defined payment to Indians as final distribution

272 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

The Danns’ arguments failed to sway the Court. In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Brennan, the Court held that the cer­ tification and appropriation of the ICC’s award to a trust fund held for the benefit of the Western Shoshone tribe, constituted “payment” under the Act, and thus discharged all claims and demands involving the Western Shoshone land claim.275 The Court looked to the legis­ lative purposes behind the Act and concluded that Congress intended to dispose of all Indian claims with finality.276 Congress drafted the Act so that when the ICC filed a report with Congress determining that a claimant is entitled to recover, that report had “the effect of a final judgment,” 277 and this payment of a claim would fully dis­ charge the United States from further claims and demands involving any matter resolved by the ICC.278 Congress intended to relieve its own burden of responding to particularized Indian petitions with special jurisdictional acts.279 Before the statute was enacted, Con­ gress debated whether to delete the finality language in the Act, so that Congress would have final authority over claims brought before the ICC.280 This suggestion was ultimately discarded.281 The Court reasoned, therefore, that the lower court’s justification for making payment contingent on Congress’ approval of a final distribution plan, which was to give Congress a final opportunity to review ICC claims on the merits, conflicted with the congressional purpose of alleviating its burden of enacting special jurisdictional statutes.282
The Court further reasoned that the definition of “payment” ap­ plied by the Ninth Circuit conflicted with the common law usage of

from the trust, not appropriation to the trust. Brief for the Danns, supra note 18, at 39. Second, the Danns argued that the Distribution of Judgment Funds Act provided the Indian claimants in an ICC proceeding with two ways to delay or halt payment after appropriation to the trust. !d. at 40. In the present case a significant number of Western Shoshone people resisted acceptance of a money judgment, causing the Department of the Interior to postpone distribution. ld. As a result, Congress must now pass legislation specifically authorizing a distribution plan for the ICC judgment. !d. Statements by members of Congress indicated that they thought the outcome of the Dann case would have a strong bearing on any action Congress might take to authorize a distribution plan for the Western Shoshone award. !d. at 40-41. Congress had deliberately postponed any action which would affect the final payment. Id. at 41. The Danns argued that by exercising this “pocket veto,” Congress prevented the ICC judgment from precluding their present assertion of aboriginal title. !d. at 46-47.
275 United States v. Dann, 53 U.S.L.W. 4169, 4171 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985).
276 !d.
277 !d. (quoting 25 U.S.C. § 22a (1983)).
278 53 U.S.L.W. at 4171.
210 !d.
280 !d. (quoting 92 CONG. REC. 5311 (1946)).
281 53 U.S.L.W. at 4172 (quoting H.R. CONF. REP. No. 2693, 79th Cong., 2d Sess. 8 (1946)).
282 53 U.S.L.W. at 4172.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 273

the word, in which payment may be satisfied if the funds are trans­ ferred to a trustee or agent of the creditor.283 The Court concluded that, in accordance with a previous case involving payment between the government and Indians,284 the common law definition of “pay­ ment” should apply when interpreting the Act.285 In the Dann case, then, the government, as debtor, paid the ICC judgment to the government as trustee for the Western Shoshone beneficiaries.286 Thus, payment within the context of the Act had occurred, fully discharging the United States of all claims relating to Western
Shoshone title.287
The Court refused to address the Danns’ claim of individual ab­ original title rights, as supported by the precedent in Cramer,288 because that issue had not been addressed by the lower courts.289 The Court then remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit.290

2. Analysis of U.S. v. Dann: Due Process Implications

When the Court framed the issue in Dann as whether “payment” had been made within the terms of the Act, it circumvented the constitutional issue regarding the ICC’s procedures. 291 The due pro-

283 !d.
284 !d. (citing Seminole Nation v. United States, 316 U.S. 286, 296 (1942)).
285 I d. at 4172.
286 !d.
287 I d. at 4171.
288 See supra notes 68-74 and accompanying text.
289 !d.
290 !d. In turn, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the district court for further pro­ ceedings concerning the Danns’ assertion that they held unextinguished individual aboriginal title. United States v. Dann, 763 F.2d 379 (9th Cir. 1985). See supra notes 269-73 and accompanying text.
291 See supra notes 266-68 and accompanying text. Refusal to address the constitutional issue may be traced to a traditional judicial reluctance to set aside an agency action when it does not violate the terms of the agency’s statute. J. NOWAK, R. ROTUNDA, & J.N. YOUNG, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 557 (1983). For example, in Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Counsel, Inc., 435 U.S. 519 (1978), the Court reversed a lower court’s erroneous invalidation of an agency’s rule. !d. at 525. The Court explained:
[a]gencies are free to grant additional procedural rights in the exercise of their discretion, but reviewing courts are generally not free to impose them if the agencies have not chosen to grant them. This is not to say necessarily that there are no circumstances which would ever justify a court in overturning agency action because of a failure to employ procedures beyond those required by the statute. But such circumstances, if they exist, are extremely rare.
!d. at 524. The Court goes on to describe those rare circumstances as “constitutional con­
straints or extremely compelling circumstances.” !d. at 543. Despite the Court’s specific holding in Dann, because the Danns face both constitutional constraints and extremely com­ pelling circumstances, they should be permitted to assert unextinguished aboriginal title as a defense against the government’s claim.

274 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

cess clause of the fifth amendment provides that: “[n]o person shall
… be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ….”292 In Indian claims cases, the Indians who claimed their
aboriginal title was not extinguished suffered a deprivation of this constitutionally protected right. Such deprivations resulted because often their claims were not even heard by the ICC. The tribal nature of aboriginal title, 293 and the ICC’s permissive claimant standards combined with their restrictive intervenor standards, 294 were to blame for this situation. Thus, one of Congress’ purposes in passing the Act – to grant Indians the procedural due process they had been denied- was frustrated by the inadequacy of the ICC’s forum.
In its report, the House Committee on Indian Affairs expressed
concern that “Indians have been denied free and equal access to the courts,”295 and then reiterated that the Act was “primarily designed to right a continuing wrong to our Indian citizens for which no possible justification can be asserted. “296 Thus, when it stressed the two other congressional purposes for the ICC, the Court in Dann297 overlooked the ICC’s most significant purpose: to grant Indians the procedural due process they had been denied since they had been granted citizenship.
In recognition of the collective nature of aboriginal title, 298 Con­ gress provided that the ICC would establish very loose requirements for claimants to bring what in essence were class actions.299 A claim
for extinguished aboriginal title before the ICC shared many of the characteristics of a class action suit.300 And, as does the judgment in a class action suit, the ICC’s decision in an Indian claim bound all members of the class.301 A claimant before the ICC, like the com­ plainant in a class action, held himself out “as representing the legal rights of absent parties. “302 If the claimant lost, the absent, but represented, parties lost rights that they never personally as-

292 U.S. CONST. amend. V.
293 See supra notes 24-83 and accompanying text.
294 See supra notes 137-215 and accompanying text.
295 House Committee on Indian Affairs, supra note 119, at 1349; see supra notes 120-21 and accompanying text.
296 !d. at 1347.
297 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985).
298 See supra notes 60-67 and accompanying text.
299 See supra notes 138-42 and accompanying text.
300 See Butzel, Intervention and Class Actions Before the Agencies and the Courts, 23 AD.
L. REV. 135, 145 (1973) (description of theoretical underpinnings of class action suits).
301 See id.
302 /d. (emphasis omitted).

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 275

serted.303 Courts have been reluctant to entertain class actions on a broad scale because of the potential for wrongfully binding unrepre­ sented claimants to a judgment. 304 Congress, apparently unaware that the same considerations existed in Indian claim actions, created a forum which heard claims that were exclusively class actions, in form, if not in name.
The Court of Claims addressed this class action analogy in Western Shoshone Legal Defense and Educational Association v. United States:305 “[a]n Indian claim under the Act is unlike a class suit in that there is no necessity that the position of each individual member
of the group be represented; it is only the group claim which need be put forward.”306 In so concluding, the court failed to recognize that constitutional due process necessitates such complete represen­ tation. To insist upon enforcing a class action type of judgment upon all reputed memb rs of the class, even when those members’ inter­ ests are in conflict, would result in a violation of procedural due process comparable in nature to the violation disallowed in the land­ mark case of Hansberry v. Lee.307
In Hansberry, the plaintiffs sought to enjoin the defendants from violating an agreement restricting the use of both parties’ land in
Chicago. 308 The Illinois Supreme Court held that, although the stip­ ulation proved false, the defendants were bound by the previous judgment because they were members of the class of landowners represented in the earlier suit.309
The United States Supreme Court reversed, and held that the defendants had been deprived of their constitutionally-protected pro­ cedural due process. 310 The Court reasoned that the several land­ owning parties purportedly bound by the earlier decision did not constitute a class because the individual members had conflicting

3oa I d.
304 ld.
305 531 F.2d 495 (Ct. Cl. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 885 (1976).
306 531 F.2d at 504.
307 311 u.s. 32 (1940).
308 I d. at 37. When defendants countered that the agreement, which disallowed the use of
the land by blacks, was invalid because it had not been signed by the requisite percentage of landowners, the plaintiff countered by citing an earlier case as the final determination re­ garding the agreement’s validity. I d. at 38 (citing Burke v. Kleiman, 277 Ill. App. 519 (1934)). Burke was also a suit to enjoin the violation of a restrictive covenant, in which the class of landowners had been represented by the litigants, and the parties had stipulated that the agreement was valid. ld.
309 I d. at 39-40.
310 I d. at 44.

276 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

interests. 311 The Court refused to permit those members of the landowners’ group who sought to enforce the agreement to represent the members who later sought to dispute the validity of the agree­ ment.312 Similarly, to allow the Temoak band in the Dann313 case to represent all the descendants of the Western Shoshone ancestral group did not afford protection to the Dann band adequate to satisfy the constitutional requirements of due process. The Temoak band had an interest in pursuing the ICC claim and thus receiving a substantial monetary compensation. 314 The Dann band, however, had a conflicting interest in maintaining their ranch;315 and as in Hans­ berry,316 this canflicting interest was not adequately represented.
Even if the Temoak and Dann bands had substantially the same interests regarding the outcome of the claim before the ICC, the
Temoak band, as an entity separately organized from the Dann band, could not adequately represent the Dann band. In McGhee v. Creek Nation,317 the Court of Claims refused to permit an organized entity of the ancestral Creek Nation to represent all Creek Indians. 318 Even though the organized body was recognized by the Department of the Interior, and it had authority to represent all the members of that body, it did not have the necessary authority to represent the un­ organized Eastern Creeks.319 Therefore, the Court ruled that the Eastern Creeks were “entitled to be represented separately by rep­ resentatives of their own choosing.”320
This same reasoning is applicable to the claims in the Dann case. There are two distinctly organized bodies, and the Temoak band had
no authority to represent the Dann band before the ICC. The De­ partment of the Interior’s recognition of the Temoak band321 merely

311 Id.
312 I d. The Court held that the “selection of representatives for purposes of litigation, whose substantial interests are not necessarily or even probably the same as those whom they are deemed to represent, does not afford that protection to absent parties which due process requires.” I d. at 45.
313 53 U.S.L.W. 4169 (U.S. Feb. 20, 1985).
314 See supra notes 224-29 and accompanying text.
315 See supra notes 229-30 and accompanying text.
316 311 U.S. 321 (1940); see supra notes 308-12 and accompanying text.
317 122 Ct. Cl. 380 (1952); see supra notes 165-76 and accompanying text.
318 122 Ct. Cl. at 394.
319 I d. (“The Creek Nation in Oklahoma has only been recognized by the Secretary of Interior as having authority to represent the Creek Indians in Oklahoma. It has never been recognized as having authority to represent the unorganized but identifiable group of Creeks east of the Mississippi, and therefore is not entitled under the Indian Claims Commission Act to the exclusive right of representing such Eastern Creeks.”)
320 Id. at 394-95.
321 See supra notes 221-23 and accompanying text.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 277

authorized that band to represent its own membership. Thus, the Danns’ constitutional argument before the Court, that the ICC did not adequately verify that the Temoak band represented all the interested parties, should have succeeded. 322 Neither the common law doctrine of aboriginal title, nor the statutorily-created ICC, were adequate to protect procedural due process for all tribal descendants eligible to participate in aboriginal title claims before the ICC.

3. Alternative Remedies

As a result of the Court’s decision in United States v. Dann,323 Indians like the Danns, who continue to live on aboriginal title land, are estopped from proving in collateral litigation that title is not extinguished when a prior ICC judgment allegedly compensated them for their land. Indians in the Danns’ position, however, may pursue several alternatives to obtain relief from the ICC judgment. The two best alternatives involve petitioning to Congress for sta­ tutory relief, or seeking appellate review of the ICC’s decision by the Court of Claims.
The Danns could petition Congress to enact a statute providing
for review by the Claims Court as to the issue whether extinguish­ ment could be stipulated before the ICC. Such a statute would have
to disregard the principles of res judicata. Congress enacted a similar
statute in 1978, which authorized the Court of Claims to review the
merits of the Sioux Indians’ Black Hills claim.324 Such a statute would

322 Another procedural due process violation could be charged against the ICC’s statute itself. The Act denied parties whose rights were affected the opportunity to protect their interests, by delegating unconstitutional authority to the Secretary of Interior to determine who may appear before the ICC.
323 See supra notes 275-90 and accompanying text.
324 25 U.S.C. § 70s(b) (1976). That statute, which amended the Indian Claims Commission Act, states:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon application by the claimants within thirty days from March 13, 1978, the Court of Claims shall review on the merits, without regard to the defense of res judicata or collateral estoppel, that portion of the determination of the Indian Claims Commission entered February 15, 1974, adjudging that the Act of February 28, 1877 (19 Stat. 254), effected a taking of the Black Hills portion of the Great Sioux Reservation in violation of the fifth amendment, and shall enter judgment accordingly. In conducting such review, the Court shall receive and consider any additional evidence, including oral testimony, that either party may wish to provide on the issue of, a fifth amendment taking and shall determine that issue de novo.
!d. Pursuant to this statute, the Court of Claims affirmed the ICC’s holding that the congres­
sional act of 1877 effected a taking, compensable by the value at the date of taking plus interest. Sioux Nation of Indians v. United States, 601 F.2d 1157, 1159 (Ct. Cl. 1979). In United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371, 407 (1980), the Court upheld the

278 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

allow the introduction of additional evidence, and permit the repre­ sentation of all the competing interests involved before the Claims Court. In the subsequent review, the Danns could introduce evidence refuting the stipulated extinguishment.
A second possible avenue for alternative relief from an ICC judg­
ment is the filing of a motion to reopen the case in the Claims Court, “an independent motion,” pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Pro­
cedure 152(b).325 The Federal Rule provides:

[t]his rule does not limit the power of the court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding, or to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the court.326

To entertain such an independent action to reconsider a decision, the court must have equity jurisdiction, and if there had been no previous judgment, must have subject matter jurisdiction. 327
Authority for the filing of such an independent action derives from
the decision in United States v. Andrade. 328 In Andrade, the Court
of Claims assumed, without deciding, that it had jurisdiction to entertain an independent action to reconsider an ICC judgment. 329
The court reasoned that it possessed the necessary equity jurisdic­ tion to hear an independent action because it has the authority to reopen its own judgment. Therefore, since the Indian Claims Com­ mission Act provides that an ICC judgment has the same effect as a judgment of the Court of Claims, it should similarly be authorized to reopen an ICC judgment. 330 The court also ruled that it possessed original subject matter jurisdiction over a claim to reopen an ICC proceeding because the Act provides that the Court of Claims can entertain Indian claims accruing after 1946.331
The court dismissed the claim in Andrade,332 however, because the plaintiffs did not carry their burden of proving that the ICC’s

statute’s constitutionality against a charge that it impennissibly violated the doctrine of separation of powers. /d. at 407.
325 FED. R. Crv. P. 152(b).
326 ld., cited in Andrade v. United States, 485 F.2d 660, 663 (Ct. Cl. 1973) (per curiam),
cert. denied sub nom Pitt River v. United States, 419 U.S. 831 (1974).
327 485 F.2d at 663-64.
328 485 F.2d 660 (Ct. Cl. 1973).
329 ld. at 663.
330 /d. at 664 (citing 25 U.S. C. § 70u (1976)).
331 485 F.2d at 664 (citing 28 U.S. C. § 1505 (1982)). (Any action which would subject a judgment of the ICC to reconsideration must occur, by definition, after the date the ICC was founded.)
332 485 F.2d at 664-65.

1986] INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION 279

judgment was manifestly unconscionable -a burden that was heav­ ier because the plaintiffs could have brought suit eight years earlier. In a situation like the Danns’ case, however, their prior attempts to intervene, 333 and the due process component 334 of their claim, should meet this stringent proof requirement and allow their claim to be heard. 335

V. CONCLUSION

Decisions by the Indian Claims Commission in aboriginal title extinguishment cases may have violated the due process rights of individual Indians still living on aboriginal lands. However, the Court’s conflicting pronouncements on the question of the scope of

333 See supra notes 230-36 and accompanying text.
334 See supra notes 266-68 and accompanying text.
335 Other available alternatives seem unlikely to succeed. First, disputants could petition Congress for an act declaring their aboriginal title unextinguished despite the ICC judgment, or for a grant of the same parcel of land to which aboriginal title had been declared extin­ guished. Congressional approval is unlikely, however, because either proposal may violate the separation of powers doctrine. Andrade, 485 F.2d at 663.
Second, the Danns could seek an executive initiative to regain their ancestral land, either formally with an executive order, or informally by provoking executive lobbying in Congress. Two Indian groups successfully used both these alternatives during the Nixon Administration. Note, supra note 23, at 393. In 1972, Nixon signed an executive order providing for the return to the Yakima Indians of Mount Adams, a sacred mountain which had been confiscated and declared public land. Exec. Order No. 11,670. The Nixon Administration also pushed legis­ lation through Congress to return the Blue Lake shrine to the Taos Pueblo Indians, over the objections of the Senate Interior & Insular Affairs Committee. The Administration did not set a precedent for the return of aboriginal lands, however, because it stressed that it was acting out of respect for Indian religious beliefs. 116 CONG. REC. 23131, 23133 (1970). More recent appeals to the executive branch have failed. 1978 Hearings, supra note 181, at 503-15 (appeals to Vice President and Secretary of Interior). Given such limited past success with executive intervention, and more recent failure, an appeal to the current administration seems unlikely to succeed.
Third, Indians disputing an ICC judgment could assert adverse possession as a defense in
an action brought against them by the government. The Quiet Title Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2409a (1972), which enables citizens to bring suits to quiet title against the government, clearly states that sovereign immunity is not waived to permit suits against the government based on adverse possession. Id. at § 2409a(g). Despite this limitation, Indians may claim adverse possession as a defense in a suit brought by the government, such as the claim against the Danns. However, in such a case the requisite adverseness of possession may be disqualified by the government’s acquiescence in knowingly permitting the Indians to continue occupying the land. See also Turtle Mountain Band, 490 F.2d at 942 (“Defendant [government] invokes the traditional doctrine that land interests cannot normally be acquired against the sovereign by adverse possession or lapse of time. But that very same principle was applied by the predecessor sovereigns, and if it were to be allowed to affect Indian title (in the way the Government seeks) no aboriginal title could have been obtained at any time after assumption of sovereignty on this continent by the first European powers. Of course, this has never been the rule for Indian ownership.” (citations omitted).

280 ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS [Vol. 13:241

individual rights in the area of aboriginal title lands makes this issue unclear. Since the Court refused to recognize a violation of the Dann band’s due process rights in United States v. Dann, individual In­ dians who maintain that their aboriginal title to lands is not yet extinguished must pursue other avenues to vindicate their title rights. This controversy will continue until the last acre of aboriginal title land in the United States is converted into fee simple title.

Turks, Moors, & Moriscos in Early America

Sir Francis Drake’s Liberated Galley Slaves & the Lost Colony of Roanoke

---

BY UMAR FARUQ ABD-ALLAH, PH.D.

This article is the first installment of a new Nawawi series on Roots of Islam in America. The series will attempt to bring to light the rich and still largely unexplored history of Muslims in the New World during the pre-modern period. The presence of Muslim peoples throughout the history of America attests to the fact that they have played a noteworthy role in the American experience. Our knowledge of this background helps transform the dominant historical account from an ideological “meta-historical narrative” to a more balanced record of our richly shared past. It fosters dynamic paradigms and cognitive frames of how we perceive our past, opens up new fields of research, and helps Muslims and non-Muslims in America today discover common elements that impart a richer definition of our communal identity based on a more honest and comprehensive vision of our shared past.

Fact is sometimes stranger than fiction. One very
unusual and little-known event took place at the dawn of American colonial history in 1586. That year, Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), the famous English
seaman, discoverer, and privateer,1 brought at least two hundred Muslims (identified as Turks and Moors,2 which likely included Moriscos3) to the newly established English colony of Roanoke on the coast of present-day North Carolina. The Roanoke settlement was England’s first American colony and constitutes the first chapter of English colonial history in the New World and what ultimately
became the history of the United States. Only a short time before reaching Roanoke, Drake’s fleet of some thirty ships had liberated these Muslims from Spanish colonial forces in the Caribbean. They had been condemned to hard labor as galley slaves4. It is not clear what Drake intended to do with the liberated slaves. The Spanish feared he would conscript them as reinforcements in the Roanoke colony, which the Spanish knew of vaguely through intelligence reports but had not been able to locate and destroy. Historical records indicate that Drake had promised to return the liberated galley slaves to the Muslim world, and the English government did ultimately repatriate about one hundred of them to Ottoman realms.5 Given that the original number of liberated galley slaves was reported to be over twice that count, it is reasonable to ask what happened to the others. Did they simply perish? Did they choose to remain behind on the shores of present-day North Carolina? Did Drake maroon them there against their will? Did he take them all back to England? Were they, in fact, all repatriated to the Muslim world? Since the Roanoke narrative is not complete without the unusual story of Drake’s liberated Muslim galley slaves, the colony’s history also marks the first known chapter of Muslim presence in British America and, later, the United States.

It so happened that the Roanoke colony failed after a few years, its brief existence lasting from 1585 to 1590. The colony was initially founded as a privateering base to attack Spanish shipping in the Caribbean and was part of a mounting sea war waged between England and the Spanish Empire, one that culminated in the Spanish Armada’s unsuccessful attack on England in 1588. As
a colony, Roanoke failed mainly because it was cut off from vital supplies from England between 1587 and 1590 (its crucial last three years), given the Armada’s
impending attack on England and the continued threat of a second Spanish naval attack on England for years afterwards. When the English finally did return to
Roanoke in 1590, they found none of its former settlers.

They saw no evidence of violence, but they did infer from signs the settlers had intentionally left behind that they had peacefully relocated and probably settled among the various Native American tribes in the region.6 Because the fate of Roanoke’s last settlers remains unknown, it is often referred to in American history as the “lost colony.”7 Taken in isolation, the episode of Drake’s liberated
Muslim galley slaves at Roanoke seems to be just another one of history’s many remarkable curiosities. To be properly understood, however, the entire event must
be placed within the global context of the era, in which English-Muslim relations were generally favorable. This broader global reality explains
why Drake took such interest in his liberated Muslim captives, commanded his crew
to treat them hospitably, and apparently looked upon them as potential allies in
England’s struggle with Spain.
In general, the early presence of Muslims in the New World must be understood
from a global perspective, as Hernán Taboada rightly notes in his study of Spanish
preoccupations with Islam and Muslims in the Americas during the formative sixteenth century. Taboada laments the inability of Western historians to grasp the central importance of global Islamic civilization in the early history of the American colonies, which he attributes to the fact that few scholars of American history have adequate exposure to Islamic history. In addition, he notes the lack of documentation, the deficiency of adequate historiographical methods, and the persistence of a myopic Eurocentric focus in Western historical writing, which have all contributed to the inability of historians to articulate their studies in a broader global context.

The Spanish of the sixteenth century were not oblivious to the global link between Drake’s liberation of the Muslim galley slaves in the Caribbean and England’s ties with the Muslim world abroad. Interestingly, Spanish observers of the time appear more aware of the broader context of Drake’s raids than many contemporary Western
historians. An escaped Spanish seaman that Drake had held as prisoner was quick to observe in an official report to the Spanish crown on Drake’s Caribbean raids that Queen Elizabeth I “had her ambassador with the Turk [the Ottoman sultan], to whom she had sent great gifts.”10 The same Spanish seaman contended that Drake himself
had personal plans to take refuge among the Muslims of North Africa in the event that the anticipated attack of the Spanish Armada would be victorious.

It is not a coincidence that Spanish reports about Drake consistently refer to him and other European privateers who attacked Spanish shipping as “Corsairs” (the term for Muslim privateers).11 At the time, the Corsairs of North Africa and Morocco were at the peak of their power. Drake, his close friend Sir Walter Raleigh, who was the moving force behind the Roanoke colony, and many other English privateers knew the Corsairs well; they had amicable relations with them and sometimes even joined their fleets.12 Contemporary Spanish reports were not completely mistaken in their view that there was a certain affinity between English and European privateers and the formidable Corsairs, whom the Spanish continually battled on the high seas or encountered in privateering raids. In fact, the Corsairs were most probably one of the sources of the Turkish and Moorish prisoners that the Spanish had condemned to hard labor in their Caribbean war galleys.

Recent historical studies have brought to light the fact that there were significant numbers of Muslims in the New World during the colonial period, who lived a generally clandestine existence as slaves and occasionally free laborers. Most persons of Muslim background in the American colonies belonged to one of two groups:
enslaved Africans, generally from West Africa (about ten to twenty percent of which had Islamic roots), and the Moriscos of Spain and Portugal, who had been forcibly converted to Christianity in the sixteenth century.13 The two groups existed side-byside in Spanish and Portuguese colonies; in the English colonies, however, persons of Moorish or Moriscan background were rare, and Africans constituted by far the larger and more visible of the two populations.

Drake’s liberation of the Muslim galley slaves shows that these other Muslim peoples of diverse backgrounds were also present in the Spanish colonies and constituted an unexpected element of Muslim presence in colonial America. There were undoubtedly other war galleys in the Spanish colonial fleet like those that Drake encountered in Cartagena. Such ships were essential to Spanish naval power because they could maneuver more effectively in battle than sail-powered ships and made lethal use of the heavy artillery mounted upon them. Turks and North African Moors taken captive in war were likely to end up as galley slaves so it is not surprising that Drake chanced upon hundreds of them in the Caribbean, nor is it unlikely that there were many similar Muslim galley slaves in the Spanish colonies.

But slavery in the galleys was also the common fate of thousands of Spanish and Portuguese Moriscos who were convicted of “heresy” (usually clandestine Islamic practices) before the tribunals of the Inquisition, and some of the “Moors” that Drake liberated were probably Moriscos (Iberian Moors) who had run afoul of the Inquisition.

We have no conclusive evidence that any of Drake’s liberated Turks, Moors, and possibly Moriscos remained behind at Roanoke and established roots in America. But the mysterious Melungeons of Appalachia and their cousins, the Lumbees of North Carolina, trace their roots to Roanoke and probably have the greatest claim to Drake’s legacy. Both Melungeons and Lumbees antedate British settlement in America and make up unique populations that are distinctive from Whites, Blacks, and Native Americans. For centuries, Melungeons and Lumbees have proudly identified themselves as “Portuguese” and have been widely regarded
to have Moorish roots.

Our questions about what ultimately became of Drake’s unusual assemblage of rescued “Turks,” “Moors,” and other liberated slaves remain largely unanswered and may likely persist as one of the unsolved mysteries surrounding the “lost colony” of Roanoke.16 What is especially important about Drake’s story is its global context, which not only accurately reflects the hospitable relations that existed between England and the Muslim world but also the ubiquitous presence of Islam as a world civilization. In addition, the episode draws our attention to the importance of looking for unexpected Muslim roots in America, such as those of the liberated galley slaves, whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds were extremely diverse and wide ranging, reflecting the cosmopolitan reality of the time. We need to see the history of the Americas as an important piece of a larger global puzzle that involved not just Western Europeans but influxes of various peoples from diverse and sometimes unexpected backgrounds. Muslims have always been part of that puzzle. They have had a presence in the Americas as long as Western Europeans, even if their numbers were smaller and their roles less conspicuous.

Turks, Moors, and Moriscos

Knowledge begins with correct usage of terminology. It is impossible to evaluate accurately the historical references to “Turks” and “Moors” in the records of Drake’s liberated galley slaves without clarifying what these terms meant in the sixteenth century. Both words had broad and narrow usages, so it is necessary to keep all possible meanings in mind. Most contemporary historians who have written on Drake’s liberated galley slaves have treated the word “Moor” too narrowly as exclusively referring to North African “Moors” without including “Moriscos,” the former Moors of Spain and Portugal. Failure to understand the broader implications of the word “Moors” has often rendered the historical narrative confusing and not truly reflective of the potentially very diverse origins of the groups involved.

In the sixteenth century, the terms “Turk” and “Moor” in their broadest sense were used as generic references to Muslims, regardless of national, cultural, or ethnic
backgrounds. In the Iberian context, “Moor” was still the common generic word for Muslim, and that broad usage still applies to the Spanish records of Drake’s
liberated galley slaves. Since the Middle Ages, Spanish legal codes had defined Muslims as “Moors.” In the legal code of King Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284), “Moor” referred to “a sort of people who believe that Mu^ammad was the prophet or messenger of God.”17 For centuries during the European crusading movement, the conquered Muslim populations of formerly Moorish Spain and Portugal, who continued to live under Christian rule, were still regarded as Moors and lived in “Moorish quarters” (morerías).18 When the Spanish colonized the Philippines in the
sixteenth century, they referred to the large indigenous Muslim populations they encountered there as “Moors;” their protracted wars to subdue them were called the “Moro [Moor] wars.”19

The words “Turks” and “Moors” could also be used more narrowly to refer to various national and political affiliations or cultural and ethnic identities. When used in this more specific sense, the word “Turk” had an essentially national connotation referring to the political subjects of the Ottoman Turkish Empire,
whose boundaries at the time took in the entire Balkans, extending as far north as Austria, and embraced most of the Middle East. Even then, however, “Turk” did not exclusively refer to cultural or ethnic Turks but applied to other Muslim populations in the vast empire, including Arabs and Kurds, who were neither culturally nor ethnically Turkish.

As we will see, one of the curious aspects of the English records of Drake’s
liberated galley slaves is that they also refer to “Greeks” among the “Turks.” These Greeks would also have come from the Ottoman Empire, which, at the time,
comprised all the Greek islands and landed territories of mainland Greece and the large Greek-speaking populations of Anatolia; it is not possible to determine from the reference to “Greeks” if they were Orthodox Christians, Muslim converts, or
Turkic populations that had settled among the ethnic Greeks. The reference to “Greeks” in conjunction with “Turks,” however, makes it clear that the “Turks”
referred to in the records were Ottoman subjects and not merely a generic reference to Muslims, since the two populations were extensively intermixed in the Ottoman Empire.

Although there was no single sixteenth-century “Moorish” empire, there
were a number of “Moorish” political entities; “Moor” in its narrower sense, unlike “Turk,” did not signify any given state affiliation. “Moor” might refer to the Muslims of the Kingdom of Morocco or any of the North African regencies of Algeria, Tunisia, or Libya. The word was equally applicable in the Iberian context to the Moriscos, the former Moors of Spain and Portugal.20

The Inquisition forced all conquered “Moorish” populations to convert to Catholicism during the first half of the sixteenth century; these populations gradually became known as “Moriscos” (literally, “little Moors”). Outwardly, Moriscos were Christian. They were given Spanish and Portuguese baptismal names, spoke the Romance languages of their respective regions, and were culturally and ethnically Iberian. Moriscos were kept under the Inquisition’s constant surveillance to ensure that they kept up Christian appearances and did not practice Islam openly or secretly. The “converted” Moors of Spain and Portugal, however, were rarely content with their forced conversion. Toward the close of the century in 1582, only a few years before the Roanoke project began, Philip II—then king of the united realms of Spain and Portugal—concluded that all efforts to disperse and assimilate the converted Muslims of Iberia had been a failure.21

The word “Moriscos” does not occur in any of the original historical records related to Drake’s liberation of the Caribbean galley slaves. At the time, “Morisco” was still a new word in Spanish and Portuguese usage and was only beginning to be popularized. The neologism “Morisco” was originally pejorative. It gradually became common usage in Spanish and Portuguese and replaced earlier expressions such as “converts,” “new Christians,” and “converted Moors.”22 “Morisco” became popular in northern Spain around 1550, but for many years after that date, Spanish Inquisitors in the same northern regions tended to refer to their formerly Iberian Muslim defendants as “convert Moors” and not as “Moriscos.”23

“Little Moors” (Moriscos) could also be referred to as “Moors.” Portuguese Moriscos preferred to be called “Moors” (Mouros),24 and this was presumably the case with many Spanish Moriscos as well. The word “Moor” seems to have been especially applicable to Moriscos who were found guilty of the “heresy” of reversion to Islam, no doubt because the word “Moor” never lost its generic meaning as “Muslim.” In 1560, the Inquisition of Peru executed Lope de la Pena and his cohort Luis Solano for practicing and spreading Islam. Official records refer to the former as “the Moor” Lope de la Pena, although he was almost certainly a forcibly “converted” Moor (i.e., a Morisco), as his Christian name indicates, since Moriscos were given baptismal names.25

Although the word “Morisco” does not occur in the Spanish or English records of Drake’s liberation of the galley slaves, the word’s absence is no indication that at least some of the “Moors” he liberated were, in fact, “converted” Iberian Moors. It would be mistaken to expect the word “Morisco” to occur in these sixteenth-century records, since the word
was not an official technical term and was still in the process of being popularized in the Spanish vernacular. The term “Moor” in these records could equally apply to “converted” Iberian Moors, especially since “heretical” Moriscos were frequently condemned to the galleys. In seeking to determine if any of Drake’s liberated “Moors” were actually “converted” Spanish or Portuguese “Moors,” it is necessary to focus on the descriptions given them in the historical records and the circumstances associated with them. Only then can the ambiguous label applied to them be more accurately
understood.

Moriscos were frequently accused of “heresy” on suspicion of open or clandestine adherence to Islamic faith and practice. A mere slip of the tongue or neglect of Christian worship could lead to a Morisco being summoned before the tribunals. Inquisitors paid close attention to “signs” of heresy, such as facing Mecca in prayer or performing ritual ablution or washings.26

The Inquisition forced all conquered “Moorish” populations to convert to Catholicism during the first half of the sixteenth century; these populations gradually became known as “Moriscos” (literally, “little Moors”).

“Heretical” Moriscos were generally condemned to death by burning at the stake; the Church euphemistically called these executions “acts of faith” (autos de fé). Among themselves, the Moriscos referred to the Inquisitors as “the Burners” (al-¤arr¥q‰n); they warned their children not to reveal that they were Muslims because “there is an Inquisition, and they will burn you” (porque había Inquisición y [te] quemarían). Moriscos often looked upon the Church as an enemy armed with arsenals of torture, galleys, and fire. They knew well that the Inquisition would readily seize their property and take away their children at the slightest suspicion of heresy.27 In rare cases, the Inquisition allowed Moriscos convicted of capital acts of “heresy” to exchange their death sentences for life in the galleys. Moriscos found guilty of lesser acts of “heresy,” which did not warrant death in their Inquisitors’ eyes, were also usually condemned to perpetual service as galley slaves.28 The
practice of circumcision, for example, was generally regarded as an act of lesser “heresy.” King Philip II ordered the Inquisition to sentence to the galleys without question anyone found guilty of performing circumcisions.

Labor as a Spanish galley slave was difficult to survive; few probably lasted more than five years. A galley slave’s only hope of survival was to escape. When Spanish galleys were attacked at sea by the Turks or the Corsairs, the galley slaves often sought to free themselves from their chains and repeatedly rose up against their Spanish masters—as they did during Drake’s Caribbean raids—and sought their salvation among their rescuers.

Moriscos were known for their deep and lasting emotional attachment to Islam and their inclination to express personal and cultural attachment to the faith whenever it was safe for them to do so.31 Many African Muslims who were enslaved in America shared a similar outlook, as indicated by their biographies.32 From the beginning of the colonial period, both Spain and the Catholic Church perceived Islam as a threat to the monolithic religious and cultural hegemony they intended to foist upon the New World. A Spanish royal decree pertaining to settlement of the New World declared in 1543: “In a new land like this, one where faith is only recently being sowed, it is necessary not to allow to spread there the sect of Mu^ammad or any other.”33

Spanish imperial authorities sought to restrict emigration to the New World to “old” Catholics, excluding “new” converts of Morisco and Marrano (i.e., Jewish) backgrounds. To have ready access to the New World, one was technically required to prove oneself the child or grandchild of Christians who had never been in trouble with the Inquisition.34 This policy was difficult to enforce upon Moriscos because they constituted the primary work force of Spain and were essential for much of the manufacturing, production, and building that the New World demanded.35 The art and architecture of the Spanish American colonies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is extensively Morisco in style and constitutes standing proof that Morisco builders were present in significant numbers and active in the New World, despite the official policies that were meant to exclude them.

In the sixteenth century, Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who gave the Spanish Inquisition its definitive form and was called the “missionary to the Moors,”37 complained that Islam was being openly practiced in the Americas, especially by Moriscos.38 Official measures to eliminate the Moriscos from the Americas never seem to have been fully effective. With its vast expanses, mobility, opportunities, inexhaustible demand for labor, and greater social freedom, the New World was attractive to the oppressed populations of Spain and Portugal.

Américo Castro, the noted cultural historian of Spain, contends that many Moriscos and Marranos sought out the New World as a place to find the freedom and peace they could no longer find at home.

At the time of Roanoke’s founding, the attitudes of the English toward the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, Morocco, and North Africa contrasted sharply with those of the Spanish. In general, the English had become open to the Muslim world and had relatively frequent contact with it. Moreover, in the wake of the newly begun Protestant Reformation, English and other European Protestants looked upon the Ottoman Turks and the Muslims of Morocco and North Africa along Spain’s southern flank as valuable potential allies against the encroachments of the Spanish Empire, the Counter Reformation Papacy, and the Inquisition. The English maintained extensive commercial, diplomatic, and social connections to the Ottoman Turks and the Moroccans of North Africa. Nabil Matar states in his pioneering work on this subject: No other non-Christian people interacted more widely with Britons than the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the North African regencies of Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya, along with Morocco (which was not under Ottoman domination). These Muslims . . . represented the most widely visible non-Christian people on English soil in this period—more so than the Jews
and the American Indians, the chief Others in British Renaissance history. Matar notes that during this period Turks and Moroccans, by the thousands, visited and traded in English and Welsh ports. Muslim ambassadors and emissaries dazzled London society with their charm, exotic foods, and Arabian horses.

Muslims and Englishmen ate at the same tables in London inns and together admired processions of elegant horse-drawn Ottoman carriages. British ships transported Muslims to the pilgrimage in Mecca and protected them from the depredations of pirates. Britons even fought in Muslim armies and joined the Corsairs.

British settlement in the New World got off to a slow and difficult start. On the other hand, there had already been significant British settlement in the Muslim world during the same period. An English observer noted in 1577 that “the wise and better-minded” of English men and women were leaving England to live in other lands such as France, Germany, and North Africa.42 Muslim societies were open to immigration from Christian lands. In the eyes of underprivileged Europeans, such Muslim societies were meritocracies when compared with the severe restrictions based on birth that confronted them in European societies, where it was difficult to advance beyond the class into which one was born.43 Attraction to the Muslim world was not unique to the British; Western European émigrés living in Algiers during the early seventeenth century were numerous and influential. Even when heavier English migration to North America began in the late 1620s, Britons living in Moorish North Africa and elsewhere in the Muslim Mediterranean continued to outnumber their cousins in the American colonies for years. As noted earlier, an official Spanish deposition—taken in Havana after Drake’s Caribbean raids—notes that Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) “had her ambassador with the Turk, to whom she had sent great gifts.”45 This report reflects the state of English-Muslim relations at the time of the founding of the Roanoke colony. Queen Elizabeth carefully cultivated diplomatic ties with both the Turkish and Moroccan rulers of the period and was the first English monarch “to cooperate openly with Muslims, and allow her subjects to trade and interact with them without being liable to prosecution for dealing with ‘infidels.’”46 Queen Elizabeth understood well the strategic and commercial advantages that good diplomatic relations with Muslim powers could bring, and she received their emissaries in London graciously. At times, the Queen even dressed in a Turkish wardrobe, which she had directed her ambassador in Istanbul to procure for her. Her father, King Henry VIII, had also, on occasion, worn “Oriental” attire to receive Muslim guests.

Queen Elizabeth’s seemingly liberal attitude toward Al-Man|‰r and Queen Elizabeth conducted an extensive correspondence, which lasted from at least 1580—two years after he mounted the throne—until their deaths, which both occurred in the year 1603.

Muslims met with the approval of the Ottoman court, and England’s initiative to repatriate the “Turks” whom Drake liberated in the Caribbean was consciously part of England’s overall politics of rapprochement. The queen’s Privy Council48 was anxious to repatriate the Muslims in hopes that the act would benefit the English Levant Company, which was trading in Turkey. The council expected that its agents would gain “greater favor and liberties” with the Ottomans, possibly securing the release of certain Turkish-held English captives.49 The English provided new clothing for Drake’s liberated “Turks” so that they could be given a proper presentation to the Ottomans50 and were confident that the rewards they were likely to reap from the Ottomans would more than repay all costs, including the transportation of Drake’s “Turks” to Istanbul.51 En route to Turkey, the English encountered a Muslim judge (q¥\Ï) from Palestine—then an Ottoman realm—who was amazed to hear the story of the freed Muslim prisoners and marveled greatly at both Queen Elizabeth’s goodness in doing such an act and in her power as a woman to see it implemented.

Some years later in 1594, Safiyya Baffo, an Ottoman princess and Venetian convert to Islam who had some influence over Turkish foreign policy, wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth, whom she addressed as “chosen among those which triumph under the standard of Jesus Christ.” Baffo told Elizabeth of the great hopes her wise policies and Protestant faith had aroused in Muslim hearts. Morocco was equally important in Queen Elizabeth’s eyes; she fostered good ties with the Moroccans as assiduously as she did with the Turks. The Queen maintained an especially close relationship with Morocco’s king, A^mad al-Manal-DhahabÏ (“the Golden”),54 who was an astute diplomat himself and had intimate knowledge of the Christian European world. The relationship appears to have
approached sincere friendship.

Al-Man and Queen Elizabeth conducted an extensive correspondence, which lasted from at least 1580—two years after he mounted the throne—until their deaths, which both occurred in the year 1603.55 He was in correspondence with the Queen at the time of the founding of the Roanoke colony and shared her desire to check Spanish power in the Caribbean. In 1603, al-Man|‰r made the extraordinary proposal that Morocco and England combine forces, expel the Spaniards from the Caribbean, take joint possession of the Spanish dominions in the New World, and “by the help of God…join it to our estate and yours.” Al-Man|‰r’s proposal was never implemented.56 It does reflect, however, the frankness and sense of political potential that marked English-Moroccan relations at the time. This dynamic vision of cooperation is reflected in Drake’s attitude toward the Muslim galley slaves he liberated en route to Roanoke.

Good relations with Morocco were critical for English shipping to the Americas during the early colonial period. A “Renaissance triangle” ran between England, Morocco, and the Americas. Preservation of the so-called triangle was crucial to English-Muslim relations in the days of Queen Elizabeth, because the success of British navigation of the western Atlantic depended upon it. Under other circumstances, the British would have used the Canary and Cape Verde Islands to cross the Atlantic, but those islands were inhospitable because they were under Spanish and Portuguese control respectively. In place of these islands, the British forged the Renaissance triangle with Morocco, which remained in use during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and subsequent English monarchs. During the time of Roanoke’s founding and for years afterward, the triangle continued to be the most attractive and lucrative sea-lane available for British traders, travelers, emigrants, adventurers, privateers, and pirates. Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh knew the Renaissance triangle well and made use of it.

The Roanoke colony belongs, of course, to the time of the Renaissance triangle, the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), and the age of the great English poet and playwright William Shakes eare (1564-1616). Shakespeare’s masterpiece The Tempest, although written several years after Roanoke’s failure, reflected the contemporary English fascination with the New World across the Atlantic, which had made the idea of the Roanoke colony appealing to the English and continued to lure them to new explorations and discoveries.

Queen Elizabeth commissioned Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), the English courtier, soldier, and explorer, to found the colony, giving the project her full support. For the Queen, Roanoke constituted a bold and carefully determined political move. By establishing an English foothold on America’s Atlantic coast, she intended to assert England’s growing power as an emerging nation and its will to directly challenge Spain’s claim to exclusive rights to colonize the New World. In 1580, five years before the first settlement in Roanoke, Philip II, emperor of Spain, took power over the Portuguese throne, uniting Spain and Portugal as a single kingdom. Spain would continue to rule Portugal for the next sixty years.

Thus, during the period of the Roanoke colony and for a long time afterward, Portugal belonged to the kingdom of Spain, giving Spain the claim to unique and exclusive rights to colonize all parts of the Americas, including Portuguese Brazil.

Spain employed its extensive naval and military might to ensure that no European rivals established competing colonies in the New World. The “Invincible” Spanish Armada of 1588 was an expression of the awesome power of the united Spanish Empire, and the Spanish outpost at St. Augustine in Florida was established with the express purpose of policing the North American coastline and preventing the establishment there of “illegal” non-Spanish colonies.

After its union with Portugal, Spain had come to appear in European eyes as the new Rome. It was now at the height of its wealth and power as one of the greatest global powers in history, stretching from the Philippine Islands in the western Pacific to the American continents in the distant Atlantic. It was an empire so vast that the sun never set upon it. Spain was the champion of Roman Catholicism and the Counter Reformation. It was also the primary upholder and political beneficiary of the Inquisition, which served the Spanish state as a powerful organization of central and domestic intelligence, fostered ideological and cultural hegemony, and buttressed Spain’s political unity and foreign policy. Spain’s power on land and sea did not constitute a political threat to England and Western Europe alone but stood in direct ideological opposition to the Protestant Reformation, which had begun in the early sixteenth century and provided nations like England with the religious and ideological underpinnings of their newly emergent states.

Around the time of the foundation of the Roanoke colony, united Spain and
Portugal constituted the most powerful nation of Western Europe. Even before their union in 1580, Spain and Portugal had prevailed as masters of the Western Atlantic Ocean and had claimed and enforced their exclusive right to colonize the Americas, which the Pope had officially endorsed in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. In the treaty, the Pope granted Portugal the unique right to colonize Brazil, while all other lands falling west of Brazil (namely, the remainder of what is now North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean) were to be a permanent monopoly of the crown of Spain. When the Roanoke colony was founded, the Spanish regarded the new English colony as a direct legal and political encroachment on their exclusive colonial domain. Early Colonial Virginia including Roanoke and present-day North Carolina.

By enforcing its unique right to colonize the Americas, the Spanish Empire was determined to extend its political power and keep the New World an exclusive domain for itself and the Roman Catholic Church. In addition to this ideological agenda, however, Spain was fundamentally concerned with protecting its wealthy fleets of treasure ships, laden with silver, gold, and other riches, which regularly made their way out of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea through the treacherous narrows of the Bahaman Channel on their way back to Spain. The treasures of these ships lured pirates and privateers from near and far and were constantly in danger of attack.

Spain rightfully feared that any non-Spanish colony established on North America’s Atlantic coastline would serve as a privateering base to attack Spanish shipping. This was, in fact, the basic purpose of the Roanoke colony.61 When Spain learned of the Roanoke project, its primary motive for seeking to locate and destroy the colony was to prevent it from becoming a privateering base for the English. Due to the unusual turn of historical circumstances, however, the Roanoke colony disbanded on its own accord before the Spanish could discover its location. Around the time of Roanoke’s founding, Queen Elizabeth was constantly sending forth swarms of English privateers to attack the Spanish treasure fleets.

This epoch was the great period of the English privateers, who were involved in an undeclared naval war with Spain. On the average, England would send over a hundred privateering ships a year to attack the Spanish Caribbean trade. Their activity was a major reason for the formation of the Spanish Armada. Yet, despite Spanish attempts to stop them, the English privateers remained highly successful; Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake were key figures in these successful privateering ventures and among their greatest financial beneficiaries. Despite their success in attacking Spanish shipping, English privateers were greatly impeded by their lack of ports on the American side of the Atlantic.

They clearly understood that their privateering operations would be much more effective if based in America. Having a base at Roanoke, not too distant from the Spanish fleets, would mean that English privateers could spend a full year or longer in the Caribbean, coming to Roanoke when necessary for supplies and repairs and then returning to sea to attack Spanish ships whenever the opportunity arose.65 Unlike the Plymouth Rock colony, which the !( Pilgrims settled in 1620, Roanoke was predatory from the outset; attacking the Spanish treasure ships of the Caribbean was its lifeline and reason for being.

Sir Walter Raleigh was the driving force behind the Roanoke project, which began in 1584 with a reconnaissance mission and continued until 1590, when the English made their last contact with the colony and found no trace of its settlers.

Like Queen Elizabeth, Raleigh was driven by the dream of asserting English power and forging an empire, which they hoped would ultimately surpass Spain. For Raleigh, establishing the colony of Roanoke was the first step toward the creation of that empire.

Founding the Roanoke colony was an expensive proposition. Raleigh justified the expenditure to his investors by the immediate returns they would gain from Roanoke as a privateering base in addition to whatever mineral wealth they might chance upon in the area. Though some English contemporaries disapproved of privateering, it was widely regarded as legitimate in Raleigh’s time; English investors were quick to see the lucrative potential of the Roanoke colony as a base for attacking the Spanish treasure fleets of the Caribbean.

The first stage of colonization at Roanoke began in 1585 but lasted only a year. The initial process was temporarily disrupted in 1586, when most of the original colonists returned to England with Drake’s privateering fleet, the same fleet that had brought the liberated Muslim galley slaves. As indicated earlier, many of the slaves proceeded with Drake to England and did not stay behind at Roanoke. It is not clear, however, what happened to the remainder.

Prior to Drake’s visit in 1586, there had been about one hundred and seven colonists in Roanoke from its first settlement of 1585. They had been brought to Roanoke in a fleet of seven ships designed for privateering. The fleet had included about six hundred men, about half of whom were sailors and whose numbers were so large because privateering was their primary mission.68 The first colonists were largely veterans of England’s Irish and European wars; they were well trained for privateering missions and for defending the settlement against possible Spanish attacks, but they were poorly suited for building a permanent society or maintaining good relations with the local Native Americans, both of which were crucial for their long-term survival and success.

When Sir Francis Drake arrived at the Roanoke Colony with his liberated galley slaves and a number of Black domestic slaves in the summer of 1586, he offered the original settlers two choices: he would either leave them with a month of supplies, a smaller ship, and some boats with a sufficient number of pilots and seamen, or he would take them home with him to England. At first, the colonists chose to stay, but they were suddenly hit by a violent three-day storm, which wrecked the ship Drake had promised the colonists and wreaked havoc on Drake’s fleet. After the storm, the original colonists reconsidered their options and decided in favor of returning to England. Drake made them a new offer of provisions and a different ship, if they chose to stay behind; he emphasized that the wreckage his fleet had suffered in the storm left only limited space to accommodate the Roanoke settlers for their return to England. Nevertheless, the first colonists chose to abandon Roanoke and return with Drake to England.

Ironically, on the same day Drake set sail from Roanoke to return the colonists, a supply ship, which Sir Walter Raleigh had sent, arrived at Roanoke with relief. The supply ship had failed to sight Drake’s fleet, so when it arrived at Roanoke, its crew found the colony deserted and returned to England. In mid-August of the same year, another English ship arrived with further supplies for the colony but learned from a local Native American that Drake had taken the original settlers and returned with them to England; this last ship left a small group of fifteen to eighteen men on Roanoke with two years provisions and sailed away.

In 1587, a second attempt was made to colonize Roanoke, but its success was hampered by the imminent attack of the Spanish Armada upon England, unsuccessfully launched in 1588. This second and final attempt at settlement in
1587 consisted of about one hundred and fifteen men and a number of families, unmarried women, and children, who sought to establish a plantation colony on a self-supporting basis.71 Historically, the settlers of this second group are known as the “lost colonists” of Roanoke, not the original settlers who came during the period of 1585 through 1586. It was during this second period of settlement that the birth of Virginia Dare took place, the first English child born in America.72 Other Roanoke colonists remain unaccounted for, including many of Drake’s liberated slaves, as well as the small garrison the second supply ship had left behind in the late summer of 1586.

For some time prior to the Armada’s attack, England placed an embargo on ships going to the New World to ensure that the English forces at home had maximum strength to withstand the expected Spanish attack. Because of this embargo, Roanoke’s connection with England was cut off from 1587 until 1590. Although the second settlement of Roanoke in 1587 was intended to transform the colony into a self-supporting agricultural community, that goal remained secondary and was kept in the background, while the privateering agenda remained the colony’s primary goal. As such, the implementation of the agrarian plan was frustrated at every turn. The second group of settlers preferred overwhelmingly to relocate Portrait of Sir Francis Drake by Jodocus Hondius.

Further north to the Chesapeake Bay, which was more suitable for an agrarian colony. But the ship captains and seamen, who made up the majority at Roanoke, were, again, preoccupied with privateering and overruled the possibility of moving to the Chesapeake Bay, which was less suitable for privateering. They also noted that with the hurricane season soon approaching, the best weather for attacking Spanish ships had almost come to an end, and there was no longer adequate time to establish a new colony further north.

Roanoke’s governor, John White, who was also Virginia Dare’s grandfather, was sent to England in 1587 on a desperate mission to secure supplies. He finally obtained special permission in 1588 to return to Roanoke with supplies in two smaller ships. White loathed privateering and regarded it as a type of “thieving.”

Much to his distress, the two captains commissioned to bring him back to Roanoke were privateers and could not be swayed from attempts to engage in privateering route to Roanoke. Their raids proved disastrous: all supplies were lost, and the two ships were forced to return to England empty handed, which made it impossible for White to reach Roanoke and bring the needed supplies.

Two years later in 1590, White was finally able to make the voyage to Roanoke, only to learn after arrival that the colony had disappeared. None of the original colonists, including his granddaughter, Virginia Dare, were ever found. But the colonists had left the word “CROATAN” carved on a post near the entrance to the fort, which was understood by previous agreement to mean that they had peacefully joined the Croatan (Hatteras) tribe of Native Americans on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.76 Rumors of a large English presence in North America continued to circulate in Europe after the loss of the Roanoke colony.77 But after the initial failure at Roanoke, England lost active interest in American settlements for another twenty years.

Queen Elizabeth I had commissioned Sir Francis Drake, who was closely associated with Sir Walter Raleigh and the Roanoke project, to strike the Spanish Empire and its American settlements as part of a general strategy toward opening a sea war with Spain and challenging its hegemony. Drake set out on his raiding expedition in 1585, which constituted a major challenge to Spanish power, while providing Spain with a rationale for sending the Armada to attack England three years later.

Drake set out from England with a fleet of about thirty ships and a combined force of nearly one thousand men. His intention was to raid a number of Spanish ports and colonies prior to making his rendezvous at Roanoke.80 Through their agents in London, Spanish authorities knew in advance that Drake was preparing a large fleet in England, which would be used against them. Official Spanish reports estimated the size of Drake’s fleet at twenty-four large ships in addition to a number of smaller crafts and as many as two thousand seamen.81 Although the number of Drake’s men was actually half that estimate, his forces were still approximately ten times the size of a typically large privateering party of the time. The fleet also outnumbered by as much as two to five times the Spanish militias that were posted in the major Spanish ports of the Caribbean. Drake’s supremacy in numbers explains in part how he was able to defeat the Spanish with relative ease and spend several weeks in residence at the ports of Santo Domingo and Cartagena (Colombia) after taking them.

Drake began his expedition by attacking the northwestern coast of Spain. He then proceeded southward along the African coast to raid the Cape Verde Islands. The islands had long been under Portuguese control but were now united under Spanish rule. The Cape Verde Islands gave Drake direct access to the powerful equatorial current, which facilitated the fleet’s crossing of the Atlantic to the Americas. Drake arrived at Santo Domingo in the present-day Dominican Republic. After sacking Santo Domingo and spending several weeks there, he proceeded to the port of Cartagena on the “Spanish Main” in present-day Colombia. He destroyed the city and encamped there for several weeks before sailing on. Drake intended to attack Havana, which was the vital link in the Spanish colonial system in the Caribbean. Conquest of Havana would have redounded greatly to Drake’s credit and been a major blow to Spain. But he was advised against the attack and decided to avoid the city. One of Drake’s Spanish captives reported that he had learned that Havana was too well protected (the city had advanced knowledge of Drake’s fleet and his previous attacks on Santo Domingo and Cartagena); Drake feared that attacking Havana would lead to unacceptable losses. He was also apprehensive that he could not hold the port for any significant time even if he were initially victorious.

Drake bypassed Havana and made his way northward along the Florida coast to St. Augustine, Spain’s principal Atlantic outpost for patrolling America’s northern coasts against technically illegal (non-Spanish) settlements. He razed St. Augustine and then proceeded northward along the Atlantic coast to Roanoke, which he reached in July 1586.85 After his return to England, Drake claimed that he had destroyed St. Augustine to protect Roanoke, since the Spanish would have used the base in St. Augustine to disrupt the English colony.

Drake began collecting liberated Black slaves in his raid on the Cape Verde Islands before crossing the Atlantic. He continued to take more liberated slaves on board once he arrived in the Caribbean.87 Spanish colonial authorities took careful note of Drake’s raids and his interest in taking on board large numbers of captives and surmised that there must be an illegal English settlement somewhere along the North American Atlantic coast, which they believed Drake hoped to reinforce with the captives.

The Muslim galley slaves were acquired in Drake’s raid on Cartagena, although one Spanish report states that he also carried off “Moors” from Santo Domingo. English records make reference to two or three “Moors” who assisted Drake as guides in his surprise attack on Santo Domingo. In any case, whatever “Moors” Drake may have taken on board his fleet at Santo Domingo, they should not be confused with the much more numerous galley slaves of Cartagena.

Both Spanish and English records give similar accounts of how the galley slaves of Cartagena made their escape from Spanish captivity. A barrel of gunpowder caught fire in one of the war galleys; in the chaos that ensued after its explosion, the slaves were released or escaped from the irons that were holding them in their rowing positions, and they escaped by swimming to the English ships.89 In describing the pandemonium that broke out in the galleys, the journal of one of Drake’s ships states that fighting broke out between the Spaniards and the galley slaves; the Spanish killed many of them, took others with them ashore, while still others broke free and swam to the English boats.90 All accounts indicate that the galley slaves willingly joined Drake’s fleet and served him in various unspecified capacities. Spanish records consistently speak generically of the galley slaves as “Moors” and give no more specific indication of their national affiliations or cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The English records are less generic and speak of the galley slaves as an assemblage of “Turks, Moors, Greeks, Frenchmen,92 and Negroes.” The number of the galley slaves was great, although reports vary widely. A Spanish report from Cartagena estimates the numbers of Drake’s liberated “Moors” to have been around two hundred. It notes that Drake welcomed them, treated them well, and promised to return them to their lands, claiming that he planned ultimately to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar.94 An English ship journal from Drake’s fleet speaks of only one “very fair galley,” from which the slaves escaped, and estimates their number at four hundred. Yet another entry from the same journal states that when Drake left Cartagena he took with him “some two hundred Turks and Moors” in addition to a large number of “Negroes.”95 Another entry from the same ship journal gives a considerably smaller number, stating that eighty slaves were taken, whom it designates as Turks, Frenchmen, Greeks, and Negroes.

This particular reference to “80” slaves (written out as such in Arabic numerals) may well be a mistake—as one historian suggests—for “800,” since the same journal clearly states elsewhere that the numbers were in the hundreds.97 A private merchant’s report that reached England a short time after Drake’s raids appears to exaggerate the numbers of persons Drake liberated; it states that Drake took away with him from Cartagena one thousand two hundred Englishmen, Frenchmen, Flemings, and “Provincials,” whom he had liberated from prison, in addition to eight hundred “country people.”

The “Turks” referred to in the English records of Drake’s raid on Cartagena were subjects of the Ottoman Empire. After Drake’s return to England, as noted earlier, the Queen’s Privy Council wrote in August 1586 to the Levant Company, which was trading in Turkey; the communication directed them to take charge of the one hundred Turks and make plans for sending them back to Turkey, possibly in exchange for favors to be granted by the sultan.99 The reference to “Greeks” also affirms that the “Turks” in the English records were subjects of the Ottoman Empire, since the two ethnic groups were closely interlinked in Ottoman realms.

Greeks—Muslim and Christian alike—played a prominent role in the Ottoman Empire, and one would expect in any significant assemblage of Ottomans to find Greeks. The famous sixteenth-century Corsairs, Khidr Khayr al-Din Barbarosa (1483-1546) and his older brother, Baba Aruj (1473-1518), were from the Greek island of Lesbos. One of Drake’s “Turks,” who is identified as Chinano, also came from the Greek islands.

As indicated earlier, the descriptions of the “Moors” in these records appear at times to refer to “converted” Iberian Moors (Moriscos) and not to North African Moors. It would be natural to expect to find Moriscos among Drake’s liberated galley slaves, because they made up a substantial portion of Spanish galley slaves in general. The Spanish governor at Cartagena speaks, for example, in an official deposition to the Spanish crown of certain soldiers in Cartagena, “especially Moors,” who deserted the Spanish and joined Drake’s forces.101 This report has perplexed Western historians; one historian comments, for example, that it was “unlikely that the Spaniards had soldiers who were Moors.”102 It seems even more unlikely that the governor at Cartagena would so carelessly misspeak on this matter in an official legal deposition to the king of Spain. The governor’s reference to “Moors” is less problematic, if the word “Moor” is taken to refer to “converted” Iberian “Moors” (Moriscos), who might have been among the regular ranks of the governor’s troops.

Another Spanish deposition on Drake’s raid at Cartagena states that “most of the [galley] slaves and many of the convicts from the galleys went off with the English.”103 Although all galley slaves were technically “convicts” in that they had been condemned to the galleys, this reference to “convicts” among the slaves raises the question again of whether at least some of these “convicts” were not Moriscos. As indicated earlier, Moriscos were customarily sent to the galleys as convicts of “heresy” at the hands of the Inquisition and made up a sizeable proportion of Spanish galley slaves.

Although some Muslims who came or were brought to the Americas had
strong personal ties to Islam and attempted to practice it and preach it whenever the opportunity arose, many others were “sociological” Muslims or persons with only some historical connection to Islam but lacking any significant knowledge of the faith or personal commitment to its practice.104 According to one Spanish account of the galley slave Moors, they appear as “sociological” Muslims of this vein. The deposition in question, which was written by a private citizen wishing to volunteer beneficial information to the crown, describes Drake’s successful raid on Cartagena as “Heaven’s punishment on our sins.” It explains that the sins of the city’s people had increased greatly with the arrival of the galleys, their officers, and crews. The deposition accuses them of murders, robberies, and other insolences. It specifically mentions “unrighteous” associations between the Moors of the galleys and women of Cartagena, slaves, Native Americans, and “even other women of other sort, moved by desire which overmasters every other consideration.” He complains that the governor of Cartagena failed to punish the “Moors” for this insolence “because of the great friendship between the governor and the general who was commanding the galleys.”

It is difficult to determine the meaning and veracity of this reference to “unrighteous” mixing between the Moors and local Colombian women. It hardly establishes the identity of the “Moors” as Moriscos. At the same
time, Moriscos were outwardly identical to the Spanish, and this fact would have facilitated their mixing with local women, since they shared the Spanish language and similar cultural backgrounds. As noted before, an English ship journal reports on Drake’s raid on Santo Domingo that “two or three Moors” served him as guides when most of his captains and seven hundred of his men went ashore in an attempted surprise attack on the
city.106 These “Moors” had first-hand knowledge of the Spanish colony and its people. Conceivably, North African or Moroccan Moors might have acquired such knowledge under liberal conditions of treatment, but “converted” Iberian Moors, who, for all intents and purposes, were identical to their Spanish countrymen would have had ready access to such knowledge.

The assemblage of liberated slaves whom Drake took on board his fleet in the Caribbean also consisted of a large number of Black slaves, whose numbers appear comparable in size to those of the Turks and Moors. As indicated earlier, Drake began collecting “liberated” Black slaves in his raid on the Cape Verde Islands and he continued to increase their numbers in all subsequent raids. According to the report of an escaped Spanish prisoner, Drake had one hundred and fifty Black slaves, both men and women, on board his fleet after leaving Santo Domingo and
prior to his attack on Cartagena;108 many additional Black slaves joined Drake after his attack on that port.109 Several slave masters from Cartagena came to Drake, attempting to ransom their Black slaves, but he refused to return them to their masters for ransom unless the slaves themselves were willing to go back.110 Drake
took on an additional number of Black slaves at St. Augustine. Three other Black slaves at St. Augustine hid from Drake and subsequently reported to the town governor that Drake had taken the Black slaves because: “He meant to leave all the negroes he had in a fort and settlement established at Jacan [Roanoke] by the English who went there a year ago. He intended to leave the 250 blacks and all his small craft there and cross to England with only the larger vessels.”111 A solitary Spanish report of a private citizen from Cartagena contends that
three hundred Native Americans, mostly women, joined Drake’s fleet in that city in addition to the “Turks,” “Moors,” and Black slaves.112 This report is not confirmed by any other Spanish or English account. Since there is no further reference to liberated Native American captives at Roanoke, it may have been only hearsay with
no historical substance. One historian suggests, however, that if Drake did in fact take the Native American women on board, it was only temporary, and he probably put them ashore further up the coast.We are unlikely to ever know for certain the full story of all the hundreds of liberated Muslim galley slaves and Black domestic slaves Sir Francis Drake brought in his fleet when he came to Roanoke in 1586. Because Roanoke was established as
a privateering colony under constant danger of Spanish attack, early records about it were kept intentionally vague to preserve secrecy. When Drake sailed for the colony in 1586, he was not sure exactly where to find it because the reports he had been given were kept intentionally vague unless they fell into Spanish hands. Secrecy surrounding Roanoke partially explains the gaps in our historical records about it. Beyond considerations of secrecy, however, the Roanoke reports that we do have are characteristic examples of the inherent limitations of historical records. The exasperating nature of these reports must always be kept in mind in assessing the ultimate fate of Drake’s liberated captives. As opposed to the careful narratives of professional historians, the historical records they are forced to rely on are generally haphazard, fortuitous, and written by unobservant, often poorly educated people, who take much for granted and fail to note vital facts. Record keepers do not make records for the sake of posterity but for personal, public, and often very mundane reasons. The sole French account of Drake’s liberated galley slaves, for example, was strictly concerned with French
interests. It recorded the number of French prisoners Drake liberated but made only a most passing reference to the hundreds of other liberated slaves. It gave no indication of their numbers or identity, which were apparently of little concern to the French recorder.115 When historical records do note unusual facts, however, such as the presence of large numbers of Turks and Moors among the liberated galley slaves, those facts carry special weight. On the other hand, when the same records fail to keep track of these Muslims and do not fully inform us of their final destinies, we should not regard that gap as surprising or contradictory. It merely reflects the fact that their plight was neither a fundamental concern of the record keepers nor
something that they necessarily had any knowledge of.

English and Spanish records concur that Drake welcomed all the liberated slaves on his fleet and commanded his crew to treat them well. An escaped Spanish captive complained that Drake treated all nationalities well except for Spaniards. Like his colleague Sir Walter Raleigh, Drake intended to use Roanoke as a privateering base to raid the Caribbean.119 Historians generally agree that Drake’s purpose in collecting his large assemblage of liberated slaves was to use them as reinforcements at Roanoke with the exception of those Muslims whom
he intended to repatriate.120 English records speak only of the repatriation of one hundred “Turks.” Although the English records consistently distinguish between “Turkish” and “Moorish” galley slaves, no mention is made of repatriating any of the “Moors.” Likewise, there are no reports of what became of the hundreds of Black slaves whom Drake had taken on board or of the reported contingent of Native American women. Only a relatively small number of the entire group is actually known to have come with his fleet to England.
As mentioned, a Spanish report taken from St. Augustine on the authority of Black slaves who had hidden and remained behind indicated that Drake had intended to take his liberated captives to Roanoke after his attack on St. Augustine to reinforce the English colony.123 Another important Spanish report to the crown expressed concern over Drake’s collection of the liberated slaves, believing that he had taken them on board to help establish a presumed English colony on the Atlantic seaboard, which the Spanish had still failed to locate but suspected to be in Santa Maria Bay (the Chesapeake Bay).124 Spanish reports indicate that the liberated slaves performed valuable services for Drake. It should also be noted that, according to one of the English ship journals, Drake lost as many as one hundred of his own crew to disease in Cartagena.125 Thus, the liberated slaves may have also compensated for Drake’s loss of crew, assuming that they did not themselves fall
victim to the same diseases.
With the exception of ten liberated French captives who were turned over to a French ship in the Caribbean, the liberated galley slaves, the Black slaves, and anyone else who might have been in Drake’s assemblage were still with his fleet when it left St. Augustine in ruins in May 1586 and made its way to Roanoke. If Drake did leave any of his remarkable assemblage behind, they left no trace at Roanoke itself. As noted, two separate English supply ships came to Roanoke shortly after Drake’s departure in 1586;127 none of these ships reported finding
anyone alive at the settlement. One uncorroborated Spanish intelligence report alleged that the first English relief ship found the hanged bodies of an Englishman and a Native American. The fate of all the others is one of the many remaining mysteries surrounding the entire Roanoke enterprise. As indicated earlier, the first supply ship landed only hours after Drake’s fleet had left; the second came later that summer and left behind a small garrison of fifteen to eighteen men whose fate also remains unknown.128 None of these ships reported finding remnants of Drake’s fleet at Roanoke. It seems unlikely that any persons Drake might have left behind at Roanoke could have disappeared so quickly without leaving a trace or could have been able to assimilate so rapidly with local Native Americans. It is possible, however, that any persons Drake left behind might have hidden from the ships, possibly because they did not know their country of origin and judged it wise to keep out of sight during the short time the relief vessels were there, as it was often the custom of Native Americans to do when foreign
ships arrived at their shores. It is also possible that Drake did not leave his liberated captives at Roanoke
but somewhere else along the coast in the colony’s vicinity. Some of the first settlers and liberated captives,
English records speak clearly of official negotiations to send one hundred former galley slaves back to Turkish dominions, and this repatriation was almost certainly completed.

Including members of Drake’s fleet, may have drowned or been left stranded in the violent three day storm that suddenly struck shortly after the fleet anchored at Roanoke.130 The records make no mention of those who perished in the storm, but they do indicate that a number of ships were sunk, which compelled Drake to complain that he lacked adequate space in his fleet to accommodate Roanoke’s English settlers, who had decided to return with him to England.131 This lack of space in the fleet would have also made it more likely that Drake left as many of the liberated galley slaves and Black domestic slaves on the coast as possible, since he would have presumably granted priority to accommodating the English settlers. Drake was not morally averse to leaving people behind. He clearly abandoned three of his own men at Roanoke, having sent them on a mission to the interior but setting out with his fleet before they returned. They too were never heard of again. The noted Roanoke historian Karen Kupperman suggests that the several hundred galley slaves, the Blacks, and the Native Americans (if they were in fact with Drake) were probably put ashore, possibly with some of the supplies that Drake had taken from his raid on St. Augustine to use at Roanoke. Kupperman notes that they may well have been adopted into Native American tribes of the region, which, unlike the Europeans, lacked a sense of racial exclusivity and generally accepted on equal terms anyone who was willing to unite with them culturally.132
When the Roanoke colony was resettled in 1587, there were still no reports of the liberated slaves or other remnants of the first colony.133 Twenty years after the failure of the second Roanoke settlement, however, there was evidence of White settlers identified as having come from Roanoke who were living in modern Virginia. Powhatan, a local Native American chieftain, also reportedly killed some of the original Roanoke settlers shortly before the founding of the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1607, which indicates that those unfortunate settlers had survived for at least two decades. English records speak clearly of official negotiations to send one hundred former galley slaves back to Turkish dominions, and this repatriation was almost certainly completed.135 It is very strange that no reference is made to any repatriation of Drake’s liberated “Moors” to Morocco or North Africa, especially if they were “genuine” (North African) Moors, as one historian calls them.136 As we have seen, the Renaissance triangle between England, Morocco, and the Americas was crucial
to English interests and directly involved the Moroccans, not the Turks. Its critical importance for the English would have made repatriation of the “Moors” even more strategically valuable than the repatriation of the Turks. If, however, Drake’s “Moors” were “converted” Iberian Moors, who were ethnically, culturally, and 26
linguistically identical to the Spanish and not necessarily welcome in Morocco or North Africa, Drake and the English might not have seen their repatriation to lands that were not originally their own as a potential benefit.

North Carolina legends maintain that the lost colonists of Roanoke survived, intermarried with Native Americans, and left descendants who continue to live in the region until the present day.137 The Melungeons and Lumbees—two unique, enigmatic, and closely related peoples of the South—have oral traditions linking them with Roanoke; many American writers and historians have long believed that the origins of both peoples are rooted in the remnants of the lost colony. For centuries, the Melungeons have been concentrated in the Appalachian Mountains of Butler County, Tennessee, although significant groups of them settled in other regions of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky.139 For a similarly long period, the Lumbees have been concentrated in the marsh country
along the Lumber River of Robeson County, North Carolina.140 Melungeons and Lumbees are ethnically and culturally similar and have long traced their ancestry back to a common stock; they share many family names (such as Bennett, Dare, Graham, Martin, Taylor, and White),141 which are often similar to the surnames of the original Roanoke settlers.142 Many long-established American families have some genealogical connection with these peoples. Among the most famous Americans with possible Melungeon roots are Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Elvis Presley.

The most puzzling and frequently discussed aspect of the Melungeon and Lumbee stories has always been their perplexing origins, which have fascinated writers for generations.144 Melungeons and Lumbees are typically tannish colored and Mediterranean looking, usually having dark hair and eyes.145 They are a distinctive people and have never fit neatly into any of the three principal ethnic classifications of British colonial America: White, Black, and “Indian” (Native American). Since at least the mid-1800s, it has been suggested that they had
Portuguese, Spanish, and Moorish roots and were mixed with escaped Black slaves and Native Americans,146 making up all the racial elements represented in and around the Roanoke colony region. Neither “Melungeon” nor “Lumbee” was a name that either of the peoples originally used for themselves. Rather they were epithets given them by the Whites who lived near them.147 In the nineteenth century, Melungeons deeply resented being identified by that name, although it has gradually become acceptable to them over the generations.148 The only designation by which both Melungeons and Lumbees have proudly and consistently defined themselves over the centuries was that they were “Portuguese,” which they pronounced as “Porterghee” or “Portyghee.”149 We should note that the Roanoke colony also had a distinctly Portuguese connection. Captain Simon Fernandes, who was a Portuguese Protestant from the Azores, was very influential in the Roanoke project and was directly involved in all its voyages.150
According to the report of a Spanish seaman who spent considerable time in Drake’s captivity, in addition to Fernandes, Drake also had a large number of other Portuguese and Genoese pilots and shipmasters serving him throughout his fleet. The name “Melungeon” is much older than “Lumbee” and probably derives from the French word mélangé (mixed) for “mixed race,” which French settlers apparently gave the Melungeons when they first encountered them in America in the seventeenth century.152 The Lumbees take their name from the Lumber River, which runs through their lands. They were living there when the first Scottish colonists entered the area. They came to be officially known as Lumbees only in the 1930s. The Melungeons and Lumbees antedate the coming of the first White settlers to the regions of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky where they are found. When the first White settlers arrived in those areas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they found the Melungeons and Lumbees speaking an archaic form of English and leading lifestyles similar to Europeans, such as living in cabins, tilling the soil, and practicing European arts and crafts, especially the mining and smelting of silver.154 In the memory of their White neighbors, the Melungeons and Lumbees have always been Protestant Christians. For centuries, Melungeons and Lumbees lived as isolated populations surrounded by generally unfriendly White neighbors, who—despite religious, cultural, and linguistic similarities—looked down upon them as “almost White” and sought to usurp their lands and legal rights. According to Melungeon oral tradition,
they had once owned the “good land” before the “white folks” came and took it away.

Historically, Whites regarded Melungeons as a mixed, tri-racial people, not being able to assign them to a distinctive category of their own.157 Given the evidence, however, it should be understood that race and ethnicity in America are more complex than generally assumed; both Melungeons and Lumbees should be classified as a distinctive fourth group, which, although mixed, does not fall neatly into the traditional American categories of White, Black, or Native American. For purposes of civil and legal rights in earlier times of racial segregation, Melungeons and Lumbees sometimes defined themselves as as “Indians” to avoid the total disenfranchisement that came with being classified as “Black.” They did not, however, practice a Native American religion.159 Neither of them is known to have ever spoken a Native American language of their own or possessed an
indigenous tribal culture, including, for example, Native legends, literature, folk tales, dance, music, or similar traditions. Unlike indigenous Native peoples, they have no treaties with the United States and never lived on reservations.160 They remained neutral in the wars between Whites and Native Americans.161 Although
both Melungeons and Lumbees have intermarried with Blacks, they do not have clear African origins, were never enslaved, and have always been “free” in the sense of being non-slaves.

Melungeons enjoyed rights of American citizenship until 1834 when they were designated as “free persons of color” and consequently disenfranchised.163 In the wake of the Civil War, Lumbees had no specific legal designation until 1885, when the North Carolina legislature officially designated them as Native Americans
yet without full recognition, consequently depriving them of certain rights such as access to reservations.164 In 1885, North Carolina gave them the name “Croatans” after the name of the Hatteras tribe associated with Roanoke, and Lumbees used that name until 1911, when it was abandoned after falling into disfavor because
Whites shortened it pejoratively to “Cro.” A common legend surrounding the Melungeon-Lumbee claim to be Portuguese
was that they were descendants of shipwrecked sailors who were marooned on the Carolina coast and gradually made their way westward over the hills of East Tennessee, where they intermarried with Native American women.166 They
maintained that they were part European and that some of their forebears had “come across the sea” and knew how to “talk in books,” that is, to read.167 From as early as the eighteenth century, it has been speculated that the
Melungeons were of Moorish descent.168 Judge Lewis Shepherd, who had defended a Melungeon girl in a famous Tennessee case in 1872 regarding interracial marriage, contended that her people were Portuguese Moors.169 According to other accounts, the Melungeons were “Christianized Portuguese Moors who fled to the New World
to escape the horrors of the Inquisition’s torture chambers.”170 In recent times, studies of gene frequency distributions and DNA among the Melungeons have indicated that their genetic makeup is consistent with their claim
to be Portuguese or generally Mediterranean. The same studies showed marked contrasts between their gene pools and those typically associated with Blacks and Native Americans. Melungeons also closely match certain Turkish (Anatolian) and South Asian (northern Indian) gene pools.171 We must keep the nature of the Roanoke records in mind and understand that their silence regarding the fate of the unaccounted Muslim galley slaves and Black domestic slaves is not surprising. Although historical speculation is naturally held within the limits of the documentation that records provide, we must not draw the mistaken conclusion that the records we have tell the full story. In reflecting on the “lost colony” and Drake’s liberated galley slaves, we must take into consideration that a number of other unreported scenarios are equally possible and must not be ruled out. Among these untold scenarios is that, somehow, the remnants of the Roanoke colony, including a significant number of Drake’s liberated Muslim captives, did survive, established roots in America, and became the forbears of the
Melungeons, Lumbees, and possibly other Americans related to them.

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1. A privateer was essentially a state-sponsored pirate. The distinction between a pirate and a privateer may seem semantic, but, unlike pirates, privateers were not at liberty to attack at will any ship on the open seas. The states that sponsored privateers determined which nation’s ships were legitimate prey for its privateers and which were not. Privateers were generally bound to observe that distinction.
2. The term “Moor” in the sixteenth century was used to refer to Muslims in general or to those of Spanish, Portuguese, Moroccan, and North African cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The term is discussed below in greater detail. It is an ambiguous term and carries no specific ethnic connotation; in the context of this paper, it is important to keep in mind that “Moor” can also refer to the former Moors of Spain and Portugal, who were forcibly converted to Catholicism in the sixteenth century and are also called “converted Moors” or “Moriscos.”
3. “Morisco” literally means “little Moor” and refers to former Spanish and Portuguese Muslims (Moors) who had been forced to convert to Catholicism during the sixteenth century at the hands of the Inquisition. The term will be discussed in greater detail in what follows.
4. In the pre-modern world, galleys were ships propelled by oarsmen. They were used in war and trade. The galleys referred to in this article were war galleys, which were generally equipped with artillery and could also be used to ram other ships. Galley slaves were used to row the galleys and were chained to their rowing positions. The Turkish galley slaves referred to in this article would have been prisoners of war who had been
captured in the various naval battles between Spain and the Ottomans. The Moorish galley slaves may have been prisoners of war from the Corsairs (North African and Moroccan Muslim privateers), but, as this article shows, it is also likely that at least some of them were Moriscos who, as was often the case in the sixteenth century, had been condemned to the galleys by the tribunals of the Inquisition on the grounds of being guilty of Islamic practices, which the Inquisition deemed as damnable “heresy.”
5. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 100-01.
6. See Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 62; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 21-23; David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, xvii.
7. John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 25.
8. See Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 114.
9. Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 32.
10. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 213-14; compare Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 31.
11. See Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 20-21.
12. See Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 13-14, 5-6, 59, 84.
13. See Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 115; L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 325; Sylviane Diouf, Servants of Allah, 1, 18-20, 45-46, 49, 179; Allen Austin, African Muslims in Antebellum America, 22-23. Most Africans brought to the Americas as slaves came from animist non-Muslim backgrounds, but
a significant percentage of them (conservatively, ten to twenty percent) came from the extensive Muslim culture zones of West Africa and were Muslims.
14. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 31; Bartolomé and Lucile Bennassar, Les chrétiens d’Allah, 75.
15. John Moore and Austin Foster, Tennessee, 1:791; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 95-96, 85-86; Louis Davis, “The Mystery of the Melungeons,” Nashville Tennessean, September 22, 1963: 16 (Cited in Jean Bible, Melungeons, 5).
16. See David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 97, 100.
17. From L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 66.
18. From L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 66.
19. See Cesar Adib Majul, The Contemporary Muslim Movement in the Philippines, (Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1985), 17-18. Interestingly, according to Hernán Taboada, Muslims from the Philippine Islands were also brought to the Spanish Caribbean as slaves in the sixteenth century and made up another unexpected element of the Muslim population of the American colonies (Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 115). At the time, Spain was in the process of conquering and colonizing the Philippines; Muslims predominated on the southern islands but also had a significant presence in the north, where they sometimes constituted a ruling
elite.
20. See L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 1.
21. Jan Read, Moors in Spain and Portugal, 225.
22. See L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 2-3; Tomás Irving, Artesania mudejar, 13; Ahmed
Boucharb, “Spécificité du problème morisque au Portugal,” 224.
23. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 20.
24. Ahmed Boucharb, “Spécificité du problème morisque au Portugal,” 224.
25. Sylviane Diouf, Servants of Allah, 147; she cites Frederick Bowser, The African Slave in Colonial Peru 1524-1650 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), 251.
26. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 33-35.
27. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 37.
28. See Bartolomé and Lucile Bennassar, Les chrétiens d’Allah, 75; Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 31.
29. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 87-89.
30. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 34.
31. Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 115.
32. See Sylviane Diouf, Servants of Allah, 49-70; Allan Austin, African Muslims in Antebellum America, 51-186.
33. Sylviane Diouf, Servants of Allah, 18, 179.
34. Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 10.
35. Américo Castro, “The Spanish Sense of Nobility,” 194-98; L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 60; Jan Read, Moors in Spain and Portugal, 229-31; Harold Johnson, From Reconquest to Empire, 8-11.
36. Tomás Irving, Artesania mudejar, 1; Jan Read, Moors in Spain and Portugal, 189.
37. Peter Dressendörfer, Islam unter der Inquisition, 25.
38. See Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 115; L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain, 325; compare Slyviane Diouf, Servants of Allah, 1, 18-20, 45, 49, 179.
39. Americo Castro, “The Spanish Sense of Nobility,” 189.
40. Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 3.
41. Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 5-6.
42. Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 84-85.
43. See Bartolomé Bennassar, Les chrétiens d’Allah, 19.
44. Nabil Matar, “Introduction: England and Mediterranean Captivity, 1577-1704,” in Daniel J. Vitkus, ed., Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England, Introduced by Nabil Matar, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 2.
45. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 213-14; compare Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 31.
46. Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 19.
47. See Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 34.
48. The Privy Council was an executive committee that advised the Queen.
49. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 100-01.
50. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 62, note 4.
51. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
52. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”

53. Nabil Matar, Islam in Britain 1558-1685, pp. 124-125.
54. Al-Man|‰r was called “the Golden” because of his access to vast treasures of West African gold.
55. See J. F. P. Hopkins, Letters from Barbary 1576-1774: Arabic Documents in the Public
Record Office, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 2-9.
56. See Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 9.
57. Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 83-84.
58. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 10-12; Gerhard Sollbach, Amerika 1590, 12-13; Paul
Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, ix; David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages,
2:718.
59. See David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
60. See Gerhard Sollbach, Amerika 1590, 10; Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, xvii.
61. See David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 2:718, 725; Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 6.
62. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 2:718; Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 6.
63. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 2:721; Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke
Voyages, 29, 44;
64. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 6, 142.
65. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 13, 18; David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 1:246.
66. Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, ix; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 25; Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, xxii-xxiii.
67. John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 98-99.
68. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 18-20; David Quinn, ed. The Roanoke Voyages, 1:244; Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, ix; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 20.
69. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 13, 15; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 99.
70. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 272-74; David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 100; Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 89-90.
71. See David Quinn, “Reflections” in Cecil Clough and P. E. H. Hair, eds., The European Outthrust and Encounter, 23; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 25.
72. John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 25.
73. See John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 21; David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, xviii;
74. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 13, 15, 18, 22; David Quinn, The Roanoke Voyages,
2:719; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 99.
75. John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 26-27, 90.
76. See Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 62; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 21-23; David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, xvii.
77. Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 62.
78. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 142.
79. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 1:249; Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 28.
80. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 88.
81. Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 22.
82. Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 28.
83. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 5-6, 88.
84. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 213; cf. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 204 note 4.
85. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 97.
86. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 5-6, 88; David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 99.
87. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98.
88. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 195, 197, 212; compare David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98; Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 202 note 3.
89. See Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 54, 57-59.
90. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 200.
91. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 197; Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 200-02.
92. Regarding the Frenchmen whom Drake liberated, a French report from the period mentions Drake’s attack on a Spanish galley and states that he liberated eighteen or nineteen Frenchmen who were among the galley slaves. It gives no indication of the numbers or identities of the other galley slaves. The report is valuable, however, because it gives an idea of how large the number of Frenchmen among the galley slaves was. Drake took two additional Frenchmen on board at St. Augustine. He reportedly encountered a French ship in the Caribbean and handed over ten of his rescued Frenchmen to be returned to France by it. This presumably happened before Drake
left Caribbean waters on his way to Roanoke, which would mean that he discharged a number of his French passengers before reaching that colony. What became of the remainder of the Frenchmen is not clear. See David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98, note 5: “Il y avoit au port une galère qui fut bruslée, et les esclaves qui estoient dedans, desquelz y avoit dix-huit ou dix-neuf François, mis en liberté” (Louis La Cour e la Pijardière, ed., Mémoire du voyage en Russie fait en 1586 par Jehan Sauvage, suivi de l’expédition de Fr. Drake en Amérique à la meme époque [Paris: Aubry, 1855], p. 23. Ten of the Frenchmen were brought back to Morlaix in a Norman vessel which accompanied Drake in the Caribbean (Julian Strafford Corbett, ed., Papers Relating to the Navy During the Spanish War, 1585-1586 [London: Navy Records Society, 1898], 95, 98; Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 54, 52.
93. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 195.
94. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 195, 197, 212; compare David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian
Voyage,” 98; Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 202 note 3.
95. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 200-02.
96. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 197.
97. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
98; Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 197, 202.
98. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
98; Quinn’s source is Public Record Office, SP 12/189, 42, letter of Nicholas Clever to Nicholas Turner, merchant, 26 May 1586.
99. See David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 100; Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 202 note 3; the Privy Council document is cited as P.R.O., P.C. 2/14: 169. Keeler puts the number of the Turks at two hundred. Apparently, she bases that number on the number given in
the ship’s journal above and not on a figure cited by the Privy Council itself.
100. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
102-03.
101. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 54, 52; compare
David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
102. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 54; David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98.
103. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98; Wright 159.
104. Compare Hernán Taboada, La sombra del Islam en la conquista de América, 115.
105. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 195, 197; compare David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98.
106. See Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 148.
107. The journal of a second ship in Drake’s fleet gives a parallel account of the surprise attack on Santo Domingo but mentions only a single Black who assisted Drake and his men and makes no mention of the two or three Moors. Although the reports appear contradictory, it may also be the case that the Black referred to in the second journal was a “Moor” who was black, a “Blackamoor.” Othello, the Moor in the service of the Venetian Republic in Shakespeare’s Othello, was a blackamoor, although he is also referred to as a Moor. A black Moor, however, would be more likely to be a North African rather than an Iberian Moor, since the latter were by and large ethnically Iberian. See Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 189 and note 3; Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors, and Englishmen, 8.
108. In Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 195, 197,
212; compare David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian
Voyage,” 98; Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 202 note 3.
109. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
98; Wright 159.
40
110. Enclosures (anonymous) in Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America
1583-1592, 150-53; 157-59.
111. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
99; Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 204, 230.
112. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 195, 197; David
Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98.
113. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
98-99 and note 10.
114. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 13, 18; David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages,
1:246.
115. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
98, note 5.
116. See Oliver Rackham, The History of the Countryside (London: J. M. Dent, 1986), 24.
117. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 169; David Quinn, “Turks,
Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 98.
118. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 212.
119. Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 29.
120. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 2:251-52.
121. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
122. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 97.
123. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 2:723.
124. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 2:722, 725.
125. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 202.
126. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 97.
127. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 1:254.
128. David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, 7; Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 54-55; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 20.
129. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 93.
130. Mary Keeler, ed. Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian Voyage, 272-74; David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,” 100; Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 89-90.
131. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
132. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 92.
133. David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, xvii.
134. David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, xvii.
135. David Quinn, ed., The Roanoke Voyages, 1:254-55.
136. David Quinn, “Turks, Moors, Blacks, and Others in Drake’s West Indian Voyage,”
137. Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 141.
138. See Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 3-4, 25, 29; Karen Kupperman, Roanoke, 141; Gerald Sider, Lumbee Indian Histories, 3; Lew Barton, The Most Ironic Story in American History, xi; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 88; Karen Blu,
The Lumbee Problem, 42.
139. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 25.
140. Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 1, 43.
141. See N. Brent Kennedy, The Melungeons, 172-73.
142. Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 25, 41; Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 40, 43.
143. N. Brent Kennedy, The Melungeons, 28-30; Elizabeth Hirschman, Melungeons, 1.
144. Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 36.
145. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Jean
Bible, Melungeons, 90-91.
146. Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 39.
147. Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 25, 41; Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 42, 135; Gerald Sider, Lumbee Indian Histories, xvi, 3.
148. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; cites Swan M. Burnett in “Notes on the Melungeons” in American Anthropologist, vol. II, October 1889: 1; Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 4, 83, 86-87.
149. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Swan M. Burnett, “Notes on the Melungeons” in American Anthropologist, vol. II, October 1889 (cited in Hale and Merritt, 1:180); John Moore and Austin Foster, Tennessee, 1:791; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 5, 95-96, 85-86; Louis Davis, “The Mystery of the
Melungeons,” Nashville Tennessean, September 22, 1963: 16 (cited in Jean Bible, Melungeons, 5); Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 83, 86-87.
150. The controversial Simon Fernandes (Simão Fernandes), who was a Protestant, “gentleman,” and an expert Portuguese captain, navigator, and privateer, was among the most important and influential of the Roanoke pilots and was involved in all the Roanoke voyages. See Paul Hoffman, Spain and the Roanoke Voyages, 20; Karen
Kupperman, Roanoke, 20-21; Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, xxii-xxiii; David Quinn, The Lost Colonists, 6; John Humber, Backgrounds and Preparations for the Roanoke Voyages, 24. For the most exhaustive account of Fernandes, see David Quinn, “A Portuguese Pilot in the English Service,” in his England and the Discovery of America 1481-1620, 246-63.
151. Irene Wright, Further English Voyages to Spanish America 1583-1592, 212.
152. Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 25, 41; Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180.
153. Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 25; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 42, 135.
154. Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 3, 25, 35; Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 5, 38-39, 88, 90; Louis Davis, “The Mystery of the Melungeons,” Nashville Tennessean, September 22, 1963: 16 (cited in Jean Bible, Melungeons, 5); Karen Blu,
The Lumbee Problem, 37, 40, 44, 135; Brewton Berry, Almost White (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1963), 17-18.
155. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 4; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 7-8, 90-91; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 1.
156. John Moore and Austin Foster, Tennessee, 1:791; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 38-39; she cites Brewton Berry’s Almost White (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1963), 17-18.
157. Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 4.
158. Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 3, 25; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 38-39; she cites Brewton Berry’s Almost White (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1963),
17-18; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 40, 135.
159. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 4; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 7-8, 90-91; Karen
Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 1.
160. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 7-8, 90-91; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 1.
161. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 4; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 7-8, 90-91; Karen
Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 1.
162. Gerald Sider, Lumbee Indian Histories, xvi.
163. John Moore and Austin Foster, Tennessee, 1:791; Hamilton McMillan, Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, 25; Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 1.
164. Gerald Sider, Lumbee Indian Histories, xvi.
165. Gerald Sider, Lumbee Indian Histories, 3.
166. Will Hale and Dixon Merritt, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 1:180, 184; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 96-97.
167. Jean Bible, Melungeons, 88, 90; Karen Blu, The Lumbee Problem, 37, 44.
168. John Moore and Austin Foster, Tennessee, 1:791; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 95-96, 85-86; Louis Davis, “The Mystery of the Melungeons,” Nashville Tennessean, September 22, 1963: 16 (Cited in Jean Bible, Melungeons, 5).
169. John Moore and Austin Foster, Tennessee, 1 790-91; Elizabeth Hirschman, Melungeons, 18-19; Jean Bible, Melungeons, 11. Her marriage to a White Tennessean was contested on grounds that it violated state laws against miscegenation, since it was believed that Melungeons were part Black.
170. Jean Bible, Melungeons, 96.
171. James Guthrie, “Melungeons: Comparison of Gene Frequency Distributions,” 13, 15,17; Wayne Winkler, Walking toward the Sunset, 239-41.

Chico Science & Nação Zumbi – Todos Estão Surdos

Tim Maia – Ensaio 1992 – “Chocolate”

I had contact with this material posted on Short and curious site and I found very interesting, do not know the accuracy of the information, but it’s something that the simple call puts us to think. Why worship foreign gods – Europeans and Africans – but we forget our own native gods? Our delighted work with other garments and we do not even give value to them within the traditions. Follow some information on indigenous gods.

Nhanderuvuçu

Also known as Nhamandú, Yamandú or Nhandejara, it is regarded as the supreme god of the Tupi-Guarani mythology.Nhanderuvuçu has an anthropomorphic way, it is the energy that exists, has always existed and will exist forever, so Nhanderuvuçú there even before the universe exist. At first he destroyed everything that existed and then created the soul, which in Tupi-Guarani language is called "Anhang" or "Ana"; "GWEA" means old (a); so Anhangüera "añã’gwea" mean old soul. Nhanderuvuçú created the two souls, and the two souls (+) and (-) emerged "anhandeci" matter. Then he wished lakes, fog, mist and rivers. For all this, he created Iara, the goddess of lakes. Tupa then created that is who controls the climate, weather and the wind, Tupa manifests itself with lightning, thunder, lightning, winds and storms, it is Tupa who pushes the clouds across the sky. Nhanderuvuçú also created Caaporã (Caipora) the protector of forests alone born, and protector of animals living in the forests, fields, rivers, oceans, in short the protector of all living beings.

Iara

Goddess of the waters, also known as Iara, it is seen as a beautiful mermaid who lives in the depths of the Amazon River, of brown skin, long green hair and brown eyes.

Abaçai

It is the god of war, a kind of ‘Aries’ or ‘Mars’ of the natives. It is the warrior spirit that takes possession of the Indian who is preparing to bloody battles. So say those prepared for guera are "abaçaiados." Lost’s note: There is a music band from the state The Magic Theatre called Abaçaiado.

Cove

The goddess of fire of Tupi-Guarani mythology.

Andura

A fantastic and surreal tree, the night ignites suddenly looking like enough with the way in which the Judeo-Christian God communicates with His prophets.

Chandoré

God of Tupi-Guarani mythology. Seguing to legend, would have been sent to kill the evil Indian Pirarucu, who challenged Tupa, but failed because Pirarucu threw himself into the river. As punishment the Indian turned into a fish, which bears his name.

Sumé

Also known as zume, Pay Sumé or Tume, among other names, is the name of an ancient body of mythology of the Tupi peoples of Brazil whose description varied from tribe to tribe. Such an entity would have been among the Indians before the arrival of the Portuguese, and broadcast a series of knowledge such as agriculture, fire and social organization, and would be a kind of god of laws and rules. He was seen with yellow hair flying everywhere, and even sank beneath the waters of the sea, when he is gone. Sumé left two children, Tamandaré and Ariconte, which were very different and hated one another. Lost’s note: We did a post about this divinity blog:  Father Sumé, the Guardian Spirit of Brazil .

Rudá

God’s Love, who lives in the clouds. His work is the awakening of love in the hearts of women. Equivalent to Hathor goddess of Egyptian mythology, Roman mythology Venus, and Aphrodite the Greek.

Tupa

It would be a kind of leader in tupinambá mythology, lord of thunder and storms. In simple analogy could be compared to the Greek god Zeus, or even the Norse god Thor, because he shares the same common explanation in the gods of ancient peoples for lightning. Tupa also has the characteristic of ubiquity, which is very common in Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions. The Jesuits at the time of colonization, broadcast an erroneous view that the thunder in sí would be an indigenous god, and in fact, it’s just the way used by Tupa to express themselves.

Jaci

The goddess of the moon and the night would be responsible for the magic and charm of men. It would have been created by Tupa to give beauty to earth. Sister Iara (Goddess of serene lakes), Jaci became wife of Tupa own. Other versions of the Indian mythology would say Jaci wife and / or sister Guaraci, the sun god. Jaci is equivalent to the Hindu Vishnu and Isis of Egypt.

Guaraci (or Quaraci)

Guaraci is the representation of the sun god, responsible for light, life and purity of the planet Earth, as well as Brahma (Hinduism) and Osiris (Egyptian).

Yorixiriamori

This god charmed women with their beautiful singing, which aroused the envy of the men who tried to kill him. So he fled to the sky in the form of a bird. It is a character from the famous myth "The singing tree", the Yanomami Indians.

Anhangá

The Jesuits spread the erroneous image that Anhangá would be the equivalent to the devil of the Christian religion, but Anhangá (meaning spirit) would be souls who roam the earth, it could take any form, but it would be seen as a deer with eyes fire. In addition, Anhangá would be the protector of animals, protecting them from hunters. When an animal escapes miraculously during a game, the Indians attribute this feat to Anhangá.  Lost’s note:  Anhangabaú is the name of a pipeline Ribeirão there in Sao Paulo, originally given as Anhangabahy or Anhangabahú, the Tupi meaning: "Rio’s evil spirit." The Indians said that those who drink such water was tormented by evil spirits.

Jurupari

Son of India Ceuci that after eating a forbidden fruit for young women in the fertile period (fruit mapati), miraculously became pregnant after the fruit juice streaming down her naked body. When the council of elders heard the story of Ceuci, she was punished with exile, where he had his son, named Jurupari sent the sun god Guaraci, which would have as its task to reformulate the customs and the way of life of men, which were submitted to women. Seen as the great Lawgiver, with 7 days of life already appeared 10 years old, and his wisdom attracted people who heard his teachings sent by the Sun God. In turn, the story told by the Jesuit assigns Jurupari to a kind of demon visit people’s dreams, giving rise to nightmares because the Jurupari ritual was the most practiced during the colonial period. The unique ritual for men, includes music with flutes, floggings, tobacco and coca and hallucinogens.

Ceuci

Goddess of agriculture and housing, represented by the brightest star in the Pleiades constellation. When on earth, was the mother of Jurupari, the envoy of the Sun / Guaraci, underwent the new method of patriarchal tribes. Women could not participate in the Jurupari rituals for the gods would kill the intruder. Once Ceuci with longing for his son approached him during a ceremonial, and that’s when she was struck by lightning, sent by Tupa. Jurupari, also son of the Sun, was sent to revive her, but he did not disobey the law of the gods. He calmed her saying he would shine in the sky, and find God Guaraci, and then, Jurupari cried. So when does the sun and rain at the same time, the Indians say that the spirit of Jurupari is around.

Akuanduba

A deity of macaws Indians, plays his flute to sustain and order to the world, representing the divine harmony.

Wanadi

God of iecuanas, is part of a myth that the sun would have created three living beings to inhabit the world. Only Wanadi was born perfect while the other two would be responsible for the evil in the world.

Yebá beautiful

Called "woman who appeared out of nowhere", is cited as responsible for the creation of mankind according to Dessanas. According to legend, would have molded men and women who chews coca leaves, ipadu calls.

Caipora

The caipora name comes from the Tupi-Guarani Caapora, and means "inhabitant of the woods." Caipora is represented by the form of a young Indian, covered by mounted and lives in a kind of pork-eating fox. He is the guardian of animal life. It is he who snaps branches, makes whistles and gives false clues to mislead the hunters. Legend has it that Caipora would be cannibalistic, feeding on everything and everyone who hunt in forests, punishing men, insects or even other animals. Caipora is responsible for punishing, especially those who hunt beyond the need.

Tupi

Primordial character of all Tupi people. The main ancestor that gave rise to all Indians. So many Tupi nations created their names as tributes to Tupi: tupinambás, tupiniquins, tupiminós, tupiguaés, etc …

The log of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the New World. Translated in 1903 by John Boyd Thacher. Meticulously scanned to text and proofed by Nathan Kennedy in 1998. Unfortunately, footnotes and commentary, italics, and accents were all lost.

(Literally Translated)
IN NOMINE D. N. JESU CHRISTI
Because, Most Christian and very exalted and very excellent and very powerful Princes, King and Queen of the Spains and of the Islands of the Sea, our Lords, in this present year of 1492 after your Highnesses had made an end to the war of the Moors, who were reigning in Europe, and having finished the war in the very great city of Granada, where in this present year on the 2nd day of the month of January, I saw the Royal banners of your Highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of the said City: and I saw the Moorish King come out to the gates of the City and kiss the Royal hands of your Highnesses, and the hands of the Prince, my Lord: and then in that present month, because of the information which I had given your Highnesses about the lands of India, and about a Prince who is called Great Khan, which means in our Romance language, King of Kings,– how he and his predecessors had many times sent to Rome to beg for men learned in our Holy Faith that they might be instructed therein, and that the Holy Father had never furnished them, and so, many peoples believing in idolatries and receiving among themselves sects of perdition, were lost;–your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians and Princes, loving the Holy Christian faith and the spreading of it, and enemies of the sect of Mahomet and of all idolatries and heresies, decided to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the said regions of India, to see the said Princes and the peoples and lands, and learn of their disposition, and of everything, and the measures which could be taken for their conversion to our Holy Faith: and you ordered that I should not go to the east by land, by which it is customary to go, but by way of the west, whence until to-day we do not know certainly that any one has gone. So that, after having banished all the Jews from all your Kingdoms and realms, in the same month of January, your Highnesses ordered me to go with a sufficient fleet to the said regions of India: and for that purpose granted me great favours and ennobled me, that from then henceforward I might entitle myself Don and should be High Admiral of the Ocean-Sea and Viceroy and perpetual
Governor of all the islands and continental land which I might discover and acquire, and which from now henceforward might be discovered and acquired
in the Ocean-Sea, and that my eldest son should succeed in the same manner, and thus from generation to generation for ever after: and I started from the city of Granada on Saturday, the 12th day of the month of May in the same year 1492: I came to the village of Palos, which is a sea-port, where I fitted out three vessels, very suitable for a similar undertaking: and I left the said port, well supplied with a large quantity of provisions and with many seamen, on the 3rd day of the month of August in the said year on a Friday 3 at the half hour before sunrise, and took my way to the Canary Islands of your Highnesses, which are in the said Ocean-Sea, in order to set out on my voyage from there and sail until I arrived at the Indies, and make known the message of your Highnesses to those Princes, and fulfil the commands which had thus been given me: and for this purpose, I decided to write everything I might do and see and which might take place on this voyage, very punctually from day to day, as will be seen henceforth. Also, Lords and Princes, besides describing each night what takes place during the day, and during the day, the sailings of the night, I propose to make a new chart for navigation, on which I will locate all the sea and the lands of the Ocean-Sea, in their proper places, under their winds; and further, to compose a book and show everything by means of drawing, by the latitude from the equator and by longitude from the west, and above all, it is fitting that I forget sleep, and study the navigation diligently, in order to thus fulfil these duties, which will be a great labour.
— FRIDAY, AUGUST 3.

Friday, August 3, 1492, at 8 o'clock we started from the bar of Saltes: we went with a strong sea-breeze 60 miles, which are 15 leagues, toward the south, until sunset: afterwards to the south-west and to the south, quarter south-west, which was the way to the Canaries.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4.
We went to the south-west, quarter south.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5.
We went on our way, more than 40 leagues between day and night.

MONDAY, AUGUST 6.
The helm of the caravel Pinta, upon which was Martin Alonso Pinzon, broke or became disjointed: this was believed and suspected to have been caused by ones Gomes Rascon and Cristo hal Quintero, who owned the caravel, because that voyage was displeasing to them. The Admiral says that before he left, they had discovered the aforesaid men concerned in certain plots and intrigues, as they say. The Admiral was greatly disturbed there, on account of not being able to aid the said caravel without endangering himself his own vessel and says that he became less anxious from knowing that Martin Alonso Pinzon was a brave and intelligent person: finally, between day and night they went 29
leagues.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7.
The helm of the Pinta again became disjointed and they repaired it and went in search of the island of Lanzarote, which is one of the Canary Islands, and they went 25 leagues between day and night.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8.
The pilots of the three caravels differed in opinions as to where they were, and the Admiral came nearest to the truth and wished to go to the Grand Canary to leave the caravel Pinta, as she was getting into bad condition on account of the helm and was leaking and he wished to obtain another caravel there, if one could be found. They could not make the Grand Canary that day.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9.
The Admiral was not able to reach Gomera until Sunday in the night, and Martin Alonso remained on that coast of the Grand Canary by order of the Admiral, because he was not able to navigate. Afterwards the Admiral reached Canaria (or Tenerife) and they repaired the Pinta very well, with much labour and great efforts on the part of the Admiral, Martin Alonso and the others: and finally they came to Gomera. They saw a great fire issue from the mountains of the island of Tenerife of which the greater part is very high. They made the sails of the Pinta round, as they were lateen sails. He returned to Gomera, Sunday, Sept 2, with the Pinta repaired.
The Admiral says that many honourable Spaniards, inhabitants of the island of Hierro, swore that they were on Gomera with Dofia Inez Peraza, mother of Guillen Peraza, who was afterward the first Count of Gomera, and that each year they saw land to the west of the Canaries {which is to the west} and others from Gomera affirmed the same thing under oath. The Admiral says here that he remembers that being in Portugal in the year 1484, a man came from the island of Madeira to the King to beg him for a caravel in order to go to this land I which he saw, which he swore he saw each year and always in the same manner: and he also says he remembers that the same was said in the Azores Islands, and that all were agreed as to the route, the appearance and size. Having then taken water and wood and meat, and the other things which the men had, whom the Admiral left on Gomera when he went to the Island of Canaria to repair the caravel Pinta, he finally set sail from the said island of Gomera with his three caravels on Thursday, Sept 6.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6.
He started on that day in the morning from the harbour of Gomera and took his course to go on his voyage: and the Admiral learned from a caravel which came from the island of Hierro, that three caravels from Portugal were sailing about there, in order to capture him: it must have been through the envy felt by the King of Portugal, because of the Admiral's going to Castile: and
he sailed all that day and night in a calm and in the morning found himself between Gomera and Tenerife.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7.
He was becalmed all Friday and Saturday until 3 o'clock at night.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8.
On Saturday at 3 o'clock in the night, the north-east wind commenced to blow, and he took his course and route to the west he had a heavy head sea, which obstructed his way; and he sailed that day and night about 9 leagues.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9.
He went 19 leagues that day and resolved to reckon less than he had gone, so that if the voyage should be a long one, his people would not be frightened and discouraged. During the night he went 120 miles which are 30 leagues, at the rate of 10 miles an hour. The sailors steered badly, falling off to the northeast quarter and even half of the quarter {a la media partida} about which the
Admiral many times reprimanded them.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10.
During that day and night he went 60 leagues, at the rate of 10 miles an hour, which are 2 1/2 leagues: but he computed only 48 leagues, in order not to frighten the people if the voyage should be lengthy.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11.
That day they sailed on their way, which was to the west, and went 20 leagues and more, and they saw a large piece of a mast belonging to a ship of 120 tons burden, and they were not able to take it. That night–about 20 leagues, but he did not count more than 16 for the said reason.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12.
This day, pursuing his course, they went 33 leagues during the night and day,computing less for the said reason.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13.
This day and night, going on their way which was to the west, they went 33 leagues and computed 3 or 4 less. The currents were against them. On this day at the beginning of the night, the needles declined to the north-west, and in the morning they declined a trifle.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14.
During that day and night they sailed on their way to the west and went 20 leagues: he computed something less. Here the persons on the caravel Niña said they had seen a jay (garjao) and a ring-tail (rabo de junco) and these birds never go more than 25 leagues from land at most.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15.
He sailed that day and night 27 leagues upon his course to the west and somewhat more, and at the beginning of this night they saw a marvellous branch of fire fall from the heavens into the sea, 4 or 5 leagues distant from them.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.
They sailed that day and night on their course to the west: they went 39 leagues but be computed only 36: there were some clouds that day and it rained slightly. The Admiral says here, that now and always from this time forward the air was extremely temperate, and that it was a great pleasure to
enjoy the mornings and that nothing was lacking except to hear nightingales. He says that the weather was like April in Andalusia. Here they began to see many tufts of very green grass, which according to appearance had not long been detached from the land, on which account every one judged they were
near some island: but not the continental land, according to the Admiral, who says, “because I make the continental land farther onward.”
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17.
He sailed on his way to the west, and they went 50 leagues and more during the day and night. He did not register more than 47. The current helped them. They frequently saw a great deal of grass and it was grass from rocks, and it came from the west. They judged that they were near land. The pilots took the position of the North Star, marking it, and they found that the needles declined to the north-west a good quarter, and the sailors were afraid and were troubled, and did not say for what reason. The Admiral knew it and ordered them to take the position of the North Star again at dawn and they found that the needles were good. This was because the star which appears, moves, and the needles do not. At dawn that Monday they saw much more grass, which appeared to be grass from rivers, in which they found a live craw-fish which the Admiral kept, and he says that those were sure indications of land because they are not found 80 leagues from land. They found the water of the sea less salt since they left the Canaries, the breezes always milder. They all became very joyful and the fastest ships went onward in order to be first to see land. They saw many tunny-fish {toninas} and the people on the Niña killed one. The Admiral Says here that those indications came from the west, “where I hope in that exalted God in whose hands are all victories that land will very soon appear.” This morning he says he saw a white bird which is called ringtail {rabo de junco} which is not accustomed to sleep on the sea.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18.
He sailed that day and night, and they went more than 55 leagues, but he only noted 48. All these days the sea was very calm, as in the River of Seville. This day Martin Alonso with the Pinta, which was a fast sailor, did not wait for the others because he said to the Admiral from his caravel, that he had seen a great number of birds go toward the west, and that night he hoped to see land, and for that reason he was sailing so fast. A large dark cloud appeared to the north, which is a sign that land is near.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19.
He sailed on his way and during the day and night went 25 leagues, because it was very calm: he wrote 22 leagues. This day at 10 o'clock a pelican
came to the ship and another came in the afternoon. These birds are not accustomed to go 20 leagues from land. There were slight rains without wind,
which is a certain indication of land. The Admiral did not wish to delay, beating about in order to find out if there was land, but he was sure that
toward the north and toward the south there were Some islands, as in fact there were, and he was going between them: because it was his desire to go
forward toward the Indies and the weather is pleasant; as, God pleasing, in returning, everything would be Seen. These are his words…Here the pilots
discovered their location. The Niña's pilot found himself 440 leagues from the Canaries. The Pinta's 420 leagues, and the pilot of the vessel, upon which was the Admiral, exactly 400.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20.
He sailed this day to the west, quarter north-west and half the quarter {a la media partida} because the winds changed many times with the calm they
went as much as 7 or 8 leagues. Two pelicans came to the ship, and afterwards another which was an indication that land was near: and they saw a great deal of grass, although the previous day they had not seen any. They took a bird with their hands which was like a jay: it was a river-bird and not a sea-bird and had feet like a gull. At dawn two or three small land birds came singing to the ships: and afterwards disappeared before sunrise. Afterwards a pelican came from the west-north-west and went to the south-east, which was an indication that it left land to the west-north-west, because these birds sleep on land and in the morning they go to the sea in search of food, and do not go 20 leagues from land.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.
Most of that day it was calm, and afterwards there was some wind. They went on their way and during both the day and night did not make as much as 13
leagues. At dawn they found so much grass that the sea appeared to be coagulated with it and it came from the west. They saw a pelican. The sea was
very calm like a river and the breezes the best in the world. They saw a whale which is an indication that they were near land, because they always remain near it.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22.
They sailed west-north-west, more or less, inclining to one side and the other. They went about 30 leagues. They saw almost no grass. They saw some
petrels {pardelas} and another bird. The Admiral says here: “This contrary wind was very necessary to me, because my people were becoming very much
excited, as they thought that on those seas no winds blew in order to return to Spain.” For a part of the day there was no grass, afterwards it was very thick.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23.
He sailed to the north-west and at times to the north quarter and at times on his course, which was to the west, and they went as much as 22 leagues. They saw a turtle dove and a pelican, and another small river-bird and other white birds. There was a great deal of grass and they found craw-fish in it, and as the sea was calm and quiet the people murmured, saying that, since there was not much sea in that region, the wind would never blow for the return to Spain: but afterwards the sea rose greatly and without wind, which terrified them, because of which the Admiral says here: “So that the high sea was very necessary to me, as it came to pass once before in the time when the Jews went out of Egypt with Moses, who took them from captivity.”
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24.
He sailed on his course to the west day and night, and they went about 14 1/2 leagues. He noted 12. A pelican came to the ship and they saw many petrels.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25.
It was very calm this day and afterwards the wind blew: and they went on their course to the west until night. The Admiral talked with Martin Alonso Pinzon, Captain of the other caravel Pinta, in regard to a chart which he had sent to Martin Alonso on his caravel three days before, where, as it appears, the Admiral had drawn certain islands in that sea, and Martin Alonso said that they were in that region, and the Admiral replied that it appeared so to him: but since they had not encountered them, it must have been caused by the currents which had continually forced the ships to the north-east and because they had not gone as far as the pilots said: and then having arrived at this conclusion the Admiral told Martin Alonso to send him the said chart and it being sent by a cord the Admiral began to mark out places upon it with his
pilot and sailors. At sunset Martin Alonso mounted in the stern of his ship and with great joy called to the Admiral, begging a reward from him as he saw land: and when the Admiral heard him affirm this, he says that he commenced on his knees to give thanks to Our Lord, and Martin Alonso said Gloria in Excelsis Deo with his people: the Admiral's people did the same and the people on the Niña all ascended the mast and rigging: and all affirmed that it was land and it appeared so to the Admiral, and that it might be 25 leagues away. They all affirmed until night that it was land. The Admiral ordered that the course, which was to the west, should be changed and that they should all go to the south-west, where the land had appeared. That day they went to the west about 4 1/2 leagues; and during the night 17 leagues to the south-east which makes 21 leagues; although he told the people 13 leagues, because he always pretended to the people that he was making little headway, that the journey might not appear long to them. So that he wrote two courses for that voyage, the shorter was the false course and the longer the true one. The sea was very calm for which reason many sailors began to swim. They saw many dorados and other fish.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26.
He sailed on his course to the west, until after mid-day. Then they went to the south-west until they learned that what they had said was land was only the sky. They went 31 leagues during the day and night and he computed for the people 24. The sea was like a river, the breezes pleasant and very mild.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27.
He sailed on his course to the west, and went during the day and night 24 leagues: he told the people 20 leagues: they saw many dorados, killed one and
saw a ring-tail.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28.
He sailed on his course to the west. They went in a calm, 14 leagues during the day and night. He computed 13. They found little grass. They took two
dorados and more were taken on the other ships.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29.
He sailed on his course to the west. They went 24 leagues and he told the people 21. Because of calms which befell them they went only a short distance during the day and night. They saw a bird which is called a frigate-pelican which makes the pelicans yield up what they have eaten in order to eat it himself, and obtains his sustenance in that manner only. It is a sea-bird but does not rest on the sea nor go 20 leagues from land. There are many of these birds on the Cape Verde Islands. Afterwards they saw two pelicans. The breezes were very pleasing and delightful and he says that only the song of the nightingale was lacking: and the sea was smooth as a river. In three times afterwards three pelicans appeared and a frigate-pelican. They saw a great deal of grass.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30.
He sailed on his course to the west, and went 14 leagues during the day and night on account of the calms. He counted 11. Four ring-tails came to the ship, which is a great indication of land, because so many birds of one kind together is a sign that they are not astray or lost. They saw four pelicans in two different times and much grass. Nota: that “the stars which are called the guards when night falls are near the arm in the west, and at dawn they are on the line below the arm to the north-east, as it appears that during all the night they do not go more than three lines, which are nine hours, and this each night.” The Admiral says this here. Also at nightfall the needles decline to the north-west one quarter, and at dawn they are exactly in the direction of the North Star: by which it appears that the North Star moves the same as the other stars and the needles always indicate the truth.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 1.
He sailed on his course to the west. They went 25 leagues and he computed to the people 20 leagues. They had a great shower. To-day the pilot of the
Admiral at the coming of day feared that they had gone from the island of Hierro, 578 leagues westward to this place. The lesser account which the
Admiral showed to the people was 584 leagues; but the true account, which the Admiral judged to be correct and kept secret, was 707 leagues.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2.
He sailed on his way to the west 39 leagues during the day and night, and told the people about 30 leagues; with the sea continually calm and favourable. Many thanks be given God, said the Admiral here. Grass came from the east to the west, contrary to what had happened before. Many fish appeared: one was killed. They saw a white bird which appeared to be a gull.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3.
He sailed on his customary route and they went 47 leagues. He told the people 40 leagues. Petrels appeared, a great quantity of grass, some very old and some very fresh, and it bore a kind of fruit, and they saw 110 birds. The Admiral believed that the islands he had drawn on his chart lay back of them. The Admiral says here, that he did not wish to remain beating about, the past week and those days when there were so many signs of land, although he had information about certain islands in that region,–in order not to be delayed, as his object was to reach the Indies: and if he had delayed, he says it would not have been good judgment.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4.
He sailed on his way to the west and they went during the day and night 63 leagues. He told the people 46 leagues. More than 40 petrels came to the ship together, and two pelicans, and a youth on board the caravel hit one with a stone. A frigate-pelican came to the vessel and a white bird like a gull.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5.
He sailed on his course, going about 11 miles an hour. They went about 57 leagues during the day and night, as the wind abated somewhat at night. He
counted to his people 45 leagues. The sea was pleasant and calm. Many thanks, he says, be given to God. The breeze was very soft and temperate. No grass, many petrels. Many flying-fish flew on to the ship.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6.
He sailed on his course to the west and they went 40 leagues during the day and night. He told the people 33 leagues. This night, Martin Alonso said that it would be well to sail to the south-west, quarter west {a la cuarta del Oueste, a la parte del Sudueste}. And it appeared to the Admiral that Martin Alonso did not say this in order to go to the island of Cipango. And the Admiral saw that if they missed their way, they would not be able to find land so quickly, and that it was better to go to the continental land at once, and afterwards to the islands.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7.
He sailed on his way to the west. They went 12 miles per hour for two hours, and afterwards 8 miles per hour, and they went 23 leagues up to one hour after sunrise: he told the people 18. On this day at sunrise, as they were all sailing as fast as possible in order to see land first and enjoy the reward which the Sovereigns had promised to whomever should first see land, the caravel Niña which was ahead on account of being a fast sailor, raised a banner on top of the mast and fired a lombard as a signal that they saw land, because the Admiral had ordered this to be done. He had also ordered that the vessels should all unite at sunrise and sunset, because these two times are more suitable for seeing a long distance on account of the disappearance of the mists. As in the afternoon the people on the Niña did not see land, which they thought they had seen and as a great multitude of birds passed from the north to the south-west, for which cause it was reasonable to believe that they were going to sleep on land or were perhaps flying from winter which must be approaching in the countries from whence they came, as the Admiral knew that the Portuguese discovered the greater part of the islands in their possession by the birds:–For these reasons the Admiral resolved to change his course from the west, and turn his prow to the west-south-west, with the determination of pursuing that course for two days. He began this course one hour before sunset. During all the night they went about 5 leagues, and 23 during the day: they went in all 28 leagues during the night and day. MONDAY, OCTOBER 8.
He sailed to the west-south-west and they went about 11 1/2 or 12 leagues and
from time to time it appears that they went 15 miles per hour during the night, if the account is not mendacious. The sea was like the River of Seville, thanks

to God, says the Admiral. The breezes were very soft as at Seville in April and it is a pleasure to be there, they are so fragrant. The grass appeared very fresh. There were many small land-birds and they took one which was flying to the south-west. There were jays, ducks, and a pelican.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9.
He sailed to the south-west and went five leagues. The wind changed and he ran to the west, quarter north-west and went four leagues. Afterwards in all he went 11 leagues by day and 20 1/2 leagues by day and night. He told the people 17 leagues. All night they heard birds passing.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10.
He sailed to the west-south-west and they went at the rate of 10 miles per hour and at times 12, and sometimes 7, and during the day and night they made 59 leagues. He told the people 44 leagues and no more. Here the people could no longer suffer the journey. They complained of the long voyage: but the Admiral encouraged them as well as he was able, giving them good hope of the benefits they would receive, and adding that for the rest it was useless to complain since he had come in search of the Indies, and thus he must pursue his journey until he found them, with the aid of our Lord.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11.
He sailed to the west-south-west. They had a much higher sea than they had had in all the voyage. They saw petrels and a green branch near the ship. Those on the caravel Pinta saw a reed and a stick and they took another small stick formed as it appeared with iron, and a piece of a reed and other grass which grows on land, and a small board. Those on the caravel Niña also saw other indications of land and a little branch full of dog-roses. With these signs every one breathed and rejoiced. They went 27 leagues during this day up to sunset.
After sunset he sailed on his first course to the west. They went 12 miles each hour and up to two hours after midnight they went about 90 miles which are 22 1/2 leagues. And because the caravel Pinta was the best sailor and was going ahead of the Admiral, land was discovered by her people and the signs which the Admiral had ordered were made. A sailor called Rodrigo de Traina saw this land first, although the Admiral at 10 o'clock at night being in the stern forecastle {castillo de popa} saw a light, but it was so concealed that he would not declare it to be land: but he called Pero Gutierrez Groom of the Chamber of the King, and said to him that it appeared to be a light, and asked him to look at it: and he did so and saw it. He also told Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, whom the King and Queen sent with the fleet as Inspector, who saw nothing because he was not where he could see it. After the Admiral told it, it was seen once or twice, and it was like a small wax candle which rose and fell, which hardly appeared to be an indication of land. But the Admiral was certain that they were near land. For this reason, when they said the Salve which all the sailors are in the habit of saying and singing in their way and they were all assembled together, the Admiral implored and admonished them

to guard the stern forecastle well and search diligently for land and said that to whomever should first see land he would then give a silk doublet, besides the other gifts which the Sovereigns had promised them, which was an annuity of 10,000 maravedis to whomever should first see land. At two hours after midnight the land appeared, from which they were about two leagues distant. They lowered all the sails and remained with the cross-jack-sail, which is the great sail without bonnets, and lay to, standing off and on until the day, Friday, when they reached a small island of the Lucayas, which is called in the language of the Indians, Guanahani. Then they saw naked people and the Admiral landed in the armed boat with Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vincente Yafiez, his brother, who was captain of the Niña. The Admiral took the royal banner and the two captains had two banners of the Green Cross, which the Admiral carried on all the ships as a sign, with an F. and a Y. The crown of the Sovereigns surmounted each letter and one was one side of the + and the other the other side. Having landed they saw very green trees and much water and many fruits of different kinds. The Admiral called the two captains and the others who landed and Rodrigo Descoredo, Notary of all the Fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, and told them to hear him witness and testify that he, in the presence of them all, was taking, as in fact he took possession of the said isle, for the King and for the Queen, his Lords, making the protestations which were required, as contained more at length in the depositions which were made there in writing. Then many of the people of the island gathered there. The following is in the exact words of the Admiral in his book of his first voyage and discovery of these Indies:
“That they might feel great friendship for us {he says} and because I knew they were a people who would better be freed and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force,–I gave them some red caps and some glass beads which they placed around their necks, and many other things of small value with which they were greatly pleased, and were so friendly to us that it was wonderful. They afterwards came swimming to the two ships where we were, and bringing us parrots and cotton thread wound in balls and spears and many other things, and they traded them with us for other things which we gave them, such as small glass beads and hawk's bells. Finally they took everything and willingly gave what things they had. Further, it appeared to me that they were a very poor people, in everything. They all go naked as their mothers gave them birth, and the women also, although I only saw one of the latter who was very young, and all those whom I saw were young men, none more than thirty years of age. They were very well built with very handsome bodies, and very good faces. Their hair was almost as coarse as horses' tails and short, and they wear it over the eyebrows, except a small quantity behind, which they wear long and never cut. Some paint themselves blackish, and they are of the colour of the inhabitants of the Canaries, neither black nor white, and some paint themselves white, some red, some whatever colour they find: and some paint their faces, some all the body,

some only the eyes, and some only the nose. They do not carry arms nor know what they are, because I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and ignorantly cut themselves. They have no iron: their spears are sticks without iron, and some of them have a fish's tooth at the end and others have other things. They are all generally of good height, of pleasing appearance and well built: I saw some who had indications of wounds on their bodies, and I asked them by signs if it was that, and they showed me that other people came there from other islands near by and wished to capture them and they defended themselves: and I believed and believe, that they come here from the continental land to take them captive. They must be good servants and intelligent, as I see that they very quickly say all that is said to them, and I believe that they would easily become Christians, as it appeared to me that they had no sect. If it please our Lord, at the time of my departure, I will take six, of them from here to your Highnesses that they may learn to speak. I saw no beast of any kind except parrots on this island.” All are the words of the Admiral.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13.
“At dawn many of these men came to the shore, all young men as I have said and all of good height, a very handsome people. Their hair is not curly but hanging and coarse like horsehair, and all the forehead and head is very wide, more than any other race seen until now, and their eyes are very handsome and not small. And none of them are blackish hut the colour of the inhabitants of the Canaries nor should anything else be expected since this place is on a line east and west with the island of Hierro in the Canaries. Their legs are in general very straight and they are not corpulent, but very well formed. They came to the ship with canoes, which are made from the trunk of a tree, like a long boat and all in one piece, and very wonderfully fashioned for the country, and large enough so that 40 or 45 men came In some of them, and others were smaller, some so small that only one man came in them. They rowed with a paddle {como de fornero} and go wonderfully well; and if they upset, then they all commence to swim and bail them out with gourds, which they carry. They brought balls of spun cotton and parrots and spears and other small things which it would be tedious to write about, and gave everything for whatever might be given them. And I was attentive and sought to learn whether they had gold and I saw that some of them wore a small piece suspended from a hole they have in the nose: and I was able to understand by signs that, going to the south or going around the island to the south, there was a King who had large vessels of gold and who had a great deal of it. I tried to have them go there and afterward saw that they were not interested in going. I determined to wait until afternoon of the next day and then leave for the south-west, for according to what many of them showed me, they said that there was land to the south and to tile south-west and to the north-west: and that these people from the north-west came to fight them many times and thus to go to the south-west in search of gold and precious stones. This island is very large and

very level and has very green trees and many waters and a very large lake in the centre, without any mountain, and all so green that it is a pleasure to behold it. The people are very mild and on account of desiring our things, believing that they will not be given them without they give something, and they have nothing,–they take what they can. and then throw themselves into the water and swim. But they give all they have for whatever thing may be given them. They traded for even pieces of pitchers and broken glasses so that I saw 16 balls of cotton given for three ceotis of Portugal which are worth one blanca of Castile, and in the balls there would be more than an arroba of spun cotton. I forbade this and would not allow anything to be taken unless I should order everything taken for your Highnesses if there is a quantity. It cotton grows here on this island, but on account of brevity of time I could not give an account of everything: and also the gold which they wear hanging at the nose is found here. But in order not to lose time I wish to go and see it I can encounter the island of Cipango. Now, as it was night, all went to land with their canoes.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14.
“At dawn, I ordered the ship's small boat prepared and the boats belonging to the caravels and went along the island toward the north-north- east to see the other part of it, which was the opposite part from the east and also to see the villages: and I saw then two or three, and the people all came to the shore calling us and giving thanks to God; some brought us water, others brought other things to eat. Others when they saw that I did not care to land threw themselves into the sea and came swimming and we understood that they asked us if we came from heaven. An old man came in to the boat and the others called loudly to all the men and women: Come and see the men who came from heaven: bring them something to eat and drink. Many came and many women, each one with something, giving thinks to God, throwing themselves on the ground and lifting their hands toward heaven, and afterwards they called loudly to us to go to land; but I was afraid because of seeing a great reef of rocks which encircles all that island and the water is deep within and forms a port for as many ships as there are in Christendom: and the entrance to it is very tortuous. It is true there are some shoals in it, but the sea does not move any more than in a well. And I went this morning in order to see all this, that I might be able to give an account of everything to your Highnesses and also to see where I might be able to build a fortress, and I saw a piece of land formed like an island, although it is not one, on which there were six houses, but which could be made an island in two days. Although I do not believe it to be necessary, because this people are very simple in matters of arms, as your Highnesses will see by the seven which I took captive to be carried along and learn our speech and then be returned to their country. But when your Highnesses order it, all can be taken, and carried to Castile or held captives on the island itself, because with 50 men all can be subjugated and made to do everything which is desired. Then, near the said

small island, there were orchards of trees, the most beautiful that I saw, and as green and with leaves like those of Castile in the months of April and May, and there was much water. I saw all that harbour and afterward I returned to the ship and made sail and saw so many islands that I could not decide which to visit first, and those men whom I had taken, told me by signs, that there were many, and so many that they could not be numbered, and they enumerated by their names more than one hundred. Therefore I looked for the largest and determined to go to it, and this I am doing. It may be five leagues distant from this island of San Salvador, and some of the others are farther from it, some not as far. All are very level without mountains and very fertile and all inhabited, and the inhabitants make war against each other although they are very simple and fine looking men.”
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15.
“I had been standing off and on this night for fear of not reaching land to anchor before morning, not knowing whether the coast was free from shoals or not, and so as to be able to hoist the sails at dawn. And as the island might be more than five leagues distant, rather it was about seven leagues, and the tide detained me, it was about mid-day when I reached the said island; and I found that the side which is toward San Salvador runs north and south a distance of five leagues, and the other side which I followed extended east and west a distance of more than ten leagues. And as from this island I saw another larger one to the west, I hoisted the sails in order to go all that day until night, because I would not have been able to go even as far as the point at the west: to this island I gave the name of the Isla de Santa Maria de la Concepcion, and almost at sunset I anchored near the said Cape to learn if there was gold there, because the natives whom I had caused to be taken on the island of San Salvador told me that the people there wore very large golden bracelets on the legs and arms. I quite believe that everything they said was a hoax in order to flee, Nevertheless my intention was, not to pass by any island of which I did not take possession, although having taken one, it could not be said that all were taken: and I anchored and remained there until to-day, Tuesday, when at dawn I went to land with the boats armed and I landed, and those people, who were many and as naked and of the same condition as those of the other island of San Salvador, allowed us to go on the island and gave us what we asked of them. And because the wind blew across strongly from the south-east, I would not remain there and left for the ship, and there was a large canoe beside the caravel Niña and one of the men from the island of San Salvador who was on board the caravel threw himself into the sea and went away in the canoe, and the night before at midnight, the other having thrown {blank in original} and went after the canoe, which fled {a medio echado el otro…y fue atras la almadia, la qual fugoi} so that there never was a boat which could overtake it, although we followed it a long way. Nevertheless he gained the land and they left the canoe, and some of my company went on land after them and all scattered like chickens, and we took the canoe which they had left, alongside

the caravel Niña, where already there was coming from another point another small canoe with a man who came to barter a ball of cotton; and some sailors threw themselves into the sea and took him, because he would not enter the caravel: and I, being on the poop of the ship, saw everything and sent for him and gave him a red bonnet and some small beads of green glass which I put on his arm and two hawk's bells, which I put in his ears, and I ordered his canoe, which also was in the boat, to be returned to him and I sent him to land: and I made sail then in order to go to the other large island which I saw to the west, and I ordered the other canoe, which the caravel Niña was towing at the stern, to be loosened and I afterwards watched the shore at the time of the landing of the other Indian to whom I had given the aforesaid things and from whom I did not take the ball of cotton, although he wished to give it to me: and all the others went to him and he wondered greatly and it appeared to him that we were very good people and that the other Indian who had fled had done us some injury, and that we were taking him on this account: and it was for this purpose that I pursued this conduct with him and ordered him set at liberty and gave him the said things, in order that they should hold us in this esteem and that another time when your Highnesses send here again they may not receive your people badly: and all that I gave them was not worth four maravedis. And thus I departed, which might be at 10 o'clock, with the wind south-east and inclining toward south, in order to go to this other island which is very large and where all these men whom I am bringing from the island of San Salvador make signs that there is a great deal of gold and that they wear bracelets of it on their arms and on their legs and in their ears and in their noses and on their breasts. And it was nine leagues from this island of Santa Maria to this other island east to west, and all this part of the island runs north-west to south-east. And it appears that there might well be more than 28 leagues of this coast on this side. And it is very level without any mountain, the same as the coasts of the islands of San Salvador and Santa Maria and all the coasts are free from rocks, except that all have some rocks under water near the land, on account of which it is necessary to keep the eyes open when desirous of anchoring, and not to anchor very near land, although the waters are always very clear and the bottom can be seen. And at a distance of two lombard shots from all those islands the water is so deep that the bottom cannot be reached. These islands are very green and fertile and the breezes are very soft and there may be many things which I do not know, because I did not wish to stop, in order to discover and search many islands to find gold. And since these people make signs thus, that they wear gold on their arms and legs,–and it is gold, because I showed them some pieces which I have,–I cannot fail with the aid of our Lord, in finding it where it is native. And being in the middle of the gulf between these two islands, that is to say, the island of Santa Maria and this large one, which I named Fernandina, I found a man alone in a canoe who was going from the island of Santa Maria to Fernandina, and was carrying a little of his bread which might have been about as large as

the fist, and a gourd of water, and a piece of reddish earth reduced to dust and afterwards kneaded, and some dry leaves I which must be a thing very much appreciated among them because they had already brought me some of them as a present at San Salvador: and he was carrying a small basket of their kind, in which he had a string of small glass beads and two blancas, by which I knew that he came from the island of San Salvador, and had gone from there to Santa Maria and was going to Fernandina. He came to the ship: I caused him to enter it, as he asked to do so, and I had his canoe placed on the ship and had everything which he was carrying guarded: and I ordered that bread and honey be given him to eat and something to drink. And I will go to Fernandina thus and will give him everything which belongs to him, that he may give good reports of us. So that, when your Highnesses send here, our Lord pleasing, those who come may receive honour and the Indians will give them of everything which they have.”
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16.
I started from the islands of Santa Maria de la Concepcion when it was already about noon, for the island of Fernandina, which appears to be very large and is to the west, and I navigated all that day in a calm: I was not able to arrive in time to see the bottom in order to anchor in a clear place, because it is necessary to take great pains about this so as not to lose the anchors: and so I stood off and on all this night until day when I came to a village, where I anchored, and at which that man whom I found yesterday in the canoe in the middle of the gulf had arrived. He had given such good reports of us that all this night there was no lack of canoes alongside the ship, as the Indians brought us water and everything which they had. I ordered something given to each one of them, that is to say some little beads, 10 or 12 of them of glass on a thread, and some brass timbrels of the kind which are worth a maravedi each in Castile, and some leather straps, all of which they consider of the greatest excellence, and also ordered molasses to be given them that they might eat when they came on the ship: and then at the hour of tercia I sent the ship's small vessel on land for water, and they very willingly showed my people where the water was, and they themselves brought the barrels full to the vessel, and were very greatly rejoiced to give us pleasure. This island is very large and I have determined to sail around it, because according to what I can understand, in it or near it there are mines of gold. This island is eight leagues distant from the island of Santa Maria, almost east by west: and this point to which I came and all this coast extends north-north-west by south- south-east and I saw fully 20 leagues of it, but it did not end there. Now while writing this, I made sail with the wind from the south in order to endeavour to sail around all the island, and work until I find Samoat, which is the island or city where the gold is, as all those Indians who come here on the ship, say: and as those Indians from the island of San Salvador and Santa Maria told us. The people of Fernandina are similar to those of the said islands, and have the same language and customs, except that these appear to me to be somewhat

more domestic, of better manners and more subtle, because I see that they have brought cotton here to the ship and other little things for which they know better how to exact payment than the others: and also on this island I saw cotton cloths made like head-dresses {mantillas} and the people are better disposed and the women wear in front a little piece of cotton which barely covers their genital parts. This island is very green and level and fertile, and I have no doubt that panic-grass {panizo} may be sown and harvested all the year, and also all other things: and I saw many trees very different from ours and among them many which had branches of many kinds and all from one trunk, and one little branch is of one kind and another of another kind and so different that it is the greatest wonder in the world, how great is the difference between one kind and another. For example, one branch had leaves like canes, and another like mastich-trees: and thus, on one tree alone, there are five or six of these kinds, and all are different: neither are they grafted, that it may he said that grafting does it; moreover are they found upon the mountains. Neither do these people take any care of them. They do not know any sect and I believe that they would very soon become Christians because they possess very good intelligence. There are fish here so different from ours that it is wonderful. There are some formed like cocks of the finest colours in the world, blue, yellow, red and of all colours, and others tinted in a thousand manners: and the colours are so fine that there is not a man who does not wonder at them, and who does not take great pleasure in seeing them. Also there are whales. I saw no beasts on land of any kind except parrots and lizards. A boy told me that he saw a large snake. I did not see sheep nor goats, nor any other beast; although I have been here a very short time, as it is mid-day, still if there had been any, I could not have missed seeing some. I will write about the circuit of this island after I have sailed around it.”
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17.
“At noon I started from the village where I was anchored and where I took water, in order to go and sail around this island of Fernandina, and the wind was south-west and south: and as my wish would be to follow this coast of this island where I was, to the south-east, because it extends thus all north-north- west and south-south-east: and I wished to follow the said course of the south and south-east, because,–in that region, according to these Indians I am bringing and another from whom I had indications,–in that region of the south is the island which they call Samoet, where gold is found. And Martin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the caravel Pinta, upon which I sent three of these Indians, came to me and told me that one of them had very positively given him to understand that he would more quickly sail around the island in the direction of the north-north-west. I saw that the wind was not helping me on the course I wished to follow and was favourable for the other. I made sail to the north-north-west and when I was near the point of the island, at a distance of two leagues, I found a very wonderful harbour with one mouth: although it can be called two mouths because it has an island in the centre. And these

mouths are both very narrow and the harbour is wide enough within for 100 ships, if it were clear and deep, and deep enough at the entrance. It appeared to me right to examine it well and sound it, and thus I anchored outside of it and entered it with all the boats belonging to the ships and we saw that it was not deep. And because I thought when I saw it that it was the mouth of some river, I had ordered barrels brought in order to take water, and on land I found some eight or ten men who immediately came to us and showed us the village near there, where I sent the people for water, one part with arms, others with barrels, and so they took it: and because it wasn't a little distance, I was detained for the space of two hours. During this time I walked among those trees, which was a more beautiful thing to see than any other I had ever seen: seeing so much verdure in such condition as it is in the month of May in Andalusia, and the trees were all as different from ours as day from night and also the fruits and grasses and the stones and all the things. It is true that some trees were of the same nature as those which are in Castile, although there was a very great difference, and there were so many other trees of other kinds that there is no one who can identify them or compare them to those in Castile. All the people were the same as the others already spoken of, of the same condition, naked in the same manner and of the same stature and they gave what they had for whatever thing we might give them: and here I saw that some of the ship's boys bartered spears for some worthless little pieces of broken porringers and glass, and the others who went for the water told me how they had been in the houses of the Indians and that they were very well swept and clean within, and their beds and coverings were of things which are like nets of cotton. Their houses are all like tents and are very high with good chimneys: but I did not see any village among many which I saw, which had more than 12 to 15 houses. Here they found that the married women wore breech-cloths of cotton and the young girls none, except some who were already eighteen years of age. And there were dogs here, mastiffs and lap-dogs {blanchetes} and they found an Indian here who had a piece of gold in his nose, which might be as large as half a castellano, on which they saw letters. I scolded them because they did not trade with him for it, and give him whatever he demanded in order to see what it was, and whose money it was: and they replied to me that he did not dare to exchange it with them. After having taken the water, I returned to the ship and made sail and went to the north-west, so far that I discovered all that part of the island as far as the coast which extends east and west, and then all these Indians said again that this island was smaller than the island of Samoet, and that it would be well to return backward in order to reach it more quickly. There the wind calmed and then commenced to blow west-north-west, which was contrary for our return to the place whence we had come, and so I returned and navigated all the past night to the east-south-east and sometimes to the east altogether and sometimes to the south-east. And I did this in order to get away from the land because it was very dark and cloudy and the weather was very threatening.

The wind was light and did not allow me to reach land in order to anchor. Therefore this night it rained very hard from midnight almost until day, and it is yet cloudy and ready to rain: and we are at the point of the island on the south-eastern side where I hoped to anchor until the weather clears, in order to see the other islands to which I must go: and so it has rained a little or a great deal every day since I have been in these Indies. Your Highnesses may believe that this land is most fertile and temperate and level and the best there is in the world.”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18.
“After the weather cleared I followed the wind and went around the island
when I was able, and anchored when the weather was not suitable to navigate: but I did not land, and at dawn I made sail.”
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19.
“At dawn I weighed the anchors and sent the caravel Pinta to the east and south-east and the caravel Niña to the south-south-east, and I, with the ship went to the south-east, having given orders that both should follow that course until mid-day, and then that both should change their courses and seek me: and then, before three hours had passed, we saw an island to the east towards which we directed ourselves, and all three ships reached it at the northern point before mid-day, where there is a rocky islet and a reef outside of it to the north, and another between it and the large island: The men from San Salvador whom I am carrying, named this island Saomete, and I named it Isabella. The wind was north and the said rocky islet was in the course of the island of Fernandina, from whence I had sailed east by west. And the coast of Isabella then extended from the rocky islet to the west 12 leagues, as far as a cape which I called the Cabo Hermoso, which is on the western side: and thus it is beautiful, round and very prominent with no shoals outside of it and at the point it is rocky and low, and farther inland there is a sandy beach, as is almost all the said coast: and I anchored here this night, Friday, until morning. All this coast and the part of the island which I saw, is almost all a beach and the island is the most beautiful thing I ever saw: for if the others are very beautiful, this is more so: it has many very green and very large trees: and the land is higher than that of the other islands which have been found. And on it there are some hillocks which cannot he called mountains, but which beautify the rest, and there appear to be many waters yonder in the centre of the island. From this side to the north-east there is a large point and there are many large thick groves. I wished to go and anchor at this point in order to land and see such a beautiful place: hut the water was shallow and I could not anchor except quite a way from land and the wind was very favourable for me to come to this cape, where I now anchored, and which I named Cabo Hermoso {Cape Beautiful} for such it is: and so I did not anchor at that point and also because I saw this cape from yonder, so green and so beautiful like all the other things and lands of these islands, so that I do not know where to go first: neither do my eyes weary of seeing such beautiful verdure so different

from ours, and also I believe that there are here many herbs and trees, which are of great value in Spain for dyeing, for medicines and for spices, but I do not know them, which troubles me greatly. And on reaching this cape there came such a soft, sweet smell of flowers or trees from the land, that it was the sweetest thing in the world. In the morning before leaving here I will go on land to see what is here at this cape. There is no village except farther inland where these men I am bringing with me, say the King is and that he wears a great deal of gold. And in the morning I wish to go far enough to find the village and see or talk with the King, for according to the signs made by these Indians, he rules all these neighbouring islands and is clothed and wears a great deal of gold upon his person; although I do not put much faith in their sayings, as much because I do not understand them well, as because of knowing them to he so poor in gold that whatever small quantity this King wears it appears a great deal to them. This cape which I call Cabo Fermoso, I believe is an island apart from Saometo, and even that there is another small one midway between. I do not care to see so much thus in detail, because I could not do that in 50 years, and because I wish to go and discover the most that I can, in order to return to your Highnesses, God willing, in April. It is true that if I find where there is a quantity of gold or spices, it will detain me until I obtain as much as possible of them: and on this account I am not doing other than to go in search of them.”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20.
“To-day at sunrise, I weighed anchors from where I was anchored with the ship at this island of Saometo at the south-west cape which I named the Cabo de la laguna, as I had named the island Isabella, to navigate to the north-east and to the east from the south-eastern and southern part {of the island}, where, as I heard from these men I have with me, there was a village and also the King of the island: and I found all the water so shallow that I could not enter or sail to it, and I saw that by following the south-west route it would be a very large detour, and for this reason I determined to return by the north- north-east on the western side, the way I had come, and sail around this island in order to {lacuna: perhaps reconocerla–reconnoitre}. The wind was so light that I never could coast along the land except in the night: and as it is dangerous to anchor among these islands except in the daytime, when the eves can see where the anchor is thrown, because the bottom is all unequal, one spot suitable and another not,–I began to stand off and on all this Sunday night. The caravels anchored because they reached land early, and they thought that with the signals which they were accustomed to make, I would go and anchor, but I did not wish to do so.”
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21.
“At 10 o'clock I arrived here at this point of the islet and anchored as did also the caravels: and after having eaten, I landed. There was no other village here except one house, in which I did not find any one, as I believe they had fled through fear because all their domestic utensils were in the

house. I did not allow my people to touch anything but I went with them and with these captains and people to see the island. If the other islands already seen are very beautiful, green and fertile, this one is much more so and has very large green groves. There are some large lakes here and upon them and around them, there are wonderful groves. They are very green here as well as in all the island and the grass is the same as it is in April in Andalusia. And the singing of the little birds is such that it appears a man would wish never to leave here, and the flocks of parrots obscure the sun. And there are large and small birds of so many kinds and so different from ours, that it is wonderful. And then there are a thousand kinds of trees, each with its own fruit and they are all wonderfully odoriferous. I am the most troubled man in the world that I do not know them, because I am very certain that they are all valuable things and I am bringing specimens of them and also of the herbs. In walking thus around one of these lakes I saw a serpent which we killed and I am bringing the skin to your Highnesses. When it saw us, it threw itself into the lake and we followed it there, as the water was not very deep, until we killed it with spears. It is seven palms in length. I believe there are many serpents like this one here in this lake. Here I recognised some aloes and to-morrow I have determined to have ten quintals brought to the ship, because they tell me it is very valuable. Also in searching for good water, we went to a village near here, a half league from where I am anchored: and the people of this village, as they saw us, all took to flight and left their houses, and hid their clothing ropas and what they possessed in the mountain. I did not allow anything to be taken, not the value of a pin. Afterward some of the men approached us and one came quite up to us. I gave him some hawk's bells and some little glass beads and he was very much pleased and very joyful. And that the friendship might increase and that I might require something of them, I asked him for water. And after I went on board the ship, they then came to the shore with their gourds full, and were very much pleased to give it to us. And I ordered that another string of little glass beads should be given them, and they said that they would come here to-morrow. I wished to fill all the ship's butts with water here; therefore, if the weather permits, I will then start and sail around this island, until I have speech with the King and see if I can obtain from him the gold which I hear he wears. And afterward I will leave for another very large island which I believe must be Cipango, according to the indications which those Indians I am taking with me, give me, and which they call Colba. They say that at this island there are many large ships and many skilled seamen. Near this island there is another which they call Bosio, which they say is also very large. And I will see the other islands which lie between in passing, and according to whether I find a quantity of gold or spices, I will determine what must be done. But still, I have determined to go to the mainland to the city of Guisay and give your Highnesses' letters to the Great Khan, and beg for a reply and come back with it.”
MONDAY, OCTOBER 22.

All this night and to-day I remained here, waiting to see if the King of this country or other persons would bring gold or anything else of substance: and many of these people came, similar to the other people of the other islands, naked like them and painted, some white, some reddish, some blackish, and in many different fashions. They brought spears and some balls of cotton to trade, which they exchanged here with some sailors for pieces of glass, broken cups, and for pieces of earthen porringers. Some of them wore pieces of gold fastened to their noses, which they willingly gave for a hawk's bell suitable for the foot of a sparrow-hawk, and for small glass beads; but it is so small a quantity of gold, that it is nothing. It is true that however little was given them for the gold, they yet considered our coming very wonderful and believed that we had come from heaven. We took water for the ships from a lake here which is near the Point of the Island {cabo del isleo} as I shall name it: and in the said lake Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, killed another serpent like the one of yesterday which was seven palms in length, and here I had all the aloes taken which were found.”
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23.
“I would like to leave here to-day for the island of Cuba which I believe must be Cipango {Japan} according to the description which these people give of its size and richness, and I will not remain here longer, neither {lacuna: perhaps– will I sail} around this island to go to the village, as I had determined, in order to talk with this King or Lord. For I must not delay much since I see that there is no gold-mine and it needs many kinds of winds to sail around this island, and it does not blow thus as men would like. And as I must go where great trade may be had, I say that it is not reasonable to delay, but to pursue my journey and discover much land until I encounter a very profitable country, although my understanding is that this one is very well provided with spices: but I do not know them, which causes me the greatest trouble in the world, as I see a thousand species of trees, each of which has its kind of fruit and they are as green now as they are in Spain in the months of May and June: and there are a thousand kinds of herbs the same as of flowers, and of them all I recognised only these aloes, of which I to-day also ordered a large quantity brought to the ship to carry it to your Highnesses. And I have not made nor am I making sail for Cuba, because there is no wind, but a dead calm, and it rains hard: and it rained a great deal yesterday without making it cool, but rather it is warm during tile day and the nights are temperate like those in Spain in the month of May in Andalusia.”
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24.
“This night at midnight I weighed the anchors from the Cabo del Isleo on the island of Isabella, which is on the northern part and is where I bad stopped, in order to go to the island of Cuba which I heard from these people was very large and would yield much trade, and that there was upon it gold and spices and large vessels and merchants: and they showed me that a course west- south-west would lead to it and I think it is so. Because I believe that if what

these Indians from these islands and those I am taking on the ships have indicated to me by signs (as I do not understand the language) is true, it is the island of Cipango in regard to which they are telling wonderful things: and according to the spheres which I saw and the drawings of mappemondes it is in this region: Thus I sailed to the west-south-west until day, and at day-break the wind calmed and it rained, and it was so almost all the night. And I remained in this condition with a slight wind until past mid-day and then it commenced to blow again very pleasingly, and I spread all my sails on the ship, the main-sail, and two bonnets, the fore-sail, the sprit-sail, the mizzen- sail the main-top-sail and the small sail in the stern. So I went on my course until nightfall and then Cabo Verde on the island of Fernandina which the southern point of the western part of the island was north-west of me, and it was at a distance from me of seven leagues. And as it was still blowing strongly and I did not know how far it might be to the said island of Cuba, and in order not to go in search of it at night because the water around all these islands is very deep so that there is no anchorage save at a distance of two lombard shots, and the bottom is all either rocky or sandy so that one cannot anchor safely without seeing,–for these reasons I decided to lower all the sails except the fore-sail and navigate with that: and after a short time the wind increased very much and I went quite a distance without being sure of my course, and it was very dark and cloudy and it rained. I ordered the fore-sail lowered and we did not go two leagues this night, etc.”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25.
After sunrise he sailed to the west-south-west until 9 o'clock and they went about five leagues. Afterwards he changed the course to the west. They went eight miles an hour until one hour after mid-day and from then until three o'clock, and they went about 44 miles. Then they saw land and there were seven or eight islands all dong from north to south. They were five leagues distant from them, etc.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26.
He was south of the said islands. It was all shallow water for five or six leagues and he anchored there. The Indians he was carrying with him said that it was a day and a half's journey from these islands to Cuba with their canoes, which are small wooden vessels which do not carry sail. These are the canoes. He started from there for Cuba, because from the descriptions which the Indians gave him of the size of the island and of the gold and pearls on it, he thought that it was the one,–that is to say Cipango.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27.
After sunrise he weighed the anchors from those islands which he called Las Islas de Arena, on account of the shallow water which extends six leagues to the south of them. He went eight miles an hour to the south-south-west until one o'clock and they might have gone 40 miles, and until night they went about 28 miles on the same course, and before night they saw land. They remained quiet that night, making observations during which time it rained

very hard. Saturday they went until sunset 17 leagues to the south-south-west. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28.
He went from there in search of the island of Cuba to the south-south-west, to the nearest part of the island, and entered a very beautiful river which was very free from dangerous shoals and other inconveniences. And the water all along the coast there was very deep and very clear as far as the shore. The mouth of the river was 12 fathoms deep and it is quite wide enough to beat about. He anchored inside, he says, at a distance of a lombard shot. The Admiral says that he never saw anything so beautiful, the country around the river being full of trees, beautiful and green and different from ours, with flowers and each with its own kind of fruit. There were many large and small birds which sang very sweetly, and there was a great quantity of palms differing from those in Guinea and from ours. They were of medium height without any bark at the foot and the leaves are very large, with which the Indians cover the houses. The country is very level. The Admiral jumped into the boat and went to land, and approached two houses which he believed to be those of fishermen who fled in fear. In one of the houses they found a dog which never barked and in both houses they found nets made of palm-threads and cords and fish-hooks of horn and harpoons of bone and other fishing materials and many fires (huegos) within and he believed that many persons lived together in each house. He ordered that not one thing should he touched, and thus it was done. The grass was as tall as in Andalusia in the months of April and May. He found much purslain and wild amaranth. He returned to the boat and went up the river a good distance and he says it was such a great pleasure to see that verdure and those groves and the birds that he could not leave them to return. He says that this island is the most beautiful one that eyes have seen, full of very good harbours and deep rivers and it appeared that the sea never rose because the grass on the beach reached almost to the water, which does not usually happen when the sea is rough. Until then he had never found in all those islands that the sea was rough. The island, he says, is filled with very beautiful mountains, although they are not very long but high and all the other land is high like Sicily. It is full of many waters, according to what he was able to understand from the Indians he was taking with him, whom he took in the island of Guanahani, who told him by signs that there are ten large rivers and that with their canoes they cannot go around it in twenty days. When he was going to land with the ships, two rafts or canoes came out and as they saw that the sailors entered the boat and were rowing in order to go and find out the depth of the river so as to know where they could anchor, the canoes fled. The Indians said that in that island there were mines of gold and pearls, and the Admiral saw a good place for them and for mussels which is an indication of them, and the Admiral understood that large ships belonging to the Great Khan came there, and that from there to the mainland it was a ten days' journey. The Admiral named that river and harbour San Salvador.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29.

He weighed the anchors from that harbour and navigated to the west he says, in order to go to the city where it appeared to him from what the Indians said that the King dwelt. One point of the island projected to the north-west six leagues from there, another point projected to the east ten leagues: having gone another league he saw a river not with as wide an entrance as the other which he named the Rio de la Luna. He sailed until the hour of vespers. He saw another river very much larger than the others, and the Indians told him so by signs, and near this river he saw good villages of houses. He named the river the Rio de Mares. He sent the boats to a village to have speech with the Indians, and in one of the boats he sent an Indian from among those he was taking with him, because the Indians already understood them somewhat and showed that they were pleased with the Christians. All the men and women and children fled from these people abandoning the houses with all they had, and the Admiral ordered that nothing would be touched. He says that the houses were more beautiful than those he had seen and he believed that the nearer they approached the mainland the better they were. They were constructed like pavilions, very large, and appeared like royal tents without uniformity of streets, but one here and another there, and within they were very well swept and dean, and their furnishings were arranged in good order. All are built of very beautiful palm branches. They found many statues of women's forms and many heads like masks, very well made. it is not known whether they have them because of their beauty or whether they adore them. There were dogs which never barked. There were small wild birds tamed in their houses. There were wonderful outfits of nets and hooks and fishing implements. They did not touch one thing among them. The Admiral believed that all the Indians on the coast must be fishermen who carry the fish inland, because that island is very large and so beautiful that he could not say too much good of it. He says that he found trees and fruits of a very wonderful taste. And he says that there must be cows and other herds of cattle on this island, because he saw skulls which appeared to him to be skulls of cows. There were large and small birds and the crickets sang all the night, which pleased every one. The breezes were soft and pleasant during all the night, neither cold nor warm. But in regard to the other islands he says that it is very warm upon them and here it is not, but temperate as in May. He attributes the heat of the other islands to their being very level, and to the fact that the wind which blows there is from the south and on that account very warm. The water in those rivers was salt at the mouth. They did not know the sources whence the Indians drank although they had fresh water in their houses. The ships were able to turn around in the river to enter and to go out and they have very good signs or marks. They are seven or eight fathoms deep at the mouth and five within. He says that it appears to him that all that sea must always be as calm as the river of Seville, and the water suitable for the growth of pearls. He found large snails without taste, not like those in Spain. He described the disposition of the river and the harbour which he says above that he named

San Salvador, by saying that its mountains are beautiful and high, like the Rock of the Lovers (pena de lo senamorados) and one of them has at the summit another little mount like a beautiful mosque. This river and harbour in which he was at this time, has to the south-east two quite round mountains and to the west-north-west a beautiful level cape which projects outward. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30.
He went out of the Rio de Mares to the north-west and after having gone fifteen leagues he saw a cape covered with palms and named it Cabo de Palmas. The Indians who were in the caravel Pinta said that behind that cape there was a river and from the river to Greta it was four days' journey and the captain of the Pinta said that he understood that this Cuba was a city, and that that country was the mainland, very large, which extends very far to the north; and that the King of that country was at war with the Great Khan, whom they called Cami, and his country or city they called Fava and many other names. The Admiral determined to approach that river and send a present to the King of the Country and send him the letter from the Sovereigns, and for this purpose he had a sailor who had been in Guinea in like manner and certain Indians from Guanahani who wished to go with him, so that afterwards they might return to their country. In the Admiral's opinion he was 42 degrees distant from the equinoctial line toward the north, but the text from which this is copied is defaced; and he says that he must strive to go to the Great Khan as he thought he was in that vicinity or at the city of Cathay which is the city of the Great Khan. He says that this city is very great, according to what was said to him before he left Spain. He says all this country is low and beautiful and the sea is deep.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31.
All Tuesday night he went beating about and saw a river which he could not enter as the mouth was shallow: and the Indians thought that the ships could enter as their canoes entered, and sailing onward he found a cape which projected very far out and was surrounded by shoals and he saw an inlet or bay where small ship could remain, and he could not reach it, because the wind had shifted entirely to the north and all the coast extended to the north-north- west and south-east and another cape which he saw ahead of him projected farther out. For this reason and because the sky indicated a strong wind he had to return to the Rio de Mares.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1.
At sunrise the Admiral sent the boats to land to the houses which were there and they found that all the people had fled: and after some time a man appeared and the Admiral ordered that they should be left to become re- assured and the boats returned, and after having eaten he again sent to land one of the Indians he was carrying, who from a distance called to them saying that they must not be afraid because the Spaniards were good people and did no harm to any one; neither were they from the Great Khan, rather had they given of their possessions in many islands where they had been. And the

Indian started to swim and went to land, and two of the Indians there took him by the arms and conducted him to a house where they questioned him. And as they were sure that no harm would be done them, they were re-assured and then there came to the ships more than sixteen rafts or canoes with spun cotton and other little things of theirs, of which the Admiral ordered that nothing should be taken that they might know that the Admiral was seeking nothing except gold which they call nucay: and thus during dl the day they went and came from land to the ships, and the Christians went to land in great security. The Admiral did not see any of them have gold but the Admiral says he saw one of them have a piece of wrought silver fastened to his nose, which be took as an indication that there was silver in the country. They said by signs that before three days there would come many merchants from the country inland to buy the things which the Christians brought there, and they would give news from the King of the country, who, according to what they could understand by the signs they made was four days journey distant from there, because they had sent many people through all the country, to tell them about the Admiral. These people, says the Admiral, are of the same quality and have the same customs as the others which have been found, without any sect that I know, as until the present I have not seen these I am bringing with me make any prayer but instead they say the Salve and the Ave Maria with the hands raised to heaven as they are shown, and they make the sign of the cross. All the language also is one and they are all friends and I believe that all these islands are friendly, and that they are at war with the Great Khan, whom they call Cavila and the province Bafan, and thus they also go naked like the others The Admiral says this. He says that the river is very deep and the ships can approach their sides to the land, in the mouth. The water is not fresh until within a league of the mouth and there it is very fresh. And it is certain says the Admiral that this is the mainland and that I am, he says, before Zayto and Guinsay, 100 leagues a little more or a little less, distant from both, and it is well shown by the sea which comes in a different manner than it has come up to the present, and yesterday as he was going to the north-west he found that it was becoming cold.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2.
The Admiral decided to send two Spaniards, the one named Rodrigo de Jerez who lived in Ayamonte and the other one Luis de Torres, who had lived with the Adelantado of Murcia, and had been a Jew and who he says knew how to speak Hebrew and Chaldean and even some Arabic: and with these men he sent two Indians, one of those he was taking with him from Guanahani and the other from those houses situated on the River. He gave them strings of beads to buy something to eat if it should fail them and six days time in which to return. He gave them specimens of spices to see if they came across any of them. He gave them instructions as to how they must ask for the King of that country and as to what they were to say on the part of the Sovereigns of Castile, how they sent the Admiral that he might give to the King on their part

their letters and a present, and in order to learn of his state and gain friendship with him that he might favour them in whatever they might need, etc.: and that they might learn of certain provinces and harbours and rivers of which the Admiral had information and how far distant they were from there, etc.
This night the Admiral took the altitude here with a quadrant and he found that he was 42 degrees distant from the equinoctial line and he says that by his computation he found that he had gone from the island of Hierro 1142 leagues, and he still affirms that that country is the mainland.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3.
In the morning the Admiral entered the boat and as the river forms a great
lake at the mouth which makes a very remarkable harbour very deep and free from rocks, a very good beach to run the ships aground in order to clean the hulls, and there is a great deal of wood,–he went up the river until he reached fresh water, which might be about two leagues and ascended a slight elevation to learn something of the country, and he could not see anything because of the large groves which were very fresh and odorous, on account of which he says he has no doubt that there are aromatic herbs. He says that everything he saw was so beautiful that the eyes could not weary of seeing such beauty nor could one weary of the songs of the birds, both large and small. That day many rafts or canoes came to the ships to barter things made of spun cotton and the nets in which they slept, which are hammocks.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4.
Then at dawn the Admiral entered the boat and went to land to hunt some birds which he had seen the day before. After his return, Martin Alonzo Pinzon came to him with two pieces of cinnamon and said that a Portuguese he had on his ship had seen an Indian who was carrying two very large handfuls of it, but that he had not dared to trade with him for it on account of the prohibition of the Admiral that no one should do any trading. He said further that the Indian had some bright reddish things like nuts. The Boatswain of the Pinta said that he had found trees of cinnamon. The Admiral then went there and found that it was not cinnamon. The Admiral showed cinnamon and pepper to some Indians in that place–it appears that it was from that which they were carrying from Castile as a specimen–and he says that they recognised it and they said by signs that near there, there was a great deal of it toward the south-east. He showed them gold and pearls and certain old men replied that in a place they called Bohio there was an infinite quantity of gold, and that they wore it at the neck and in the ears and on the arms and on the legs, and also pearls. He understood further that they said there were large ships and merchandise and all this was to the south-east. He understood also that a long distance from there, there were men with one eye and others with dogs' snouts who ate men and that on taking a man they beheaded him and drank his blood and cut off his genital parts. The Admiral determined to return to the ship and await the two men he had sent in order to decide to start and search for those lands, unless, these men brought some good news of

what he desired. The Admiral says further–“These people are very meek and very fearful, naked as I have said, without arms and without government. These lands are very fertile. They are full of 'mames' which are like carrots and taste like chestnuts and they have 'faxones' and beans very different from ours, and a great deal of cotton, which they do not sow and which grows in the mountains, large trees of it: and I believe they have it ready to gather all the time because I saw the pods opened and others which were opening and flowers all on one tree and a thousand other kinds of fruits of which it is not possible for me to write and it must all be a profitable thing.” The Admiral says all this.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5.
At dawn he ordered the small ship beached in order to clean the hull and the other ships also, but not all together: but that two should remain all the time in the place where they were for security, although he says that those people were very safe and they could have beached all the ships together without fear. Being in this condition, the Boatswain of the Niña came to beg a reward from the Admiral because he had found mastic, but he did not bring a specimen because he had lost it. The Admiral promised him the reward and sent Rodrigo Sanchez and Master Diego to the trees, and they brought a little of it which he kept to carry to the Sovereigns and also some of the tree and he says that he knew that it was mastic. Although it must be gathered at the right time: and that there was enough in that vicinity to procure 1000 quintals each year. He says that he found near there a great deal of that wood which is called aloe. He says further that the Puerto de Mares is one of the best harbours in the world and has the best climate and the quietest people and as it has a point formed by a high rocky hillock a fortress can be made, so that if rich and great things should come out of this country, the merchants would be secure there from any other nations whatever. And he says,–“May Our Lord, in whose hands are all the victories, dispose all that which is for His service.” He says that an Indian said by signs that the mastic was good for pains in the stomach.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6.
Yesterday in the night, says the Admiral, the two men whom he had sent inland to see the country came back and told him how they bad gone twelve leagues as far as a village of fifty houses, where he says there were a thousand inhabitants, as a great many live in one house. These houses are like very large pavilions. The Spaniards said that the Indians received them with great solemnity according to their custom and all the men as well as the women came to see them and lodged them in the best houses. The Indians touched them and kissed their hands and feet wondering, and believing that they came from heaven, and thus they gave them to understand. They gave them to eat from what they had. They said that on arriving, the most honourable persons of the village conducted them by the arms to the principal house and gave them two chairs in which they sat down and they all seated themselves on the

floor around them. The Indian who went with them told them how the Christians lived and how they were good people. Afterwards the men went out and the women entered and seated themselves in the same manner around them, kissing their hands and feet, trying them to see if they were of flesh and of bone like themselves. They begged them to remain there with them at least five days. They showed the Indians the cinnamon and pepper and other spices which the Admiral had given them and these told them by signs that there was a great deal of it near there to the south-east: but that they did not know if they had it in that place. Having seen that there were no rich cities they returned and it they had desired to make a place for those who wished to come with them, that more than 500 men and women would have come with them, because they thought they were returning to heaven. There came with them however one of the principal men of the village and his son and one of his men. The Admiral talked with them, paid them great honour and he this Indian indicated to him many lands and islands there were in those parts and he thought to bring them to the Sovereigns: and he says he did not know what the Indian desired of him, hut it appears that because of fear and in the darkness of night he desired to land, and the Admiral says that as he had the ship dry on land, and not wishing to irritate him, he let him go, saying that at dawn be would return, but he never returned. The two Christians found on the way many people who were crossing to their villages, men and women with a half burned wood in their hands and herbs to smoke, which they are in the habit of doing. They did not find on the way a village of more than five houses, and all gave them the same welcome. They saw many kinds of trees and grasses and sweetsmelling flowers. They saw many kinds of birds different from those in Spain, excellent partridge and nightingales, which sang, and geese, and of these there is a very great number there. They saw no four-footed beasts except dogs which did not bark. The land is very fertile and very well cultivated with those “mames” and “fexoes” and beans very different from ours, that same panic-grass and a great quantity of cotton gathered and spun and worked, and they said that in one house alone they had seen more than five hundred arrobas and that there could be had there each year, four thousand quintals. The Admiral says that it appeared to him they did not sow it and that it bears fruit all the year: it is very fine, and has a very large pod. All that these people had, he says, they gave for a very miserable price and that they gave one great basket of cotton for the end of a leather strap or any other thing that was given them. They are a people, says the Admiral, very free from evil or from war. All the men and women are naked as their mothers gave them birth. It is true that the women wear a cotton thing only large enough to cover their genital parts and no more and they are of very good presence, neither very black but less so than the inhabitants of the Canaries. “I have to say Most Serene Princes (says the Admiral) that by means of devout religious persons knowing their language well, all would soon become Christians: and thus I hope in our Lord that your Highnesses will

appoint such persons with great diligence in order to turn to the Church such great peoples, and that they will convert them, even as they have destroyed those who would not confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: and after their days as we are all mortal, they will leave their realms in a very tranquil condition and freed from heresy and wickedness, and will be well received before the Eternal Creator, Whom may it please to give them a long life and a great increase of larger realms and dominions, and the will and disposition to spread the holy Christian religion, as they have done up to the present time, Amen.–To-day I will launch the ship and make haste to start Thursday in the name of God to go to the south-east and seek gold and spices and discover land.” These are the words of the Admiral, who thought to start on Thursday. But as the wind was contrary, he could not start until Nov. 12. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12.
He started from the harbour and river of Alares at the passing of the quarter of dawn to go to an island which the Indians he was taking positively affirmed was called Babeque, where, as they said by signs, the people on it gather gold with candles at night in the sand and afterwards with a hammer he says they make bars of it, and in order to go to this island it was necessary to turn the prow to the east, quarter south-east. After having gone eight leagues forward along the coast he found a river and then having gone another four, he found another river which appeared very rich and larger than any of the others he had found. He did not wish to stop or enter any of them on two accounts, the principal one that the weather and wind were good to go in search of the said island of Babeque, the other because if there should be any populous or famous city upon it, it would appear near the sea, and in order to go up the river small vessels were necessary, which those they had were not, and thus he would also lose much time, and the similar rivers are a thing to be discovered by one's self. All that coast was principally populated near the river, to which he gave the name of El Rio del Sol. He said that Sunday before, November 11, it had appeared to him that it would be well to take some persons from those dwelling by that river in order to take them to the Sovereigns that they might learn our language so as to know what there is in the country, and that in returning they may speak the language of the Christians and take our customs and the things of the Faith, “Because I see and know (says the Admiral) that this people have no sect whatever nor are they idolaters, but very meek and without knowing evil, or killing others or capturing them and without arms, and so timorous that a hundred of them flee from one of our people, although they may jest with them: and they are credulous and they know that there is a God in heaven, and they firmly believe that we have come from heaven: and they learn very quickly whatever prayer we tell them to say and they make the sign of the cross So that your Highnesses must resolve to make them Christians, as I believe that if they commence, in a short time a multitude of peoples will have been converted to our Holy Faith acquiring great domains and riches and all their villages for

Spain: because without doubt there is a very great quantity of gold in this land, as these Indians I am bringing say, not without cause, that there are places in these islands where they dig the gold and wear it at the neck and in the ears and on the arms and on the legs and there are very heavy bracelets and also there are precious stones and pearls and an infinite quantity of spices. And in this river of Alures from whence I started last night, without doubt there is a very great quantity of mastic, and there may be more if it is desired that there should be more, because in planting the trees they grow easily and there are a great quantity and very large ones, and the leaf is like the mastic-tree and the fruit, except that the trees as well as the leaves are larger, as Pliny says, and as I have seen on the island of Scio in the Archipelago. And I ordered many of these trees tapped to see if resin would flow out in order to bring some, and as it has rained all the time I have been in the said river I have not been able to get any of it, except a very small quantity which I am bringing to your Highnesses, and also it may be that it is not the time to tap them; as for this purpose I believe that the end of the winter when the trees are about to bloom is suitable: and here they already have the fruit almost ripe it the present time. And also there will be a great quantity of cotton here, and I believe that it would he sold very well here without taking it to Spain, but to the great cities of the Great Khan which will without doubt be discovered, and to many other cities belonging to other Lords which will come to serve your Highnesses, and where other things from Spain and the lands of the east will be taken, since these are to the west of us. And here there is also an infinite quantity of aloes, although it is not a thing which will produce great riches but from the mastic much is to be expected, because there is none except in the said island of Scio, and I believe that they derive from it fifty thousand ducats, if I do not remember wrongly. And there is here in the mouth of the river the best harbour that I have seen until the present time, clear and wide and deep and a good situation and strong place to construct a village; and any ships whatever can approach their sides to the banks and the land is very temperate and high and the waters are very good. Yesterday there came to the side of the ship a canoe with six youths upon it and five of them entered the ship: these I ordered kept and I am bringing them with me. And afterwards I sent to a house which is west of the river and they brought seven women, small and large, and three children. I did this that the men might conduct themselves better in Spain by having women from their country than they would without them: as it had already happened many other times in taking the men from Guinea that they might learn the language in Portugal–that after they returned and it was thought that they might be made use of in their country on account of the good company they had had and the presents which had been given them, that they never appeared after arriving there. Others did not act in this manner. So that having their wives they will be willing to undertake what is desired of them, and also these women will teach our people their language, which is all one in all these islands of India and all understand each other and

all go with their canoes, which is not the case in Guinea where there are a thousand kinds of languages so that one does not understand the other. This night there came to the side of the vessel the husband of one of these women and the father of the three children who were a male and two females and asked that I might let him come with them and it pleased me greatly, and they are now all consoled so they must all be relatives, and he is a man of already forty-five years.” All these are the exact words of the Admiral. He also says above that it was somewhat cold and on this account it would not be good judgment to navigate to the north in winter in order to make discoveries. He sailed this Monday until sunset eighteen leagues to the east quarter south-east as far as a cape, which he named the Cabo de Cuba.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13.
All this night he was “a la corda,” as the sailors say, which is to beat about and not make any headway, in order to see a gap in the mountains, which is an opening as between one mountain range and another, which he began to see at sunset, where two very large mountains appeared, and it seemed that the country of Cuba was divided from that of Bohio, and the Indians he was taking with him said so by signs. Daylight having arrived, he made sail for land, and passed a point which at night appeared about two leagues distant, and entered a large gulf, five leagues to the south-south-west: and there remained another five leagues to arrive at the cape, where between two large mountains there was a cut into which he could not determine whether the sea had an entrance or not. And as he desired to go to the island which they called Babeque where he bad information, according to what he understood, that there was a great deal of gold, which island projected to the east of him and as he saw no large villages where he could place himself in shelter from the wind which increased more than ever up to that time, he decided to make for the sea, and go to the east with the wind, which was north, and he went eight miles each hour: and from ten o'clock in the day when he took that course, until sunset he went fifty-six miles from the Cabo de Cuba to the east, which are fourteen leagues. And of the other country of Bohio which remained to the leeward, commencing from the head of the aforesaid gulf he discovered, in his opinion, eighty miles, which are twenty leagues, and dl that coast extends east-south-east and west-north-west.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14.
All the night of yesterday he went cautiously and beating about because he said that it was not reasonable to navigate among those islands at night until he had discovered them as the Indians he was carrying told him yesterday (Tuesday) that it was about three days' journey from the river of Mares to the island of Babeque, which must he understood as days' journeys for their canoes, which can go seven leagues, and the wind also became light: and having to go to the east he could not (steer in that direction), except to the quarter of the south-east, and on account of other inconveniences which he refers to he had to stop there until morning. At sunrise he determined to go in

search of a harbour, because the wind had changed from the north to the north-east, and if he did not find a harbour it would be necessary for him to turn backward to the harbours he had left on the island of Cuba. He reached land, having gone that night twenty-four miles to the east quarter south-east; he went to the south lacuna miles to land, where he saw many inlets and many small islands and harbours, and as the wind was high and the sea greatly changed he did not dare to undertake to enter, but rather he ran along the coast to the north-west, quarter west, searching for a harbour, and he saw that there were many but not very clear. After having gone in this manner sixty- four miles, he found a very deep inlet, a quarter of a mile wide, and a good harbour and river, where he entered and turned his prow to the south-south- west, and afterward to the south until he reached south-east, and all very wide and deep. Here he saw so many islands that he could not count them all, of good size, and very high lands covered with different trees of a thousand kinds and an infinite number of palms. He marvelled greatly to see so many high islands, and he says to the Sovereigns in regard to the mountains which he has seen since the day before yesterday along these coasts and on these islands, that it appears to him there are no higher ones in the world nor any as beautiful and clear, without fog or snow, and at the base the sea is of very great depth: and he says he believes that these islands are those innumerable ones which in the maps of the world are placed at the end of the east: and he said that he believed there were very great riches and precious stones and spices upon them, and that they extend very far to the south and spread out in all directions. He named this place La Mar de Nuestra Senora, and the harbour which is near the entrance to the said islands he named Puerto del Principe, into which he did not enter more than to see it from outside, until another excursion which he made there the coming week, which will appear there. He says so many and such things of the fertility and beauty and height of these islands which he found in this harbour, that he tells the Sovereigns not to wonder that he praises them so much, because he assures them that he does not believe he has told the hundredth part. Some of them appeared to reach heaven and were like points of diamonds: others of great height which have a table on top, and at their base the sea is of very great depth so that a very large carack could approach them: and they are all covered with forests and are without rocks.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15.
He decided to go among these islands with the boats from the ships and he says wonders in regard to them, and that he found mastic and a great quantity of aloes and some of them were covered with the roots from which the Indians make their bread, and he found that a fire had been kindled in some places. He saw no fresh water but there were some people and they fled. Everywhere he went he found a depth of fifteen and sixteen fathoms, and all “basa” which means that the bottom underneath is sand and not rock, which the sailors greatly desire, because the rocks cut the cables of the ships' anchors.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16.
As in all the places, islands and lands where he entered he always left a cross planted, he entered the boat and went to the mouth of those harbours and on a point of the land he found two very large beams, one larger than the other, and the one upon the other made a cross, which he says a carpenter could not have made in better proportion: and having adored that cross, he ordered a very large, high cross made of the same timbers. He found canes along that beach and he says he did not know where they came from but he believed that some river brought them and cast them on the beach, and he was reasonable in thinking so. He went to a creek within the entrance of the harbour to the south-east (a creek is a narrow inlet where the water from the sea enters the land): there the land formed a promontory of stone and rock like a cape, and at the base the sea was very deep, so that the largest carack in the world could lie against the land, and there was a place or corner where six ships could remain without anchors as in a hall. It appeared to him that a fortress could be built there at small cost, if any notable commerce should result in that sea from those islands at any time. On returning to the ship he found the Indians he had with him fishing for very large snails which are found in those seas, and he made the people enter there and search for nacaras which are the oysters where pearls are formed, and they found many but no pearls and he attributed it to the fact that it could not have been the time for them, which he believed was in May and June. The sailors found an animal which appeared to be a “taso” or “taxo.” They fished also with nets and found a fish among many others, which appeared like a genuine hog, not like a “tunny” which he says was all shell, very hard, and had nothing soft except the tail and the eyes and an opening underneath to expel its superfluities. He ordered it salted that he might take it for the Sovereigns to see.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17.
He entered the boat in the morning and went to see the islands which he had not seen, in the direction of the south-west: he saw many others very fertile and very delightful and between them the sea was very deep. Some of them were divided by streams of fresh water, and he believed that that water and those streams came from springs which proceeded from the tops of the mountain ranges on the islands. Going onward from here he found a very beautiful river of fresh water and it flowed very cold through the dry part of the island: there was a very pretty meadow and many palms, much taller than those he had seen. He found large nuts like those of India, I believe he says, and large rats, also like those of India, and very large craw-fish. He saw many birds and smelled a powerful odour of musk {almazique}, and believed that there must be some there. To-day, of the six youths whom he took in the river of Mares and whom he ordered should go on the caravel Niña, the two oldest ones fled.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18.
He proceeded in the boats again with many people from the ships and went to

place the great cross which he had ordered made of the said two timbers at the mouth of the entrance of the said Puerto del Principe, in a sightly place and free from trees: It was very high and commanded a very beautiful view. He says that the sea rises and falls there much more than in any other harbour which has been seen in that country, and that it is not very wonderful by reason of the many islands, and that the tide is the reverse of ours, because there when the moon is to the south-west quarter south, it is low tide in that harbour. He did not start from there as it was Sunday.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19.
He started in a calm before sunrise, and after mid-day it blew some to the east
and he navigated to the north-north-east; at sunset the Puerto del Principe was to the south-south-west, and was about seven leagues from him. He saw the island of Babeque exactly to the east, about sixty miles distant. He sailed slowly all this night to the north-east; he went about sixty miles and until ten o'clock in the day, Tuesday, another twelve, which are in all eighteen leagues, and in the direction of the north-east quarter north.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20.
Babeque or the islands of Babeque were to the east-south-east, from which direction the wind blew, which was contrary. And seeing that it did not alter and the sea was changing, he decided to make a short excursion to the Puerto del Principe, from whence he had come, which was at a distance of twenty-five leagues. He did not wish to go to the small island which he called Isabella which was at a distance of twelve leagues where he might have gone to anchor that day, for two reasons: one reason, because he perceived two islands to the south which he wished to see, the other that the Indians he was carrying, whom he had taken in Guanahani which he called San Salvador which was eight leagues from Isabella, might not get away from him, of whom he says he has need, in order to bring them to Castile, etc. They had understood, he says, that on finding gold the Admiral would allow them to return to their country. He arrived at the place of the Puerto del Principe: but he could not make it because it was night and because the currents caused him to decline to the north-west. He came back again and turned his prow to the north-east with a strong wind: it calmed and the wind changed at the third quarter of the night, and he turned his prow to the east, quarter north-east: the wind was south- south-east and it changed at dawn entirely to the south, and touched upon the south-east. At sunrise he marked the Puerto del Principe, and it was south- west of him and almost in the quarter of the west, and it was about 48 miles distant from luni, which are twelve leagues.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21.
At sunrise he navigated to the east with the wind south. He made little headway on account of the contrary sea: until the hour of vespers he had gone twenty-four miles, Then the wind changed to the east and he went to the south, quarter south-east and at sunset lie had gone twelve miles. There the Admiral found himself forty-two degrees from the equinoctial line in the

direction of the north as in the harbour of Mares: but here he says that he has abandoned the use of the quadrant until he reaches land in order to repair it. So that it appeared to him that he could not be so far distant, and he was right, because it was not possible for these islands to be only in {lacuna} degrees. He was moved to believe, he says, that the quadrant was correct by seeing that the North Star was as high as in Castile, and if this is true he had drawn very near to, and was as high as the coast of Florida: but,–where then, are now these islands which he had under consideration. He was persuaded to believe this because it was very warm: but it is clear that if he was on the coast of Florida that it would not be warm but cold: and it is also manifest that in forty-two degrees in no part of the earth is it believed to be warm without it might be for some cause per accidens, which I do not believe is known up to the present time. On account of this heat which the Admiral says he suffered there, he argues that in these Indies and in the place where he was, there must be a great deal of gold. This day Martin Alonso Pinzon went away with the caravel Pinta without the will and command of the Admiral, through avarice, he says, thinking that an Indian whom the Admiral had ordered placed on the caravel, could show him much gold, and so he went away without waiting and without its being on account of bad weather, but because he wished to do so. And the Admiral says here, “He has done and said many other things to me.” THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22.
Wednesday in the night he navigated to the south quarter south-east with the wind east, and it was almost a calm: at the third quarter it blew north-north- east. He was yet going toward the south in order to see that country which lay in that direction from him and when the sun rose he found himself as far distant as on the past day because of the contrary currents, and the land was a distance of forty miles from him. This night Martin Alonso followed the course to the east in order to go to the island of Babeque, where the Indians say there is a great deal of gold, and he was going in sight of the Admiral and might have been at a distance of sixteen miles. The Admiral went in sight of land all night and he caused some of the sails to be taken in and burned a torch all night, because it appeared to him that Martin Alonso was returning to him; and the night was very clear and there was a nice little breeze by which to come to him if he wished.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23.
The Admiral navigated toward land all day, always to the south with a light wind, and the current never permitted him to reach land, but rather he was as far from it to-day at sunset as he was in the morning. The wind was east- north-east and favourable to go to the south, but it was light: and beyond this cape there was another land or cape which also extends to the east which the Indians he was carrying called Bohio, and which they said was very large and had upon it people who had an eye in the forehead and others which were called cannibals of whom they showed great fear. And as soon as they saw that they were taking that course, he says that they could not talk, as they said

cannibals ate them and they are a people who are very well armed. The Admiral says he well believes there was some truth in it, although since they were armed they must be an intelligent people, and he believed that they had captured some of the other Indians and that because they did not return to their own country, they would say that they ate them. They believed the same in regard to the Christians and the Admiral, when some of them first saw them.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24.
He navigated all that night and at the hour of “tercia” he made land off the level island, in that same place where he had put into harbour the past week when he was going to the island of Babeque. At first he did not dare to land because it appeared to him that the sea broke heavily in that opening in the mountain ranges. And finally he arrived at the Mar de Nuestra Senora where the many islands were, and he entered the harbour near the mouth of the entrance to the islands, and he says that if he had known this harbour before and had not occupied himself in seeing the islands of the Sea of Our Lady
{Mar de Nuestra Senora} that it would not have been necessary for him to turn backward although he says that he considers it time well employed in having seen the said islands. So that on arriving at land he sent the boat and tried the harbour and found it a very good bar, six fathoms deep and sometimes twenty, and clear, and all with a sandy bottom: he entered it, turning the prow to the south-west, and afterwards turning to the west, leaving the flat island toward the north, which with another near to it makes a bay in the sea, in which all the ships of Spain could be contained, and could be safe from all the winds without anchorage. And this entrance on the south-eastern part which may be entered by placing the prow to the south-south-west, has an outlet to the west, very deep and very wide: so that whoever might come from the sea on the northern part can pass between the said islands and obtain knowledge of them, as it is the direct passage along this coast. These said islands are at the base of a great mountain which extends lengthwise from east to west, and is exceedingly long and higher and longer than any of all the others which are upon this coast where there is an infinite number, and a rocky reef extends outside along the said mountain like a bar, which reaches as far as the entrance. All this is on the south-eastern part and also on the side of the flat island there is another reef, although this is small, and thus between both there is great width and great depth of water as has been said. Then at the entrance on the south-eastern side, inside in the same harbour, they saw a large and very beautiful river, and with more water than they had seen until that time and the water of which was fresh as far as the sea. It has a bar at the entrance but afterwards inside it is very deep, eight or nine fathoms. The land is all covered with palms and has many groves like ours.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25.
Before sunset he entered the boat and went to see a cape or point of land to the south-east of the small flat island, a matter of a league and a half because

it appeared to him that there must be some good river there. Then at the entrance of the cape on the south-eastern part, at a distance of two cross-bow shots, he saw a large stream of very fine water flowing, which descended from a mountain and made a great noise. He went to the river and saw in it some glittering stones with spots on them of the colour of gold, and he remembered that in the river Tejo {Tagus}, at the foot of it near the sea, gold was found and it appeared to him that there certainly must be gold here and he ordered certain of those stones to be gathered to carry them to the Sovereigns. While they were in this place the ship-boys cried out saying that they saw pines. He looked toward the mountain ranges and saw them the pines, so large and wonderful that he could not exaggerate their height and straightness, like spindles, both thick ones and slender ones. From these he knew that ships could be made and a great quantity of timber and masts for the largest vessels of Spain. He saw oak-trees and strawberry-trees and a good river and the materials necessary for saw-mills. The land and the breezes were more temperate than up to the present time, on account of the height and beauty of the mountain ranges. He saw along the beach many other stones of the colour of iron, and others which some said were from silver mines, all of which were brought by the river. There he got a lateen yard and mast for the mizzen of the caravel Niña. He reached the mouth of the river and entered a bay at the foot of that cape on the south-eastern side which was very large and deep and which would contain a hundred ships without any cables or anchors and eyes never saw such another harbour. The chains of mountains were very high, from which many delightful streams descended: and all the ranges were covered with pines and everywhere there were the most diverse and beautiful thickets of trees. There were two or three other rivers which lay behind him. He praises all this highly to the Sovereigns and shows that he experienced inestimable joy and pleasure in seeing it, and especially the pines, because as many ships as desired could be built there by bringing the necessary implements, except wood and fish of which there is an enormous quantity there. And he affirms that he has not praised it a hundredth part as much as it deserves and that it pleased our Lord to continually show him something better and always in what he had discovered up to the present time he had been going from good to better, as well in the trees and forests and grasses and fruits and flowers, as in the people and always in a different manner and in one place the same as in another. The same was true in regard to the harbours and the waters. And finally he says that when he who sees it wonders at it so greatly, how much more wonderful it will seem to those who hear of it, and that no one will be able to believe it until he sees it.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26.
At sunrise he weighed the anchors from the harbour of Santa Catalina where he was, inside the low island, and navigated along the coast in a rather light wind south-west in the direction of the Cabo del Pico, which lay to the south- east. He reached the cape late because the wind calmed, and having arrived

he saw to the south-east, quarter east, another cape which might have been sixty miles distant and near there he saw another cape which was about south- east of the ship, quarter south, and it appeared to him that it might have been twenty miles distant, which he named Cabo de Campana and which he could not reach in the day-time because the wind calmed again altogether. He went during that entire day about thirty-two miles which are eight leagues. Within that distance he noted and marked nine very distinct harbours which all the seamen considered wonderful, and five large rivers, because he went near to the land all the time in order to see everything well. All that country consists of very high and beautiful mountains and they are not dry or rocky but are all accessible and there are most beautiful valleys. And the valleys as well as the mountains were covered with tall and verdant trees, so that it was a pleasure to look at them, and it appeared that there were many pines. And also beyond the said Cabo del Pico on the south-eastern side, there were two small islands which were each about two leagues around and in them there were three wonderful harbours and two large rivers. On all this coast he saw no town whatever from the sea. It might have been that there were people and there are signs of them, because whenever they went on land they found signs of habitations and many fires. He thought that the country he now saw in the south-east direction from the Cabo de Campana was the island which the Indians called Bohio: it appears so to him because the said cape is separated from that land. All the people that he has found up to the present time, he says are in great tear of the people of Caniba or Canima, and they say they live on this island of Bohio. This island must be very large, as it appears to him, and he believes that the people on it to and take the other Indians and their lands and houses, as they are very cowardly and do not know about arms. And for this cause it appeared to him that those Indians he was taking with him were not accustomed to settle on the coast of the sea, on account of being near this country. These Indians, he says, after they saw him take the course to this country, could not speak, fearing that they were to be eaten, and he was not able to free them from fear, and they said that the people there had only one eye and the face of a dog and the Admiral believed that they lied: and the Admiral felt that they must belong to the domains of the Great Khan, who captured them.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27.
Yesterday at sunset be arrived near a cape which he called Campana and as the sky was clear and the wind light he did not wish to go to land to anchor although he had five or six wonderful harbours to the leeward, because he was detained more than he desired by the pleasure and delight he felt and experienced in seeing and gazing on the beauty and freshness of those countries wherever he entered, and as he did not wish to be delayed in prosecuting what he was engaged upon. For these reasons he remained that night beating about and standing off and on until day. And as the rapid currents that night had taken him more than five or six leagues farther to the

south-east than he was at nightfall where the country of Campana had appeared to him: and beyond that point there appeared a great inlet which seemed to divide one country from the other, and made the appearance of an island in the middle: he decided to turn backward with the wind south-west, and he arrived where the opening had appeared to him, and he found that it was only a large bay and at the head of it on the south-eastern side was a point upon which there was a high and square mountain which appeared like an island. The wind changed to the north and he again took his course to the south-east in order to go along the coast and discover all that there might be there. And he saw then at the foot of that Cabo de Campana a wonderful harbour and a large river and a quarter of a league from there another river and a half league from there another river and another half league from there another river, and a league from there another river, and another league from there another river, and another quarter of a league from there another river, and another league from there another large river, from which latter river to the Cabo de Campana it was about twenty miles, and they lay south-east of him. And the greater part of these rivers had large mouths, wide and clear, with wonderful harbours for very large ships, without rocky or sandy bars or reefs. Coming thus along the coast in the direction of the south-east from the said last river he found a large village, the largest he had found until then, and he saw a great number of people come to the sea-shore crying out loudly, all naked and with their spears in their hands. He desired to speak with them and lowered the sails and anchored and sent the boats from the ship and the caravel in an orderly manner, that the Spaniards might not do and harm to the Indians or receive any front them, commanding them to give the Indians some trifles from their articles of barter. The Indians made an appearance of not allowing them to land and of resisting them. And seeing that the boats approached nearer to the land and that the Spaniards were not afraid, they withdrew from the sea. And believing that if two or three men got out of the boats they would not be afraid, three Christians landed telling them in their language not to be afraid, as they knew something of the language from conversation with the Indians they were taking with them. Finally they all started to flee so that neither a grown person nor child remained. The three Christians went to the houses which are made of straw and of the same shape as the others they had seen, and they found no one and nothing in any of them. They returned to the ships and spread the sails at mid-day to go to a beautiful cape which lay to the east, at a distance of about eight leagues. Having gone half a league along the same bay the Admiral saw in the direction of the south a very remarkable harbour and in the direction of the south-east some wonderfully beautiful countries, similar to a hilly tract of fruitful ground surrounded by mountains, and a great quantity of smoke and large villages appeared in it and the lands were highly cultivated. On this account he determined to go down to this harbour and try and see if he could have speech and intercourse with the people. He says that if he had praised

the other harbours, this one was such that he praised it more, together with the countries and their surroundings and the temperate climate and the population: he says wonders about the beauty of the land and of the trees where there are pines and palms, and about the great plain which however is not entirely level {no es llanode llano} and extends to the south-south-east, but is full of low smooth mountains, the most beautiful thing in the world, and many streams of water flow out from it, which descend from these mountains. After having anchored the vessel the Admiral jumped into the boat to sound the harbour, which is shaped like a small hammer: and when he was facing the entrance to the south he found the mouth of a river which was wide enough for a galley to enter it and so situated that it could not be seen until it was reached, and in entering it a boat's length it was five fathoms and eight fathoms in depth. In going along this river it was a wonderful thing to see the groves and verdure and the very clear water and the birds and the agreeableness, so that he says it appeared to him that he did not wish to leave there. He went on, saying to the men he had in his company that in order to make a relation to the Sovereigns of the things they saw, a thousand tongues would not be sufficient to tell it nor his hand to write it, as it appeared to him that he was enchanted. He desired that many other prudent persons and of good credit should see it, so as to be certain. He says, that they did not praise these things less than he did. The Admiral further says these words here: “How great will be the benefit which can be derived from here, I do not write. It is certain, Lords and Princes, that where there are such lands there must be an infinite quantity of profitable things: but I do not stop in any harbour because I would like to see the greatest number of lands that I can, so as to tell your Highnesses about them, and also do not know the language, and the people of these lands do not understand me nor do I or any other person I have with me, understand them: and these Indians I am taking with me, many times understand things contrary to what they are, neither do I trust much to them because they have attempted flight several times. But now, our Lord pleasing, I will see the most that I can, and little by little I will go investigating and learning, and will cause this language to be taught to persons of my house because I see that the language is all one up to the present: and then the benefits will be known, and one will labour to make all these peoples Christians as it can be done easily, because they have no sect nor are they idolaters, and your Highnesses will order a city and fortress to be built in these regions and these countries will be converted. And I certify to your Highnesses that it does not appear to me that there can be under the sun countries more fertile, more temperate in heat and cold, with a greater abundance of good and healthy waters, not like the rivers of Guinea which are all pestilent; because, praised be our Lord, until to-day, of all my people I have not bad a person who has had the headache or has been in bed from sickness, except one old man through pain from gravel, from which he has suffered all his life, and then he became well at the end of two days. I say this in regard to

all three ships. So that it will please God that your Highnesses shall send learned men here, or they shall come and they will then see the truth of everything. And as previously I have spoken of the site of a village or fortress on the Rio de Mares on account of the good harbour and the surrounding territory: it is certain that all I have said is true, but there is no comparison between that place and this, neither with the Mar de Nuestra Senora: as here there must be large villages and an innumerable population inland and things of great profit: because here and in all the other countries I have discovered and which I hope to discover before I go to Castile, I say that Christendom will enter into negotiations, and Spain much more than the rest, to which all must be subject. And I say that, your Highnesses must not consent that any foreigner set foot here or trade but only Catholic Christians, since this was the beginning and the end of the proposition that it should be for the increase and glory of the Christian religion, and that no one should come to these regions who is not a good Christian.” All are his words. He ascended the river there and found some branches and going around the harbour he found at the mouth of the river there were some very pleasant groves like a most delightful orchard, and there he found a raft or canoe made of a timber as large as a fusta with twelve benches for the rowers and very beautiful, stranded under a shed made of wood, and covered with great palm leaves, so that neither the sun nor the water could injure it and he says that there was the right place to build a village or city and fortress on account of the good harbour, good waters, good lands, good surroundings and great quantity of wood.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28.
He remained in that harbour that day because it rained and was very dark and cloudy, although he could have run along the coast with the wind, which was south-west and would be at the stern a popa, but as he could not see the land well and not being acquainted with it, it was dangerous to the ships, and he did not start. The people of the ships landed to wash their clothes and some of them went inland a little ways and found large villages and empty houses because all the people had fled. They returned down along another river, larger than the one where they were, in the harbour.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29.
As it rained and the sky was clouded they did not start. Some of the Christians reached another village near by in the direction of the north-west, and they found nothing and no one in the houses: and on the way they encountered an old man who could not flee from them: they took him and said to him that they did not wish to do him harm, and they gave him some trifles from the articles of barter and left him. The Admiral would have liked to see him to clothe him and talk with him, because he was greatly pleased with the felicity of that land and its disposition to make a settlement in it, and he judged that there must be large villages. They found in one house a cake of wax, which he brought to the Sovereigns and he says that where there is wax there must also be a thousand other good things. The sailors also found in one house the head

of a man in a little basket covered with another little basket and fastened to a post of the house and in the same manner they found another in another village. The Admiral believed that they must be the heads of some principal persons of the family, because those houses were such that many people could take refuge in one alone, and they must be relations descended from one person alone.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30.
He could not start because the wind was east, very contrary to his course. He sent eight men well armed and with them two Indians from among those he was taking with him to see the villages within the country and to talk with the inhabitants. They reached many houses and found nothing nor any one, as all had fled. They saw four youths who were digging in their fields, but as they saw the Christians they fled and they could not overtake them. They went a long distance, he says. They saw many settlements and very fertile ground and all cultivated and large streams of water and near one they saw a raft or canoe ninety-five palms long built of one single timber and very beautiful, and it would hold one hundred and fifty persons and they could navigate in it. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1.
He did not start as the wind was still contrary and as it rained hard. He placed a large cross at the entrance of that harbour which I believe he called the Puerto Santo, in some solid rocks. The point is the one on the south-eastern side at the entrance to the harbour and whoever is obliged to enter this harbour must approach nearer to the point on the north-west than to the other on the south-east. Although at the foot of both points, next to the rock, there are twelve fathoms of water and it is very clear, yet at the entrance to the harbour, off the south-east point there is a shoal which shows above the surface of the water, which is far enough distant from the point so that one can pass between them if necessary, because at the foot of the shoal and of the cape the water is all twelve or fifteen fathoms deep, and at the entrance the prow must be turned to the south-west.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2.
The wind was still contrary and he could not start. He says that every night there is a land breeze and that all the ships that may come there need have no fear of all the tempests in the world because they cannot reach the ships inside, on account of a shoal which is at the entrance to the harbour, etc. In the mouth of that river he says a ship's boy found certain stones which appeared to contain gold, and he brought them to show to the Sovereigns. He says that at a distance of a lombard shot from that place there are large rivers. MONDAY, DECEMBER 3.
As the wind continued contrary he did not start from that harbour and he decided to go and see a very beautiful cape a quarter of a league from the harbour in the direction of the south-east: he went with the boats and some armed people: at the foot of the cape there was the mouth of a good river. He turned his prow to the south-east in order to enter and it was a hundred paces

in width: it was a fathom deep at the entrance or in the mouth; but inside it was twelve fathoms, or five, and four, and two, and would contain as many ships as there are in Spain. Passing a branch of that river he went to the south- east and found a small bay or inlet in which he saw five very large rafts which the Indians call canoes, like fustas, very beautiful, and carved so that he says it was a pleasure to see them and at the foot of the mountain he saw that the land was all cultivated. They were under some very thick trees and in going along a path which led to them, they came across a ship yard very well arranged and covered so that neither the sun nor the water could do injury, and in it there was another canoe made of wood like the rest, like a fusta with seventeen benches for the rowers: it was a pleasure to see how it was constructed and its beauty. He ascended a mountain and then he found it all level and sowed with many products of the land and gourds, and it was delightful to see it: and in the midst of it there was a large village. He came suddenly upon the people of the village and as they saw the Spaniards they started to flee. The Indian whom the Spaniards had with them reassured them saying that they must not be afraid as they were good people. The Admiral caused them to be given hawks' bells and rings of brass and little green and yellow glass beads, with which they were much pleased. He saw that they had no gold nor any other precious thing and that it was sufficient to leave them in security and that all the surrounding territory was populated and that at the others fled through fear: and the Admiral assures the Sovereigns that ten men cause ten thousand Indians to flee. They are such cowards and so fearful that they carry no arms except spears, and on the end of the spears they have a small sharp stick which is hardened. He decided to return. He says that he easily took all the spears away from them, trading for them so that they gave away all they had. Having returned to the place where he had left the boats he sent certain Christians to the place where he had ascended, because it appeared to him that he had seen a large apiary. Before these people whom he had sent, returned, many Indians gathered and came to the boats where the Admiral had already united all his people. One of them went forward into the water near to the stern of the boat, and made a long speech which the Admiral did not understand, except that the other Indians from time to time raised their hands to heaven and shouted loudly. The Admiral thought they were re- assuring him and that his coming pleased them; but he saw the Indian he was taking with him change countenance and become yellow like wax and tremble greatly, saying by signs that the Admiral must go away out of the river as the Indians wished to kill them: and he approached a Christian who had a loaded cross-bow and showed it to the Indians and the Admiral understood that he said to them that it would kill them all because that cross-bow went a long ways and killed. He also took a sword and drew it from the scabbard, showing it to them and saying the same thing and when they heard that, they all commenced to flee, leaving the said Indian still trembling through cowardice and lack of courage, and he was a strong man and of good stature. The

Admiral would not go out of the river but rather made them row inland toward the place where the Indians were, who were in great number, all stained with red and naked as their mothers gave them birth and some of them had feathers upon their heads and other plumes, and they all had handfuls of spears. “I approached them and gave them some mouthfuls of bread and asked them for their spears and I gave them for the spears, to some a small hawk's bell, to others a cheap little brass ring, and to others some worthless little beads: so that they all became pacified and they all came to the boats and gave us whatever they had for whatever was given them. The sailors had killed a tortoise and the pieces of the shell lay in the boat and the boys gave the Indians a piece as large as the finger nail, and the Indians gave them a handful of spears. They are people like the others I have found (says the Admiral) and have the same belief, and they believe that we came from heaven and whatever they have they without saying that it is little then give for whatever may be given them, and I believe that they would do the same with spices and gold if they had them. I saw a beautiful house not very large and having two doors, as they are all built so, and I entered it and saw a wonderful arrangement like chambers constructed in a certain manner which I do not know how to describe, with shells and other things fastened to the ceiling. And I thought it was a temple, and I called them and asked by signs if they prayed in it, and they said no, and one of them went up overhead and gave me all they had there, and I took some of it.”
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4.
He made sail with a light wind arid went out of that port which he named Puerto Santo: at a distance of two leagues he saw a good river of which he spoke yesterday. He went along the coast and all the land beyond the said cape extended east-south-east and west-north-west as far as Cabo Lindo which is to the east of the Cabo del Monte quarter south-east, and it is five leagues from one to the other. A league and a half from the Cabo del Monte there is another large river, somewhat crooked, and it appeared to have a good entrance and to be very deep; and three-quarters of a league from there he saw another very large river and it must flow from a long distance. It was a good one hundred paces wide at the mouth and there was no shoal in it and it was eight fathoms deep and had a good entrance, because he sent a boat to see it and sound it: and the water is fresh at some distance out into the sea and it is one of the richest he has found and must have large villages. Beyond Cabo Lindo there is a large bay which extends some distance to the east-north-east and south-east and south-south-west.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5.
During all this night he beat about off Cabo Lindo, where he was at nightfall, in order to see the country which extended to the east and at sunrise he saw another cape two leagues and a half to the east: having passed that he saw that the coast turned to the south and inclined to the south-west and then saw a very high and beautiful cape in the said course and it was distant seven

leagues from the other: He would have liked to go there had it not been that he was desirous of going to the island of Babeque which lay to the north-east according to what the Indians he was taking with him said, so he left it. Neither could he go to Babeque because the wind which was prevailing was north-east. While going along in this manner he looked to the south-east and saw land I and it was a very large island of which he says he had already been told by the Indians and that they called it Bohio and it was inhabited. He says that the inhabitants of Cuba or Juana and of all the other islands are very much afraid of these people, because he says that they eat men. The said Indians told him other very wonderful things by signs: but the Admiral does not say that he believed them, only that the natives of that island of Bohio must be more astute and intelligent in order to capture the others, as they were very much lacking in courage. Therefore as the wind was north-east and was becoming north, he determined to leave Cuba or Juana, which up to that time he had considered to be the continental land on account of its size as he had gone fully one hundred and twenty leagues on one of its coasts, and he started to the south-east quarter east; although the land which he had seen receded to the south-east this insured protection, because the wind always changed around from north to north-east and from there to the east and south-east. The wind changed a great deal and he carried all his sails, the sea was calm and the current helped him so that from morning until one o'clock he made eight miles an and that was not quite six hours, because they say there that the nights are about fifteen hours; afterwards he went ten miles an hour: and in this manner he went until sunset eighty-eight miles, which are twenty-two leagues all to the south-east. And as it was getting towards night, the Admiral ordered the caravel Niña to go onward and see the harbour by daylight, as she was a fast sailor: and on reaching the mouth of the harbour which was like the bay of Cadiz and as it was already night, the Niña sent her boat to sound the harbour which boat carried a lighted candle: and before the Admiral reached the place where the caravel was beating about and waiting for the boat to make signals to enter the harbour, the light in the boat was extinguished. As they saw no light the caravel ran out and made a light for the Admiral to see and he having reached them, they told him what had happened. While they were in this situation, the people in the boat made another light. The caravel went to the boat and the Admiral was not able to do so and remained all that night beating about.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6.
When dawn came he found himself four leagues from the harbour. He named it Puerto Maria and he saw a beautiful cape to the south, quarter south-west which he named Cabo del Estrella, and it appeared to him that it was the last land of that island toward the south, and that the Admiral was about twenty- eight miles distant from it. Another country appeared to the east, like an island of no great size, at a distance of about forty miles. Another very beautiful cape of good shape lay to the east quarter south-east which he named Cabo del

Elefante, and it was fifty-four miles distant from him. Another cape lay to the east-south-east which he named Cabo de Cinquin, and it was about twenty- eight miles distant from him. There was a large opening or arm of the sea which appeared like a river to the south-east a little on the quarter of the east and it was a matter of twenty miles distant from him. It appeared to him that between the Cabo del Elefante and Cinquin there was a very large channel and some of the sailors said it was a division of the island: he named that the Isla de la Tortuga. That great island appeared to be a very high land, not encircled by mountains but level like beautiful fields and it appeared to be all cultivated or a large part of it and the crops looked like wheat in the month of May in the country of Cordova. They saw many fires that night and by day much smoke like watch towers which appeared to be to guard against some people with whom they might be at war. At the coast of this land extends to the east. At the hour of vespers they entered the said harbour and as it was the day of St. Nicholas he named it Puerto de San Nicolao his honour, and at the entrance of the harbour they wondered at its beauty and goodness. And although he has praised the harbours of Cuba greatly, still without doubt he says that this one is not inferior hut rather surpasses them and none of them are similar to it. At the mouth and entrance it is a league and a half wide and the prow is turned to the south-south-east, although on account of the great width the prow can be turned wherever desired. It extends in this manner to the south-south-east two leagues: and at its entrance in the direction of the south it forms something like a promontory and from there it extends thus level as far as the cape where there is a very beautiful beach and a field of trees of a thousand kinds and all loaded with fruits which the Admiral believed to be spices and nutmegs but as they were not ripe he did not recognise the kind: and there was a river in the middle of the beach. The depth of this harbour is wonderful as up to arriving at land for a length of {lacuna} the lead did not touch the bottom at forty fathoms and there is, up to this stretch of water, a depth of fifteen fathoms and it is very clear, and so all the said harbour from each point up to the distance of a pace from land, is fifteen fathoms deep and clear. And in this manner all the water along the coast is very deep and clear so that not a single shoal appears: and at the foot of the land at about the distance of a boat's oar from it, it is five fathoms in depth and beyond the space of the said harbour, extending to the south-south-east, in which harbour a thousand caracks could beat about, an inlet of the harbour extends to the north-east a good half league inland, and always of the same width as if it were measured with a cord. It is so situated that being in that inlet which is twenty-five paces in width, the mouth of the large entrance cannot be seen, so that this harbour is inclosed; and the depth of this inlet from the beginning to the end is eleven fathoms and it all has a sandy bottom and it is eight fathoms deep up to where the vessels can touch land. All the harbour is very breezy and desabahado shelterless and there are no trees around it. All this island appears to have more rocks than any other which has been found: the trees are smaller and many of them are

the same kind as those in Spain such as evergreen oaks and strawberry trees and others, and the same thing is true in regard to the grasses. The land is very high and all smooth and the breezes are very good, and it has not been as cold anywhere as here, although it is not to be considered as cold, but the Admiral called it so in comparison with the other countries. Opposite that harbour there was a beautiful plain and in the centre of it the aforesaid river: and in that region, he says, there must be great numbers of people since they saw the canoes in which so many of them navigate and some of them as large as a “fusta” with fifteen benches for the rowers. All the Indians fled when they saw the ships. Those Indians he was taking with him from the small islands were so desirous of going to their country, that they thought says the Admiral that after he left this place he was to take them to their homes, and that already they were suspicious because he did not take the route for their homes. On this account he says that he did not believe what they said nor did he understand them well nor did they understand him, and he says they were in the greatest fear in the world of the people of that island. So that if he had desired to talk with the people of that island it would have been necessary for him to remain there some days in that harbour, but he did not do it on account of seeing so much land and as he was doubtful that the good weather would continue. He hoped in the Lord that the Indians he was carrying would know his language and he would know theirs, and then he would return and would talk with this people, and that it would please the Lord (he says) that he should find a good trade in gold before he returned.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7.
At the passing of the quarter of dawn he made sail and started out of that Puerto de San Nicolas and navigated with the wind south-west two leagues to the north-east as far as a point which the Carenero makes, and a small promontory lay to the south-east and the Cabe de la Estrella to the south-west and from this the Admiral was twenty-four miles distant. From there he navigated to the east along the coast as far as Cabo Cinquin, a distance of about forty-eight miles. It is true that twenty miles of this extended to the east, quarter north-east and that coast is all a very high land and the water of great depth; it is twenty and thirty fathoms up to the edge of the land and at a distance of a lombard shot from land the bottom cannot be readied. The Admiral proved all this on that day along the coast, much to his pleasure, with the wind south-west. The promontory above mentioned, he says, reaches within a lombard shot of the Puerto de San Nicolas, and if it were cut off and made an island, it would be about three or four miles around. All that country was very high and did not have large trees but only evergreen oaks and strawberry-trees the same he says, as in the land of Castile. Before he reached the Cabo Cinquin and within two leagues, he discovered a small opening like a cut in the mountain, through which he discovered a very large valley and he saw that it was all sown with barley and he thought that there must be a great many people in that valley and on the borders of it there were large and high

mountains and when he reached the Cabo de Cinquin the Cabo de la Tortuga lay to the north-east at a distance of about thirty-two miles, and off this Cabo Cinquin at the distance of a lombard shot is a rock in the sea which stands high up and which can be seen very well. And the Admiral being off the said Cape the Cabo del Elefante lay to the east, quarter south-east and was at a distance of about seventy miles and all the land was very high. And at a distance of six leagues he saw a large bay and he saw in the land within very large valleys and tracts of arable land and very high mountains, all like those in Castile. And then at a distance of eight miles he found a very deep river but very crooked, although one carack could enter it very well and the mouth was free from banks or shoals. And then at a distance of sixteen miles he found a very wide harbour, and so deep that he did not find the bottom at the entrance and only at three paces from the shore, where it was fifteen fathoms and it extends inland a quarter of a league. And although it was still very early being one o'clock after mid-day and the wind was in the stern and very strong, still because the sky looked as though it would rain very hard and it was very dark and cloudy,–which if it is dangerous in a familiar country is much more so when it is unfamiliar,–he decided to enter the harbour which he named Puerto de la Concepcion, and went to land in a rather small river which is at the end of the harbour, and which flows through some plains and level tracts of arable land which were wonderful to see on account of their beauty. He took nets to fish, and before he reached land a mullet {lisa} like those in Spain, jumped into the boat and until that time no fish had been seen like those in Castile. The sailors fished and killed others, also soles and other fish like those in Castile. He went a short distance along that country which is all cultivated and he heard the nightingales sing and other small birds like those of Castile. They saw five men, but they would not wait and fled. He found myrtle and other trees and grasses like those in Castile and the country and the mountains are like Castile.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8.
There in that harbour it rained hard with the wind in the north and very strong. The harbour is safe from all the winds except the north wind although it cannot do any damage to vessels because there is a great surf or undertow which does not allow the ship to work upon the cables nor the water from the river {que no da lugar a que la nas labore sobre las amarras ni el agua del rio}. After midnight the wind shifted to the north-east and afterward to the east. This harbour is well sheltered from these winds by the island of Tortuga which is opposite it at a distance of thirty-six-miles.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9.
This day it rained and the weather was wintry the same as in Castile in the month of October. No village had been seen except one very beautiful house in the Puerto de S. Nicolas and which was constructed better than those which had been seen in other places. The island is very large and the Admiral says that it will not be much to say that it measures two hundred leagues around

{ne sera mucho que boje doscientas leguas}. He has seen that it is all well cultivated. He believed that all the villages must be at some distance from the sea from which place they can see when he is approaching, and so the inhabitants all fled and took with them all they had and lighted signal fires as though they were war-like people. This harbour is a thousand paces at the mouth which is a quarter of a league. In it there is no bank or shoal but rather the bottom can hardly be found until you go in to the shore of the sea and inside it extends a thousand paces in length all clear and with a sandy bottom, so that any ship whatever can anchor in it without fear and enter without caution. At the head of the harbour there are the mouths of two rivers which discharge a small quantity of water. Opposite there are some of the most beautiful plains in the world and which are almost like the lands of Castile only these are better, and on this account he named the island Espanola. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10.
The wind blew hard from the north-east and caused the anchors to drag half a cable's length at which the Admiral wondered, and he thought it was because the anchors were near land and the wind blew toward it. And having seen that the wind was contrary for him to go where he desired, he sent six men well armed on land, with orders to go two or three leagues inland to see if they could talk with anyone. They went and returned not having found any people or houses. They found nevertheless some huts and very wide roads, and places where many fires had been made. They saw the best lands in the world and they found many mastic trees and they brought some of it and said that there was a great deal, but that now is not the time to gather it because it does not now form into gum.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11.
He did not start on account of the wind which was still east and north-east. In front of that harbour as has been said is the Isla de la Tortuga and it appears like a large island and the coast extends almost in the same direction as that of Espanola, and it may be at the most, from one to the other, ten leagues: that is to say, from the Cabo de Cinquin at the head of Tortuga, for then its coast extends to the south. He says he would like to see that place between these two islands in order to see the Isla Espanola, which is the most beautiful thing in the world, and because according to what the Indians he had with him said, one must go yonder to reach the island of Babeque. These Indians said that it was a very large island with very large mountains and rivers and valleys, and they said that the island of Bohio was larger than Juana which they call Cuba, and that it is not surrounded by water: and they appear to give it to be understood as continental land which is here behind this Espanola, and which they call Caritaba and say that it is of infinite importance and they almost make it appear reasonable that these countries may be harassed by astute people because the inhabitants of all these islands live in great fear of the people of Caniba, “and so I repeat as I have said at other times (he says) that Caniba is no other than the people of the Great Khan who must be very near

here and have ships and come to capture these people, and as the captives do not return they believe they have eaten them. Each day we understand these Indians better and they understand us better, although many times they may have understood one thing for another (says the Admiral).” He sent people on land and they found a great deal of mastic not coagulated, and he says the rains must do this, and that in Xio they gather it in March and that in January they could gather it in these countries as it is so temperate. They caught many fish like those in Castile, dace, salmon, hake, doree, pampano, lisas mullet, conger eels, shrimp, and they saw sardines. They found a great deal of aloe. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12.
They did not start on this day on account of the aforesaid contrary wind. He placed a large cross at the entrance of the harbour on the western side, on a very slight elevation, “as a sign (he says) that Your Highnesses hold the land for your own and principally as a sign of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and in honour of Christianity.” Having placed the cross, three sailors started up the mountain to see the trees and grasses and they heard a large crowd of people, all naked like those they had seen, and they called to them and went after them, but the Indians fled. “And finally they took a woman who could go no farther because I (he says) had ordered them to take some of the Indians in order to show them honour and cause them to lose their fear and see if they had profitable things, as it appeared it could not be otherwise on account of the beauty of the country: and so they brought the woman, a very young and beautiful girl, to the ship, and she talked with those Indians, because they all had the same language.” And the Admiral caused her to be clothed and gave her glass beads and hawks' bells and brass rings, and sent her to land again very honourably, according to his custom. He sent some persons from the ship with her; and three of the Indians he had with him, to talk with that people. The sailors who went in the boat, when they took her to land, told the Admiral that she did not wish to go out of the ship if she could not remain with the other Indian women he had caused to be taken in the Puerto de Mares de la Isla Juana of Cuba. All these Indians who came with that Indian woman, he says, came in a canoe, which is their caravel in which they navigate everywhere, and when they appeared at the entrance of the harbour and they saw the ships they turned backward and left the canoe yonder in some place, and went away on the road to their village. The Indian woman showed the location of the village. This woman wore a small piece of gold in her nose, which was an indication that there was gold in that island.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13.
The three men whom the Admiral had sent with the woman returned at three o'clock in the night, and they did not go with her as far as the village because it appeared a long way off, or because they were afraid. They said that the next day many people would come to the ships because they must already be re-assured by the news the woman would give them. The Admiral being desirous to learn whether there was anything valuable in that country and in

order to have some conversation with the people as their land was so beautiful and fertile, and that they might be disposed to serve the Sovereigns, decided to send again to the village, confiding in the news given by the Indian woman that the Christians were good people. For this purpose he selected nine men well prepared with arms and adapted for such an affair, with whom an Indian from among those he had with him went also. They went to the village which was four leagues and a hall to the south-east and which they found in a very large valley and unoccupied; because when the Indians heard the Christians coming, they all fled inland leaving whatever they had behind them. The village consisted of more than three thousand men and had a thousand houses. The Indian the Christians had with them, ran after the others calling to them, saying that they must not be afraid as the Christians were not from Cariba, but instead they were from heaven and that they gave many beautiful things to every one they found. They were so much impressed with what he said, that they were re-assured and more than two thousand came together, and all came to the Christians and placed their hands upon their heads, which was a sign of great reverence and friendship, and they were all trembling until they were greatly re-assured. The Christians said that after they were entirely freed from fear they all went to their houses, and each one brought them some of whatever they had to eat, which was bread of “niames” I which are roots like large radishes, which they sow and which grow and are planted in all their lands, and upon which they live: and they make bread of them and boil and roast them and they taste like chestnuts, and there is no one who does not believe, in eating them, that they are chestnuts. They gave the Christians bread and fish and whatever they had. And as the Indians he had in the ship had understood that the Admiral desired to have a parrot, it appears that the Indian who was with the Christians told the other Indians something of this, and so they brought the Christians parrots and gave them as many as they wished without requiring anything for them. They begged them not to come away that night and said they would give them many other things they had in the mountains. At the time when all those people were together with the Christians they saw a great multitude of people coming with the husband of the woman whom the Admiral had honoured and sent back. They were carrying this woman upon their shoulders and they came to thank the Admiral for the honour he had done her and the presents he had given her. The Christians told the Admiral that they were all a handsomer people and of better disposition than any others they had found until that time: but the Admiral says that he does not know how they can be of better disposition than the others, causing it to be understood that all those who had been found in the other islands were very well disposed. As to their beauty the Christians say that there is no comparison as well in the women as the men and that they are whiter than the others and that among the rest they saw two young girls as white as any could be in Spain. They said also in regard to the beauty of the lands that the best in Castile in beauty and goodness had no comparison with

them, and the Admiral also saw it from those he had seen and from those he had before him, and they told him that those which he saw were not to be compared with the lands in that valley and that they were as much different from the field of Cordova as day is from night. They said that all those lands were cultivated and that a river flowed through the middle of that valley very large and wide, and which could irrigate all the lands. All the trees were green and full of fruit, and the grasses were all in flower and very high: the roads were very wide and good, the breezes were like those in Castile in the month of April, the nightingale and other small birds were singing as they do in Spain in the same month, so that they say it was the sweetest thing in the world. Small birds sang sweetly during the nights: many crickets and frogs were heard: there were fish the same as in Spain. They saw many mastic trees and aloes and cotton plantations: they found no gold and it is not wonderful that in such a short time they did not find any. The Admiral here ascertained the number of hours in the day and the night and from sun to sun; he found that twenty ampolletas glasses of half an hour each passed, although he says there might have been some error either because they were not turned quickly enough, or because some of the sand did not run through. He says also that he found by the quadrant that he was thirty-four degrees distant from the equinoctial line.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14.
He started from that Puerto de la Concepcion with a land breeze, and then after a little it calmed, and thus he experienced it each day of those he remained there. Afterward the wind became east. He navigated in this wind to the north-north-east and reached the Isla de la Tortuga and saw a point on this island which he called the Punta Pierna which was to the east-north-east of the head of the island, and might be at a distance of twelve miles, and from there he discovered another point which he called the Punta Lanzada in the same route to the north-east, which was about sixteen miles distant. And thus from the head of the Tortuga as far as the Punta Aguda it would be about forty-four miles, which are seven leagues, to the east-north-east. On that course there were some long strips of beaches. This island of Tortuga is a very high country but not mountainous, and is very beautiful and well populated the same as the island of Espanola and the land is all so cultivated that one appears to see the field of Cordova. Having seen that the wind was contrary and that he could not go to the island of Babeque, he decided to return to the Puerto de la Concepcion, from whence he had started, and he was not able to reach a river which is two leagues from the said harbour in the direction of the east.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15.
He started from the Puerto de la Concepcion again on his course, but on going out of the harbour the wind blew strongly from the east which was contrary for him, and he turned and went to the Tortuga and from there he made an excursion to see that river which he had wished to see and reach

yesterday and was not able to do so, and this time he could not make it either, although he anchored half a league to the leeward on a beach,–a good and clear harbour. Having anchored his vessels he went with the boats to see the river and entered an arm of the sea which is a half league nearer and it was not the mouth. He returned and found the mouth which was not even a fathom in depth and which had a very strong current: he entered it with the boats in order to reach the villages which the people he had sent the day before yesterday had seen and he threw the line on land and by means of the sailors pulling on it the boats ascended a distance of two lombard shots and he was not able to go farther on account of the strong current in the river. He saw some houses and the large valley where the villages are, and he said that he had never seen a more beautiful thing; and that river flowed through the middle of the valley. He also saw people at the entrance to the river, but all started to flee. He says further that those people must be very much hunted since they live in so much fear, because on reaching any place they make smoke signals by means of towers throughout all the land, and they do this more in this island of Espanola and in Tortuga, which also is a large island, than in the others he had left behind. He named the valley Valle del Paraiso and the river Guadalquivir, because he says that it flows thus as large as the Guadalquivir by Cordova, and it shows very beautiful stones on its banks or edges and it is all navigable.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16.
At midnight in a very light land breeze be made sail to get out of that gulf, and in coming from the coast of the Isla Espanola he sailed close to the wind because afterward at the hour of tercia the wind blew from the east. In the middle of the gulf he found a canoe with an Indian alone in it, upon which the Admiral wondered how he was able to keep himself upon the water when there was such a high wind. He caused him and his canoe to be placed in the ship, and to flatter him, gave him glass beads, hawks' bells and brass rings and took him in his ship to land at a village which was sixteen miles from there beside the sea, where the Admiral anchored and found a good anchorage on the beach next to the village, which appeared to be newly built because all the houses were new. The Indian then went away with his canoe to land and gave news of the Admiral and of the Christians as being good people although they already considered them so through information from the others where the six Christians had gone, and then more than five hundred men came and after a little their King came, and they all gathered on the beach near the ships for they were anchored very near the land. And then one by one and in crowds they came to the ship without bringing anything with them, although some of them wore grains of very fine gold in their ears and noses, which they then gave away willingly. The Admiral ordered that all should be treated honorably, “and (says he) because they are the best and mildest people in the world: and above all because I have great hope in our Lord that your Highnesses will make them all Christians and they will all belong to you, for I

regard them as yours.” He saw also that the said King was on the beach as they all showed him respect. The Admiral sent him a present which he says he received with great state, and that he must have been a young man of about twenty-one years of age, and that he had an old governor or tutor and other counsellors who counseled him and replied to him and that he spoke very few words. One of the Indians the Admiral had with him spoke with the King and told him how the Christians came from heaven and that they were going in search of gold, and wished to go to the Isla de Beneque: and he replied that it was well and that in the said island there was a great deal of gold; he showed the Admiral's Alguacil who took him the present, the course that must be taken to go there and said that in two days one could go from that place to the island, and that if the Spaniards needed anything in his country, he would give it to them very willingly. This King and all the others went about naked as their mothers gave them birth, and the women also, without any timidity and they are the handsomest men and women who had been found up to that time: exceedingly white so that if they wore clothing and were protected from the sun and the air they would be almost as white as the people in Spain, for this country is very cool and the best that language can describe: it is very high and upon the highest mountain ploughing could be done with oxen and everything could be transformed into arable lands and fields. In all Castile there is no land which can be compared to this in beauty and goodness. All this island and the island of Tortuga are entirely cultivated like the field of Cordova. They have the fields sown with “ajes” which are little branches which they plant, and at the foot of them small roots grow like carrots which serve as bread, and they grate them and knead them and make bread of them and afterward they plant the same little branch again in another place and it again produces four or five of those roots which are very palatable, and taste exactly like chestnuts. These which grow here are the largest and best he had seen anywhere, as he also says that he had them in Guinea. Those which grew in this place he says were as thick as the leg, and he says that all of the people there were strong and courageous and not feeble like the others he had found before, and they conversed very pleasantly and had no sect. And the trees there he says were so luxuriant that the leaves were not green but blackish in colour. It was a wonderful thing to see those valleys and the rivers and good waters and the lands suitable for bread-foods and for flocks of all kinds of which they had none, and suitable for orchards and for all the things in the world that a man may ask. Afterward in the afternoon the King came to the ship: the Admiral paid him the honour which was due him, and caused it to be said to him that he came from the Sovereigns of Castile who were the greatest Sovereigns in the world. But neither the Indians who were with the Admiral, who were the interpreters, believed anything of this, or the King either, but they believed the Christians came from heaven and that the realms of the Sovereigns of Castile were in the heavens and not in this world. The Christians gave the King some of the things of Castile to eat and he ate a mouthful and

afterward gave all to his counsellors and to the Governor and to the others who were with him. “Your Highnesses may believe that these lands are so numerous and good and fertile and especially these of this Isla Espanola that there is no one who can describe it, and no one can believe it if he does not see it. And they may believe that this island and all the others are as much theirs as Castile as all that is necessary here is to build a town and order them to do what is desired. For I, with the people I have with me, who are not many in number, could go through these islands without any affront; as I have already seen three of these sailors go on land where there was a multitude of the Indians and they all fled without any one's wishing to do them harm. They have no arms and are all naked and have no knowledge of arms and are very cowardly, for a thousand of them would not face three Christians: and so they are suitable to be governed and made to work and sow and do everything else that shall be necessary, and to build villages and be taught to wear clothing and observe our customs.”
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17.
It blew that night strongly, the wind being east-north-east but the sea did not change much, because the Isla de la Tortuga which is in front of it and makes a shelter for it, protected and guarded it. So he remained there during that day. He sent some of the sailors to fish with nets. The Indians associated with the Christians a great deal and they brought them certain arrows belonging to the people of Caniba or the Canibales, and these arrows are made of spikes of canes and they use some little sharp hardened sticks for them and they are very large. They showed the Christians two men who had lost some pieces of flesh from their bodies, and made them understand that the Cannibals had eaten them by piece-meals. The Admiral did not believe it. He again sent certain Christians to the village, and by trading some worthless little glass beads they obtained some pieces of gold beaten into the form of a thin leaf. One Indian whom the Admiral took for the Governor of that Province and who was called Cacique, they observed to have a piece of that gold leaf as large as the hand and it appeared that he wished to trade it. He went away to his house and the others remained in the plaza and he caused that piece of gold to be broken into very small pieces, and bringing a piece at a time, he traded for it. After there was no more remaining, he said by signs that he had sent for more and the next day they would bring it to him. All these things, and their manner, and their customs, and meekness and counsel show them to be a more alert and intelligent people than the others he had found up to that time, says the Admiral. In the afternoon a canoe came there from the Isla de la Tortuga with all of forty men and on reaching the beach all the people of the village who were together seated themselves as a sign of peace, and some from the canoe, and then almost all came on land. “The Cacique arose alone and with words which appeared to be threatening made them return to the canoe and threw them water and took stones from the beach and threw them in the water: and after all had very obediently placed themselves in the canoe and

embarked, he took a stone and placed it in the hand of my Alguacil whom I had sent on land with the Escribano and others to see if they could bring back anything valuable,–that he might throw it, and the Alguacil would not do so.” That Cacique there showed very plainly that be favoured the Admiral. The canoe then went away and they said to the Admiral after its departure that in Tortuga there was more gold than in the island of Espanola because it is nearer Baneque. The Admiral said that he believed there were no mines of gold either in the Isla Espanola or Tortuga, but that they brought it from Baneque and that they bring a small quantity because they have nothing to give for it, and that country is so rich that it is not necessary for them to work much to sustain themselves or clothe themselves as they go naked. And the Admiral believed that this was very near the fountain head and that our Lord was about to show him where the gold originates. He was informed that from there to Baneque it was four days' journey which must have been thirty or forty leagues, which he could make in one day of good wind.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18.
He remained anchored by this beach during this day as there was no wind and also because the Cacique had said that gold would be brought not because he considered says the Admiral that much gold could be brought as there were no mines there, but in order to know better from whence it was brought. Then at dawn he ordered the ship and caravels decorated with arms and banners for the festival, as this was the day of Sancta Maria de la O, or the commemoration of the Annunciation. They fired many lombard shots: and the King of that Isla Espanola says the Admiral had arisen early from his house which must have been at a distance of five leagues from there, as well as he could judge, and he reached that village at the hour of tercia, where there were already some of the people from the ship whom the Admiral had sent to see if any gold was brought: these Christians said that more than two hundred men came with the King and that four men brought him in a litter and that he was a young man as told above. To-day as the Admiral was eating below the forecastle the King arrived at the ship with all his people. And the Admiral says to the Sovereigns: “With out doubt his state and the respect which they all show him would appear well to your Highnesses, although they are all without clothing. And as be entered the ship he found that I was eating at the table below the stern forecastle, and he came quickly to seat himself beside me and would not allow me to go to meet him or get up from the table but only that I should eat. I thought that he would like to eat some of our viands: and I then ordered that things should be brought him to eat. And when he entered under the forecastle, he signed with his band that all his people should remain without and they did so with the greatest haste and respect in the world and all seated themselves on the deck, except two men of mature age whom I took to be his counsellors and governors and who came and seated themselves at his feet: and of the viands which I placed before him he took of each one as much as may be taken for a salutation and then he sent the rest to his people and

they all ate some of it and he did the same with the drink which he only touched to his mouth and then gave it to the others in the same way and it was all done in wonderful state and with very few words and whatever he said, according to what I was able to understand, was very formal and prudent and those two looked in his face and spoke for him and with him and with great respect. After eating, a page brought a belt which is like those of Castile in shape, but of a different make, which he took and gave to me and also two wrought pieces of gold which were very thin, as I believe they obtain very little of it here, although I consider they are very near the place where it has its home and that there is a great deal of it. I saw that a drapery that I had upon my bed pleased him. I gave it to him and some very good amber beads which I wore around my neck and some red shoes and a flask of orange flower water, with which he was so pleased it was wonderful; and he and his governor and counsellors were very sorry that they did not understand me, nor I, them. Nevertheless I understood that he told me that if anything from here would satisfy me that all the island was at my command. I sent for some beads of mine where as a sign I have an 'excelente' of gold upon which the images of your Highnesses are engraved and showed it to him, and again told him the same as yesterday that your Highnesses command and rule over all the best part of the world and that there are no other such great Princes: and I showed him the royal banners and the others with the cross, which he held in great estimation: and he said to his counsellors that your Highnesses must be great Lords, since you had sent me here from so far without fear: and many other things happened which I did not understand, except that I very well saw he considered everything as very wonderful.” Then as it was already late and he wished to go away, the Admiral sent him in the boat with great honours and caused many lombards to be fired; and having reached land he got into his litter and went away with his two hundred men and more, and his son was carried behind him on the shoulders of an Indian, a very honourable man. Wherever he encountered the sailors and people from the ships, he ordered that something to eat should be given them and they should be paid a great deal of honour. A sailor said that he had met him on the way and had seen that all the things which the Admiral had given him were each one carried before the King by a man, who appeared to be one of the most important men. His son was following behind the King at some distance with as large a number of people as he had, and likewise a brother of the King, except that the brother was on foot and two of the principal men were leading him by the arms. This brother came to the ship, after the King came, and the Admiral gave him some things from the said articles of barter and then the Admiral learned that the King was called in his language Cacique. On this day he says he traded for only a small quantity of gold: but the Admiral learned from an old man that there were many islands in that vicinity at a distance of a hundred leagues and more, according to what he could understand, in which a great quantity of gold is found and in the others there is so much that he told

him there was an island which was all gold, and there is such a quantity in the others that they gather it and sift it as with sieves and melt it and make “bars” and work it in a thousand ways: they show the manner in which this is done, by signs. This old man indicated to the Admiral the course to these islands and the place where they lay: the Admiral determined to go there and said that if the said old man had not been one of the principal persons belonging to the King that he would have detained him and taken him with him, or if he had known the language that he would have begged him to accompany him and be believed as he was on such good terms with him and with the Christians, that he would have gone with him of his own will. But as he already considered those people as belonging to the Sovereigns of Castile and it was not right to offend them, he decided to leave him. He placed a very large cross in the centre of the plaza of that village in which the Indians assisted greatly: and they said prayers, he said, and adored it, and from their actions the Admiral hopes in the Lord that all those islands are to be Christianised. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19.
This night he made sail to get out of that gulf which the isla Espanola and Tortigo make there, and when day arrived the wind changed to the east, on which account during all that day he could not get out from between those two islands, and at night he was not able to reach a harbour I which appeared there. He saw four points of land near there and a large bay and river and from that place he saw a very large promontory, and there was a village and back of it a valley between many very high mountains, covered with trees which he judged to be pines; and upon the Dos Hermanos there is a very high and large mountain which extends from north-east to south-west and to the east-south- east of the Cabo de Torres there is a small island which he named Santo Tomas as the next day was his vigil. All around that island there are capes and wonderful harbours, according to what he could judge from the sea. In the forepart of the island on the western part there is a cape partly high and partly low which projects far out into the sea and on that account he named it Cabo Alto y Bajo. At a distance from Torres of sixty miles in the direction of the east, quarter south-east, there is a higher mountain than the other which projects into the sea and appears at a distance to be an island by itself on account of a cut which it has on the land side. He named it Monte Caribata because that province is called Caribata. It is very beautiful and covered with trees of a bright green without snow and without mists and the weather there in respect to the breezes and temperateness was the same as it is in Castile in the month of March and in respect to the trees and grasses it was like the month of May in Castile. The nights, he says, were of fourteen hours duration. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20.
To-day at sunset he entered a harbour which was between the island of Santo Tomas and the Cabo de Caribata, and anchored. This harbour is very beautiful and all the ships there are in Christendom could be contained therein. Its entrance appears impossible from the sea to those who have not

entered it, on account of some obstructing rocks which extend from the mountain almost as far as the island and which are not placed in order, but there is one here and another there, some in the sea and some by the land. On this account it is necessary to be watchful, in order to enter it by some entrances it has which are very wide and suitable to enter without fear, and the water is all seven fathoms deep and having passed the rocks it is twelve fathoms deep inside. The ship can be fastened with any cord whatever against any winds there may be. At the entrance of this harbour he says there is a channel {canal} which lies to the west of a small sandy island and there are many trees upon this island, and up to the foot of it there are seven fathoms of water: but there are many shoals in this vicinity and it is necessary to keep the eyes open until the harbour is entered: then there is no fear of all the tempests in the world. From that harbour a very large valley appeared, all cultivated, which descends to the harbour from the south-east: it is all surrounded with very high mountains which appear to reach heaven and are very beautiful and covered with green trees; and without doubt there are mountains there which are higher than the island of Tenerife in Canaria, which is held to be the highest that can be found. A league from this part of the Isla de Santo Tomas there is another small island and nearer than that, another; and in all there are wonderful harbours but it is necessary to look out for the shoals. The Admiral saw villages and the smoke which they made.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21.
To-day he went with the boats from the ships to see that harbour: which he saw to be such that he affirms none yet seen is equal to it: and he excuses himself saying that he has praised those he has passed so much that he does not know how to rate this one highly enough: and he fears that he may be considered as magnifying the truth of things to an excessive degree. He guards against this, saying: that he is taking old sailors with him and these say, and will say the same, and so also every one of those who go on the sea: that is to say, that all his praises of the harbours he has passed are true and it is also the truth that this harbour is much better than all the others. He further says, as follows: “I have been twenty-three years upon the sea without quitting it for any time long enough to be counted, and I saw all the East and West as it is called in going to the north, which is England, and l have travelled through Guinea, but in all these regions the perfection of harbours will not he found…{lacuna of a line and a half} found always the {lacuna} better than the other. I considered what I had written very carefully and I say again that I assert I have written well and that now this harbour surpasses all the others, and all the ships in the would could be contained in it, and it is so sheltered that the oldest cable on a ship would hold it fast.”
It is five leagues from the entrance to the innermost point. He saw very well cultivated lands, although they are all like that, and he ordered two men to get out of the boats and go to an elevation to see if there was a village, because none could be seen from the sea: although that night about ten o'clock

certain Indians came to the ships in a canoe to see the Admiral and the Christians, as being something wonderful, and the Admiral gave them some of the articles of barter with which they were greatly pleased. The two Christians returned and told where they had seen a large village a little distance from the sea. The Admiral ordered them to row toward the place where the village was until they arrived near the land, and he saw some Indians who came to the
sea-shore and it appeared that they came with fear, on which account he ordered the boats stopped and told the Indians he was carrying in the ships, to speak to them and tell them that no injury would be done to them. They then drew nearer to the sea and the Admiral drew nearer to the land, and after they became entirely free from fear, so many came that they covered the land, offering a thousand thanks, the men as well as the women and children. Some ran here and others there to bring us bread which they bake from niames, which they call “ajes,” which is very white and good and they brought us water in gourds and in clay pitchers shaped like those of Castile, and they brought us all they had in the world and knew the Admiral wished for, and all so generously and joyfully that it was wonderful “and it cannot be said that because what they gave us was of little value that on this account they gave it freely (says the Admiral) because those who gave pieces of gold did it in the same way and as liberally as those who gave a gourd of water: and it is an easy thing to recognise (says the Admiral) when a thing is given very willingly and eagerly.” These are his words. “These people have no pikes or spears or any other arms, neither have the other inhabitants of all this island, which I believe to be very large: they are naked as their mothers gave them birth, men as well as women; but in the other countries of Juana and those of the other islands the women wore in front, pieces of cotton something like men's breeches, with which they covered their genital parts, and especially after they had passed the age of twelve years, but here neither young nor old wore it. And in the other places all the men made the women hide from the Christians through jealousy, but here they do not, and there are some very pretty women, and they are the first who came to give thanks to Heaven and bring whatever they had, especially things to eat, bread made from 'ajes,' gonza avellanada and five or six kinds of fruits.” The Admiral ordered some of the fruit cured in order to take it to the Sovereigns. The women in the other places he says did the same before they were concealed, and the Admiral ordered everywhere that all his people should he on guard not to annoy any of them in any manner, and that no one should take anything from them against their will, and so the Christians paid them for everything they received from them. Finally (says the Admiral) it cannot be believed that men have seen a people with such good hearts and so liberal in giving and so fearful that they strip themselves of everything to give all they have to the Christians, and on the arrival of the Christians, they then run to bring everything to them. Then the Admiral sent six Christians to the village to see what it was, and the people showed them all the honour they knew how and were able to show, and gave

them whatever they had because they were no longer in any doubt but believed that the Admiral and all his people had come from Heaven: the Indians whom the Admiral had brought from the other islands also believed this, although what they ought to believe in respect to this matter had already been told them. After the six Christians had gone, certain canoes came bringing people to pray the Admiral on the part of a certain chief, to go to his village when he left this place. Canoa is a boat in which they navigate and some of them are large and some small. And having seen that the village of that chief was on the way, situated on a point of land, and that he was waiting for the Admiral with many people, he went there, but before he started, so many people, men and women and children, came to the shore that it was frightful and they were all crying loudly that he must not go away but must remain with them. The messengers of the other chief who had come to invite him were waiting with their canoes that he might not go away without going to see the Chief: and so he went to see him. When the Admiral arrived where that Chief was waiting for him with a great many things to eat, the Chief ordered all his people to be seated, telling them then to take whatever they had to eat to the boats where the Admiral was, near to the shores of the sea. And having seen that the Admiral had received what they had taken to him, all or the greater part of the Indians commenced running to the village, which must have been near, in order to bring him more eatables and parrots and other things which they had, with such generosity that it was wonderful. The Admiral gave them glass beads and brass rings and hawks' bells, not because they asked for anything but because it appeared to him that it was right, and above all (says the Admiral) because he already considers them as Christians and as belonging to the Sovereigns of Castile more than the people of Castile: and he says that nothing else is lacking save to know the language and to give them orders because all that they are ordered to do, they will do without any contradiction. The Admiral left that place for the ships, and the Indians, men, women, and children, cried out for the Christians not to go away but to remain with them. After the Christians left, canoes filled with the Indians followed them to the ships, and the Admiral treated them with great honour and gave them things to eat and other things they had with them. Another chief had also come previously from the west and many people even came swimming, though the ship was more than a long half league from the land. The Chief of whom I spoke, having returned, the Admiral sent certain persons to see him and question him about these islands: and he received them very well and took them with him to his village to give them certain large pieces of gold; and they arrived at a large river which the Indians swam across but the Christians were not able to do so and so they returned. In all this region there are very high mountains which appear to reach Heaven, so that the mountains of the island of Tenerife appear nothing in comparison with them in height and in beauty and they are all green and covered with forests which is a wonderful thing. In their midst are very delightful plains and at the

foot of this harbour to the south there is such a great plain without an obstructing mountain, that the eyes cannot see to the end of it, and it appears that it must he fifteen or twenty leagues long: and a river flows through it and it is all populated and cultivated and is as green now as if it were in Castile in the month of May or June, although the nights are fourteen hours in length and the land is so northerly. Therefore this harbour is very good whatever winds may blow, sheltered and deep, and all the country is inhabited by a very good and mild people, and they have no arms either good or had. And any ship whatever may be free from fear in this harbour that other ships might come by night to assault it, because, although the mouth is more than two leagues wide, it is very contracted by reason of two rocky reefs which are hardly seen above the water: and there is a very narrow entrance in this reef which appears as if it could only have been made by hand, which left an opening wide enough for ships to enter. In the mouth it is seven fathoms in depth to the foot of a small level island which has a beach and trees at the foot of it: the entrance is to the west, and a ship can approach near enough to touch the rock without fear. There are three islands to the north-west and a large river a league from the head of the harbour. It is the best harbour in the world and he named it the Puerto de la Mar de Santo Tomas because this day was the day of St. Thomas. He called it a sea on account of its size. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22.
At dawn he set sail in order to go on his course in search of the islands which the Indians said contained a great deal of gold, and that some contained more gold than land. But the weather was not favourable and he had to anchor again and sent the boat to fish with nets. The Chief of that country who had a place near there sent him a large canoe full of people, and in it one of his principal servants, to entreat the Admiral to go with the ships to his country and he would give him whatever he had. He sent the Admiral by this servant a belt which in place of a purse had a mask attached with two large ears and a tongue and nose of beaten gold. And this people are so generous that whatever is asked of them they give with the best will in the world, and it appears to them that in asking them for something a great favour is shown them. The Admiral says this. The Indians in the canoe met the boat from the ship and gave the belt to a boy and came with their canoe on board the ship to perform their errand. Before they could understand each other some part of the day passed, neither could the Indians whom the Admiral had with him understand them well, because there is some difference in the names of things: finally he finished by understanding the invitation of these Indians, by means of signs. The Admiral determined to start for that place on Sunday although he was not in the habit of leaving port on Sunday, solely on account of his devotion and not from any superstition whatever. But because he hopes, he says, that the people of those villages will he Christianised on account of their good-will, and that this will be accomplished by the Sovereigns of Spain, and because he already considers them as belonging to the Sovereigns, and that they may

serve the Sovereigns lovingly he is agreeable to them and strives to please them. Before he started to-day he sent six men to a very large village three leagues from there to the west, because the Chief of that village came to the Admiral the day before and told him that he had certain pieces of gold. On the arrival of the Christians at that place the Chief took the Escribano of the Admiral who was with the Christians by the hand. The Admiral sent the Escribano to prevent the other Spaniards from doing anything unjust to the Indians because the Indians were so generous and the Spaniards so avaricious and unreasonable that they were not satisfied to have the Indians give them whatever they desired for the end of a leather strap and even for a piece of glass and earthen ware and for other things of no value; but even without giving them anything they desired to have everything and take everything, which the Admiral always prohibited, although the things they gave to the Christians with the exception of the gold were always of small value. But the Admiral, considering the generous hearts of the Indians, who would give, and in fact did give, a piece, of gold for six cheap little glass beads, on that account ordered that nothing should be received from them for which something was not given in payment. So that the Chief took the Escribano by the hand and conducted him to his house with all the people, a very great number, who accompanied him and made them give the Spaniards something to eat, and all the Indians brought them many things made of cotton and little balls of the same. Afterward in the afternoon the Chief gave them three very fat geese and some small pieces of gold. And a great number of Indians came with them carrying for them all the things for which they had traded and contending among themselves as to carrying them on their shoulders and they actually did carry them across some rivers and muddy places. The Admiral ordered that some things should be given to the Chief and he and all his people were greatly pleased, believing that the Christians had really come from heaven and they considered themselves fortunate in seeing them. More than one hundred and twenty canoes came to the ships on this day all loaded with people and all bringing something, especially their bread and fish, and water in small earthen jars and seeds of many good kinds of spices. They throw a grain of these seeds in a porringer of water and drink it and the Indians that the Admiral had with him say that it was a very healthful thing.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23.
He could not start for the country of that Chief who had sent to entreat and invite him to come, as there was no wind: but he sent some people and the Escribano in the boats with the three messengers who were waiting there. In the meantime while they were gone, he sent two of the Indians he had with him to the villages which were near the place where the ships were, and these Indians returned with a chief to the ships, with the news that in that land of Espanola there was a great quantity of gold and that people from other places came there to buy it, and they told him that he would find as much as he desired there. Others came who confirmed there being much gold on the

island and they showed him their manner of obtaining it. The Admiral understood all that with difficulty: but yet he felt certain that in those regions there was a very great quantity of gold and that in finding the place from which it is obtained he would get it very cheaply and as he imagined, even for nothing. And he repeats that he believes there must be a great deal of it, because in the three days which he remained in that harbour he had received good pieces of gold and he can not believe that it is brought there from another country. May our Lord, Who has all things in His hands assist me and give me whatever may be for His service. These are the words of the Admiral. He says that at that time he believes more than a thousand persons came to the vessel and they all brought something from what they possessed: and before they reached the ship, at a distance of half a cross-bow shot, they arose to their feet in their canoes and took what they were bringing in their hands, saying: “Take, Take.” Also he says he believes that more than five hundred came swimming to the ships on account of not having canoes, and he was anchored about a league from land. He judged that five princes, sons of chiefs, with all their household, women and children, had come to see the Christians. The Admiral ordered something given to every one, because he says, it was all well employed, and he says: May our Lord in His mercy direct me until I find this gold, I say this Mine, because I have many people here who say that they know it: these are his words. The boats arrived in the night and they said that they had come from a long distance, and that at the mountain of Caribatan they found many canoes with a great many people who were coming from the place whither the Christians were going, to see the Admiral and the Christians. And he considered it certain that if he could be in that harbour for the feast of the Nativity that all the people would come from that island, which he already estimated to be larger than England, to see the Christians. The canoes returned with the Christians to the village, which, he says, they affirm to be larger and with better arranged streets than any others passed and discovered up to that time. This village, he says, is almost three leagues to the south-east of the Punta Santa. And as the canoes go rapidly with oars they went ahead to make known to the Cacique that the Christians were coming. Up to that time the Admiral had not been able to understand whether by Cacique they meant King or Governor. They also have another word for a great personage, that is to say Nitayno, and he did not know whether it meant a Hidalgo, Governor or Judge. Finally the Cacique came to them, and all the people of the village consisting of more than two thousand men, united in the plaza, which was very clean. This King paid great honours to the people from the ships and each one of the people brought them something to eat and to drink. Then the King gave to each one of them some cotton cloths such as the women wear, and parrots for the Admiral, and certain pieces of gold: the people also gave the sailors some of the same cloths and other things from their houses for the little things which they gave them, which from the manner in which they received them, it appeared they esteemed as reliques. In the afternoon when

they wished to take leave the King begged them to wait until another day and all the people did the same; but having seen that they had determined to come away, many of the Indians came with them carrying on their shoulders the things which the Cacique and the others had given them as far as the boats, which remained at the entrance of the river.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 24.
Before sunrise he weighed the anchors, with a land breeze. Among the many Indians who had come to the ship yesterday and had given them indications of there being gold on that island and had named the places where it was found, he saw one, who, it appears was better disposed and more affectionate, or who spoke to him with more pleasure. The Admiral flattered him, begging him to go away with him to show him the mines of gold. This Indian brought with him another, a companion or relative and among the other places which they named where gold was found, they told of Cipango, which they call Civao, and there they say there is a great quantity of gold, and that the Cacique carries banners of hammered gold, but that is a great distance from the east. The Admiral here says these words to the Sovereigns: “Your Highnesses may believe that in all the world there cannot be better or more quiet people. Your Highnesses must be greatly pleased, because they will soon make them Christians and will teach them the good customs of their realms, because there cannot be a better people or country: and the people are so numerous and the country so great that I do not yet know how to write it, because I have spoken in the superlative degree of the people and the country of Juana, which they call Cuba; but there is as much difference between the people of this country and the people of Juana as there is between day and night. Neither do I believe that any other person who saw this, would have done or said less than I have said, and I say that it is true that the things here are marvelous and so also are the great villages of this island of Espanola, as I have named it and which they call Bohio. And all the people behave in a remarkably friendly manner and speak softly, not like the other Indians who appear to threaten when they speak, and the men and women are of good stature and are not black. It is true that they all paint themselves, some black and others in other colours, and mostly red. I have learned that they do it on account of the sun, which then does not injure them as much. And the houses and settlements are very beautiful and they are all governed by a Lord or Judge, and all obey him so that it is a marvel. And all these Lords speak very few words and have very fine manners, and their commands are given usually by a sign of the hand, and then it is understood in a wonderful manner.” All these are the words of the Admiral.
Whoever is obliged to enter the sea of Santo Tome must put in a good league above the mouth of the entrance toward a small flat island which the Admiral named La Amiga which is in the middle of it, turning the prow toward it. And after he arrives within the “oto” of a stone from it, must go to the west, and leave the island to the east and must keep near it and not go to the other side,

because there is a very large reef to the west, and also in the sea outside of it there are three shoals, and this reef reaches within a lombard shot of La Amiga: and he will pass in the middle and will find at the most shallow place seven fathoms of water with gravel underneath, and inside he will find a harbour for all the ships in the world where they can remain without cables. There is another reef and more shoals which extend from the east toward the said Island of Amiga and they are very large and extend far out into the sea and reach almost within two leagues of the cape; but it appeared that there was an entrance between them at a distance of two lombard shots from La Amiga, and at the foot of Monte Caribatan on its west side, there is a very good and large harbour.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25; THE DAY OF NATIVITY.
Sailing in a light wind yesterday from the sea of Santo Tome to the Punta Santa, from which be was a league's distance at the passing of the first quarter, which would be at eleven o'clock at night, he decided to lie down to sleep because he had not slept for two days and one night. As there was a calm, the sailor who was steering the ship decided to go away and sleep and left the steering to a young ship's boy, a thing which the Admiral had always expressly prohibited in all the voyage, whether there was a wind or a calm: that is to say that the ships should not be steered by young boys. The Admiral felt secure from banks and rocks because on Sunday when he had sent the boats to that King, they had passed a good three leagues and a half to the east of the said Punta Santa and the sailors had seen all the coast and the shoals which extend from the said Punta Santa a good three leagues to the east-south-east and they saw where they could pass, which he had not done before on all this voyage. Our Lord willed that at twelve o'clock at night, as the crew had seen the Admiral lie down and repose and they also saw that there was a dead calm and the sea was as in a porringer {bowl}, they all lay down to sleep and left the steering in the hands of that boy, and the currents which were flowing carried the ship upon one of the banks. Although it was night they made such a noise that they were seen and heard at a good league's distance, and the ship went upon the bank so quietly that it was hardly felt. The boy who felt the helm catch and heard the noise of the sea, cried out, upon which the Admiral came out and was so quick that no one had yet felt that they were aground. Then the master of the ship who was the guard, came out: and the Admiral told them to launch the small vessel which they were carrying at the stern, and to take an anchor and cast it at the stern: and the master with many others jumped into the small vessel and the Admiral thought that they would do what he had told them: but they thought only of flying to the caravel which was a half league to the windward. The people on the caravel would not receive them, which was right, and on this account they returned to the ship, hut first the boat from the caravel reached it. When the Admiral saw that they were fleeing and they were his people, and that the waters were falling and that the ship was athwart in the sea, not seeing any

other remedy, he ordered the mast cut and the ship lightened as much as they were able, to see if they could not float her; but as the waters were yet falling, and as the ship settled more and more to one side in the water, although there was very little or no sea, he could not save her. Then the seams opened but the ship remained whole. The Admiral went to the caravel to place the people from his ship in safety, and as there was a light breeze flowing from the land and also as the night was not yet much advanced, and he did not know how far the banks extended, he beat about, a la corda, until it was day and then went to the ship inside the bank. First he had sent the small vessel to land with Diego de Arana, of Cordova, Alguacil of the fleet, and Pedro Gutierrez, “repostero” of the Royal House, to inform the King who had sent on Saturday to invite and beg him to go with his ships to his harbour. The village of this King was about a league and a half beyond the said bank: and they say that the King wept when he heard of the disaster and sent all his people from the village with many large canoes to unload the ship: and so it was done and everything was unloaded from the decks of the ship in a very brief space of time, such was the great haste and diligence which that King displayed. And he in person with his brothers and relatives showed great assiduity both in the matter of unloading the ship and guarding what was thrown on land that everything might be in security.
From time to time he sent one of his relatives weeping to the Admiral to console him, saying that he must not feel troubled or annoyed, and that he would give him whatever he possessed. The Admiral certifies to the Sovereigns that in no part of Castile could things be placed in such safety without the loss of so much as a leather strap. The King ordered everything placed near the houses while some houses which he wished to give up were vacated, where everything could be stored and guarded. He ordered armed men placed around everything to watch all night. “He with all the people in the village wept a great deal (says the Admiral): they are an affectionate people and free from avarice and agreeable in everything and I certify to your Highnesses that in all the world I do not believe there is a better people or a better country: they love their neighbours as themselves and they have the softest and gentlest speech in the world and are always laughing. They go naked, men and women, as their mothers gave them birth. But your Highnesses may believe that they have very good customs among themselves and the King maintains a most wonderful state, and everything takes place in such an appropriate and well-ordered manner that it is a pleasure to see it all: and they have good memories, and wish to see everything and they ask what it is and for what purpose.” The Admiral says all this as above.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 26.
To-day at sunrise the King of that country came to the caravel Niña, where the Admiral was, and almost crying told him not to feel bad because he would give him whatever he had, and that he had given two very large houses to the Christians who were on land and that he would give them more if it was

necessary and as many canoes as would be needed to load and unload the ship and place the cargo on land, with as many people as he desired: and that he had done so yesterday without even a particle of bread being taken or any other thing: “They are so faithful (says the Admiral) and so little covetous of the property of others and in this respect that King was more just than all the others.” While the Admiral was talking with him, another canoe came from another place bringing certain pieces of gold, which the Indians wished to give for a hawk's bell because they did not desire anything else as much as hawks' bells The canoe had not yet reached the side of the ship when they called and showed the pieces of gold, saying chuq chuq for hawks' bells, as they are in a likely state to become crazy for them. After having seen this the Indians on these canoes which were from the other places, in leaving, called to the Admiral and begged him to order a hawk's bell kept for them until the next day, for which they would bring four pieces of gold as large as the hand. The Admiral was pleased to hear this and then a sailor who came from land told the Admiral that the pieces of gold which the Christians who were on land were trading for nothing, were wonderful: for a leather strap they gave pieces which would he worth more than two castellanos, and that it was nothing then to what it would be at the end of a month. The King was delighted to see the Admiral pleased and he understood that he desired a great deal of gold and he told him by signs that he knew where there was a great amount of it near there, and that he must be of good cheer for he would give him as much gold as he wished. And the Admiral says that he gave him an account of it and in particular told him that they have it in Cipango which they call Civao, in such quantity that they do not value it at all and that they would bring it there, although also in the island of Espanola which they call Bohio and in that province of Caribata there is much more of it. The King ate on the caravel with the Admiral and afterward went with him on land where he paid the Admiral great honours, and gave him a repast of two or three kinds of “ajes” with shrimps, game and other viands which they had and their bread which they called cazavi. Then he took him to see some clumps of trees near the houses, and fully a thousand persons, all naked, went with him. The King was already wearing a shirt and a pair of gloves which the Admiral had given him, and he rejoiced more over the gloves than anything which had been given him. By his manner of eating, his honesty and his exquisite cleanliness, he showed himself to be of good birth. After having eaten, as they remained at the table some time, they brought certain herbs with which they rubbed their hands a great deal. The Admiral believed they did it to soften them, and they gave him water for his hands. After they had finished eating they took the Admiral to the beach, and he sent for a Turkish bow and a handful of arrows, and the Admiral made a man from among his company who was skilful in the exercise, shoot the arrows. And as the King did not know what arms are, as they do not possess them or use them, it appeared to him to be a great thing. Although he {the Admiral} says that the beginning was from a conversation

they had about the people of Caniba, whom they call Caribs {Caribes}, who come to take them and who carry bows and arrows without iron, as in all those countries they have no knowledge of iron and of steel nor of any other metal, except of gold and copper, although the Admiral had seen but little copper. The Admiral told him by signs that the Sovereigns of Castile would order the Caribs destroyed, and that they would order them all brought to him with the hands tied. The Admiral ordered a lombard and a musket to be fired and seeing the effect of their force and what they penetrated, the King marvelled greatly. And when his people heard the shots they all fell to the ground. They brought the Admiral a large mask, which had great pieces of gold in the ears and eyes and in other places, which the King himself gave him, and which with other jewels of gold he placed on the head and around the neck of the Admiral: and they also gave a great deal to the other Christians who were with the Admiral. The Admiral derived great pleasure and consolation from these things which he saw and it tempered the trouble and affliction he had experienced and was feeling in losing the ship and he recognised that our Lord had caused him to run aground at that place that he might make a settlement there. And (he says), so many things came to hand here, that the disaster was really nothing other than a great good fortune. Because it is certain (he says) that if I had not run aground here, I should have kept out to sea without anchoring at this place, because it is situated here inside a large bay and in the bay there are two or three banks of shoals. Neither would I have left people here on this voyage, and even if I had desired to leave them I could not have given them a good enough outfit, nor enough ammunition and provisions and accoutrements for a fortress. And it is quite true that many of the people who are here have begged me that I would give them permission to remain. Now I have ordered a tower and fortress constructed and all in a very good manner and a large cellar, not that I believe this necessary with these people, because I consider it certain that with these people I have with me, I could subjugate all this island, which I believe is larger than Portugal and has double the people: but they are naked and without arms and cowardly beyond cure. But it is not that this tower should be built and it must be as it must be, being so far from your Highnesses and that they may know the people of your Highnesses and what they can do that they may obey them with love and fear, and thus they have blocks with which to construct the fortress and provisions of bread and wine for more than a year, and seeds for sowing, and the ship's boat and a calker, and a carpenter, and a gunner and a cooper and among them many men who desire greatly for the services of your Highnesses and to cause me pleasure, to learn of the mine where the gold is found. So that everything has happened much to the purpose that this beginning may be made. And more than all this when the ship ran aground it went so softly that it was hardly felt and there was neither wave nor wind.” The Admiral says all this. And he further adds to show that it was a great good fortune and the determined will of God that the ship should run aground there

that people might be left there,–that had it not been for the treachery of the Master and of the people, who were all or most of them from his country, in not wishing to cast the anchor at the stern to draw the ship off as the Admiral ordered them to do, that the ship would have been saved; and thus the country would not have been known (he says) as it was known during those days they remained there and as it will be known by the people he intended leaving there, as he was sailing all the time with the intention of making discoveries and not remaining anywhere more than a day unless it was because there was no wind, because he says the ship was very heavy and not fitted for the purpose of discovery. And the taking of such a ship he says was due to the people of Palos, who did not fulfil what the King and Queen had promised him, that is that he should he given ships suitable for that journey, and they did not do it. The Admiral concludes by saying that of all there was in the ship not a leather strap was lost, nor a board nor a nail, because the ship remained as sound as when she started except that she was chopped and split some in order to take out the butts and all the merchandise: and they placed all these on land, well guarded, as has been told. And he says that he hopes in God when he returns from Castile, as he intends, he will find a tun of gold for which those people he is to leave will have traded, and that they will have found the Mine of gold and the spices, and all that in such a quantity that before three years the Sovereigns will undertake and prepare to go and conquer the Holy Sepulchre (casa santa). “because (he says) I thus protested to your Highnesses that all the profit of this, my undertaking, should be spent in the conquest of Jerusalem, and your Highnesses smiled and said that it was pleasing to them, and that even without this, they had the inclination to do it.” These are the words of the Admiral.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27.
At sunrise the King of that country came to the caravel and told the Admiral that he had sent for gold and that he wished to cover him all over with gold before he went away, and he begged him not to go away before. And the King ate with the Admiral, and a brother of his and another very near relative, which two told the Admiral that they wished to go to Castile with him. At this time news came that the caravel Pinta was in a river at the head of that island. Then the Cacique, who loved the Admiral so much it was wonderful, sent a canoe there in which the Admiral despatched a sailor. The Admiral was already preparing with as much haste as possible for the return to Castile.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28.
In order to hasten the finishing of the construction of the fortress and to establish order among the people who were to remain there, the Admiral went on land, and it seemed to him that the King had seen him when he was going in the boat. The King entered his house quickly, dissembling, and sent one of his brothers to receive the Admiral, who conducted him to one of the houses which had been given to the Christians, and which was the largest and best in that village. In this house they had prepared a raised platform of the inner bark

of the palm tree where they made the Admiral sit down. Then the brother sent one of his pages to say to the King that the Admiral was there, as though the King did not know that he had come, although the Admiral believed that he was dissembling to pay him much more honour. When the page told him, the Cacique (he says) came running to the Admiral and placed around his neck a large plate of gold which he was carrying in his hand. He remained there with the Admiral until afternoon consulting as to what he was to do.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29
At sunrise a nephew of the King, a very young boy, of good judgment and courage as the Admiral says came to the ship: and as the Admiral always endeavoured to learn where the gold was found, he questioned each one, as he already understood something by signs. And in that manner, that boy told him that at a distance of four days journeys to the east there was an island which was called Guarionex and others which they called Macorix and Mayonic and Fuima and Cibao and Coroay, in which there was an infinite quantity of gold. The Admiral wrote down these names and a brother of the King having learned that the nephew had told this quarrelled with him, according to what the Admiral understood. Also the Admiral had understood at other times that the King was trying to keep him in ignorance of the places where the gold was found and gathered, that he might not go to trade for it and buy it elsewhere. But there is so much of it and in so many places on this island of Espanola itself (says the Admiral) that it is wonderful. Night having already come, the King sent a large mask of gold and also sent to beg of the Admiral a hand- basin and a pitcher. The Admiral believed that he asked them of him so as to order others made, and therefore he sent them to him.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30.
The Admiral went on land to eat, and arrived at the time when five Kings had come who were subjects of this King who was called Guacanagari. They all wore their crowns and were in very good state, so that the Admiral says to the Sovereigns that their Highnesses would take pleasure in seeing their manners. On reaching land, the King came to receive the Admiral and took him by the arms and conducted him to the same house where he went yesterday, where he had a raised platform and chairs in which the Admiral sat down: and then he took off his crown from his own head and placed it upon the Admiral's head, and the Admiral took from around his neck a collar of good blood-stones and very beautiful beads of fine colours, which appeared very good in all parts and placed it upon the King: and he took off a cloak of fine scarlet cloth which he had put on that day, and clothed the King with it: and he sent for some coloured buskins which he made him put on, and placed upon his finger a large silver ring because the Admiral had been told that this king had seen a silver ring which belonged to a sailor and had made many endeavours to obtain it. The King was very joyful and contented and two of those Kings who were with him, came to where the Admiral was with Guarionex and brought the Admiral two large gold plaques, each bringing

one. At this time an Indian arrived saying that two days ago he had left the caravel Pinta to the east in a harbour. The Admiral returned to the caravel and Vicente Anos, the captain, said that he had seen rhubarb and that it was on the island of Amiga, which is at the entrance of the sea of Santo Tome, which is six leagues from there and that he had recognised the leaves and root. They say that rhubarb sends small branches out of the ground and bears fruits which appear like green mulberries almost dry and the stalk which grows from the root is as yellow and as fine as the best colour which can be found to paint, and under the ground the root grows like a large pear.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 31.
This day he occupied himself in ordering water and wood taken in readiness for the departure for Spain, in order to give speedy information to the Sovereigns, that they might send ships to discover what remained to be discovered: because the affair already appeared so great and of such importance that it is wonderful (said the Admiral) and he says that he would have liked not to depart until he had seen all that land which extends toward the east, and had gone all along the coast in order to learn also (he says) the distance from Castile to that country so as to bring there herds of cattle and other things. But as there remained to him only one ship, it did not appear a reasonable thing to expose himself to the dangers which might occur in making discoveries. And he complained that all that injury and inconvenience arose from the separation of the caravel Pinta.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1493.
At midnight he despatched the boat to the island of Amiga to bring the rhubarb. It returned at vespers with a hamper of it. They did not bring more because they did not carry a spade to dig it. The Admiral carried what they brought to the Sovereigns as a specimen. The King of that country, he says, had sent many canoes for gold. The sailor, who had been sent with a canoe to learn of the Pinta returned, and they did not find her. That sailor said that at a distance of twenty leagues from there he had seen a king who wore upon his head two large plaques of gold, and when the Indians in the canoe spoke to him he took them off, and he says he saw also other persons with a great deal of gold. The Admiral believed that the King Guacanagari must have prohibited every one from selling gold to the Christians, so that it might all pass through his hands. But he had learned the places, as he said the day before yesterday, where they had gold in such a quantity that no price was attached to it. He had also learned where there were spices {as the Admiral says} of which there is a great quantity and it is worth more than pepper and “manegueta.” He charged those persons who were to remain there to obtain as much as they could.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2.
He went on land in the morning to take leave of the King Guacanagari and to
depart in the name of the Lord: and he gave the King one of his shirts and showed him the force of the lombards and their effect. For this purpose he

ordered one loaded and fired at the side of the ship which was aground. This happened as the result of a conversation in regard to the Caribs, with whom they were at war, and the King saw how far the lombard shot reached, and how it passed through the side of the ship and that the shot went a long way on the sea. He also had the people from the ships make a slight skirmish with their arms, telling the Cacique not to fear the cannibals if they should come. The Admiral says he did all this that the King might consider the Christians he was leaving as friends and also that he might fear them. The King conducted the Admiral and the other Christians who were with him to the house where he was lodged to eat with him. The Admiral many times charged Diego de Arana and Pedro Gutierrez and Rodrigo Escovedo, whom he was leaving as his joint lieutenants over the people who were to remain there to see that everything was well ruled and governed for the service of God and their Highnesses. The Cacique manifested much love for the Admiral and great feeling over his departure, especially when he saw them go to embark. A favourite of that King told the Admiral that he had ordered a statue of pure gold made as large as the Admiral himself and that at the end of ten days they were to bring it to him The Admiral embarked with the intention of departing then, but the wind would not allow him to do so.
He left on that island of Espanola, which the Indians say they called Bohio, thirty-nine men in the fortress, whom he says were very friendly with that King Guacanagari; and in command of these men as his lieutenants, Diego de Arana, native of Cordova and Pedro Gutierrez, “repostero de estrado” of the King, “criado del despensero mayor,” and Rodrigo de Escovedo, native of Segovia, nephew of friar Rodrigo Perez, giving them all the powers which he had received from the Sovereigns. He left them all the merchandise which the Sovereigns had ordered purchased for trading, of which there was a large quantity, so that they might trade and barter it for gold, together with everything which the foundered ship carried. He also left them biscuit sufficient for a year and wine and much artillery: and the ship's boat in order that they, as they were most of them sailors, could go to discover the mine of gold when they should see that the time was favourable: so that the Admiral on his return might find much gold and a place to found a village that harbour not being to his liking: especially as the gold which was brought there he says came from the east and the more they went to the east, so much nearer were they to Spain. He also left them seeds for sowing and his officials, escribano and alguacil, and among the others a ship's carpenter and calker, and a good gunner who knows a great deal about engines, and a cooper and a physician and a tailor, and all, he says, are seamen.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3.
He did not leave to-day because at night he says that thee of the Indians he had taken from the islands and who had remained on land, came and told him that the other Indians and their wives were coming at sunrise. The sea was also somewhat changed and the boat could not go to land. He determined to

depart the next day, the grace of God permitting. He said that if he had had the caravel Pinta with him be would have been certain to obtain a cask of gold, because he would have dared to follow the coasts of these islands, which he did not dare to do because of being alone: as he did not wish anything inconvenient to happen to him and prevent his returning to Castile and informing the Sovereigns of all the things which he had found. And if he were certain that the caravel Pinta would reach Spain in safety with that Martin Alonso Pinzon, he said that he would not relinquish doing what he desired. But as he did not know about it, and as Pinzon in going would be able to tell falsehoods to the Sovereigns, to avoid the punishment which he merited for doing so much harm in going away without permission and preventing all the good which might have been done and learned at that time, the Admiral says he felt confident that our Lord would give him good weather and everything would be remedied.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4.
At sunrise he weighed the anchors in a light wind and the boat went ahead on a course to the north-west to get outside of the bank, by another channel wider than that by which he entered. This channel and others are very suitable to go to the Villa de la Navidad and in all that channel the least depth was three fathoms up to nine fathoms, and these two channels extended from north-west to south-east along the banks which extend from Cabo Santo to Cabo de Sierpe, which is more than six leagues and out into the sea a good three leagues, and beyond Cabo Santo a good three: and a league beyond Cabo Santo the water is not more than eight fathoms in depth and inside the said cape to the east there are many shoals and channels to enter among them, and all that coast extends north-west and south-east and is all a beach, and the land is very level for a distance of four leagues island. Then there are very high mountains, and it is all well settled with large villages and good people, as had been shown to the Christians. He navigated thus to the east toward a very high mountain, which appears like an island but is not, because it connects with some very low land, which is shaped like a very beautiful “pavillion.” He named this mountain Monte-Cristi and it is exactly east of Cabo Santo at a distance of about eighteen leagues. That day as there was a very light wind he was only able to arrive within six leagues of Monte-Cristi. He found four very low small sandy islets with a reef which projected well out to the north-west and extended well to the south-east. Inside there is a large gulf which extends from the said mountain to the south-east a good twenty leagues, which must all be very shallow and have many banks: and inside the gulf along all that coast there are many rivers which are not navigable although that sailor whom the Admiral sent with the canoe to learn news of the Pinta, said that he saw a river in which ships could enter. The Admiral anchored there at a distance of six leagues from Monte-Cristi in nineteen fathoms of water, having occasionally put out to sea to avoid the many shoals and banks which were found there, and he remained there all night. The Admiral says that whoever is

obliged to go to the Villa de la Navidad must take his bearing from Monte- Cristi at a distance of two leagues on the sea, etc., but as the land is already known and that lying near there, he does not give all the details here. He concludes that Cipango was on that island and that there is a great deal of gold and a great quantity of spices and mastic and rhubarb.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 5.
As the sun was about to rise he made sail with a land breeze. Then it blew from the east and he saw that to the south-south-east of Monte-Cristi, between it and a small island, there appeared to be a good harbour to anchor this night and he took the course to the east-south-east and then to the south-south-east to within six leagues of the mountain: and having gone the six leagues he found the water seventeen fathoms in depth and very clear, and he went three leagues thus with the same depth. Then it was only twelve fathoms as far as the head of the mountain and beyond the head of the mountain at a distance of a league he found it nine, and clear, the bottom being all fine sand. He followed the route thus until he entered between the mountain and the small island where he found a depth of three and one-half fathoms at low tide, a very remarkable harbour where he anchored. He went with the boat to the small island where he found fire and signs that fishermen had been there. He saw there many stones tinted in colours, or a quarry of such stones, very beautiful and formed naturally he says, so that they would be suitable for church edifices and other royal works, being like those he found on the island of San Salvador. He also found on this small island many trunks of mastic trees. He says that this Monte-Cristi is very beautiful and high and accessible, and of very pretty shape: and all the country near it is low, forming a very pretty field, and it is so high that on seeing it from a distance it appears like an island which does not communicate with any land. Beyond the said mountain to the east at a distance of twenty-four miles he saw a cape which he called Cabo del Becerro: from this cape as far as the said mountain for a distance of two leagues a line of shoals appears in the sea, although it seemed to him that there were channels between them by which one could enter: but it is necessary to try it in the day-time and the boat must first make soundings. To the east from the said mountain toward the Cape of Becerro the four leagues are all a beach and the land is very low and beautiful, and the other is all a very high land with large mountains cultivated and beautiful: and a chain of mountains extends inland from the north-east to the south-east, the most beautiful that he had seen, as it appears exactly like the sierra of Cordova. Other very high mountains also appear very far toward the south and south- east and very large valleys very green and beautiful, and many rivers of water. All this is in such quantity and so pleasant that the Admiral said he did not believe he exaggerated it by the thousandth part. Then he saw to the east of the said mountain a country which appeared like another mountain, similar to Monte-Cristi in size and beauty. Then in the quarter of the east to the north- east the land is not as high, and must be about one hundred miles in extent.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6.
That harbour is sheltered from all the winds except the north and north-west winds, and he says that they prevail very little in that country and refuge can be obtained from even these winds behind the small island: the water is from three to four fathoms in depth. After sunrise he made sail to go forward along the coast all of which extends to the east, but it is necessary to look out for many reefs of rock and sand which are on the said coast. It is true that inside them there are good harbours and good entrances through their channels. After mid-day the wind blew strongly from the east and he ordered a sailor to ascend to the top of the mast to look for shoals, and he saw the caravel Pinta coming from the east and she came up to the Admiral: and as there was no place to anchor on account of shallow water, the Admiral returned to Monte- Cristi, going back ten leagues which he had sailed, and the Pinta went with him. Martin Alonso Pinzon came to the caravel Niña upon which was the Admiral, to excuse himself, saying that he had separated from him against his will, and giving reasons for it: but the Admiral says that they were all false and that Martin Alonso Pinzon had acted with much pride and covetousness that night when he went away and left him: and that he did not know says the Admiral from whence had come the haughty actions and dishonesty he had shown toward himself on that voyage. But the Admiral wished to dissemble these actions in order not to give place to the bad deeds of Satan who wished to hinder that voyage, as he had done up to that time. An Indian from among those whom the Admiral had recommended to Martin Alonso Pinzon with others who were on his caravel, had told Pinzon that on an island which was called Baneque there was a great deal of gold, and as his ship was light and a good sailer, he wished to withdraw and go by himself, leaving the Admiral. But the Admiral wished to delay and coast along the island of Juana and the island of Espanola, since it was all on a course from the east. After Martin Alonso went to the island of Baneque he says that he found no gold, and he came to the coast of Espanola because of information from other Indians who told him that there was on that island of Espanola which the Indians called Bohio, a great quantity of gold and many mines: and through this cause he arrived near the Villa de la Navidad, within fifteen leagues, and it was then more than twenty days ago. From this it appeared that the news given by the Indians was true on account of which the King Guacanagari sent the canoe, when the Admiral despatched a sailor, and that the Niña must have been gone when the canoe arrived. And the Admiral says here that the caravel traded for a great deal of gold, and that for the end of a strap they were given good pieces of gold the size of two fingers, and at times as large as the hand, and Martin Alonso took the half and divided the other half among his people. The Admiral says further to the Sovereigns: “So that, Lords and Princes I know that our Lord miraculously ordered that the ship should remain there because it was the best place on all the island to make the settlement and is near to the mines of gold.” He also says that he learned that behind the island of Juana to

the south, there is another large island on which there is a larger quantity of gold than there is on this one, so that they find pieces of it larger than beans and on the island of Espanola pieces of gold were taken from the mines as large as kernels of wheat. That island, he says, was called Yamaye. He also says that he learned that yonder toward the east there was an island where there were only women, and he says that he learned this from many persons. And that the island of Espanola or the other island of Yamaye were near the mainland distant ten days' journeys in canoes which might be sixty or seventy leagues, and that the people were clothed there.
MONDAY, JANUARY 7.
This day he caused the caravel, which was leaking, to be pumped out and calked and the sailors went on land to bring wood, and he says that they found a great quantity of mastic and aloes.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 8.
On account of the strong east and south-east wind which blew he did not start this day, so he ordered the caravel supplied with water and wood and everything necessary for all the voyage; because, although he was desirous of coasting all along the coast of Espanola which he could have done going on his course, yet as those he had placed on the caravels for captains were brothers, that is to say Martin Alonso Pinzon and Vicente Anes, and those who followed them were haughty and covetous and did not regard the honour which the Admiral had shown them and had not obeyed and did not obey his commands, but rather had done and said many unmerited things in opposition to him, and as Martin Alonso had left him from November 21 to January 6 without cause or reason but from disobedience: and all this the Admiral had suffered in silence, in order to finish his voyage successfully: on account of all this, in order to get out of such bad company, with whom he says it was necessary to dissemble, although they were a disobedient people, and although he says he had with him many good men yet it was not the time to occupy himself with matters of punishment,–he decided to return with the greatest possible haste and not stop longer. He entered the boat and went to the river which is near there, a long league from Monte-Cristi toward the
south-south-west, where the sailors were going to take water for the ship, and he found that the sand at the mouth of the river which is very wide and deep, was, as he says, all full of gold in such quantity that it was wonderful, although it was in very small grains. The Admiral believed that in coming down that river it crumbled into small pieces on the way, although he says that in a short space he found many grains as large as lentils: but of the very smallest grains he says there was a great quantity. And as the sea was calm and the salt water entered with the fresh water, he ordered the boat to ascend the river a stone's throw. They filled the barrels from the boat and returning to the caravel they found caught in the hoops of the barrels little pieces of gold and the same in the hoops of the casks The Admiral named the river El Rio del Oro, which is very deep inside the entrance, although the entrance is shallow

and the mouth very wide, and it is seventeen leagues from the river to the village of Navidad. There are many other large rivers between; three in especial, which he believed must have much more gold in them than that one, because they are larger although this one is almost as large as the Guadalquivir by Cordova: and from these rivers to the mines of gold it is not twenty a leagues. The Admiral says further that he would not take the said sand which contained so much gold, since their Highnesses had it all in their possession and at the door of their village of La Navidad; but that he wished to come at full speed to bring them the news, and to rid himself of the bad company which he had, and that he had always said they were a disobedient people.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9.
At midnight he raised the sails with the wind south-east and navigated to the east-north-east: he arrived at a point which he called Punta Roja which is exactly to the east of the Monte-Cristi a distance of sixty miles, and in the shelter of this point he anchored in the afternoon, three hours before nightfall. He did not dare to go out from there in the night as there were many reefs, until they were investigated because afterward they would be useful if they had, as they must have, channels, and the water inside is very deep and forms a secure anchorage from all winds. These lands from Monte-Cristi as far as the place where he was anchored are high and smooth lands and are very pretty fields and back of them there are very beautiful mountains which extend from east to west, and are all cultivated and green, so that it is a wonderful thing to see their beauty, and they have many rivers of water. In all this land there are many tortoises, of which the sailors took a great many which came on land to lay their eggs, on Monte-Cristi, and they were very large like a great wooden shield. The day before this when the Admiral was going to the Rio del Oro, he said he saw three sirens which came up very high out of the sea: but they were not as beautiful as they are painted, as in some ways they are formed like a man in the face. He said that at other times he saw some in Guinea on the coast of Manegueta. He says that this night in the name of our Lord he will start on his journey without delaying himself further for any matter, since he had found what he had sought, and as he did not wish to have more trouble with that Martin Alonso until their Highnesses learned the news of the voyage and what he has done. “And then he says I will not suffer the bad deeds of persons without virtue, who, with little respect, presume to carry out their own wills in opposition to those who did them honour.”
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10.
He started from the place where he had anchored and at sunset he reached a river which he named Rio de Gracia. it is distant three leagues to the south- east. He anchored at its mouth on the eastern side, which is a good place to anchor. On going inside, a bank is found which has but two fathoms of water and is very narrow. Within there is a good sheltered harbour but there are a great many ship-worms: and the caravel Pinta upon which was Martin Alonso,

suffered very severely from them there because he says Martin Alonso remained there trading for sixteen days, and they traded for a great quantity of gold, which was what Martin Alonso desired. Martin Alonso, after he learned from the Indians that the Admiral was on the coast of the island of Espanola itself and that he could not avoid him, came to find him. And he says that Martin Monso would have liked to have all the people on the ship swear that he had been there only six days. But he says that his wickedness was so public that he could not hide it. The Admiral says, that Martin Alonso had made rules that half of the gold which was traded for or obtained should be for himself. And when he had to leave that place he took four Indian men and two young girls by force, whom the Admiral ordered given clothing and that they should be returned to their country that they might go to their houses. Which says the Admiral is for the service of your Highnesses, because men and women all belong to your Highnesses on this island especially as well as on the other islands. But here where your Highnesses already have a settlement honour and favour must be shown to the people, since there is so much gold on this island and such good lands and so much spice.”
FRIDAY, JANUARY 11.
At midnight he went out from the Rio de Gracia with a land breeze, and navigated to the east as far as a cape which he called Belprado, a distance of four leagues: and from there to the south-east is the mountain which he called Monte de Plata, and he says it is a distance of eight leagues. Eighteen leagues from the cape of Belprado to the east, quarter south-east is the cape which is called Angel; and extending from this cape to the Monte de Plata there is a gulf and the best and most beautiful countries in the world, all high and beautiful fields, which extend a long distance inland, and beyond, there is a chain of mountains which extend from east to west, very high and beautiful; and at the foot of the mountain there is a very good harbour, and it is fourteen fathoms deep at the entrance and this mountain is very high and beautiful, and it is all well populated, and the Admiral believed it must have contained good rivers and much gold. Four leagues from the cape Angel to the east, quarter south-east there is a point which he named Hierro; and four leagues farther in the same direction there is a point which he named Punta Seca; and from there six leagues in the same direction is the Cape which he called Redondo; and from there to the east is the Cabo Frances and in this cape on the east there is a large bay but it did not appear to him to have anchorage. A league from there is the Cabo del Buen Tiempo: a long league from here to the south quarter south-east there is a cape which he called Tajado; toward the south from this cape he saw another cape and it appeared to him to be a distance of fifteen leagues. He made great head way to-day because the winds and the currents were favourable to him. He did not dare to anchor for fear of the shoals, and therefore he lay off and on all night.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12.
At the quarter of the dawn he navigated to the east with a fresh wind, and went

in that way all day and made twenty miles, and in two hours after that he went about twenty-four miles. From there he saw land to the south, and he went toward it and it was at a distance of about forty-eight miles and he says that after having made the ship secure he went this night twenty-eight miles to the north-north-east. When he saw the land he named a cape which he saw the Cabo de Padre e Hijo, because at the eastern point it has two small rocky points, one larger than the other. Then two leagues to the east he saw a large and very beautiful inlet between two large mountains, and he saw that it was a very large harbour, good and with a very fair entrance; but as it was very early in the morning and in order not to lose time because for the greater part of the time the wind there blows from the east and one is then carried north-north- west, he would not delay longer. He continued his course to the east as far as a very high and beautiful cape all of jagged rock, which he named Cabo del Enamorado {Lover's Cape}; this cape was thirty-two miles to the east of that harbour, which he named Puerto Sacro; and on reaching this cape he discovered another much more beautiful and higher and more rounding, all of rock like the Cabo de San Vicente in Portugal, and it was twelve miles to the east of the Enamorado. After he arrived off Enamorado he saw that there was a very large bay between it and the other cape which was three leagues wide, and in the middle of it an exceedingly small island. It is quite deep from the entrance as far as the land. He anchored there in twelve fathoms of water and sent the boat on land for water and to see if they could have speech with the people, but they all fled. He anchored to see also if all that land was one with Espanola; and what he called a gulf he suspected might be another island by itself. He was astonished to find that the island of Espanola was so large. SUNDAY, JANUARY 13.
He did not go out of this harbour on account of there not being a breeze from land so he could get out. He would have liked to have gone out in order to go to another better harbour, because that harbour was somewhat exposed, and because he wished to observe the conjunction of the moon with the sun which he expected to take place the 17th of this month, and the opposition of the moon with Jupiter and conjunction with Mercury, and the sun in opposition with Jupiter, which is the cause of great winds. He sent the boat to land on a beautiful beach that the sailors might get “ajes” to eat and they found certain men with bows and arrows with whom they stopped to talk and they bought two bows and many arrows from them, and begged one of them to go and speak with the Admiral on the caravel: and he came and the Admiral says that he was very much more ugly in the face than the other Indians they had seen: his face was all smutted with charcoal although everywhere the Indians were accustomed to stain themselves different colours. He wore his hair very long and drawn back and tied behind and afterward placed in a “rebecilla” of parrots' feathers, and he was naked like the others. The Admiral judged that he must have been one of the Caribs who eat men and that the gulf which he had seen yesterday divided the land and that this was an island by itself.

The Admiral asked him about the Caribs and he made signs to the east, near there, which the Admiral says he saw yesterday before he entered that hay: and the Indian told him that there was a great deal of gold in that country, pointing out the poop of the caravel which was very large and indicating that there were pieces as large as that. He called gold tuab and did not understand it by caona as it was called in the first part of the island nor by nozay as it is called in San Salvador and in the other islands. On Espanola they call copper or a base quality of gold tuob. That Indian told of the island of Matinino and said that it was all settled by women without men and on it there was a great deal of tuob which is gold or copper, and that it is farther to the east of Carib. He also told of the island of Goanin, where there is a great deal of tuob. The Admiral says that he had been told of these islands by many persons some days before. The Admiral says further that in the islands they had passed the inhabitants were in great fear of the Carib and in some they called it Caniba, but in Espanola they called it Carib. And that they must he a very bold people since they go to all the islands and eat the people they are able to capture. He says that he understood some words and by this he says that he learned other things, and that the Indians he had with him understood more, although he found the languages different on account of the great distances of the lands from each other. He ordered that the Indian should be given something to eat and he gave him pieces of green and red cloth and very small glass beads which they like very much, and he sent him to land again and told him to bring gold if he had it which he suspected on account of some little things which he wore. As the boat reached land there were behind the trees fully fifty- five men naked and wearing their hair very long as the women wear it in Castile. On the back part of their heads they wore head-dresses of the plumes of parrots and other birds, and each one carried his bow. The Indian in the boat went on land and made the others lay aside their bows and arrows and a piece of stick which is like a lacuna very heavy, which they carry in place of a sword These Indians then came to the boat and the people from the boat landed and began to buy the bows and arrows and the other arms, because the Admiral had ordered them to do so. Having sold two bows they did not wish to give any more, but rather they prepared to attack the Christians and capture them. They went running to get their bows and arrows where they had laid them aside, and returned with cords in their hands, he says, to bind the Christians. On seeing them come running toward them the Christians, who were ready as the Admiral always advised them to be on guard, attacked the Indians and gave one of them a great cut in the buttock and wounded another on the breast with an arrow. When they saw that they were able to gain little although the Christians were only seven and they were fifty and over, they took to flight until not one remained, one leaving his arrows here and another his bow there. The Admiral says that the Christians would have killed many of them if the pilot who went as captain of them had not prevented it. The Christians then returned to the caravel with their boat and the Admiral having

learned of the affair, said that in one way it troubled him and in another it did not, that they might be afraid of the Christians; because without doubt {he says} the people in that place do evil, and he believed they were from the island of Carib and that they eat men: and if the boat which he left with thirty- nine men in the fortress and Villa de la Navidad comes to that place, they may be afraid to do them any harm. And if they did not belong to the Caribs at least they must be inhabitants of lands fronting them and they have the same customs and must be a people free from fear, not like the others on the other islands who are cowards and without arms, except reason {fuera de razon}. The Admiral says all this and that he wished to take some of them. He says that they made many fires according to the custom on that island of Espanola. MONDAY, JANUARY 14.
He would have liked to send this night to search for the houses of those Indians to take some of them, believing that they were Caribs, and was prevented by the strong east and north-east wind which blew and by the high sea: but when day came, they saw many Indians on land. The Admiral ordered the boat to go to land with people well prepared, and the Indians then all came to the stern of the boat and especially the Indian who the day before had come to the caravel, and to whom the Admiral had given the articles of barter. With this Indian, he says there came a King who had given the said Indian some beads {cuentas} to give to the people in the boat in sign of security and peace. This King with three of his people entered the boat and came to the caravel. The Admiral ordered that honey and biscuit should be given them to eat and he gave the King a red cap and beads and a piece of red cloth and to the others also pieces of cloth, and the King said that to morrow he would bring a gold mask saying that there was a great deal of gold there in Carib and Matinino. Then the Admiral sent them to land well pleased. The Admiral says further, that the caravels were leaking badly at the keel and he complains a great deal of the calkers who calked them very badly in Palos and says that when they saw that the Admiral had noticed their poor work, and desired to constrain them to mend it, they fled. But notwithstanding the great quantity of water which the caravels were taking, he confides in our Lord who brought him there to lead him back in his pity and mercy, for his High Majesty well knew how much controversy he had before he was able to start from Castile as no other was favourable to him except God because He knew his heart, and after God their Highnesses favoured him, and all the others had opposed him without any reason whatever. And he says further as follows: “And they have been the cause that the Royal Crown of your Highnesses does not possess one hundred millions more revenue than it has. since I came to serve them, which is now seven years ago, the 20th day of January this very month and furthermore the accumulation which would have been the natural increase. But that powerful God will remedy everything.” These are his words. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15.
He says that he wishes to depart because nothing is gained by remaining here

now on account of the disagreements which have taken place. He must mean the trouble with the Indians. He says also that to-day he has learned that all the bulk of the gold was in the vicinity of the Villa de la Navidad of their Highnesses, and that on the island of Carib there was a great deal of copper and in Matinino, although it would be difficult to obtain it in Carib because he says the people eat human flesh: and he says the island of the Caribs appeared from where he was and that he had determined to go there, since it is on his course and to the island of Matinino which he says was all inhabited by women without men, and he says he wished to see both these islands and to take some of the inhabitants. The Admiral sent the boat to land and the king of that country had not come because he says the village was a long way off, but he sent his crown of gold as he had promised and many other men came with cotton and with bread and “ajes,” all with their bows and arrows. After they had traded everything with the Indians he says there came four youths to the caravel and they appeared to the Admiral to give such good account of all those islands which lay toward the east on the same course that the Admiral had to follow, that he determined to take them to Castile with him: He says they had no iron or other metal there which could be seen, although in a few days much cannot be learned in regard to a country both on account of the difficulty of the language which he understood only by intuition and as the Indians did not learn what was asked of them in a short time. The bows of these people he says were as large as those of France and England: the arrows are just the same as the spears of the other peoples he had seen up to that time, which are made from the stalks of the canes when they go to seed, which are very straight and a yard and a half or two yards long, and then they put in the end a piece of sharp stick, a palm and a half long, and at the end of this little stick some insert a fish's tooth and most of them place there an herb, and they do not shoot as in other places, but in a certain manner which cannot do much harm. There was a great deal of cotton there, very fine and long and there is a great deal of mastic and it appeared to him that the bows were of yew-trees and that there is gold and copper: also there is a great deal of “aji,” which is their pepper, which is worth more than our pepper, and none of the people eat without it as it is found to be very salutary. Fifty caravels can be loaded with it each year on that island of Espanola. He says that he found a great deal of grass in that bay the same as they found in the gulf when they came to make the discovery, on which account be believed there were islands to the east in a straight line from where he began to find them; because he is certain that that grass grows in shallow water near the land and he says that if it is so, these Indies were very near the islands of Canary: and for this reason he believed that they were distant less than four hundred leagues. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16.
Three hours before day he started from the gulf which he called the Golfo de
las Flechas, with a land breeze, then with a west wind, turning his prow to the east quarter north-east, to go, he says, to the Isla de Carib where were the

people whom all the inhabitants of all those islands and countries feared so greatly; because, he says, they cross all those seas in their canoes without number and he says they eat the men they are able to capture. He says one of the four Indians he had taken yesterday in the Puerto de las Flechas had showed him the course. After having gone, in his opinion, sixty-four miles, the Indians indicated to him that the island lay to the south-east. He wished to follow that course and ordered the sails trimmed, and after they had gone two leagues the wind again blew, very favourably to go to Spain. He noted that the people began to grow sad on account of departing from the straight course, as both caravels were taking a great deal of water and they had no help save in God. He was obliged to leave the course which he believed was taking him to the island and he returned to the direct course for Spain–north-east quarter east, and he went thus until sunset forty-four miles, which are twelve leagues. The Indians told him that on that course he would find the island of Matinino, which he says was inhabited by women without men, and the Admiral says he would much like to carry five or six of them to the Sovereigns. But he doubted whether the Indians knew the course well or not, and he was not able to delay on account of the danger from the water which the caravels were taking. But he says he was certain there was such an island, and that at a certain time of year the men came to these women from the said Isla de Carib, which he says was ten or twelve leagues from them, and if they gave birth to a boy they sent him to the island of the men and if to a girl they kept her with them, The Admiral says that those two islands could not have been distant from where he had started, fifteen or twenty leagues, and he believed they were to the south- east, and that the Indians did not know how to point out the course. After losing from sight the cape which he called San Theramo, on the island of Espanola, which lay sixteen leagues to the west, he went twelve leagues to the east, quarter north-east. Very good weather prevailed.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17.
Yesterday at sunset the wind calmed some. He went during fourteen ampolletas {sand glasses}, which are each a half hour or a little less, until the passing of the first quarter, at the rate of about four miles an hour, which are twenty-eight miles. Then the wind revived, and he went thus during all that quarter which are ten “ampolletas” and then another six until sunrise, at the rate of eight miles per hour, and so he went in all about eighty-four miles which are twenty-one leagues to the north-east quarter east, and until sunset he went more than forty-four miles to the east, which are eleven leagues. Here a pelican came to the caravel and then another, and he saw a great deal of grass of the kind which is in the sea.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18.
He navigated with little wind this night to the east quarter south-east forty miles, which are ten leagues: and then to the south-east quarter east thirty miles, which are seven and one-half leagues, until sunrise. After sunrise he navigated all day with little wind east-north-east and north-east and east more

and less, turning the prow sometimes to the north and sometimes to the quarter of the north-east and to the north-north-east, and thus counting both he believed he went about sixty miles, which are fifteen leagues. Little grass appeared in the sea: but he says that yesterday and to-day the sea appeared coagulated with tunny-fish and the Admiral believed that from there they must go to the tunny-fisheries of the Duke of Conil and Caliz. A fishing-bird which is called the frigate-pelican which went around the caravel and then went away to the south-south-east, caused the Admiral to believe that there were some islands near there. And he said that the island of Carib and the island of Matinino and many other islands, lay to the east-south-east of the island of Espanola.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19.
He went this night fifty-six miles to the north, quarter north-east, and sixty- four to the north-east, quarter north. After sunrise he navigated to the north- east with a strong wind east-south-east and then to the quarter of the North, and he went about eighty-four miles which are twenty-one leagues. He saw the sea coagulated with small tunny-fish. There were pelicans, ring-tails, and frigate-pelicans.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 20.
The wind calmed this night and at intervals gusts of wind blew, and he went in all about twenty miles to the north-east. After sunset he went about eleven miles to the south-east, then to the north-north-east thirty-six miles which are nine leagues. He saw an infinite number of small tunny-fish. The breezes he says were very soft and sweet the same as in Seville in April or May, and the sea, he says, God be given many thanks, was very calm all the time. Frigate- pelicans and “petrels” and many other birds appeared.
MONDAY, JANUARY 21.
Yesterday after sunset he navigated to the north quarter north-east, with the wind east and north-east. He went about eight miles an hour until midnight which would be fifty-six miles. Then he went to the north-north-east at the rate of eight miles an hour, and this would be in all the night one hundred and four miles, which are twenty-six leagues, to the quarter of the north inclining to the north-east. After sunrise he navigated to the north-north-east with the same east wind, and at times to the quarter of the north-east and he went about eighty-eight miles in eleven hours which was the duration of the day, which make twenty-one leagues, deducting one which he lost because he fell off to the leeward toward the caravel Pinta, to speak her. He found the winds cooler, and he expected, he says, to find them more so each day the more he went to the north, and also because the nights were longer on account of the narrowing of the sphere. Many ring-tails and “petrels” appeared, and other birds; but not as many fish, {he says} because the water was colder. He saw a great deal of grass.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22.
Yesterday after sunset he navigated to the north-north-east with the wind east

and veering to the south-east. He went eight miles an hour during five “ampolletas” and during three before the watch commenced, which were eight ampolletas: and thus he must have gone seventy-two miles, which are eighteen leagues. Then he went to the quarter of the north-east to the north six ampolletas which would be another eighteen miles. Then he went during four ampolletas of the second watch to the north-east, six miles an hour, which are three leagues to the north-east. Then until sunrise he went to the east-north-east during eleven ampolletas, six leagues an hour, which are seven leagues. Then to the east-north-east until eleven o'clock in the day, thirty-two miles. And then the wind calmed and be went no farther that day. The Indians swam. They saw ring-tails and a great deal of grass. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23.
This night he experienced many changes in the winds, and having been on the alert for everything and having taken the precautions which good sailors are accustomed to take and must take, he says he went this night to the north- east quarter north about eighty-four miles, which are twenty-one leagues. He waited many times for the caravel Pinta which was sailing badly close to the wind because the mizzen helped her little, the mast not being good: and he says that if her captain, who is Martin Alonso Pinzon, had taken as much pains to provide himself with a good mast in the Indies, where there are so many and such good ones, as he did to separate himself from him thinking to fill the ship with gold, he would have made it good. Many ring-tails appeared and much grass: the sky was all disturbed these days: but it had not rained and the sea was very calm all the time as in a river, many thanks be given to God. After sunrise he went about thirty miles for a certain part of the day straight to the north-east, which are seven leagues and a half, and then the rest of the day he went to the east-north-east another thirty miles, which are seven and a half leagues.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24.
He went during all this night, many changes which the wind made to the north-east considered, about forty-four miles, which were eleven leagues. From sunrise until sunset, he went to the east-north-east about fourteen leagues.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25.
He navigated this night to the east-north-east, a part of the night which were thirteen ampolletas, nine leagues and a half: then he went to the north-north- east another six miles. The sun having risen, during all the day, as the wind calmed, he went to the east-north-east about twenty-eight miles, which are seven leagues. The sailors killed a tunny-fish tonina and a very large shark and he says that they were very necessary to him because he did not then have anything to eat except bread and wine and “ajes” from the Indies. SATURDAY, JANUARY 26.
This night he went to the east, quarter south-east, fifty-six miles, which are fourteen leagues. After sunset he navigated at times to the east-south-east and

at times to the south-east; he went about forty miles up to eleven o'clock in the daytime. Then he made another tack and then went “a la relinga,” and until night he went toward the north twenty-four miles, which are six leagues.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27.
Yesterday after sunset he went to the north-east and to the north and to the north quarter north-east, anti he went about five miles an hour and in thirteen hours that would be sixty-five miles, which are sixteen and one half leagues. From sunset until mid-day he went toward the north-east twenty-four miles, which are six leagues. and from that time until sunset he went about three leagues to the east-north-east.
MONDAY, JANUARY 28.
All this night he navigated to the east-north-east, and went about thirty-six miles, which are nine leagues. From sunrise until sunset he went to the east- north-east twenty miles, which are five leagues. He found the winds temperate and soft. He saw ring-tails and “petrels” and much grass.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29.
He navigated to the east-north-east and went during the night with the wind south and south-west about thirty-nine miles, which are nine and one half leagues. In all the day he went about eight leagues. The winds were very temperate as they are in Castile in the month of April: the sea was very calm. Fish which they call dorados came to the side of the ship.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30.
During all this night he went seven leagues to the east-north-east. During the day he ran to the south quarter south-east, a distance of thirteen and a half leagues. He saw ring-tails and much grass and many tunny-fish {toninas}. THURSDAY, JANUARY 31.
He navigated this night to the north, quarter north-east a distance of thirty miles and then to the north-east thirty-five miles, which are sixteen {sic} leagues. From sunrise until night he went to the east-north-east thirteen and a half leagues. They saw ring-tails and petrels.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1.
He went this night to the east-north-east a distance of sixteen leagues and a half. During the day he ran on the same course a distance of twenty nine leagues and a quarter. The sea was very calm, thanks be to God. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2.
He went this night to the east-north-east forty miles, which are ten leagues. To-day with the same wind in the stern he ran seven miles an hour: so that in eleven hours he went seventy-seven miles which are nineteen leagues and a quarter. The sea was very calm, thanks to God, and the winds very soft. They saw the sea so thickly covered with grasses that if they had not seen it, they would have feared it was shoals. They saw petrels.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3.
This night going with the wind astern and the sea very calm, thanks be to

God, they went about twenty-nine leagues. The North Star appeared to him very high, the same as on the Cape San Vicente: he could not take the latitude with the astrolabe or quadrant, because the waves would not permit it. During the day he navigated on his course to the east-north-east, and went about ten miles an hour, and thus in eleven hours he went twenty-seven leagues. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4.
This night he navigated to the east quarter north-east, part of the time twelve miles an hour and part ten miles, and thus he went one hundred and thirty miles which are thirty-two leagues and a halt. The sky was very tempestuous and rainy, and it was somewhat cold, on which account {he says} he knew that he had not reached the islands of the Azores. After the sun rose, he changed his course and went to the east. He went during all the day seventy-seven miles, which are nineteen leagues and a quarter.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5.
This night he navigated to the east and he went in all fifty-four miles. which are fourteen leagues less a half. During the day he ran ten miles an hour, and so in eleven hours he went one hundred and ten miles, which are twenty-seven leagues and a half. They saw petrels and some little sticks which was a sign that they were near land.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6.
He navigated this night to the east, and went about eleven miles an hour: in thirteen hours of the night he went about one hundred and forty-three miles, which are thirty-five leagues and a quarter. They saw many birds and petrels. During the day he ran fourteen miles an hour, and so be went during that day one hundred and fifty-four miles, which are thirty-eight leagues and a half: so that they went between day and night seventy-four leagues, a little more or less. Vicente Anes said that to-day in the morning the island of Flores lay to the north, and the island of Madeira to the east. Roldan said that the island of Fayal or of San Gregorio lay to the north-north-east, and Puerto Santo to the east. Much grass appeared.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7.
He navigated this night to the east: he went about ten miles an hour, and so in thirteen hours he went one hundred and thirty miles, which are thirty-two leagues and a half: during the day he went eight miles an hour, in eleven hours eighty-eight miles, which are twenty-two leagues. On this morning the Admiral was seventy-five leagues to the south of the island of Flores: and the pilot Pedro Alonso going to the north, passed between Tercera and Santa Maria: and in going to the east. he passed to the windward of the island of Madeira, at a distance of twelve leagues on the north. The sailors saw grass of a different kind than that they had passed, of which there is a great deal in the Azores Islands. Then they saw the same kind they had seen before.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8.
He went this night three miles an hour to the east, for a short time, and then went to the quarter of the south-east: he went during all the night twelve

leagues. From sunrise until mid-day he ran twenty-seven miles: then until sunset as many more, which are thirteen leagues to the south-south-east. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9.
For a short time during this night he went about three leagues to the south- south-east, and then to the south, quarter south-east: then to the north-east until ten o'clock in the day a distance of another five leagues, and then until night he went nine leagues to the cast.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10.
After sunset he navigated to the east during all the night a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, which are thirty-two leagues and a half; from sunset until night he went nine miles an hour, and thus he went in eleven hours ninety-nine miles, which are twenty-four leagues and a half and a quarter. On the caravel of the Admiral, Vicente Yanes and the two pilots Sancho Ruiz and Pedro Alonso Nino and Roldan shaped the course and they all passed much beyond the islands of the Azores to the east, according to their charts, and navigating to the north no one of them located the island of Santa Maria, which is the last of all the Azores islands: rather they would be five leagues beyond it and in the vicinity of the island of Madeira or in that of Puerto Santo. But the Admiral reckoned himself much out of his course, finding his position a long way behind that reckoned by the others, because this night the island of Flores lay to the north of him and he was going to the east toward Nafe in Africa, and he passed to the windward of the island of Madeira on the northern side {lacuna} leagues. Thus these pilots according to their reckoning were one hundred and fifty leagues nearer to Castile than the Admiral. He says that the grace of God permitting, as soon as land is seen it will be known who is calculating the surest. He says here also that on the voyage west be went two hundred and sixty-three leagues from the island of Hierro before he saw the first grass.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11.
He went on his course this night twelve miles an hour, and so in all the night he counted thirty-nine leagues, and during all the day he ran sixteen leagues and a half. He saw many birds and on this account he believed he was near land.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12.
He navigated to the east six miles an hour during this night, and went until day a distance of seventy-three miles, which are eighteen leagues and a quarter. Here he began to encounter a high sea and tempest: and if the caravel had not been very good and well equipped, he says he would have feared to be lost. During the day he ran about eleven or twelve leagues with much difficulty and danger.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13.
From sunset until day he experienced great difficulty from the wind and from
the high and stormy sea: it lightened toward the north-north-east three times, which he said was a sign that a great tempest was to come from that direction

or from the direction contrary to his course. He went under bare masts most of the night: then he raised a little sail and went about fifty-two miles, which are thirteen leagues. This day the wind abated a little; but then it increased, and the sea became terrible and the waves crossed each other which racked the ships. He went about fifty-five miles, which are thirteen and a half leagues. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14.
This night the wind increased and the waves were frightful, coming in contrary directions. They crossed and obstructed the ship which could not go forward or get out from between them and they broke on her: he carried the “papahigo” very low simply that it might keep him above the waves: he went in this way during three hours, and made about twenty miles. The wind and the sea increased greatly and seeing the great danger he began to run before the wind, where the wind took him, because there was no other remedy. Then the caravel Pinta, on which was Martin Alonso, commenced to run also, and disappeared, although all the night the Admiral showed lights and the other ship responded; until it appeared that the latter was not able to do so any longer on account of the force of the tempest, and because she found herself very much out of the course of the Admiral. The Admiral went this night to the north-east, quarter east, a distance of fifty-four miles, which are thirteen leagues. After sunrise the wind became stronger and the cross sea more terrible: he carried only the “papahigo” low, that the ship might get out of the waves which broke across her and not sink. He went on a course to the east- north-east and then on the quarter as far as the north-east: he went about six hours thus and during that time made seven and a half leagues. He ordered that a pilgrimage should be vowed to go to Santa Maria de Guadaloupe and a wax candle weighing five pounds should be carried and that every one should vow that whoever was elected by chance should fulfil the pilgrimage. For this purpose he ordered as many peas brought as there were persons on the ship and one was marked by a knife with the sign of the cross, and they were well shaken and placed in a cap. The first to put in his hand was the Admiral and he took out the pea marked with the sign of the cross, and thus he was selected by chance, and from that time he considered himself obliged to fulfil the vow and make the pilgrimage. Lots were again drawn to make a pilgrimage to Santa Maria de Loreto, which is in the province of Ancona, the land of the Pope, which is the house where Our Lady has performed and performs many great miracles, and chance selected a sailor from the port of Santa Maria, who was called Pedro de Villa, and the Admiral promised to give him money for the expenses of the pilgrimage. He decided that another pilgrim should be sent to watch one night in Santa Clara de Moguer and say a mass, and for this purpose lots were again drawn with the peas marked with a cross, and the choice fell to the Admiral himself. Then the Admiral and all the people made a vow that the first land they reached they would all go in their shirts in procession to pray in a church under the invocation of Our Lady. Besides the general or common vows each one had made his vow in especial,

because none of them expected to escape, all considering themselves lost through the terrible tempest they were experiencing. The danger was increased by the fact that the ship was short of ballast as the load had been lightened by the consumption of the provisions, water and wine: the Admiral had not provided these in sufficient quantity, as he hoped for the favourable weather be experienced among the islands, and proposed to order the ship ballasted on the islands of the Mugeres where he intended to go. The remedy he found for this necessity was when he was able to do it, to fill the pipes which were empty of water and wine with sea-water, and by this means the evil was remedied.
The Admiral here writes the causes which made him fear that our Lord willed that he should perish in that place, and the other causes which gave him hope that God would lead him in safety, in order that such news as he was carrying to the Sovereigns might not perish. It appeared to him that the great desire he had to carry this wonderful news and to show that he had been proved truthful in what he had said and volunteered to discover, caused him to feel the greatest fear that he would not succeed in doing so, and he says that it seemed to him that each gnat could disturb and impede it. He attributed this to his little faith and lack of confidence in the Divine Providence. He was comforted on the other hand by the favours which God had shown him by giving him such a victory, in discovering what he had discovered: and God had fulfilled for him all his desires, as after he had experienced in Castile so many adversities and contradictions, everything had been brought about as he desired. And as before, he had directed his purpose to God and had conducted his enterprise for Him, and he had heard him and given him all that be had asked, it was to be believed that God would fulfil what was commenced and deliver him in safety. Especially since he had delivered him on his departure when be had greater reason to fear on account of the difficulties he had with the sailors and people who were with him, who all with one voice determined to return and to rebel against him, making protestations, and the eternal God gave him strength and courage against them all; and because of many other wonderful things which God had manifested in him and by him on that journey, besides those which their Highnesses knew from the persons of their house. So that he says he ought not to fear the said tempest. But his weakness and anxiety he says would not allow his mind to become reassured. He says moreover, that he also felt great anxiety on account of the two sons whom he had in Cordova at school, as he had left them orphaned of father and mother in a foreign land, and the Sovereigns did not know of the services which he had rendered them on the voyage be had made and the very favourable news he was taking them, on account of which they would be moved to succour his sons. For this reason, and that their Highnesses might know how our Lord had given him the victory in everything which be desired about the Indies, and that they might know there were no tempests in those regions, which be says may be known by the fact that the grass and trees bring up and grow almost

into the sea, and that if he should be lost in that tempest the Sovereigns might have information about his voyage, he took a parchment and wrote upon it all that he was able in regard to everything which he had found, earnestly beseeching whomsoever might find it to carry it to the Sovereigns. He enveloped this parchment in a waxed cloth, tied it very securely, and ordered a large wooden barrel brought, and placed the parchment in the barrel without any person knowing what it was, as they all thought it was some act of devotion, and thus he ordered it thrown into the sea. Then with showers and disturbances the wind changed to the west, and he sailed thus before the wind with only the foresail for about five hours; the sea was very rough and he went a distance of about two and a half leagues to the north-east. He had taken down the “papahigo” from the mainsail, for fear that some wave of the sea would carry it all away.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15.
Yesterday after sunset the skies commenced to clear toward the west, and indicated that the wind was about to blow from that direction. He had the bonnet placed on the mainsail: the sea was yet very high, although it was subsiding a little. He went to the east-north-east at the rate of four miles an hour and in the thirteen hours of the night they went thirteen leagues. After sunrise they saw land: it appeared to them at the prow to the east-north-east. Some said that it was the island of Madeira, others that it was the Rock of Cintra in Portugal, near Lisbon. The wind changed and blew ahead from the east-north-east and the sea came very high from the west: the caravel must have been five leagues from land. The Admiral, according to his navigation brought himself to be off the Azores Islands, and believed that the land they saw was one of them: the pilots and sailors believed that they were already off Castile.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16.
All this night he beat against the wind in order to gain the land, which he already recognised as an island, at times going to the north-east, at others to the north-north-east, until sunrise, when he directed his course to the south in order to reach the island which they no longer saw because of the very murky weather, and he saw at the stern another island which was distant about eight leagues. From sunrise until night he tacked about to reach land, in spite of the strong wind and high sea which it raised. At the hour of Salve which is at the beginning of the night, Some saw light to the leeward, and it appeared that it must be the island which they first saw yesterday: and all night he continued beating about and drawing as near as he was able to see if at sunset he could distinguish any of the islands. This night the Admiral rested a little, because he had not slept nor had been able to sleep since Wednesday, and his legs had become very much crippled from being always exposed to the cold and water and from having had little nourishment. At sunrise he navigated to the south- south-west and at night he reached the island and on account of the very dark and cloudy weather he could not recognise what island it was.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18.
Yesterday after sunset he went around the island to see where he could anchor and get tidings: he anchored with one anchor and afterwards lost the anchor: he set sail again and heat about all the night. After sunrise he again approached the northern part of the island and cast anchor where it appeared best to him, and sent the boat to land: and they had speech with the people of the island and learned that it was the island of Santa Maria, one of the Azores; and the inhabitants indicated to them the harbour where they could enter with the caravel and they said they had never seen such a tempest as that which had prevailed during the past fifteen days, and that they wondered how they had escaped: they offered many thanks to God {he says} and rejoiced greatly on account of the news they heard of the Admiral's having discovered the Indies. The Admiral says that his navigation had been very true and that he had steered well, for which many thanks should be given to our Lord, although he made them a little beyond their true situation; but he had considered it sure that he was in the region of the Azores Islands, and that this island was one of them. And he says he pretended to have gone a longer distance to confound the pilots and sailors who steered, and to remain Master of the course to the Indies, as he had done, because no one of them all was certain of his course, so that none could be sure of his course to the Indies. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.
After sunset three men came to the shore of the island and called. He sent them the boat in which they came to the ship and brought fowls and fresh bread, and it was a Carnival Day: and they brought other things which the captain of the island sent, who was called Juan de Castaneda, saying that he knew the Admiral very well and that he did not come to see him on account of its being night: but that at dawn he would come and bring him more refreshment, and bring with him three men from the caravel who remained there, and that he did not send them back on account of the great pleasure he had with them, hearing about their voyage. The Admiral ordered that the messengers should be paid much honour and ordered beds to be given them in which to sleep that night, because it was late and the village was distant. And as on the Thursday past, when they were in the midst of the anxiety occasioned by the tempest, they made the vow and vows aforesaid, and the vow that on the first land where there was a house of Our Lady they would go in shirts, etc., he decided that half of the people should go to fulfil it at a small house which was near the sea, like a hermitage, and he would go afterward with the other half. Seeing that the country was safe, and confiding in the offers of the Captain and in the peace reigning between Portugal and Castile, he begged the three men to go to the village and send a priest to say a mass for them. Half of the people went in their shirts, in fulfilment of their vow, and being at their prayers, they were attacked by all the villagers on horseback and on foot with the Captain, who captured them all. Then the Admiral remained unsuspectingly until eleven o'clock in the day, expecting the boat, in

order to go himself with the other people and fulfil his vow, and seeing that the people did not come, he suspected that they were detained or that the boat was wrecked, because all the island is surrounded by very high rocks. The Admiral could not see this affair, because the hermitage was behind a point. He raised anchor and set sail directly toward the hermitage and he saw many horsemen who alighted and entered the boat armed, and came to the caravel to take the Admiral. The Captain arose in the boat and asked for his personal safety from the Admiral and he said that it was assured to him. But: why was it that he saw none of his people in the boat? And the Admiral added that if he would come and enter the caravel that he would do all that he wished. And the Admiral tried with smooth words to get him to come so that he could take him to recover his people, not believing that he violated faith in giving him security, since he, having offered him peace and security, had broken his promise. He says that as the Captain had a bad purpose he did not trust himself to enter. Having seen that the Captain did not approach the caravel, the Admiral begged him to tell him the cause for his detaining his people, and said that it would annoy the King of Portugal and that in the land of the Sovereigns of Castile the Portuguese receive great honour and they enter it and are as safe as in Lisbon: and that the Sovereigns had given them letters of recommendation for all the Princes and Lords and men in the world, which he would show the Captain if he would approach and that he was their Admiral of the Ocean-sea and Viceroy of the Indies, which now belonged to their Highnesses, the provisions for which, signed with their signatures and sealed with their seals, he would show him and which he did show him at a distance: and that the Sovereigns felt much love and friendship for the King of Portugal and had ordered him to pay all the honour he was able to the ships of Portugal which he might encounter: and that even if he would not give him his people, he would not give up going to Castile, since he had sufficient people to navigate to Seville, and the Captain and his people would be well punished for offering them that insult. Then the Captain and the others replied that they did not know a King and Queen of Castile here, nor their letters, neither were they afraid, and rather they would have them know that it was Portugal,– almost menacing them. When the Admiral heard this he felt great resentment and he says he thought some differences had taken place between the Kingdoms after his departure, and he could not suffer that they should not reply to the Portuguese, which was right.
Then that Captain again rose at a distance he says and told the Admiral to go away with the caravel to the harbour and that all he was doing and had done, the King his Lord had sent him orders to do. The Admiral called on those who were in the caravel to witness this and the Admiral again called to the Captain and to them all and gave them his faith, and promised, by right of his authority, not to descend from or leave the caravel until he had taken a hundred Portuguese to Castile, and had depopulated all the island. And so he anchored again in the harbour where he was first, as the weather and wind

were very unfavourable for anything else. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20.
He ordered the ship repaired and the pipes filled with sea-water for ballast, because he was in a very bad harbour and he feared his cables might be cut, and it was so. For this reason he set sail toward the island of San Miguel, although in none of the Azores islands is there a good harbour for the weather which prevailed then, and he had no other safety than to put out to sea. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21.
He started yesterday from that island of Santa Maria for the island of San Miguel to see if he could find a harbour in which to endure such bad weather as prevailed, with a great deal of wind and a high sea and he went until night without being able to see either one land or the other on account of the extreme darkness and obscurity which the wind and sea caused. The Admiral says that it was with little pleasure because he had only three sailors who knew the sea, as the most of those who were there knew nothing of the sea. He beat about all this night in a very great tempest and in great danger and difficulty; and that in which the Lord was merciful to him was that the sea or the waves, only came from one direction, because if there had been a cross-sea as in the past, he would have undergone very serious injury. After sunrise, having found that he did not see the island of San Miguel, he decided to return to Santa Maria to see if he could recover his people and the boat and the cables and anchors he left there.
He says he was astonished at such bad weather as there was in those islands and regions, because in the Indies he navigated all that winter without anchoring and it was good weather all the time, and that, for one hour alone he did not see the sea so that he could not navigate well, and in these islands he had experienced such a serious tempest and the same happened to him on his departure as far as the Canary Islands: but having passed them, he always found the winds and the sea very temperate. In conclusion the Admiral says that the sacred theologians and learned philosophers well said that the earthly Paradise is at the end of the Orient, because it is a most temperate place. So that, those lands which he had now discovered, are {he says} the end of the Orient.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22.
Yesterday he anchored at the island of Santa Maria in the harbour or port where he had first anchored, and then a man came and called from some rocks which were facing them, telling them not to go away from there. Then the boat came with five sailors and two priests and an escribano {notary}. They asked for guarantee of security, and the Admiral having given it, they mounted upon the caravel and as it was night they slept there, and the Admiral paid them what honours he was able. In the morning they required him to show them the authority from the Sovereigns of Castile, in order to prove to them that he had made that voyage by authority of the Sovereigns. The Admiral felt that they did that in order to make it appear that they had not done wrong

before, but that they were right, as they had not been able to take the person of the Admiral which they must have intended to get into their hands when, they came armed in the boat; but they saw that the game did not turn out favourably to them and they feared what the Admiral had said and threatened, which he intended to do and believed that he could carry out successfully. Finally in order to obtain the people they had, he was obliged to show them the general letter from the Sovereigns for all the Princes and Lords of High Degree, and the other provisions; and he gave them what he had and they went to land satisfied and then they let all the people go with the boat, from whom he learned that if they had taken the Admiral they would never have allowed him to go free, because the Captain said that the King, his Lord, had commanded him to do as he did.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23.
Yesterday the weather commenced to show signs of becoming better, and he raised the anchors and went around the island in search of a good anchorage where he could take wood and stone for ballast, and he could not find an anchorage until the hour of “completas.”
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24.
He anchored yesterday in the afternoon to take wood and stone, and as the sea was very high the boat could not reach land and at the passing of the first night watch the wind commenced to blow west and south-west. He ordered the sails raised on account of the great danger there is in those islands from remaining at anchor with a south wind, and a south-west wind easily shifts till it blows south. And having seen that it was good weather to go to Castile, he abandoned his purpose of taking wood and stone and ordered the course steered to the east, and he went until sunrise, which would be six hours and a half, at the rate of about seven miles an hour, which are forty-five miles and a half. From sunrise until sunset he went six miles an hour, which in seven hours was sixty-six miles and with the forty-five and a half travelled in the night, it made one hundred and eleven and a half, and consequently twenty- eight leagues.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 25.
Yesterday after sunset he navigated to the east upon his course, five miles an hour: in thirteen hours of this night he went about sixty-five miles which are sixteen leagues and a quarter. From sunrise until sunset he went another sixteen leagues and a half with the sea calm, thanks be to God. A very large bird came to the caravel which appeared to be an eagle.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26.
Yesterday after sunset he navigated on his course to the east, the sea calm, thanks be to God: the most of the night he went about eight miles an hour, which was one hundred miles or twenty-five leagues. After sunrise there was little wind: there were showers, and he went a matter of eight leagues to the east-north-east.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27.

This night and day he went out of his course on account of the contrary winds and the great waves and high sea and he found himself one hundred and twenty-five leagues from the Cape of St. Vincent and eighty from the island of Madeira and one hundred and six from the island of Santa Maria. He was very much troubled with such tempests, now that he was so near the end of his journey.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28.
He went in the same manner this night with diverse winds, to the south and to the south-east and to one side and the other and to the north-east and to the east-north-east, and in this manner he went all this day.
FRIDAY, MARCH 1.
He went this night to the east quarter of the north-east, twelve leagues: by day he ran to the east quarter north-east, twenty-three leagues and a half. SATURDAY, MARCH 2.
He went this night on his course to the east, quarter north-east, twenty-eight leagues, and in the day he ran twenty leagues.
SUNDAY, MARCH 3
After sunset he navigated on his route to the east. A hurricane came upon him which split all his sails, and he saw himself in great danger, but God willed that they should be delivered from it. They drew lots to send a pilgrim {he says} to Santa Maria de la Cinta in Huelva, who was to go in his shirt, and the lot fell to the Admiral. They all made a vow also to fast the first Saturday after, on bread and water. He went about sixty miles before the sails were split. Then they went with bare masts on account of the great tempest of wind and sea which rolled over them from two directions. They saw indications of being near to land, and found themselves quite near to Lisbon.
MONDAY, MARCH 4.
Last night they experienced a terrible tempest, and they thought they would be lost from the seas which came from two directions, and the winds which it appeared would raise the caravel in the air, and the water from the sky and the lightnings from many directions. It pleased our Lord to sustain them and they went thus until the first watch when our Lord showed them land, the sailors seeing it: and then in order not to approach the land until they might know it and see if there was any harbour or place to save themselves, he raised the “papahigo” as there was no other remedy and they sailed some distance although with great danger, putting to sea, and thus God guarded them until day, and he says that it was with infinite labour and fright. Day having come he recognised the land, which was the Rock of Cintra, which is near the river of Lisbon, where he determined to enter as he was not able to do anything else: so terrible was the tempest which prevailed in the village of Cascaes, which is at the entrance of the river. He says the people of the village were offering prayers for them all the morning and after he was inside the river the people came to see him, through wonder as to how they had escaped. and thus at the hour of tercia he came to stop at Rastelo, inside the river of Lisbon,

where he learned from the sea-faring people, that there was never a winter with so many tempests, and that twenty-five ships had been lost in flanders, and others were there which had not been able to go out for four months. Then the Admiral wrote to the King of Portugal, who was nine leagues from there, that the Sovereigns of Castile had ordered him not to fail to enter the harbours of his Highness to ask what he might need in return for his money: and he asked the King to give him authority to go with the caravel to the city of Lisbon, as some dishonest persons thinking that he carried a great deal of gold and he being in a depopulated despoblado harbour, might undertake to commit some dishonest action: and also that his Highness might know that he did not come from Guinea but from the Indies.
TUESDAY, MARCH 5.
To-day Bartholomew Diaz of Lisbon, the Patron of the large ship of the King of Portugal which was also anchored in Rastelo and which was better furnished with artillery and arms {the Admiral says} than any ship he ever saw, came with a small vessel armed to the caravel, and told the Admiral to enter the small vessel in order to go and give account to the factors of the King and to the Captain of the said ship. The Admiral replied that he was the Admiral of the Sovereigns of Castile, and that he did not render such accounts to such persons, nor would he get off from the ships or vessels where he was, unless he was obliged to by force of arms. The Patron replied that he might send the Master of the Caravel: the Admiral replied that he would neither send the Master nor any other person unless it was by force, because he considered it the same to allow a person to go as to go himself, and this was the custom of the Admirals of the Sovereigns of Castile to die rather than to give up their people. The Patron moderated his demands, and said that since he had formed that determination that it should be as he wished; but that he begged him to order the letters from the Sovereigns of Castile shown to him, if he had them. It pleased the Admiral to show them to him and then the Patron returned to the ship and related the matter to the Captain, who was called Alvaro Dama, who came to the caravel in great state with kettle-drums and trumpets and pipes, making a great display: and he talked with the Admiral and offered to do everything that he ordered him to do.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6.
Having learned that the Admiral came from the Indies so many people came from the city of Lisbon to-day, to see him and to see the Indians, that it was a wonderful thing to see them and the way they all marvelled giving thanks to our Lord and saying that through the great faith of which the Sovereigns of Castile possessed and their desire to serve God, his High Majesty had given them all this.
THURSDAY, MARCH 7.
To-day an exceedingly large number of people came to the caravel and many
knights, among them the factors of the King, and they all offered infinite thanks to our Lord for such great good and increase of Christianity, which our

Lord had given to the Sovereigns of Castile, which he says they attributed to the fact that their Highnesses labored and applied themselves for the increase of the Religion of Christ.
FRIDAY, MARCH 8.
To-day the Admiral received a letter from the King of Portugal by Don Martin de Norona, in which letter the King begged him to come where he was, since the weather was not suitable for the departure of the caravel: and he did so in order to avoid Suspicion, although he did not wish to go and he went to sleep at Sacanben: the King ordered his factors to give the Admiral and his people everything they needed for the caravel without money, and that everything should be done as the Admiral wished.
SATURDAY, MARCH 9.
To-day he left Sacanben, to go where the King was, which was at the valley of Paraiso, nine leagues from Lisbon: as it rained he was not able to reach there until night. The King ordered that he should he received with great honour by the principal persons of his house, and the King also received him with great honour, and showed him much favour, and ordered him to be seated and talked with him very well, and told him that he would order everything done which would be of use to the Sovereigns of Castile and to their service, and more fully than as if it were for his own service. And he showed that he felt great pleasure that the voyage had terminated favourably, and that it had been made; although he understood that in the capitulation between the Sovereigns and himself, that this conquest belonged to him. The Admiral replied to this that he had not seen the capitulation and did not know anything other than that the Sovereigns had commanded him not to go to the Mine nor to any part of Guinea, and that this had been proclaimed in all the ports of Andalusia before he started on the voyage. The King graciously responded that he was certain that mediators would not be necessary in this matter. He gave him as a host the Prior of Clato, who was the most important person who was there, from whom the Admiral received many honours and favours.
SUNDAY, MARCH 10.
To-day after mass the King repeated to the Admiral that if he needed anything it would be given to him at once: and he talked with the Admiral a great deal about his voyage, and always ordered him to he seated and paid him great honour.
MONDAY, MARCH 11.
To-day the Admiral took leave of the King. who told him some things to say to the Sovereigns on his part, showing great kindness toward him all the time. The Admiral departed after eating and the King sent Don Martin de Norona with him, and all those cavaliers came to accompany him, and paid him honours for quite a length of time. Then he came to a monastery of San Antonio, which is near a place which is called Villafranca, where the Queen was staying; and he went to present his homage to her and to kiss her hands, because she had sent to say that he must not go away until she saw him: and

with her was the Duke and the Marquis, and the Admiral received great honour. The Admiral took leave of her at night and went to sleep at Llandra. TUESDAY, MARCH 12.
To-day as he was about to start from Llandra for the caravel, a squire from the King arrived, who offered him on the part of the King, if he wished to go to Castile by land, to go with him, and procure lodgings and beasts of travel for him and everything he might need. When the Admiral parted from this squire, the squire sent him a mule for himself and another for his pilot, whom he had with him, and he says he learned that the squire had ordered that twenty small short swords {espadines} should be given to the pilot; and he says that it was said that this was all done that the Sovereigns might learn of it. He reached the caravel in the night.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13.
To-day at 8 o'clock in a high sea and with the wind north-north- west, he raised the anchors and set sail to go to Seville.
THURSDAY, MARCH 14.
Yesterday after sunset, he pursued his course to the south and before sunrise he found himself off the Cape of San Vincent, which is in Portugal. Then he navigated to the east to go to Saltes, and he went all day with a light wind until the present, when he is off Furon.
FRIDAY, MARCH 15.
Yesterday after sunset he navigated on his course until day, with a light wind, and at sunrise he was off Saltes, and at the hour of mid-day with the tide rising, he entered by the bar of Saltes until he was inside the harbour from which he had departed August 3 of the past year; and thus he says that this writing is now finished, excepting that he intended to go by sea to Barcelona in which city he was informed that their Highnesses were staying and this was in order to make them a relation of all his voyage which our Lord had permitted him to make, and for which He had inspired him. For certainly besides that, he knew and held to it firmly and strongly without scruple, that His Exalted Majesty does all good things, and that everything is good except sin and that nothing can be estimated or thought which is not with His consent. “This voyage I know says the Admiral has miraculously proved it to be so, as can be learned from this writing by the many remarkable miracles which have been shown on the voyage and for me, who have been stick a long time in the Court of Your Highnesses, with the opposition and against the advice of so many of the principal persons of your house, who were all against me, treating this matter as a hoax. I hope in our Lord that it will be the greatest honour for Christianity, although it has been accomplished with such ease {que asi ligeramente haya jamas aparecido}.” These are the final words of the Admiral Don Christopher Columbus in regard to his first voyage to the Indies, and his discovery of them.

The Unknown History of Latino Lynchings

(Warning: this article contains images that some may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.)

The following is a summary & analysis of Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review article, Law of the Noose: A History of Latino Lynching by Richard Delgado.

SUMMARY

Delgado attempts to shed light on a largely unknown history of Latinos, particularly Mexican-Americans in the Southwest U.S., who were lynched between the years of 1846 and 1925. This is roughly the same time that many Blacks were lynched in the U.S., as well. While many know of the ominous and horrific fate that Blacks and African-Americans saw in the U.S., few know of the lynchings that Latinos were met with. Delgado challenges scholars and institutions by trying to unveil the truth on this shameful past, while exploring the history of these lynchings and explaining that English-only movements are a present-day form of lynchings.

Although research on Latino lynchings is relatively new, circa 2006-2009, lynchings have a deep rooted history. Such acts can be described as mob violence where person(s) are murdered/hanged for an alleged offense usually without a trial. Through reviewing of anthropological research, storytelling, and other internal & external interactions, there is believed to have been roughly 600 lynchings of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans beginning with the aftermath of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (this document essentially ended the Mexican-American war, where Mexico surrendered half of its land to the U.S.). This grim fate of Blacks & Mexicans in the U.S. was intertwined; both groups were lynched by Anglos for reasons such as acting uppity, taking jobs away from Anglos, making advances toward Anglo women, cheating at cards, practicing Witchcraft, and refusing to leave land that Whites coveted. Additionally, Mexicans were lynched for acting too Mexican; for example, if Mexicans were speaking Spanish too loudly or showcasing aspects of their culture too defiantly, they were lynched. Mexican women may also been lynched if they resisted the sexual advances of Anglo men. Many of these lynchings occurred with active participation of law enforcement. In fact the article reiterates that the Texas Rangers had a special animus towards persons of Mexican descent. Considering that Mexicans had little to no political power or social standing in a new nation, they had no recourse from such corrupt organizations. Popular opinion was to eradicate the Southwest of Mexicans.

Many of these lynchings were treated as a public spectacle; Anglos celebrated each of these killings as if the acts were in accordance with community wishes, re-solidifying society and reinforcing civic virtue. Ringleaders of such lynchings often mutilated bodies of Mexicans, by shooting the bodies after individuals were already dead, cutting off body parts, then leaving the remains on display perhaps in hung trees or in burning flames.

These lynchings took place in the Southwest U.S., in present-day Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada, amongst other states. The killings were carried out by vigilantes or other masked-men, as a form of street justice. These killings became so bad that the Mexican government lodged official complaints to the U.S. counsel in Mexico. Given that this region of the U.S. was at one time Mexican land, and it was shared with Indian/Indios, Mexicans, and Anglos, protests against the lynchings emerged. As legend has it, Joaquin Murrieta took matters into his own hands by murdering the Anglos responsible for the death of mythical figures Juan Cortina and Gregorio Cortes. Such acts were short-lived and perpetuated the conflict between Mexicans and Anglos.

Delgado goes on to cite that only some U.S. historians have written about these Latino lynchings and have pointed out that they occurred due to racial prejudice, protection of turf, and Yankee nationalism left over from the Mexican-American War. However, it has been concluded that such lynchings are a relatively unknown history due to a global pattern of shaping discourse as to avoid embarrassment of the dominant group. Those in power often have the ability to edit official records.

Further exploration reveals that these lynchings were not only edited & minimized outright, but were also ignored or misrepresented due to primary accounts in community newspapers being written in Spanish. Since very few mainstream historians read Spanish or consulted with these records, they were left to flounder. Also, many Latinos knew of these lynchings; their accounts were maintained, shared, and solidified as Mexican lore through ritualistically songs (corridos, actos, and cantares). Many oral cultures have equivalences of such interpretations. Today, Latino scholars are not surprised by history’s ignoring of such events; postcolonial theory describes how colonial societies almost always circulate accounts of their invasions that flatter and depicts them as the bearers of justice, science, and humanism. Conversely, the natives were depicted as primitive, bestial, and unintelligent. Subsequently, colonialists must civilize the natives, use the land & its resources in a better fashion, and enact a higher form of justice. The official history is written by the conquerors, thus showing them in the best possible light.

Delgado questions whether such remnants of Latino lynchings may still be present in society today. This can best be exemplified through movements to make English the official language of the U.S., forcing immigrants to assimilate to the dominant Anglo culture. Such actions can be illustrated in movements to end bilingual school opportunities and enforce English-only speaking at jobs, businesses, etc. Postcolonial scholars argue that such movements facilitate children to reject their own culture, acquire English, and forget their native language. These actions have far dire [documentable] consequence, like social distress, depression, and crime. As such, Delgado ventures to say that these actions are an implicit form of lynching.

Delgado ends the piece by saying that hidden histories of aggression, unprovoked war, lynchings, and segregation are corroborated/proliferated today by the mass media and entertainment industry. These groups, along with other scholars, have the opportunity to redress this history and reject further practices against Latinos. Otherwise, marginalized groups find themselves in a position where they are alienated from their family/identity/culture, co-opted, and unable to resist further oppression.

ANALYSIS

Such history is imperative to the framework of Americana and for acknowledgement purposes, not only because it is a matter of fact, but because this history is relevant to the ancestors of the land. History has always been exploited to benefit those who are in power, so to maintain their structures. However, today, I would argue that current powerbrokers would gain more respect & credibility by being honest with themselves and the actual history. Continuing to deny or ignore the history does an injustice to all. Current Chicanos, Mexican-Americans, and Americans alike would most benefit from this restoration for a few reasons.

First, a corrected version of history helps the people better understand themselves. Americans, Mexicans, the fusion of the two, in addition to people of the world, would recognize a better sense of their true identity & culture. The exploration of such history can perhaps allow for analysis of current rates of depression, crime/incarceration, and socioeconomic status(es). If we, the people, want to understand ourselves, we need to know the truth.

Secondly, if we want to understand why things are the way they are today, we can look to history. This shameful past can assist us in the interpretation of Mexican/American relations. Additionally, I believe that this understanding will help both groups reach a common ground with current relations. Since the year 2000 alone, the FBI has reported over 2,500 hate crimes against Latinos based on race and ethnicity. The U.S. is marred with a nasty & stalled immigration battle that is masked for hatred against Mexicans. In 2014, there is a continued, on-going crisis at the Southwest border affecting many children and families. With the history of these lynchings, it is now time for the greatest country in the world to make the wrong things right.

Again, we know that history can repeat itself, but only if we let it. Thus, the entire world needs to be educated on the true history of these lynchings. The more we are educated on such atrocities, the less likely we will allow them to happen again. Attacking the access of this knowledge is the third reason to explore this history. Ignoring the disastrous past does not make the history go away. With the knowledge of the truth, the Latino people can empower themselves to conquer stereotypes and achieve further greatness. Most Chicano/Latino studies programs in schools allow students to learn about their past while achieving higher marks. But in states like Arizona, educational officials have banned Chicano/Latino Studies in schools, and as a result have not allowed students to know the true history of the land they currently inhabit. This is not only a further atrocity, but it reaffirms Delgado’s point that current lynchings, lynchings of the mind, are happening today. This is blatant lying and it is unacceptable; when we lie to our government, we go to prison. When our government lies to us, it’s no big deal.

Furthermore, for those who are tired of people of color in the U.S. raising points of contention about racial issues in this country, you now see the justification. This is why we won’t be quiet about racism, racial prejudice, discrimination, etc. This is why well march in the streets for the Trayvonn Martin’s, reject the school to prison pipeline, and continue to spread awareness until administrative action is taken on a grand scale. Today’s generation is a bi-product and reflection of this history; not only are these lynchings continuing to happen, but the masterplan has worked. In order to achieve our full capabilities, we need to reject a fragmented history and seek a personal revolution, which starts with ourselves. And we can achieve this revolution through education & knowledge.

Be empowered.

Maximo Anguiano is a scholar, actor, and creative. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

REFERENCES

The Law of the Noose: A History of Latino Lynching. R. Delgado (2009). Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 44, 297-312.

The Man Who Stole Puerto Rico

Moors In America | Moorish Americans

Ancient Moors in America | We Didn’t Land On Plymouth Rock Because We Were Already Here

Yesterday, an interesting thing happened to me. I was told I am not Black.

The kicker for me was when my friend stated that the island of Puerto Rico was not a part of the African Diaspora. I wanted to go back to the old skool playground days and yell: “You said what about my momma?!” But after speaking to several friends, I found out that many Black Americans and Latinos agree with him. The miseducation of the Negro is still in effect!

I am so tired of having to prove to others that I am Black, that my peoples are from the Motherland, that Puerto Rico, along with Cuba, Panama and the Dominican Republic, are part of the African Diaspora. Do we forget that the slave ships dropped off our people all over the world, hence the word Diaspora?

The Atlantic slave trade brought Africans to Puerto Rico in the early 1500s. Some of the first slave rebellions took place on the island of Puerto Rico. Until 1846, Africanos on the island had to carry a libreta to move around the island, like the passbook system in apartheid South Africa. In Puerto Rico, you will find large communities of descendants of the Yoruba, Bambara, Wolof and Mandingo people. Puerto Rican culture is inherently African culture.

There are hundreds of books that will inform you, but I do not need to read book after book to legitimize this thesis. All I need to do is go to Puerto Rico and look all around me. Damn, all I really have to do is look in the mirror every day.

I am often asked what I am—usually by Blacks who are lighter than me and by Latinos/as who are darker than me. To answer the $64,000 question, I am a Black Boricua, Black Rican, Puertorique’a! Almost always I am questioned about why I choose to call myself Black over Latina, Spanish, Hispanic. Let me break it down.

I am not Spanish. Spanish is just another language I speak. I am not a Hispanic. My ancestors are not descendants of Spain, but descendants of Africa. I define my existence by race and land. (Borinken is the indigenous name of the island of Puerto Rico.)

Being Latino is not a cultural identity but rather a political one. Being Puerto Rican is not a racial identity, but rather a cultural and national one. Being Black is my racial identity. Why do I have to consistently explain this to those who are so-called conscious? Is it because they have a problem with their identity? Why is it so bad to assert who I am, for me to big-up my Africanness?

My Blackness is one of the greatest powers I have. We live in a society that devalues Blackness all the time. I will not be devalued as a human being, as a child of the Supreme Creator.

Although many of us in activist circles are enlightened, many of us have baggage that we must deal with. So many times I am asked why many Boricuas refuse to affirm their Blackness. I attribute this denial to the ever-rampant anti-Black sentiment in America and throughout the world, but I will not use this as an excuse. Often Puerto Ricans who assert our Blackness are not only outcast by Latinos who identify more with their Spanish Conqueror than their African ancestors, but we are also shunned by Black Americans who do not see us as Black.

Nelly Fuller, a great Black sociologist, stated: “Until one understands the system of White supremacy, anything and everything else will confuse you.” Divide and conquer still applies.

Listen people: Being Black is not just skin color, nor is it synonymous with Black Americans. To assert who I am is the most liberating and revolutionary thing I can ever do. Being a Black Puerto Rican encompasses me racially, ethically and most importantly, gives me a homeland to refer to.

So I have come to this conclusion: I am whatever I say I am! (Thank you, Rakim.)

(Rosa Clemente is the youth organizer for the F.R.E.E. Youth Empowerment Program of Central Brooklyn Partnership. She is also an organizer with Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the co-host of WBAI’s “Where We Live” public affairs program.)

This month is Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration to recognize the lives and contributions of people from Latin America and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries in the U.S. This is an important month but how it is celebrated in the U.S. leaves many African-Americans not fully understanding the important stake we have in this month. That is because so often celebrations of this month very rarely highlight the important, vibrant Afro-Latino population living and working in every Latin American country. Every country—yes, even Mexico and Argentina.

Without a doubt, the experiences of some communities, including Afro-descendants and Indigenous, have historically gone unrecognized. The inclusion of Afro-descendants in mainstream conversation rarely happens but it is necessary in order to understand the truth of history and the present. African-Americans have a stake in ensuring that these conversations recognize the commonalities within our experiences and in highlighting race as a factor in Latin America.

Working in Latin America with women’s groups, youth and political organizations, I am heartened by numerous cultural similarities between African-Americans and Afro-Latinos. In culture, style and experiences we are in many ways the same people. I have said many times before our ancestors didn’t get to choose whether the slave ships stopped in Charleston, South Carolina, or in Rio de Janiero; it is only geography and language that separates us.

U.S. policymakers focused on Latin America, rarely focus or even acknowledge race as a major factor in Latin America. Unsurprisingly, both predominately White institutions and many Latin American governments reinforce each other’s apathy and ideological perspectives. Afro-Latinos, however, have not waited for policy wonks or their government to change on their own. They are changing their societies from within.

The numbers of people of African descent in Latin America are astounding. There are 150 million Afro-descendants in the Western Hemisphere. Brazil has more people of African descent than any country in Africa except Nigeria, making Afro-Brazilians the second largest population of Afro-descendants on the planet. The U.S. has the second largest population in the Hemisphere but it is quickly followed by Colombia, a country embroiled in a civil war with severe racial dimensions.

Rarely do we hear about the racial aspects of the war in Colombia on the evening news. Countries like Cuba and the Dominican Republic have formidable Afro-descendant populations but so does El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia and Venezuela. Shockingly, anytime these countries are in the news, the coverage seems to “whitewash” the population implying this notion that racism is just an American construct.

These images rarely reflect the reality of racial diversity within these countries and give little space for heterogeneity of these communities. The few times we do see Afro-Latinos represented they are exoticized or regulated to the same stereotypical roles that African Americans have been struggling against.

Our own immigration debate in the U.S. is a very important area where Afro-Latinos have been rendered invisible. Immigration from Latin America is not a Black-Brown conflict. It is a result of unfair economic and political practices on both sides of the border. These practices disfranchise both African Americans and our brothers and sisters in the whole hemisphere. While immigration discussions explicate issues of alienation, race is rarely directly addressed as a factor in the movement of poor people into the U.S.

One thing that remains apparent is the similarity within our experiences. Regardless of country, we know that Afro-descendants throughout the Americas have less access to quality education, health care, housing and job security. Unfortunately, racism remains a reality throughout the world and Afro-descendant issues and priorities remain marginalized among U.S. foreign interests in Latin America.

I applaud U.S. policymakers who are prioritizing these conversations. During this year’s Congressional Black Caucus conference, Congressman Donald Payne led a panel to discuss and address these issues that face Afro-Latinos. We need to take those unique dialogues to challenge not only our own knowledge but the media and our policymakers to give voice to a population that is 150 million strong but so often go uncounted.

(Nicole C. Lee is the executive director of TransAfrica Forum.)

CAMPINHO DA INDEPENDENCIA, Brazil (IPS) – A Black community in the southern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro is trying to maintain its cultural heritage on nearly 600 acres granted to it by the government in 1999 as part of reparations to the descendants of slaves.

“I would define ‘quilombos’ as resistance by Black people, as their essence,” Vagner do Nascimento, president of the Association of Residents of Campinho da Independencia, tells IPS.

Afro-Brazilian girls during a Candomblé ceremony. Photo: WikiMedia Commons
November 20 was National Black Awareness Day in Brazil, in commemoration of the Nov. 20, 1695 death of the leader of Black resistance in Brazil, Zumbi dos Palmares. In some Brazilian states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Nov. 20 is a holiday aimed at ‘reflection on the insertion of Blacks in Brazilian society.’

Situated to the southwest of the city of Rio de Janeiro, less than 20 miles from the town of Paraty in the middle of lush jungle that forms part of the Mata Atlântica (Atlantic forest), Campinho—as it is referred to by the people who live here—is one of the 3,524 quilombos distributed throughout Brazil, according to the Culture Ministry’s Palmares Cultural Foundation.

However, independent sources say there are 1,500 more quilombos—which were originally remote villages or collections of villages founded by runaway slaves, often hidden in the jungle.

In the quilombos, escaped slaves kept alive the cultures and lifestyles brought over from Africa. They also became bastions in the struggle for freedom.

After slavery was abolished on May 13, 1888, many quilombos became villages, where people depended on subsistence agriculture and small-scale trade.

“For us, the ‘quilombolas,’ as the people living in these places were known, are the synonym, you could say, of a society that did well for itself.”

Zumbi dos Palmares was a famous colonial period quilombo located in the Serra da Barriga mountains in what is today the northern state of Alagoas.

Palmares, which defended its freedom for over a century and at one point was home to as many as 50,000 escaped slaves, became a symbol in the fight against slavery in Brazil.

“People there lived and worked together, and consolidated their own values. That’s why Palmares is a really strong reference point for us, because here in Campinho the land is collectively owned, and we have collective forms of producing, of generating culture, of working,” says Mr. Nascimento.

Campinho has a unique history. Its 80 or so families descend from just three slave women: Antonia, Marcelina and Luiza. And according to the history that was orally transmitted from generation to generation, they weren’t just “ordinary” slaves, but came from the “Big House” and had culture and education.

As the story goes, shortly after the abolition of slavery, the landowners of the three haciendas in the region distributed the property to their former slaves and left.

Antonia, Marcelina and Luiza “gathered all the dispersed slaves together and brought them here with them,” says a member of the fifth generation of descendants, Laura María dos Santos, Campinho’s head of educational and cultural projects.

Ms. dos Santos, two young women named Daniele and Silvia, and the elderly Albertina do Nascimento head IPS’s welcoming committee—three generations of women who represent the strength of those who founded their community.

“This heritage is transmitted to our girls, who become women who know what their role is,” says Ms. dos Santos. She goes on to tell an anecdote: “When a man made a sexist remark, his niece, a girl from our community, said ‘uncle, in a woman’s land, the woman never dies’.”

Nor do the women in this community want their cultural heritage to die. The local residents association led by Ms. Nascimento is carrying out projects for the recuperation of the historical memory, craftsmaking, ethnic tourism, and the revival and sustainable production of traditional crops like cassava, rice, beans and corn.

Campinho was the first quilombo in the state of Rio de Janeiro to obtain a formal collective land ownership title, on March 21, 1999, after a struggle that began in the 1960s.

On one hand, the creation of the Bocaína National Park kept them from hunting and collecting fruits in the forest—activities they depended on for a living.

In addition, the construction of the Rio de Janeiro-to-Santos stretch of the BR-101 highway, between 1970 and 1973, drove up land prices and led to property speculation in the area.

The entire Paraty region became the target of interest on the part of large tourism ventures, and many people began to sell and leave their lands.

Those who stayed, like the community of Campinho, eventually won their battle. But other battles emerged, like the struggle for coexistence with a new touristy world of “rich people,” and the effort to preserve the local culture, says Ms. dos Santos.

“It’s a question of continuing to fight for our ethnic and traditional identity, while at the same time incorporating the technology to which young people have a right,” she adds.

On the other hand, as “Auntie Albertina” adds, there are other problems, like the fact that many of the local families have ended up working in nearby tourist condominiums.

“Soon, no one is going to want to work the land anymore,” laments the old woman, who says she would never give up her land, where she grows beans and rice, makes cachaça—a Brazilian liquor made from distilled sugar cane juice—and is her own boss.

The haciendas in the region produced homemade cachaça since the time of the three original slave women.

Referring to the women working outside the community, Silvia says “they see the rich women with their styles and want to imitate them. They have a nice house, but when they see their bosses home, they start to suffer, because they want one just like it.”

Another challenge is adopting new technologies, to which the children and young people in Campinho have access, generally in internet cafés, without forgetting their culture and traditional values.

According to Silvia, “there’s no formula for how to do that,” other than raising awareness in the community about the importance of keeping the culture alive.

The women see access to technologies like the Internet, community radio stations and video cameras as important, to be able to record their history and culture.

But the challenge is “to dominate technology, and not let technology dominate us.”

“We teach our youngsters that the worst sin is to let themselves be enslaved by anything,” she says.

Silvia moved away from the community when she was a little girl, and later became a community leader in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, where she went to live, like so many other quilombolas.

Her fear is that the quilombos will go down the road followed by the favelas and become mere shantytowns without proper infrastructure or sanitation, due to a lack of space to expand. As the local families grow, and the land is increasingly subdivided, the houses are more and more crowded together.

She recalls that many of the crowded favelas surrounding Rio and other cities today used to be areas similar to the quilombos, with gardens, open areas and natural water sources.

That is why she wants the government to grant more land to the descendants of the original escaped slaves, who argue that they have a right to the property.

“The houses have to be spaced out, so that if a woman fights with her husband, no one can hear,” Silvia jokes.

Campinho is also involved in ecological projects. “Although some environmentalists say the opposite, the best-preserved areas are the ones where the quilombolas live,” she argues.

The projects include the sustainable production of palm hearts and agroforestry. “First we feed the community, and later, we sell what’s left over, outside,” says Daniele.

“Auntie Albertina,” who the younger people in the community listen to with respect, speaks up again.

“On my plot of land I don’t let anyone kill even a little bird,” she says, recalling that in the past, her ancestors even ate toucans to survive, but pointing out that the birds have made a comeback in the surrounding jungle, which she calls “a great achievement.”

The people of Campinho have other collective subsistence activities, such as the sale of traditional crafts in tourist areas of Paraty, and a restaurant that specializes in typical Afro-Brazilian dishes, like “feijoada,” a stew of black beans, pork and beef, which was traditionally made with what was left over after the master’s family was served.

The community also has an ethnic tourism project, giving tours of the community that include visits to the old “senzala” or slave compound, the cassava flour production areas, and the community garden, as well as hikes in the jungle and cultural activities like traditional dance recitals.

November 20 was National Black Awareness Day in Brazil, in commemoration of the Nov. 20, 1695 death of the leader of Black resistance in Brazil, Zumbi dos Palmares

In some Brazilian states, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Nov. 20 is a holiday aimed at “reflection on the insertion of Blacks in Brazilian society.”

With Blacks officially making up half of the population of Brazil, the country has the second largest Black population in the world, after Nigeria.

For Vagner do Nascimento, the leader of the community, there is no doubt: the question is to “survive with dignity. That is the essence of Black people in Brazil today, whose ancestors were brought over from Africa.”

Indigenous people from all parts of Mexican state of Oaxaca, wearing traditional clothes and artifacts, in a celebration known as Guelaguetza. Photo: Wikipedia.org

Late last night, my father and I talked about how the ethnic term Latino mislabels Indigenous and mixed-Indigenous people from Mexico, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, etc. For a long time, we believed Latino and Hispanic correctly defined the Spanish-speaking mixed-Indigenous and Indigenous people in Latin America.

As we crossed the George Washington Bridge, I wondered, Why is this so? I mean it’s true. We do speak Spanish and we practice Spanish culture. But we also come from a land that is still governed by our Indigenous relatives. I thought hard about how to politely counter argue his belief. His opinion. His Latino identity.

“So I guess this means Filipinos are Hispanics or Latinos, too, right?” I said. “Think about it, they have Spanish names. They speak Spanish. They probably dance to Spanish music, too.”

He laughed at me. He said, “They are Asians, though. You can’t confuse their race with Spanish.”

“Exactly, so why are we the only ones considered Latino or Hispanic? Some of us are Indigenous, right? Think about it, papa. We are Guayakos and Manabítas. We come from family clans that stretch back for thousands of years of Indigenous tradition.”

“Well..” he stammers, “I would say, we’re Ecuatorianos.”

Latino or Hispanic is a term coined by the United States to identify Spanish-speaking people coming from south of Mexico. The reality is Spanish-speaking people from Latin America come from a variety of racial and cultural backgrounds. We are like a rainbow.

However, since 2011, Latinos or Hispanics now start to identify as Native American, the Census shows. Even the New York Times features their article on the cultural change and perspective of Indigenous identity among mestizos, mulattos, and Indigenous people.

Also, Latino comes from the root word Latin which corresponds to the nations that used to form the Roman Empire: Spain, Portugal, Romania, Italy, and France. According to El Boricua, “The word Hispania thus refers to the people and culture of the Iberian peninsula, Spain in particular. The term Hispano (Hispanic) later was used in referring to Spain and its subsequent New World – New Spain, conquered territories which covers most of Latino America.” The White-mestizo society or descendants of Spanish relatives can claim these labels to themselves.

But Latino is not a person who only looks Mexican and speaks Spanish. Many of us come from mixed-Indigenous heritage and some of us are Indigenous, too. For example, Ecuador is home to 30-plus Indigenous nations and a home to 8 million descendants of the Quitu-Shyri and Spanish ancestry. It’s also home to 1 million Euro-Ecuadorians and 1.3 million Afro-Ecuadorians. However, the 8 million Ecuadorian mestizos form part of the rainbow colors of the Indigenous race mixed with the Spanish and the African cultures. In Ecuador, we say “tenemos la pinta ecuatoriana” (we have the Ecuadorian look) because some of us are brown, have black hair, and some, more than others, inherit the Atahualpa face, our last Tawantinsuyu King in 1535. We also dance to merengue and reggaeton, but we blast Indian music and do the round dance, stomp the floor, swing the skirts, and chirp like the Curiquingue and Quinde birds.

Ecuadorians make up the majority of mixed-Indigenous and Indigenous population, among other groups like Afro-Ecuadorians and Euro-Ecuadorians, who re-invent a fusion of all cultures, languages, and religions, yet preserve their Indigenous ethnicity, traditions, and roots simultaneously.

The Idle No More Movement is an excellent example of how Indigenous people in North America unite to stand up and fight for their culture, land, and identity against a people who think it’s okay to walk over Indigenous people with mascot names and Halloween Indian costumes. I also think the Idle No More Movement should include Indigenous people and mixed-Indigenous people from Spanish-speaking nations as an effort to collaborate, unite, and support one Indigenous people across both continents.

Do we call an African-American a Britannic because he or she speaks English? Do we call an Arab an Amish because he or she looks White? Why don’t we call Euro-Americans “mixed” or “mestizos” because they also have Irish, Italian, German, African, and Indigenous blood, some more than others? However, there is no debate about our differences. We come from different nations, backgrounds, religions, cultures, and so forth. But the key point is to co-exist in peace and respect each other. The principle is to not step on people’s sacred space without asking their permission. The Indigenous space has been repeatedly trespassed and disrespected in the Americas.

I can only speak of what I‘ve seen in Ecuador. In Ecuador, the label Mestizo provides an opportunity for Indigenous people to climb the social ladder. In order for them to not be hated, insulted, harmed, put down, ashamed, physically assaulted, and to some extent, massacred in ethnic and cultural genocides, the ethnic label “mestizo” provides a convenient strategy to avoid all of the aforementioned complications. However, Indigenous people should not feel obliged to make the switch from Indigenous to Mestizo because of the shame with their Indigenous identity. Their culture is as beautiful as that of the African-American, European-American and Asian-American.

In Santa Elena, Ecuador, we identify as Indigenous people. We go by “cholo comunero,” and some, more than others, by “Wankavilka” to emphasize their ethnicity. The Ecuadorian government sends us a census that provides three options: White, Black, and Mestizo. We are forced to put mestizo even though in our hearts we know we are Indigenous to our ancestral lands and cultures, but this mislabel affects new generations of youth who start to distance themselves from their Indigenous heritage and encourage outsiders to expropriate our lands because we do not “voluntarily” identify as Indigenous (Original Source in Spanish). Therefore, in this case, the mestizo concept does not equally glorify two cultures, but only the dominant European one. It serves to disenfranchise Indigenous people in Latin America. In a parallel comparison, there are Latinos, (Indigenous Spanish-speaking people from tribal nations in Latin America who migrate to the United States), who do not want to identify as Latinos and Mestizos but are forced to because it’s the only option.

Appropriating a local tribe that is not yours is also NOT the respectful manner to go about this either. However the U.S. census should provide an ethnic label that speaks for Mexican, Central, and South American Indigenous people. This also gives an opportunity for mixed-Indigenous people to learn from their culture via Indigenous groups in United States settings. Because as mixed-Indigenous people from Spanish-speaking nations, we have a right to learn about our Indigenous past that includes everything before 1492. Our nations started way before the colonial contact.

Imagine what would happen if mixed-Indigenous or Indigenous Ecuadorians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Peruvians, Bolivians, among other Spanish-speaking nations re-identify with their Indigenous roots. How would that cause a chain reaction in Latin America and how would that redefine our culture, our history, and our thought process?

Santy Quinde Baidal, blogger of The Quinde Journey / Wankavilka Nation (www.squinde.wordpress.com), speaks about his experience of re-identifying with his Wankavilka Comunero Indigenous identity as an Ecuadorian-American citizen in the United States. Thanks to oral tradition and extensive independent research, Mr. Baidal learns about his Indigenous culture, identity, and traditions that stretches back to 12,000 years, to the first people of Santa Elena, Ecuador.

One-Drop Classification: one people forever united against oppression

Colonial Mexico had the highest numbers of African slaves. Of the over one million casualties during the Mexican war of independence, most of them were Afro-Mexicans. Mexico’s commitment to harbor Black fugitive slaves triggered the Mexican-American war; she lost nearly 50 percent of her territory. After the war, Mexico undeterred, included in her constitution and continued her commitment to harbor fugitive slaves.

Not long ago, Mexican-American TV host and comedian George Lopez was handed his DNA ancestry results by Mariah Carey – after the question was posed as to whether he would fall under the proverbial one-drop (African) racial classifi cation. Lopez’s results showed a 4 percent African blood.

“Texican” actress Eva Longoria’s 3 percent African ancestry surfaced in DNA taken by PBS series Faces of America (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.). And National Geographic’s Genographic Mexican-American reference population attributes a 4 percent African contribution to the “La Raza” pool. The “Mestizo” – the proverbial “La Raza” Mexicano – customarily extols his Indian roots, and laments and or praises his Spanish roots – but rarely is the African part acknowledged.

The period of African slavery in Mexico began following devastation brought about by the inherent diseases of the Europeans, which infected and almost completely wiped out indigenous Mexicans. Having no natural immunity against smallpox, measles, typhoid, venereal diseases and other infectious maladies, natives were victims of ferocious epidemics in 1520, 1548, 1576-1579, and 1595-1596.

It is estimated that when Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico in 1519, the indigenous population was about 27.6 million inhabitants. By 1605 only 1.7 million indigenous people had survived, a population decrease mulattoes; 15,000 Spaniards, and 80,000 Indians. Gemelli Careri, in his 1698 visit, concluded, “Mexico City contains about 100,00 inhabitants, but the greatest part of them are Blacks and Mulattoes by reason of the vast number of slaves that has been cessation of the slave trade the enslaved population steadily declined. However, the numbers of free Blacks grew and by 1810 comprised 10 percent of the population or roughly 624,000 people.

The African population had a 3 male to 1 female ratio and since children born from Indigenous mothers carried their “free” status, African men married Native women to ensure that their descendants would be born free. According to the Mexican caste system imposed by Spain, the Indigenous population was considered citizens and could not be made slaves. At the bottom of the caste system were the Black slaves. Escaped slaves resorted to establishing settlements or palenques in Mexico’s inaccessible mountains to preserve their freedom.

In 1591 Viceroy Don Luis de Velasco reported the existence of a group of cimarrones (Maroons) who had resided for the previous 30 years on a mountain called Coyula who “live as if they were actually in Guinea.” He referred to the famous case of Yanga, the Muslim maroon leader, who after fi ghting 30 years against the Spanish crown signed a peace accord and founded San Lorenzo de Los Negros, establishing the fi rst “freedom enclave” in Mexico.

Mule driving, one of the lowest and frowned upon occupations, was almost completely carried out by Blacks and Afro-Indians. Mule drivers were plentiful in Mexico, thanks in part to the lack of roads for carts and carriages. Although considered unpleasant rowdies by the rich, Muleteers were welcomed in rural villages for bringing the latest news, songs and the hottest jokes about authority fi gures; moreover, mule trains traditionally carried contraband. From this occupation came many a fi ghter for Mexico in the war with Spain, including Vicente Guerrero, the Afro-Indian who became the second President of Mexico. Guerrero was a descendant of enslaved Africans brought to Mexico during colonial times. He was raised in the mountain town of Tixtla and spoke many indigenous languages.

It is estimated that by the end of the Spanish domination, the Mestizo population was 40 percent, which included a large number of Afro-Mestizos.

Who is the Mestizo?

One scholar declared the Mestizos were the “revolutionary class.” McLaughlin and Rodriguez in “Forging of the Cosmic Race” identifi ed the mestizo as the “arch-typical Mexican.” These statements, however, really fail to defi ne the Mestizo. The word Mestizo is applied to mixed races, people who are darker than White.

During the war of independence 1810- 1821, about 30 to 40 percent of mixed race Mexicans had African in their mix and were more likely to be militant. The Afro-Mestizo was placed between a rock and a hard place—and his inclination toward militancy came from the racist laws limiting jobs, places of residence, and marriage that set Blacks apart. Moreover, slavery was reserved for Africans only, be they mixed or pure. Census data reveal that “from Southern Talisco to Southern Michoacán and through the sugar plantations near Cuautla in Morelos 37% of the population was Afro-Mexican in 1810. The Huasteca uphill region behind the port of Tampico, census data shows the Tampico coast as much as 78 percent Afro Mexican, and in the highlands only 17 percent, the other 83 percent was comprised of Huasteca Indians. West of the Cuautla Valley, 50 percent of the population was Afro Mexican” and it was there that the longest battle of the independence war was fought.

Emiliano Zapata, the Afro-Indian revolutionary hails from the Cuautla Valley. Rarely seen or acknowledged today, the current estimated Afro-Mexican population in Mexico is 450,000.

Another indication of the importance of the Afro-Mexican during the war of independence is the decree abolishing slavery by priest Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico’s Founding Father, as enticement to attract Afro-Mexicans to the fighting ranks. Likewise, the vital importance of the Afro-Mexican soldier was evident in an incident that took place when Blacks were disgruntled because Jose Maria Morelos, a mestizo himself and Founding Father of Mexico, refused to recognize General Rayon’s appointment on their behalf. “Disappointed and despondent, they retired to El Veladero and made plans to incite the Negroes in Morelos’s army to slaughter the Whites. When Morelos heard about this activity, he struck hard and fast. Taking a small escort with him, he rushed southward to ‘remove the cancer,’ crushed the revolt before it could be launched, and caught and shot the leaders.”

The Afro-Mestizo was predominant in Morelos’ independence army, which was another reason for targeting, otherwise Morelos would not have viewed this threat as a cancer.

The Mexican war of independence claimed as many as one million lives, many of them Afro-Mexicans. The tragic massacre that took place during Mexico’s war of independence is vividly recounted by one scholar: “The Creole officers, faithful to their gachipin (Spaniard) generals, were willing to massacre the insurgents, and the mestizos and mulattos who formed the rank and file of the army were blindly obedient … when they met the Spaniards in battle, some of them tried to put the Spanish cannon out of action by throwing sombreros over their mouths.”

Where is the Afro-Mexican? Hundreds of thousands died in the war of independence fertilizing Mexican soil, the rest has been absorbed in the genetic pool of the Mexican mestizo.

By 1827 hardly any “Negro” slaves were left in Mexico. The whole slavery issue would have been history were it not for the fact that Texas, in the Northern part of Mexico, was being encroached upon by slave holding Anglos who brought slaves with them to settle unoccupied areas of Texas.

Mexico’s effort to end slavery throughout her territory met with opposition and by the fall of 1825 almost one out of five persons in Texas was a “Negro” slave.

Since Mexico was hospitable to any fugitive slave, and hundreds had fled to Mexican territories, the U.S. proposed a Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Mexico and the United States to stop the trend. Both parties signed the treaty on July 10, 1826 – however it had to be ratified by the Mexican Congress and was met with staunch opposition. The Committee of Foreign Relations of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, had a major problem with Article 33 of the proposed treaty, which dealt with fugitive slaves. The Committee ultimately recommended its rejection.

After the Mexican American War wherein Mexico lost nearly 50 percent of its territory, fugitive slaves still crossed the border seeking refuge from the merciless oppression of their masters. Mexico once more reaffirmed her protection of fugitive slaves recommitting in the Constitution of 1857 to freedom for all fugitive slaves who set foot on Mexican soil.

Emiliano Zapata appears in this undated photo. Zapata is widely renowned as the voice of the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910 because peasants were angry with the government for stealing their land. Photo: AP/Wide World photos

Mexico also constitutionally banned any intentional extradition treaty-covering individuals who had been slaves.

When in 1857 James Frisby, a “Negro” seaman jumped ship in Veracruz and claimed to have been a slave in New Orleans “whose master had signed him on board the Metacomet as crew;” the port captain refused to turn him over. U.S. Representative in Mexico John Forsyth resorted to arm-twisting Mexico even to the point of declaring that Mexico extended a privilege to the seaman because of the “ebony color of his skin.” Forsyth berated Mexico for letting a Black get away with what those of “pure white blood … the master blood of the earth … blood which has conquered and civilized and Christianized the world.” Forsyth in his rage declared, “If Mexico is so deeply imbued with the mania of negrophilism [love of “Negroes”] … imprisoning our White Citizens and making free our Slaves, as fast as they put foot on Mexican soil, cannot long endure consistently with peace and harmony between the two countries.” Forsyth failed to intimidate Mexico, and she remained adamant in her defense and protection of fugitive Black slaves.

Despite all threats and the loss of 50 percent of its territory, Mexicans continued to extend a helping hand to escaping Black slaves from the United States, the imperialist power to the North.

Continuing that tradition, this new millennium shall witness the Unity and Oneness of Blacks and Mexicans in order to strengthen our common goal towards freedom, justice and equality under the Creator of the heavens and the earth, our true and common origin.

(Diogenes Muhammad is a “Latino” Muslim pioneer and a contributing writer for The Final Call and its forerunner Muhammad Speaks.)

THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT
TO
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
[Ratified: November 18, 1865 by 3/4 of the Several States]

The Following is the Language
“The Ordinance of 1787”

---

Thus referred to:

“Article 6 – There shall be neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude in the said Territory, otherwise
than in the punishment of crimes, where of the part shall have been duly convicted”.

The Thirteenth Amendment
Of
The COnstitution of the United States
Ratified: November 18, 1865 by 3/4 of the Several States

---

SECTION 1 – All persons shall have the right peaceably to assemble and Worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.

SECTION 2 – The use of the Public Press shall not be obstructed; but criminal publication made in one State against the lawful institutions of another State shall not be allowed.

SECTION 3 – The right of citizens to free and lawful speech in public Assemblies shall not be denied. Access of citizens to the ballot box shall not be Obstructed either by Civil or Military Power. The Military shall always be subordinate to the existing Judicial authority over citizens. The privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall never be suspended in the presence of the judicial Authority.

SECTION 4 – The Militia of a State or of the United States shall not be Employed to invade the lawful rights of the people of any of the several States; but the United States shall not be hereby deprived of the right and power to defend and protect its property and rights within the limits of any of the States.

SECTION 5 — Persons held to Service or Labor for life, in any State under the Laws thereof, may be taken finto any Territory of the United States south of north latitude 36 degrees 30′, and the right to such Service or Labor shall not be incipaired therelby, and the Territorial Legislatura thereof shall have the exclusive right to make and shall make all needful rules and regulations for the protection of such right and also for the protection of such Persons; but Congress or any Territorial Legislatura shall not have power to impair or abolish such right of Service in the Said Territory while in a Terri-torial conditionwithout the consent of all the States, south of Said Latitude, which maintain such Ser-vice.

SECTION 6 — Involuntaty Servitude, except for exime, shall not be permanently established within the District set apart for the Seat of Government of the United States; but the right of sojourn in such District, with Persons held to Service or Labor for life, shall not be denied.

SECTION 7 — When any territory of the United States south of north latitude 36 degrees 30′ shall have a population equal to the Ratio of Representation for one Member of Congress, and the people thereof shall have formad a Constitution for a Republican Form of Govermnent, it shall be adniitted as a State hato the Union, on an equal footing with the other States; and the people may, in such Con-stitution, either prohiba or sustain the right to Invohmtary Labor or Service, and alter or amend the Com titution at their wilL

SECTION 8 — The present right of representation in Section 2, Article 1, of this Constitution, shall not be altered without the consent of all the States maintaining the right to Involuntary Service or Labor south of Latitude 36 degrees 30′, but nothing in this Constitution or its Amendments shall be construed to deprive any State south of Said Latitude 36 degrees 301 of the right of Abolishing Involuntary Servitude at its will.

SECTION 9 — The regulation and control of the right to Labor or Service in any of the States south of Latitude 36 degrees 30′ is hereby recognized to be eiclusively the right of each State within its own fimits; and this Constitution shall not be altered or amended to impair this right of each State without its consent; Provided, This Article shall not be construed to absolve the United States from vende ring assistance to suppress 1nsurrections or Dornestic Violence, when called upon by any State, as provided in section 4, Article 4, of this Constitution.

SECTION 10 — No State shall pass any law in any way interfe ring with or obstructing the recover of Fugitives from Justice, or from Labor or Service, or any Law of Congress made under Article 4, Section 2, of this Constitution; and all laws in violation of this Section may, on complaint made by any person or State, be declared void by the Supreme Court of the United States.

SECTION 11 — As a right of conity between the several States south of latitude 36 degrees 30′ the right of transit with Persons heId to Involuntary Labor or Service from one State to another shall not be obstructed, but such Persons shall not be brought into the States north of said Latitude.

SECTION 12 — The traffic im Slaves with Africa is hereby forever prohibited on pain of death and the forfeiture of al the rights and property of pe rsons engaged therein; and the descendants of Afri-caras shall not be citizens.

SECTION 13 — Aiieged Fugitives from Labor or Service, on request, shall have a Trial by Jury be-fore being retrimed.

SECTION 14 — All alleged Fugitives charged with exime comnitted in violation of the law of a State shall have 11w right of Trial by Jury, and if such Pe rs on claims to be a citizen of another State, shall have a right of appeal or of a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States.

SECTION 15 — All acts of any inhabitant of the United States tending to incite Persons held to Ser-vice or Labor to Insurrection or acts of Domes tic Violence, or to abscond, are hereby prohibited and declared to be a penal offense; and all the Courts of the United States shall be open to suppress and punish such offenses at the suit of any citizen of the United States or the suit of any “State”.

SECTION 16 — All conspiracies in any State to intelfere with lawful rights in any other State, or against the United Miles, shall be suppressed; and no State, or the people thereof shall withdraw from ibis Union without the consent of three-fourth,s of all the States, expressed by an Atnendment proposed and ratified in the manner provided in Article 5 °filie Constitution.

SECTION 17 — Whenever any State wherein Involuntary Servitude is recognized or allowed shall pro-pose lo abolish such Servitude, and shall apply for Pecuniary assistance therein, the Congress may, in its discretion, grant such relief not exceeding one hundred dollars for each person liberated Bul, Con-gress shall not propose such Abolishment or relief to any State.

Congress may assist Free Persons of African decent to ernigraie and coionize Africa.

SECTION 18 — Duties on Imports may be imposed for Revenue; but shall not be excessive or pro-hibitory in amount.

SECTION 19 — When all of the several States shall have Abolished Slavery, then and thenafter Slavery or Involuntary Servitude, except as a punishment for crin te, shall never be established or tolerated in any o f the States or Territories of the United States, and they Atan be forever Free.

SECTION 20 — The provisions of this Article relating to Involuntary Labor or Servitude shall not be altered without the consent of all the States maintaining such Servitude.

1178 CE Muslims Sail to America

A Chinese source known as the Sung Document records that Muslim sailors journeyed to a land known as Mu-Lan-Pi, which some Muslims identify as the American continent. This document is mentioned in the publication The Khotan Amirs, 1933.

1300s CE African Muslims to the New World

According to some scholars, Abu Bakari, a king of the Muslim state of Mali in West Africa, initiated a series of sea voyages to North America beginning in the early 1300s. About the same time, Mandingo Muslims from Mali and other parts of West Africa are said to have arrived in the Gulf of Mexico and traveled up the Mississippi River to explore the interior of the North American continent.

1530 CE African Slaves Begin to Arrive

During three centuries of slave trade, over 10 million Africans were forcibly brought to the shores of Cuba, Mexico, South and North America. Most were taken from West African peoples known as Fulas, Fula Jallon, Fula Toro, and Massina. Scholars estimate that 10-50 percent of these slaves were Muslim, although most were prevented from practicing their religion.

1539 CE Spanish Explorers and Spanish Refugees

Estevanico of Azamor, a Moroccan Muslim, arrived in Florida with the expedition of Panfilo de Narvaez in 1527. He stayed in America and joined expeditions across the continent to Arizona and New Mexico. By the late 1700s, historical records indicated the presence of Spanish “Moors” living in South Carolina, many of whom were expelled from their homeland by edict of the Spanish Crown.

1807 CE Omar Ibn Said Arrives as a Slave in Charleston

Omar ibn Said was brought to Charleston, South Carolina, as a slave in 1807. He ran away to escape the hard labor, but was caught and imprisoned in North Carolina. Writing in unreadable script and speaking a language no one understood, he was branded a lunatic. Governor John Owen bought him and gave him minimal work, granting him a small house on the Owen estate and treating him more like a friend of the family. Said wrote an autobiography and maintained contact with other Muslims in the area.

1807 CE Freed Muslim Slave Remains in America

Yarrow Mamout, an African Muslim slave, was set free in Washington, D.C. He remained in the United States and became an early shareholder in the Columbia bank, the second chartered bank in the country. Today, portraits of Mamout hang in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Georgetown Public Library in Washington. He is said to have lived to be 128 years old.

1856 CE Muslim Trains Camels for U.S. Army

The United States cavalry hired a Muslim named Hajji Ali (nicknamed “Hi Jolly” in a mispronunciation) to experiment with raising camels in the Arizona desert.

1893 CE American Islamic Propaganda Movement Founded

Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb, one of the first Americans to embrace Islam, founded the American Islamic Propaganda Movement. At the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, he lectured on “The Spirit of Islam” and “The Influence of Islam on Social Conditions.”

1900 CE First Recorded Muslim Prayers Held

Muslims of Arab descent in Ross, North Dakota, gathered in homes for the first recorded communal prayers held by American Muslims.

1908 CE Muslim Immigrants from the Ottoman Empire

Turks, Albanians, Kurds and Arabs from the provinces of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and other areas of the Ottoman Empire began to settle in North America in significant numbers.

1913 CE Moorish Science Temple of America

Timothy Drew (Noble Drew Ali), reportedly commissioned by the sultan of Morocco to teach Islam to African-Americans, established a Moorish Science Temple in Newark, New Jersey. He traveled around the country, encouraging African Americans to explore the Asiatic (Moorish) roots of African culture, to respect all divine prophets, to live virtuously and to work for racial equality.

1915 CE Albanian Muslim Mosque in Maine

Albanian Muslims built a mosque in Biddeford, Maine and established an Islamic association. In 1919, they established another mosque in Waterbury, Connecticut. These were among the first Islamic associations in America.

1920 CE Mosque Built in Ross, North Dakota

The small Muslim community in Ross, North Dakota built a mosque for prayer gatherings. Due to the rapid assimilation of this small community, by 1948 the building was abandoned and later demolished.

1920 CE Red Crescent Society in Detroit

Muslims in Detroit established The Red Crescent Society, a Muslim charity modeled after the International Red Cross.

1921 CE Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam Comes to America

Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq founded a branch of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam in Chicago, Illinois. Preaching racial equality, this missionary movement was most successful in leading many African Americans to this sectarian form of Islam, until the ideology of the Nation of Islam began to exert more influence. Sadiq published a periodical called Moslem Sunrise.

1922 CE Tatars Build Mosque

Polish-speaking Tatar Muslims formed a congregation in 1917. It was led by Sam Rafelowich, son of a Polish imam. In 1922 the community built a mosque in Brooklyn; this mosque is still in use. The Tatars formed an association in New York called the American Mohammedan Society.

1923 CE A Mosque in Highland Park, Michigan

An Arabic-speaking employee of the Ford Motor Company built a mosque in Highland Park, Michigan. The mosque closed a few years later.

1925 CE A Mosque in Michigan City, Indiana

Records indicate the establishment of a mosque in Michigan City, Indiana.

1926 CE Universal Islamic Society in Detroit

Duse Muhammad Ali established an organization called the Universal Islamic Society in Detroit, Michigan. Its motto was “One God, One Aim, One Destiny.”Ali had significant influence on Marcus Garvey and his movement of African unity.

1928 CE Moorish Science Temple of America

The Moorish Science movement of Noble Drew Ali became an incorporated religious organization in Chicago, Illinois. Members convened the first Moorish National Convention to encourage the economic independence of African-American businesses, participation in politics and the development of programs for poor inner-city youth.

1929 CE Noble Drew Ali Dies

Prior to the death of Noble Drew Ali, members of the Moorish Science Temple were involved in small confrontations with the white community as well as an internal leadership dispute. One challenger to the leadership of Noble Drew Ali was killed, and the police arrested and later released Ali. Ali died mysteriously a few weeks later, and members of the community were divided as to whether his successor would be considered a reincarnation of the fallen leader or not. Mainstream leadership passed to C. Kirkman Bey.

1930 CE The First Muslim Mosque in Pittsburgh

African-American Muslims establish the First Muslim Mosque in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1933 CE The Nation of Islam

Wallace Ford (Fard Muhammad), the mystical figure who introduced the philosophy of the Nation of Islam disappeared in 1933 and was succeeded by Elijah Poole (Elijah Muhammad). Under Elijah Muhammad, the movement developed into a strong ethnic organization combatting white racism and converting African-Americans to a lifestyle influenced by Islam. A high percentage of African-American Muslims today were first exposed to Islam through the Nation. The activist Al Hajj Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X) and the boxer Muhammad Ali were two early adherents of this movement who later embraced orthodox Islam.

1934 CE The Mother Mosque of America

The Lebanese community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa opened its first mosque. This community claims its place of worship to be the oldest U.S. mosque, designed and built for Muslim worship, still in use today.

1939 CE The Islamic Mission Society

Sheikh Dawood Ahmed Faisal, a Muslim from the West Indies, founded the Islamic Mission Society in New York and began publication of a magazine, Muslim Sunrise.

1947 CE The Muslim Mosque of Sacramento

The oldest mosque on the West Coast, the Muslim Mosque of Sacramento, was established by Muslims from the Indian subcontinent in the same year that their homeland was partitioned. Many of these immigrant Muslims originally came via ship to the port cities of Vancouver and San Francisco in the early 1900s, and later migrated to the Sacramento Valley in search of farming opportunities. Today, the Muslim Mosque of Sacramento is one of a number of thriving mosques in the city, with a diverse membership.

1948 CE Ahmadiyya National Convention

The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam gathered delegates from its major mission centers in Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh and from smaller communities to elect national secretaries, set up educational and social work programs and organize for the propagation of the faith.

1950 CE Ahmadiyya Headquarters Moves to Washington

Khalil Nasir, national leader of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, moved the headquarters of the organization to the American Fazl Mosque on Leroy Place in NW Washington, DC. In 1994, it relocated to its present headquarters in Masjid Bait ur-Rahman in Silver Spring, Maryland.

1952 CE U.S. Military Recognizes Islam

Muslims in the Armed Services successfully sued to be allowed to identify themselves as “Muslim.” They had previously been denied this right because Islam was not recognized as a legitimate religion by the U.S. Military.

1953 CE The Federation of Islamic Associations

The first national Muslim conference was held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1952, with four hundred Muslims from around North America in attendance. This conferenece laid the groundwork for the Federation of Islamic Associations of the United States and Canada (FIA) which was founded in July of 1953. The federation’s leaders were American-born, educated, professionally successful and military veterans: Abdullah Igram of the Cedar Rapids community served as the first President. The FIA emphasized education and public relations for the Muslim communities and provided a sense of identity and community for American Muslims.

c. 1955 CE State Street Masjid

Sheikh Dawood Ahmed Faisal established the State Street Masjid in New York City to serve the African-American Muslim community. The Dar ul-Islam movement was born from this masjid, and it is still an active Muslim center today.

1957 CE President Eisenhower Dedicates Islamic Center

The Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., was conceived and built by Abraham Joseph Essa Howar, an immigrant from Jerusalem, with significant assistance from the local diplomatic community. Several predominantly Muslim countries contributed to the effort. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the Center, citing the “strong bond of friendship with Islamic nations” the United States has enjoyed and the multitude of Muslim contributions to American society.

1962 CE Muhammad Speaks

The newspaper Muhammad Speaks became the largest minority weekly publication in the country, reaching 800,000 readers at its peak. It began as the voice of the Nation of Islam, but as a part of the transition away from the Nation, the newspaper changed names, first to Bilalian News, later to The A.M. Journal. This publication is now known as The Muslim Journal.

1962 CE Islam is Constitutionally Protected “Religion”

In the case of Fulwood v. Clemmer, concerning religious services for Muslims in prison, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia determined that Islam qualifies for constitutional protection since it meets the court’s definition of religion as “theistic” (involving a belief in a supreme being) and of “ultimate concern” to the believer’s life. In its decision, the court ordered prisons to provide facilities for religious services to Muslims just as to Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish inmates.

1963 CE First Dar ul-Islam Movement

African-American converts to Islam sought to create an alternative Islamic community in New York City where they could live out their ideals and participate in the militant black challenge to the white establishment. This first attempt broke apart after 1965, but was reorganized in 1967.

1963 CE The Islamic Center of America in Detroit, Michigan

The Shi’i community of Dearborn, Michigan, built the first Shi’i mosque in North America, the Islamic Center of America, on Joy Road in Detroit. The shaykh, Imam Mohammad Jawad Chirri, solicited funds from Jamal Abdul Nasser, then president of Egypt and a Sunni Muslim, for the mosque’s construction. Previously, this community had worshipped in Sunni mosques and had maintained a separate identity through social functions.

1963 CE Muslim Students Association

The Muslim Students Association (MSA) was organized to assist foreign Muslim students in American colleges. The MSA now has branches at more than 100 colleges nationwide. As the generations of students graduated and settled in the U.S. the MSA gave birth to the Islamic Medical Association (IMA) and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) in the 1970s, and to the Islamic Society of North America in 1982.

1964 CE The Islamic Center of New England

The immigrant Muslim community that had grown up for two generations around the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, built the first mosque in New England. The Islamic Center of New England continues to be a focal point for Muslim life in the region, providing leadership in a regional association of the dozens of Islamic centers established since.

1965 CE Assassination of Malcolm X

Malcolm X, who had spoken out against the racial teachings of the Nation of Islam and embraced the broader multiethnic teachings of orthodox Islam, was killed as he delivered a speech in Harlem. At the time of his death, he was known as Al Hajj Malik al-Shabazz.

1965 CE Immigration and Nationality Act

This act ended the quota system, enacted in 1924, which had virtually halted immigration from Asia to the United States for over forty years, and placed significant limitations on immigrants from non-European countries. Following 1965, growing numbers of immigrants settled in America; many were Muslim.

1967 CE Indian Muslims Organize

Immigrant Muslims from India organized the Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims in order to make the American public aware of the plight of Muslims in India. The Committee was active within the MSA for several years, before its main functions were assumed by ICNA and relief committees of ISNA.

1967 CE Dar ul-Islam Movement Begins Again

African-American Muslims broke away from the State Street Mosque and established their own center in Brooklyn, under the leadership of Imam Yahya Abdul-Kareem. After a clash with FBI officials who desecrated the mosque, the brotherhood committed itself to building a national Dar ul-Islam federation of Sunni Muslim family communities.

1968 CE Formation of Hanafi Movement

The Hanafi Madhhab Center was founded in New York by Hamas Abdul Khaalis, and later moved to Washington, D.C. At one point, the movement had over 1,000 members. In 1977, Khaalis and some followers seized three buildings in Washington and held hostages for more than a day. Khaalis is now in prison. This violent outbreak marked a crisis in American Muslim history.

1968 CE First North American Jamat Khana

Immigrant Nizari Ismailis established the first Jamat Khana (house of congregation) in the United States.

1970 CE Formation of Ansaru Allah

Isa Muhammad, a former member of the Nation of Islam dissatisfied with the leadership of Elijah Muhammad and with Noble Drew Ali’s Moorish Science Temple, created a new black religious sect called Ansaru Allah (“helpers of God”) in Brooklyn, New York.

c. 1970 CE Dar ul-Islam Begins Expansion

After moving to the new Ya-Sin mosque in Brooklyn, the Dar ul-Islam movement organized ministries of Propagation, Defense, Information, Culture, Education, Health and Welfare, and Protocol. By the mid-1970s, over 31 mosque-based communities were joined by a contract of allegiance; they encouraged the practice of traditional Islam among African Americans in the United States. In the early 1980s, Imam Yahya Abdul-Kareem declared that the Dar ul-Islam would now be part of an international Sufi community under the leadership of Shaykh Mubarik Ali Jilani Hashmi; those who follow Jilani are now Sufis.

1971 CE Islamic Circle of North America

A group of South Asian immigrant Muslims created the Islamic Circle of North America in order to propagate Islam in the United States. ICNA produces educational materials and organizes annual conferences to discuss issues facing the American Muslim community.

1971 CE Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

Sri Lankan Sufi teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen established the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia. His followers, from a variety of religious and non-religious, American and immigrant backgrounds, initially did not identify themselves as a “Muslim” community. The Fellowship has since developed into a thriving community with a stronger Islamic orientation.

1970s CE Muslim Professional Associations

The Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers was formed in 1971, and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in 1972.

1973 CE Shi’ah Mission to Georgia

Yasin al-Jibouri established the Islamic Society of Georgia, which grew primarily through the conversion of African Americans. The Society distributed literature from Iran, East Africa, India and Pakistan which presented Islamic doctrine from a Shi’i perspective.

1975 CE Elijah Muhammad Dies

Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam movement, dies and is succeeded by his son, Warith Deen Mohammed. Warith Deen disbanded the Nation of Islam as an organization and led a majority of its followers toward more universal and orthodox Islam. Imam W. Deen Mohammed is now considered one of the most influential Muslims in the United States.

1977 CE Islamic Coordinating Council of North America

The Muslim World League, an organization established in Makkah in 1962 to foster the cause of Islam around the world, has provided dozens of trained imams for mosques in the United States. The League sponsored the first Islamic Conference of North America in Newark, New Jersey, drawing Muslim representatives from around the United States, who then organized the Islamic Coordinating Council of North America. This Council encourages cooperation and coordination between various communities and national organizations of Muslims.

1977 CE Farrakhan Begins Reorganization of the Nation of Islam

Two years after the death of Elijah Muhammad, Minister Louis Farrakhan officially declared his intention to reestablish the Nation of Islam “on the platform of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.” Farrakhan rejected the reforms of Warith Deen Mohammed, reaffirming the leadership of Elijah Muhammad as Prophet and insisting that continuing white racism still required the strength of an African-American Islam.

1977 CE Chicago Muslims Initiate Educational Publications Project

The Muslim Community Center of Chicago received support from King Abdulaziz University to develop a full educational curriculum in Islamic studies, including graded levels of textbooks, workbooks, activities, teachers manuals and other aids. Kazi Publications distributes these materials to Islamic centers around the country.

1981 CE International Institute of Islamic Thought

This independent research institute was founded to revive and promote Islamic scholarship. The Institute publishes college-level books offering Islamic perspectives on various academic disciplines, conducts seminars, workshops and conventions and raises funds for fellowships in Islamic studies research.

1982 CE International Islamic Society of Virginia

Yasin al-Jibouri, who initiated the Shi’i mission in Georgia, established the International Islamic Society of Virginia. The organization’s goal is to provide with reading materials about Islam.

1982 CE United Muslims of America

Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area formed an organization called United Muslims of America, said to be the first American Muslim organization designed specifically for political action. Chapters later grew in Sacramento and Los Angeles.

1982 CE Islamic Society of North America

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was established in Plainfield, Indiana, by the leaders of Islamic student and professional organizations. ISNA is an umbrella organization for many active Islamic groups, including educational, youth, professional, community and relief organizations.

c. 1985 CE All-American Political Action Committee

The Islamic Society of Greater Houston formed the All-American Political Action Committee (AAMPAC) in order to encourage Muslims to speak out on political issues of concern to them. By 1987, AAMPAC reported 2,000 members in Houston and Dallas.

1986 CE Moorish Americans Celebrate Centennial

Members of the Moorish Science Temple celebrated the centennial of the birth of Noble Drew Ali. On this occasion, the governors of several states issued official proclamations recognizing the spiritual and ethical contributions of the Moorish community and its promotion of good citizenship.

1986 CE Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Dies

When Shaykh Bawa Muhaiyaddeen died, he did not designate a new shaykh for the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship but left two imams in charge of Friday prayers. The Fellowship maintained its organizational structure and conduct. Books and videotaped discourses of the Shaykh are important to the community; classes in the Qur’an and Arabic and the practice of Islamic rituals serve to sustain those who affirm a Muslim identity.

1988 CE Muslim Public Affairs Council

The Islamic Center of Southern California formed the Muslim Political Action Committee, later named the Muslim Public Affairs Council. The Council’s aim is to articulate Muslim perspectives on political issues, to inform legislators about Islam, to speak out against discrimination, and to encourage greater political participation by Muslims in the American system.

1989 CE Georgia Jamat Khana Opens

The Ismaili community opened a major religious and cultural center in Atlanta, Georgia.

1990 CE American Muslim Council

Muslims organized a conference called “Muslims Against Apartheid” for Muslims in the United States to discuss their opposition to apartheid in South Africa. Out of this conference grew the American Muslim Council, based in Washington, D.C., which seeks to raise the political consciousness of the Muslim community and to speak out against instances of discrimination against Muslims.

1990 CE Murder of Rashad Khalifa

Rashad Khalifa, an Egyptian-born scientist who served as imam of Masjid Tucson for eleven years, was murdered in the mosque before morning prayers. Khalifa was a controversial author who used computer analysis of the Qur’an to establish its miraculous character, to determine the date of the end of the world, and to prove he was the messenger of God to the New World. He condemned Muslims who followed the Hadith and Sunnah and practiced what he considered the “worship of Muhammad.” Khalifa’s followers are known as United Submitters International, who publish a journal called Submitters Perspective.

1990 CE Proclamation of the City of Savannah, Georgia

The city council of Savannah, Georgia, issued a proclamation in recognition of Islam and support for the Muslim community, stating, “Al-Islam has been a vital part of the development of the United States of America, and the City of Savannah, Georgia, by promoting obedience to the established laws of the land and by encouraging abstinence from all that is wrong.” It concluded by proclaiming that: “The religion of Al-Islam be given equal acknowledgment and recognition as the other religious bodies of our great city. ”

1991 CE The Islamic Cultural Center of New York

Sponsored by diplomatic delegations from a number of predominantly Muslim countries, the Islamic Cultural Center of New York has become a monumental sign of the Muslim presence in New York City. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, this house of worship “for the 21st century” sits at the corner of Third Ave. and 96th St. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

1991 CE Muslim Prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives

On June 25, 1991 Imam Siraj Wahhaj, spiritual leader of the Masjid al-Taqwa community in Brooklyn, New York, offered the opening prayer in the United States House of Representatives, becoming the first Muslim ever to do so.

1991 CE Islamic Prison Foundation

Several Muslim organizations joined together to form an educational foundation for prisoners. This Foundation provides information about Islam to inmates in the nation’s prisons upon request.

1991 CE Muslim Members of the Military

The Muslim Members of the Military (MMM) held their first “Unity in Uniform” conference to address the absence of Muslim chaplains in the armed services. There are over 5,000 Muslims currently on active duty in the United States military.

1991 CE Muslim Mayor Elected in Texas

Charles Bilal became the first Muslim mayor in the United States when he was elected to govern the town of Kountze, Texas.

1992 CE Muslim Prayer in the U.S. Senate

Imam W. Deen Mohammed, African-American spiritual leader and respected Islamic spokesperson, opened the U.S. Senate with a prayer for guidance on February 6, 1992. This was the first time the invocation at the opening of Senate business was offered by a Muslim.

1992 CE Muslims Offer Invocations in California Legislature

On April 2, 1992, California recognized the significant presence of Muslims in the state by inviting two Muslim imams to lead the opening prayers. Imam Dawud Abdus Salaam delivered the invocation for the Senate and Imam Enrique A. Rasheed did the same for the State Assembly.

1993 CE Muslim Organizations Coordinate Ramadan Observances

The Islamic Shura Council of North America, composed of ISNA, ICNA, the Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, and the community under the leadership of Imam Jamil al-Amin, agreed on procedures for the sighting of the moon which begins and ends the holy month of Ramadan. This was an important step in American Muslim unity, as many ethnic Islamic centers still look to authorities in their home countries for official guidance on such matters.

1995 CE First Jamat Khana Built in the United States

Groundbreaking Ceremonies for the first Jamat Khana built as such in the United States were held in Dallas, Texas. Gary Blanscet, Mayor of Carrolton, was in attendance.

1996 CE Breaking of the Fast on Capitol Hill

On the evening of February 13, 1996, during the month of Ramadan, the daily fast was broken in the Hart Senate Office Building. This observance was followed by prayers. Muslims from around the U.S. were in attendance, as were four members of Congress. Among those in attendance was Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew.

1996 CE First Eid at White House

On February 20, 1996, Hillary Rodham Clinton greeted an American Muslim delegation at the White House on the occasion of the feast of Eid al-Fitr at the end of the month of Ramadan.

2001 CE World Trade Center & Pentagon Attacks

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon in the United States, claiming to act in the name of Islam. The attack, for which the militant organization Al Qaeda, under the leadership of Osama bin Laden, took responsibility, sparked enormous change and challenges for relations between Muslims and non-Muslims within the U.S. and throughout the globe. The events of 9/11 forced all Americans, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to consider Islam in global and local contexts, challenging and questioning what it meant to be Muslim when the faith had been so loudly and violently usurped by a small minority of Muslims whose views are considered by most Muslims to be extreme, and for many, un-Islamic. The 9/11 attacks caused many non-Muslim Americans to be suddenly suspicious of all Muslims, causing reactions that targeted Muslims – from hate crimes that targeted Muslims and mosques, to increased surveillance of Muslim communities by federal authorities. In turn, American Muslims began to actively and collectively reach out to fellow Americans to correct misperceptions about Islam that were instigated by the 9/11 attacks, opening the doors of their mosques and cultural centers to all to show to Americans the peace-loving understanding of Islam to which a vast majority of Muslims worldwide adhere.

2003 CE The Buffalo Six

Six Yemeni-Americans in Buffalo, NY, known as the “Buffalo Six” and “Lackawanna Six,” were convicted of supporting al-Qaeda materially. They were all American citizens who had received training by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001. All six eventually pleaded guilty to “providing material support to a […] terrorist organization” and received prison sentences, the longest of which was for ten years.

2006 CE Keith Ellison becomes first Muslim elected to Congress

In 2006, Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first Muslim elected to Congress. He was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on the Qur’an that was owned by Thomas Jefferson. Ellison was re-elected in 2010.

2008 CE Film: “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”

Millions of copies of this 2005 film, which depicts a perceived threat of radical Islam to the West, were distributed for free prior to 2008 presidential elections, targeting swing states in particular. While the controversial film itself was criticized for construing Islam in a monolithically negative manner, many questioned the political implications of its wide and intentional distribution.

2008 CE America’s First Muslim Liberal Arts College Opens

Zaytuna College opened its doors in Berkley, CA, to encourage deeper engagement between Muslims and scholars of Islam and a traditional liberal arts education. Operating under the motto “Where Islam meets America,” the school follows a precedent already set by Christian and Jewish colleges to foster a multidisciplinary approach to education while simultaneously maintaining a discourse rooted in religious tradition.

2010 CE Opposition to Park51, an Islamic Cultural Center in Lower Manhattan

Plans to construct an Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan caused great controversy and much protest throughout the United States. Dubbed by misinformed media as the “Ground Zero Mosque”, opponents of the center’s construction claimed that the site for the Muslim cultural center and worship space would be too close to Ground Zero, claiming it would be “insensitive” to do so. Despite continued challenges to the project, both internally and externally, plans for the construction of the center, in that location, continued to move forward.

2010 – 2012 CE Murfreesboro Islamic Center Controversy

In 2009, the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, in Tennessee, made plans to construct a larger cultural center due to support the growing Muslim community in the area. Despite initial approval by the town planning commission, vocal and even violent opponents protested, going so far as to claim that Islam was not a religion and that the center could pose a Constitutional threat. After two years of court disputes and vandalism and arsenal attacks on the property, members of the Murfreesboro Islamic Center were finally granted official permission again to occupy their property.

2010 CE Anti-Shariah Legislation Proposed

In 2010, Oklahoma residents voted overwhelmingly for a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to explicitly ban Shariah, or, loosely, “Islamic law”, from state courts. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, took the proposed amendment to court, which resulted in a January 2012 ruling that it was unconstitutional to ban Shariah. Oklahoma is one of two dozen states that have considered anti-Shariah legislation, which some attribute to an Islamophobic movement financed by a group of right-wing conservatives, including through the controversial Center for Security Policy that disseminated a report on the perceived threat of Shariah.

2010 – 2011 CE Qur’an “Put on Trial” in Florida

Pastor Terry Jones of the Christian Dove World Outreach Center based in Gainsville, FL, announced his plan to burn two hundred copies of the Qur’an on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, garnering much media attention and causing international outrage that caused massive and fatal protests throughout the world. While he called off his plan to burn the Muslim holy book on September 11th of that year, due to national security concerns that his threat caused, he “put the Qur’an on trial” in 2011, claiming to find the scripture guilty of “crimes against humanity” and subsequently burning it in his church. Jones’ behavior has been widely perceived as hateful and bigoted and has been condemned by American and global leaders, including President Obama.

2011 CE American Muslim Congressional Hearings

As Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee for the House of Representatives, Peter King called for and held Congressional hearings that questioned the extent to which American Muslims were cooperating in efforts to eradicate homegrown terrorism. Opposition to the hearings, which came from fellow congressmen as well groups like the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Amnesty International, and the Sikh Coalition, claimed that such targeted generalization of Muslims was divisive and wrong.

2011 CE “All-American Muslim” on TLC

This television series depicting daily lives of American Muslims in Dearborn, MI, broadcast for one season on The Learning Channel (TLC), emphasizing on mainstream television the common routines shared by Muslim and non-Muslim Americans alike.

2012 CE Film: “The Innocence of Muslims”

A provocative and anti-Muslim film trailer, which denigrates the Prophet Muhammad, was launched on YouTube with Arabic dubbing, sparking anti-American protests around the world. The film prompted debate about Internet censorship and freedom of expression domestically and globally.

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What does it mean for a religion to be woven into American history?

The presence of Muslims in the early United States is well known to scholars — historians have put their population in the tens of thousands — yet when President Obama noted last month that “Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding,” he was greeted with incredulous outrage.

There was controversial Christian historian David Barton scoffing that Islam’s influence could be seen mainly in the role followers of Muhammad played in the slave trade and the Barbary Wars, while South Carolina Congressman Jeff Duncan wondered if the president’s “Jakarta elementary education” might be responsible for his view of the past.

An editor of a Catholic newspaper put doubts about the president’s historical literacy plainly when he asked, “Is he high?”

But it’s not up for argument that this majority Christian nation has a spiritual history much more diverse than usually supposed.

As Obama’s critics have noted, there were, of course, no Muslims among the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both owned copies of the Quran, but they may have been as unaware of Muslims living in the young United States as David Barton and Jeff Duncan are today.

Muslims’ presence here is affirmed in documents dated more than a century before religious liberty became the law of the land, as in a Virginia statute of 1682 which referred to “negroes, moores, molatoes, and others, born of and in heathenish, idollatrous, pagan, and Mahometan parentage and country” who “heretofore and hereafter may be purchased, procured, or otherwise obteigned, as slaves.”

The number of Muslims brought to this predominantly Christian land would have equalled the populations of many religious groups in 18h century America. In fact, men and women with connections to Islam in the newly independent United States would have rivaled the memberships of Methodist or Roman Catholic churches, and far exceeded the number of Jews.

No one would challenge the notion that these other faiths “have been woven into the fabric of our country,” so why has the presence of Muslims in early America been forgotten? In part because the role of religion in the origins of slavery has been replaced in popular memory with later distinctions made according to race.

Some of the original slavery laws actually were more concerned with the content of forced laborers’ beliefs than with the color of their skin. From the perspective of Europeans of the time, the reason for this was clear: Belief could spread in a way that color could not.

Even in 1685, a Spanish law stated, “The introduction of Mohammedan slaves into America is forbidden on account of the danger which lies in their intercourse with the Indians.” Religious difference was regarded as highly contagious, and thus dangerous.

In the English colonies of North America to which we more often trace our nation’s history, slave owners originally assumed Christians should not be slaves. Christian servants might work for a predetermined period under slave-like indenture, but the duration of their servitude was limited by definition. Non­-Christians, on the other hand, could be trapped in bondage for life.

This arrangement soon proved untenable, however. If slavery was defined in relation to belief, conversion would become a potential path to freedom. Only after a Virginia law of 1667 guaranteed that baptism would not “alter the condition of the person as to his bondage or freedom,” did English settlers declare that all enslaved men and women “brought or imported into this country, either by sea or land, whether Negroes, Moors, Mollattoes or Indians… shall be converted to the Christian faith.”

The motivation for this was as much a matter of control as a genuine desire to spread the gospel. Praising the “beneficial effects of religious instruction” on the enslaved, one slaveholder later wrote, “those who have grown up under such instruction are more honest, truthful, moral… and devoted to their owners’ interests than those who have not enjoyed the same advantages.”

Given this history, it’s no surprise that the place of Islam in the nation’s past should make so many so uncomfortable. It was actively eradicated and replaced by the religious tradition with which the majority of Americans identify today.

Muslims were indeed here from the beginning, but the beliefs and practices they brought with them only rarely endured. Their experiences serve as a reminder that every faith woven into the fabric of our country has been made up of strands both light and dark.

Image: Portrait of the enslaved Muslim Yarrow Mamout by Charles Willson Peale (1819), via Wikimedia.

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When Thomas Jefferson crafted the Declaration of Independence, he pointed to “certain unalienable rights” with which we were endowed by our “Creator.”

What did he mean when he wrote the phrase “unalienable rights,” and what rights are “unalienable”?

Jefferson understood “unalienable rights” as fixed rights given to us by our Creator rather than by government. The emphasis on our Creator is crucial, because it shows that the rights are permanent just as the Creator is permanent.

Jefferson’s thought on the source of these rights was impacted by Oxford’s William Blackstone, who described “unalienable rights” as “absolute” rights–showing that they were absolute because they came from him who is absolute, and that they were, are, and always will be, because the Giver of those rights–Jefferson’s “Creator”–was, and is, and always be.

Moreover, because we are “endowed” with them, the rights are inseparable from us: they are part of our humanity.

In a word, the government did not give them and therefore cannot take them away, but the government still strains at ways to suppress them.

To protect fundamental, individual rights, James Madison helped include the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. The intent was to remove them from government’s reach.

The “unalienable rights” explicitly protected by the Bill of Rights include, but are not limited to, the rights of free speech and religion, the right to keep and bear arms, self-determination with regard to one’s own property, the right to be secure in one’s own property, the right to a trial by a jury of one’s peers, protection from cruel and unusual punishment, and so forth.

Among the “unalienable rights” implicitly protected in the Bill of Rights are freedom of conscience–how can one have freedom of speech or religion without freedom of conscience?–and the right to self-defense. As Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority decision for McDonald v. Chicago (2010): “Self-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day, and in [District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)], we held that individual self-defense is a central component of the Second Amendment right.”

“Unalienable rights” are ours to keep, by virtue of our Creator. So said Thomas Jefferson through the Declaration of Independence, and he was seconded by James Madison through the Bill of Rights.

A “central component” of our “unalienable rights” is the right to keep and bear arms.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.

The definition of the word post originally meant “any of a number of riders or runners posted at intervals to carry mail or messages in relays along a route; postrider or courier” (Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, 1988, page 1054). People, thousands of years ago, didn’t write letters to one another like we do nowadays. They didn’t even have paper, everything was done on clay tablets and papyrus (but that was a very expensive thing to engage in). And therefore, the posts were really set up for governmental purposes, between different rulers in their own country as well as neighboring countries. The government set it up originally.

But there was another entity, known as the general post-office, which was not for commercial purposes and it was strictly for fellowship between the brothers, and they did it amongst themselves. Paul’s letters were not delivered by Caesar’s men, but by brothers in Christ, and that is the general post-office. And throughout history, there’s always been the general post-office and the governmental post office; and they’re different. One’s done strictly for fellowship, the other’s done for commercial purposes.

The current postal system, which is known as the United States Postal Service, is commercial, but it still retains the non-commercial aspect. It’s based on the original general post-office, It does not exist without tracing its root to the original general post-office. And as with everything, the created cannot do away with the creator. Therefore, that original creation by the brothers fellowshipping amongst each other is still in existence, they’ve never done away with it. In all their statutes, every time they come up with a new statutory entity, they never do away with the general post-office, therefore it is still there.

The general-post-office is not mentioned in the Domestic Mail Manual because the Domestic Mail Manual denotes commerce. If you’ve got a problem, that’s what the postal service employees and managers will refer to, but that’s because everyone’s presumed to be in commerce. But it’s only a presumption, and that’s where you have to come in and rebut that presumption. You rebut it by not engaging in commercial activity and not receiving your mail at an address, etc. Most people don’t realize that when you receive mail at an address, or even at a P.O. Box, you’re receiving a free benefit from Caesar. The postage you put on the envelope only covers the cost to deliver it from post office to post office, it does not cover any delivery beyond the post office (and the price for a P.O. Box covers the cost to rent the box itself, not for the cost of delivery). That’s called free delivery, which was instituted during the Civil War, on July 1st, 1863. It was basically an act of war by Abraham Lincoln. Even though they did have free mail delivery service prior to that, it was strictly for commercial businesses. But then, in 1863, they spread it to everyone. Up to that time, nobody had an address on their house. The numbers were brought in on the houses strictly so the postman would know where to deliver the mail. Before 1863, people would collect their mail by going to the local post office and asking for it.

The U.S.Postal Service was established in 1971. This was preceded by the Post Office Department, which was established in 1872. And before the Post Office Department, the general post-office preceded that. In the early 1800’s, they started referring to the general post office as the Post Office Department. However, it did not officially become the Post Office Department until 1872. Previous to that it was known as the general post-office.

There was actually two different general post-offices. The Post Master General today wears about seven hats; there are about seven different entities to the postal system. He wears the original hat as a caretaker of the original general post-office. He’s also the caretaker of the general post-office that was created on February 20, 1792, which was for governmental business. And then in 1872 they created the Post Office Department.

In 1639, the original foundation for the post office was given in Massachusetts to Richard Fairbanks, the owner of Fairbanks Tavern in Boston. He was the first Postal officer in the history of the United States.

The General Court of Massachusetts
November 5, 1639:
“For preventing the miscarriage of letters, it is ordered, that notice be given that Richard Fairbanks’s house in Boston is the place appointed for all letters which are brought from beyond the seas, or are to be sent thither,’to be brought unto; and he is to take care that they be delivered or sent according to their directions; and he is allowed for every such letter one penny, and must answer all miscarriages through his own neglect in this kind; provided that no man shall be compelled to bring his letters thither, except he please.”

Following the adoption of the Constitution in May 1789, the Act of September 22, 1789 (1 Stat. 70), temporarily established a post office:

NINETEENTH ACT of CONGRESS
An ACT for the temporary establishment of the POST OFFICE. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed a Post-Master General; his powers and salary and the compensation to the assistant or clerk and deputies which he may appoint, and the regulations of the Post-Office shall be the same as they last were under the resolutions and ordinances of the late Congress. The Post-Master General to be subject to the direction of the President of the United States in performing the duties of his office, and in forming contracts for the transportation of the mail. Be it further enacted, That this act shall continue in force until the end of the next session of Congress, and no longer. Approved, September 22nd, 1789.

The post office was temporarily continued by the Act of August 4, 1790 (1 Stat. 178), and the Act of March 3, 1791 (1 Stat. 218). The Act of February 20, 1792 made detailed provisions for the post office, and also established a separate general post office for governmental purposes:

Chapter VIII – An Act to establish the Post Office and Post Roads within the United States.
Section 3. And it be further enacted, That there shall be established, at the seat of the government of the United States, a general post-office.

Note that this one page statutory creation by Congress established that general post-office for governmental business at the seat of the government of the United States in Washington D.C. The general post-office, which already existed, was never designated as being repealed in this Act. Therefore, it still remains in existence, separate from the governmental business’ set up by this Act. There’s nothing in that whole act which repeals the original general post-office. There’s nothing in the act of 1872, when they created the Post Office Department, which did away with the original general post-office. So it’s still there. There’s nothing in the act of July 1, 1971, which created the Postal Service. The creation cannot do away with the creator, they cannot abolish the creator. Otherwise it has no foundation. And that’s why the current Postmaster General wears about seven hats, because he has all of those different things that were created all the way through there.

In the early 1800’s, the general post-office began to be referred to as “the Post-office department,” but was not officially created until June 8, 1872:

Chapter CCCXXXV. – An Act to revise, consolidate, and amend the Statutes relating to the Post-office Department. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established, at the seat of government of the United States of America, a department to be known as the Post-office Department.

And again, the general post-office was not repealed in this statute. It is for this cause that the re-organized service and its employees have no authority over the general post-office – it precedes their creation and has its Source and Origin in God through His Lawful assembly. The Post Office Department of the Confederate States of America was established on February 21, 1861, by an Act of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. The resumption of the federal mail service in the southern states took place gradually as the war came to an end.

Then the Post Office Department was replaced by the United States Postal Service on July 1, 1971. Title 39, the Postal Reorganization Act, details this change as well.

Scripture Passages

The general post office has its beginnings in scripture.

Jeremiah 51:31, “One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end…”

A “post” is another name for a courier:

2 Chronicles 30:6, “So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah,”

Esther 3:13, “And the letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces…”

Scripture records messages being sent “by the hands of messengers” (1 Samuel 11:7) from as far back as the book of Job, which is the oldest book in the bible:

Job 1:14, “And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, the oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:”

These messages were delivered using the current means of movement at the time:

Esther 8:10,14, “And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out…”

And sending messages refreshes the soul:

Proverbs 25:13, KJV, “As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.”

Proverbs 25:13, Septuagint, “As a fall of snow in the time of harvest is good against heat, so a faithful messenger refreshes those that sent him: for he helps the souls of his masters.”

In times passed, people sent messages to others by posting their letters on a “post” in the middle of town, with the name of the one who it’s intended for. People would go to this “post” and look for letters with their name on it, and if they saw their name on a letter they would take it down from the post and read it. However, due to theft of messages, an office was built around the post to prevent people from stealing messages. This office became known as the general post-office. People would then go to the general post-office to pick up their messages.

<Today, the stamp on an envelope pays for delivery of that envelope from the sender’s post-office to the receiver’s post-office. It does not pay for the costs when that envelope leaves the area behind the clerk’s desk and gets delivered to the receiver’s address, mailbox, post office box, mail slot, etc. This is a “free” service. The alternative to free mail delivery is to receive all Postal Matter either in general delivery, or through the general post office./p>

SOURCE: Cato Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Winter 2012). Copyright © Cato Institute. All rights reserved.
Margaret D. Stock (Margaret Stock is an attorney with the firm of Lane Powell LLC in Anchorage, Alaska, and a Member of the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration.)
The Declaration of Independence famously asserted that “all men are created equal,” but this assertion did not become an American constitutional reality until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause—intended to overturn the infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott (1857) case—states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” Traditionally, the clause has been interpreted to confer U.S. citizenship on anyone born within the United States whose parents are subject to U.S. civil and criminal laws—which has historically meant that only babies born in the United States to diplomats, invading armies, or within certain sovereign Native American tribes have been excluded from birthright American citizenship. Alarmed by the thought that unauthorized immigrants, wealthy tourists, and temporary workers are giving birth to thousands of U.S. citizens, some want to change the long-standing rule by reinterpreting or amending the Citizenship Clause. But will this proposed change be good for America? Will it benefit America to reduce substantially the number of birthright U.S. citizens—and put in place more complex rules that would provide that U.S.-born babies are not created equal?

Cato Journal

A Brief History of the U.S. Birthright Citizenship Rule

At the time of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1790, the new United States recognized three different paths to American citizenship:
First, a person could be born a foreigner and later apply to become a U.S. citizen through the naturalization process; this pathway fell under Congresss power to create a uniform rule of naturalization, as stated in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Second, following the international law rule, a person might inherit citizenship from his or her citizen parents; this pathway termed the jus sanguinis or the citizenship by blood or descent rule was thought to be within the naturalization power of Congress as well, and was first permitted when Congress passed the Naturalization Act of 1790, which accorded natural born citizen status to the foreign-born children of certain U.S. citizens1.
Third, the United States also adopted the British common-law rule of jus soli (law of the soil) for persons born within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States whose parents were subject to U.S. civil and criminal laws.
The Naturalization Act of 1790 (March 26, 1790) stated: And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States.
In 1857, however, in the case of Sandford v. Scott (commonly termed the Dred Scott case), the U.S. Supreme Court determined that these three pathways to U.S. citizenship were not open to persons of African descent. Moreover, said the Court, these pathways could never be open to Africans or their descendants as a matter of constitutional law, the Court said, the original political community in America had never consented to the inclusion of Africans as full members of that community 2 and so Africans and their descendants were forever barred from U.S. citizenship. In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court held that mere birth on U.S. soil was not enough to confer U.S. citizenship; one also had to show that the political community had consented to ones presence.
After the Civil War, the Dred Scott decision was explicitly reversed, first through passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and then as a matter of constitutional law by the Fourteenth Amendments Citizenship Clause. The wording of the two enactments differed; the Civil Rights Act granted U.S. citizenship to persons born in the United States who were not subject to any foreign power; in contrast, the Fourteenth Amendments Citizenship Clause granted citizenship to the broader class of those subject to the jurisdiction.
During debates over passage of both measures, however, there was vigorous discussion over the coverage of the Citizenship Clause and the fact that it applied to the children of foreigners, even if those foreigners were in the United States in violation of various laws.
The U.S. Supreme Court was wrong on this point several States had recognized persons of African descent as citizens. Abraham Lincoln ([1857] 1953: 4037) famously criticized Chief Justice Taneys underlying assumptions: Chief Justice Taney, in delivering the opinion of the majority of the Court, insists at great length that Negroes were no part of the people who made, or for whom was made, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution of the United States. [In several of the original States], free Negroes were voters, and, in proportion to their numbers, had the same part in making the Constitution that the white people had.
Although the issue was not mentioned in the debates, many African slaves whose U.S.-born children benefitted from the Fourteenth Amendments Citizenship Clause were in the United States in violation of law; they had been smuggled or trafficked into the United States by slave traders after the importation of slaves into the U.S. was outlawed by Congress in 1808. And although immigration enforcement was not a priority of the federal government in the first half of the nineteenth century, there were other immigrants who were in the U.S. in violation of various immigration laws, including Irish citizens who had shipped into Canada and then surreptitiously crossed the border so as to avoid paying entry taxes at U.S. ports.
The Citizenship Clause would expand the number of Chinese and Gypsies in America by granting birthright citizenship to their children, although the parents owed no “allegiance” to the United States and were committing “trespass” by being in the United States. Arguing against him, supporters of the Citizenship Clause defended the right of these children to be U.S. citizens at birth. Both sides in the debate agreed that the Clause would extend U.S. birthright citizenship to the children born in the United States to foreigners who were subject to U.S. civil and criminal laws—excluding only the children of foreign diplomats, invading armies, and sovereign Native American tribes (Ho 2006).
Following ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court consistently followed this interpretation of the Citizenship Clause (there was a passing comment in the Slaughterhouse cases [1873] that has caused some to argue otherwise, but Slaughterhouse was not a birthright citizenship or immigration case). As conflicts over Asian immigration arose in the western United States in the late 1800s, however, some government officials began to deny the rights of U.S. citizenship to U.S.-born children of Chinese descent. Thus, in 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court had occasion—in the Wong Kim Ark decision—to confirm unequivocally that birthright citizenship belonged to any child born within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, as long as the child—at the time of his or her birth on U.S. soil—was subject to U.S. civil and criminal laws. The Court held that an American-born child of Chinese immigrants was entitled to citizenship because the “Fourteenth Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory . . . including all children here born of resident aliens” (Wong Kim Ark 1898). The net result, then, was that following passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, and excepting certain Native Americans, the U.S. government recognized all non-diplomatic persons born within the territorial jurisdiction to be U.S. citizens, regardless of their parentage. The U.S. Department of State began issuing U.S. passports to all such children—unless their parents were diplomats who held immunity from U.S. civil and criminal laws. Congress also passed a number of statutes recognizing the extension of birthright citizenship to persons born within newly acquired U.S. territories, including Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More recently, in Plyler v. Doe (1982), the U.S. Supreme Court stated that the Fourteenth Amendment extends to anyone “who is subject to the laws of a state,” including the U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants. Similarly, in Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Rios-Pineda (1985), the Court stated that a child born on U.S. soil to an unauthorized immigrant parent is a U.S. citizen from birth.
In the mid-1980s, however, as immigration laws tightened and unauthorized immigration to the United States increased to record levels, Yale scholars Peter Schuck and Rogers Smith (1985) published Citizenship without Consent, a book in which they argued that America should move away from its historic birthright citizenship rule. Schuck and Smith said that a rule of “citizenship by consent”— the opposite of a rule that confers citizenship automatically on children born within American territory—was a more appropriate rule for the modern American polity. Although they acknowledged that the American birthright citizenship rule was familiar, easy to apply, and more inclusive than a consensual rule, they argued that it was “anomalous as a key constitutive element of a liberal political system” because an individual’s citizenship was determined by the location of his or her birth, and not by the consent of the individual and the society in which he or she sought citizenship (Schuck and Smith 1985: 90). They further argued that the Fourteenth Amendment phrase “subject to the jurisdiction” could be reinterpreted by congressional statute or by the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt the consent theory and thereby exclude the children of unauthorized immigrants from U.S. citizenship. The arguments raised by Schuck and Smith were later seized upon by others, and have today become a centerpiece in current immigration debates. Most recently, Republican presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Herman Cain attempted to distinguish themselves from other candidates for their party’s presidential nomination by expressing support for a change in the birthright citizenship rule. They are not alone in their assessment that proposals to change the Citizenship Clause are worthy of support. Such arguments have now become commonplace in some conservative circles.

Proposed Changes to the Rule

Proponents of a change to the Citizenship Clause argue that America will benefit by abandoning its long-standing birthright citizenship rule because a rule allowing citizenship only through one’s parents or by naturalization will make U.S. citizenship more valuable, deter unauthorized migration, bring the United States into line with the most common international law rule, and reduce chain migration (which they view unfavorably). They also see a change to the Citizenship Clause as a way to punish unauthorized immigrants or certain U.S.-born children of whom they do not approve. Thus, for example, legal scholar John Eastman (2008) argued in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that a change in the Court’s interpretation of the Citizenship Clause could retroactively take away the U.S. citizenship of Yaser Hamdi, a U.S.-born citizen who was captured fighting against American forces on the battlefield in Afghanistan. He argued that the Court could punish Hamdi by reinterpreting the Citizenship Clause to take away Hamdi’s birthright citizenship, because Hamdi was born in the United States to parents who held temporary work visas at the time of his birth (Eastman 2008: 957–58). Eastman’s proposed new interpretation, however, would have taken away not only the U.S. citizenship of Yaser Hamdi, but also the citizenship of millions of other Americans born under similar circumstances (including some of the U.S. military personnel who captured Hamdi). Unsurprisingly, the U.S. Supreme Court ignored Eastman’s invitation.
In the Hamdi case, Eastman urged a new U.S. Supreme Court interpretation as a means of changing the birthright citizenship rule, but others have argued for a different approach. Some have proposed congressional legislation, others have suggested a constitutional amendment, and some have introduced state legislation to bring back the concept of “state citizenship” so as to create a twotier system that would distinguish between babies born in the United States with citizenship and babies born in the United States who do not hold U.S. citizenship.
In line with the first approach, some have argued that changing the Citizenship Clause requires no constitutional amendment because Congress can change the Fourteenth Amendment’s meaning by passing a statute that “clarifies” that “subject to the jurisdiction” means “subject to the complete or full jurisdiction.” Such a reinterpretation would work to deprive babies of U.S. citizenship if their parents do not hold certain specified lawful immigration statuses, on the theory that those parents are not subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States because they hold allegiance to a foreign country. In line with this view, Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) and Senator David Vitter (R-La.) have introduced “The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011,” to restrict citizenship under the Citizenship Clause to a child at least one of whose parents is a citizen, lawful permanent resident, or on active duty in the armed forces. It is unclear what effect, if any, the courts would give such a statutory re-interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, but if enacted, the law would immediately throw into confusion the citizenship of thousands of babies.
Other politicians agree that “subject to the jurisdiction” can’t be reinterpreted by statute, so their solution is a constitutional amendment. Along this line, Senators Vitter and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that would change the right of citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. Like the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011, the proposed Vitter-Paul constitutional amendment would not allow birthright citizenship for those born in the United States unless at least one parent is a citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or an immigrant in active military service.
A different approach is being taken by State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), a coalition of immigration restrictionist legislators from 40 states who have proposed state legislation that would resurrect the notion of state citizenship and restrict it along the lines of the King bill described above. SLLI has proposed an interstate compact strategy under which states would agree to “make a distinction in the birth certificates” of native-born persons so that Fourteenth Amendment citizenship will be denied to children born to parents who owe allegiance to any foreign sovereignty. The interstate compact would be subject to the consent of Congress under Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution. The effect of this approach would be to seek a change in the meaning of the Citizenship Clause without having to secure the approval of the president or a veto override.
The net result of all these different proposals—if they succeed—would be to create different classes of American-born babies by requiring different types of birth certificates to be issued to different groups, or by making it difficult or impossible for some to obtain proof of U.S. citizenship by birth. But would this permanent twotiered caste system be a good thing? What would be the practical impact? Would the creation of a two-tier system of birth certificates solve our nation’s pressing immigration problems, or otherwise have a salutary effect?
Peace and Love Divine!
Sahu Maak Heru Bey, D.M.
Department of Media and Freedom
“The probability of being an idiot is directly proportional to ignorance and no common sense.”

The Christian Black Codes of 1724, were initiated during reconstruction after the Civil war to control blacks after they were emancipated. Passed by Southern States, instead of giving blacks the same rights as white people, the codes limited the blacks freedom severely. They included that blacks had to be in service of a white person, that they could not have congregations together, that they could not speak out, and that they could not have weapons. They also included that blacks could not go out without a white ‘supervisor’, thus blacks had to take on the religions and holidays and gods of their white superiors. These same black codes were said to have been made null and void with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865, although many southern states adopted “Black Codes” to keep former slaves from voting and imposed other restrictions. The 14th and 15th Amendments were supposedly to have eliminated these codes, but as you read them down below, and study the law of the land in conjunction with Religion and Politics, you’ll discover these codes have been modernized in a disguise, and many are still in effect. The “Christian” BLACK Codes of 1724
Article 1 Decrees the expulsion of the Jews from the colony.
Article 2 Make it imperative on masters to impart religious instruction to their slaves.
Article 3 Permits the exercise of the Roman Catholics creed only, Every other mode of worship is prohibited.
Article 4 Negroes placed under the direction or supervision of any other person than a Catholic, are liable to confiscation.
Article 5 SUNDAYS and HOLY-DAYS (HOLIDAYS) are to be strictly observed. All Negroes found at work on these days “are to be confiscated”.
Article 6 We forbid our “White” Subjects (of both sexes) to marry with “The BLACKS” under penalty of being fined and subjected to some other arbitrary punishment. We forbid all curates, priests, or missionaries of our secular or regular clergy, and even our chaplains in our Navy, to section (sanction) such marriages. We also forbid all of our “White” Subjects (and even the manumitted or free-born “Blacks”) to live in a state of concubinage with slaves. Should there be any issue from this kind of intercourse, it is our will that the person so offending, and the master of the Slave should pay each a fine of three hundred livres. Should said issue be the result of concubinage of the master his slave, said master shall not only pay the fine, but be deprived of the slave and of the children, who shall be adjudged to the hospital of the locality, and said slave shall be forever incapable of being set free. But shall this illicit intercourse have existed between a free Black and his slave, when said slave according to the forms described by the church, said slave shall become free and legitimate; and in such case there shall be no application of the penalties mentioned in the present article.
Article 7 The ceremonies and forms prescribed by the ordinance of blois and by the edict of 1691, for marriage, shall be observed both with regard to free persons and slaves. But the consent of the father and mother of the slave is not necessary; that of the master shall be the only one required.
Article 8 We forbid all curates to process to effect marriages between slaves without the proof of the consent of their master; and we also forbid all masters to force their slaves into marriages against their wills.
Article 9 Children, issued from the marriage of slaves shall follow the condition of their parents, and shall belong to the master of the wife and not of the husband, if the husband and the wife have different masters.
Article 10 If the husband be a slave, and the wife a free woman, it is our will that their children, of whatever sex they be, shall share the condition of their mother, and be as free as she, notwithstanding the servitude of their father; and if the father be free and the mother a slave, then the children shall be slaves.
Article 11 Masters shall have their “CHRISTIAN Slaves” buried in consecrated ground.
Article 12 We forbid slaves to carry offensive weapons or heavy sticks under the penalty of being whipped, and of having said weapons confiscated for the benefit of the person seizing the same. An exception is made in favor of those slaves who are hunting or are shooting for their masters, and who carry with them a written permission to that effect, or are bring designated by some known mark or badge.
Article 13 We forbid slaves belonging to different masters to gather in crowds either by day or by night, under the pretext of a wedding, or for any other cause, either at the dwelling or on the grounds of one of their masters or elsewhere, and less on the highways or in secluded places, under the penalty of corporal punishment, which shall not be less than the whip. In case of frequent offenses of the kind, the offenders shall be branded with the mark of the Flower de Luce, and should there be aggravating circumstances, capital punishment may be applied, at the discretions of the judges. We command all of our subject, be they officials or not, to seize offenders, to arrest and conduct them to prison, although there should be not judgment against them.
Article 14 Masters who shall be convicted of having permitted or tolerated such gatherings as aforesaid, composed of other slaves than their own, shall be sentenced individually, to indemnify their neighbors for the damages occasioned by said gatherings, and to pay, for the first time, a fine of thirty livres, and double that sum on the repetitions of the offense.
Article 15 We forbid Negroes to sell any commodities, provisions, or produce of any kind, without the written permission of their masters, or without wearing their known marks or badges, and any persons purchasing any thing from Negroes in violation of this article, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of 1500 livres.
Articles 16, 17, 18, and 19 Provide at length for the clothing of slaves and for their subsistence.
Article 20 Slaves (who shall not be properly fed, clad, and provided for by their masters) may give information thereof to the Attorney-General of the Superior Council, or to all the officers of an inferior jurisdiction, and may put the written exposition of their wrongs into the hands; upon which information, and even ex-officio, shall the information come from another quarter, the Attorney-General shall prosecute said masters without charging any cost to the complainant. It is our will that this regulation be observed in all accusations for crimes or barbarous and inhumane treatment brought by slaves against their masters.
Article 21 Slaves who are disabled from working, either by old age, disease or otherwise, be the diseases incurable or nor, shall be fed and provided for by their masters; and in case they should have been abandoned by said masters, said slave shall be adjudged to the nearest hospital, to which said master shall be obliged to pay eight (8) cents a day for the food, and maintenance of each one of these slaves; and for the payment of this sum, said hospital shall have a lien on the plantation masters.
Article 22 We declare that slaves have no right to any kind of property but that all that they acquire either by their own industry, or by the ability of others, or by any other means or title whatever shall be the full property of their masters; and the children of said slaves, their fathers, mothers, their kindred or other relation either free or slave shall have no pretensions or claim thereto, either through testamentary nor positions or donations inter vivace; which dispositions and donations we declare null and void, and also whatever promise they may have interred into by persons incapable of disposing of anything and or participating to any contract.
Article 23 Masters shall be responsible for what their slaves have done by their command, and also for what transactions they have permitted their slaves to do in their shops, in the particular line of commerce with whom they were entrusted; and in case said slaves should have acted without order or authorization of their masters, said masters shall be responsible only for so much as has turned to their profit; and if said masters have not profited by the dining or transaction of their slaves, the per curium which the masters have permitted the slave to own, shall be subjected to all claims against said slaves, after deduction made by the masters of what may be due to them; and if said per curium should consist in whole or in part of merchandises in which the slaves had permission to traffic, the masters shall only come in for their share in common with the other creditors.
Article 24 Slaves shall be incapable of all public functions, and of being constituted agents for any other person than their own masters, with powers to manage or conduct any kind of trade; nor can they serve as arbitrators or experts; nor shall they be called to give their testimony either in civil or in criminal cases, except when it shall be a matter of necessity, and only in default of “White” People; but in no case shall they be permitted to serve as witness either for or against their masters..
Article 25 Slaves shall never be parties to civil suits, either as plaintiffs or defendants, nor shall they be allowed to appear as complainants in criminal cases, but their masters shall have the right to act for them in civil matters, and in criminal ones, to demand punishment and reparation for such outrages and excesses as their slaves may have suffered from.
Article 26 Slaves may be prosecuted criminally, without their masters being made parties to the trial, except they should be indicted as accomplices; and said slaves shall be tried, at first, by the judges of ordinary jurisdiction, if there be any, and on appeal, by the Superior Council, with the same rules, formalities, and proceedings observed for free persons, save the exceptions mentioned hereafter.
Articles 27 to 32 were not immediately available
Article 33 Slaves who shall have made themselves liable to the penalty of the whip, the flower de luce brand, and ear cutting, shall be tried in the last resort, by the ordinary judges of the inferior court, and shall undergo the sentenced passed upon them without there being an appeal to the Superior Council, in confirmation or reversal of judgment, notwithstanding the article 26th of the present code, which shall be applicable only to those judgments in which the slave is sentenced to be hamstrung or to suffer death.
Article 34 Freed or born-free negros, who shall have afforded refuge in their houses to fugitive slaves, shall be sentenced to pay to the masters of said slaves, the sum of thirty (30) livres a day for every day during which they shall have concealed said fugitives; and all other free persons, guilty of the same offense, shall pay a fine of ten livres a day as aforesaid; and should the freed or freed-born Negroes not be able to pay the fines herein specified, they shall be reduced to the condition of slaves, and be sold as such. Should the price of the sale exceed the sum mentioned in the judgment, the surplus shall be delivered to the hospital.
Article 35 We permit our subjects in this colony, who may have slaves concealed in any place whatever, to have them sought after by such persons and in such way as they deem proper, so to proceed themselves to such researches as they may think best.
Article 36 The slave who is sentenced to suffer death on the denunciation of his master, shall, when that master is not an accomplice to the crime, be appraised before his execution by two of the principal inhabitants of the locality, who shall be especially appointed by the judge, and the amount of said appraisement shall be paid to the master. To raise this sum, and shall be collected by the persons invested with what authority.
Article 37 We forbid all the officers of the Superior Council, and all our other officers of the justice in the colony to take any fees or receive any prerequisites in criminal suits against slaves, under the penalty, in so doing of, being dealt with as guilty of extortion.
Article 38 We also forbid all of our subjects in this colony, whatever their condition or rank may be, to apply, on their own private authority, the rack to their slaves, under any pretenses whatever, and to mutilate said slaves in any one of their limbs, or in any part of their bodies, under the penalty of confiscation of said slave; and masters, so offending, shall be liable to a criminal it, to put their slaves in irons and to have them whipped with rods or ropes.
Article 39 We command our officers of justices in this colony to institute criminal process against masters and overseers who shall killed or mutilated their slaves, when in their power and under their supervision, and to punish said murder according to the atrocity of the circumstances; and in case the offenses shall be a pardonable one, we permit them to pardon said master and overseer without being necessary to obtain from us letters patent of pardon.
Article 40 Slaves shall be held in law as movables, and as such, they shall be part of the community of acquests between husband and wife; they shall be seized under mortgage whatever; and they shall be equally divided among the co-heirs without admitting from any one of said heirs any claim founded on preciput or right of primogeniture, or dowry.
Articles 41 and 42 are entirely relative to judicial forms and proceedings.
Article 43 Husbands and wives shall not be seized and sold separately when belonging to the same master, and their children, whom under fourteen years of age, shall not be separated from their parents and such seizures and sales shall be null and void. The present article shall apply to voluntary salws, and in such cse sales should take place in violation of the law, the seller shall be deprived of the slave he has illegally retained and said slave shall be adjudged to the purchased without any additional.
Article 44 Slaves fourteen (14) years old, and from this age up to sixty (60), who are settled on lands and plantations, and are at present working on them, shall not be liable to seizure for debt, except for what may be due out of the purchase money agreed to be paid for them unless said grounds or plantations should be distressed, and seized and judicial sale of a real estate, without including the slaves of the aforesaid age who are part of said estate, shall be deemed null and void.
Article 45, 46, 47, 48, and 49 are relative to certain formalities to be observed in judicial proceedings
Article 50 Masters, when twenty-five (25) years old; shall have the power to manumit their slaves, either by testamentary dispositions, or by acts inter vivace, but as there may be mercenary masters disposed to set a price on the liberation of their slaves; and thereas slaves with a view to acquire the necessary means to purchase their freedom, may be tempted to commit theft or deeds of plunder, no mitter to set free his slaves, without the obtaining from the Superior Council a decree of permission to that effect; which permission shall be granted without costs when the motive for the setting free of said slaves as specified in the petition of the master, shall, appear legitimate to the tribunal. All future acts for the emancipation of the slaves freed shall not be entitled to their freedom; they shall be taken away from their former masters, and confiscated for the benefit of the India Company.
Article 51 However, should slaves be appointed by their masters tutors to their children, said slaves shall be held and regarded as being set free to all intent and purposes.
Article 52 We declare that the acts for the enfranchisement of slaves, passed according to the forms above described, shall be equivalent to an act of naturalization, when said slaves are not born in our colony of Louisiana, and they shall enjoy all the rights and privileges inherent to our subjects born in our kingdoms, or any land or colony under our dominion. We declare, however, that all manumitted slaves, and all free-born Negroes are incapable of receiving donations, either by testamentary dispositions or by acts inter vivos from the “Whites”. Said donations shall be null and void, and the objects of said donations shall be applied to the benefits of the nearest hosptal.
Article 53 We commend all manumitted slaves to show the profoundest respect to their former masters, to their widows and children, and any injury or insult offered by said manumitted slaves to their formar masters, their widows or children, shall be punished with more severity than if it had been offered to any other person. We, however declared them exempt from the discharge of all duties or sevices, and from payment of all taxes or fees, or any thing else in relation to their persons, or to their personal or real estate, either during the life or after the death of said slave.
Article 54 We grant manumitted slaves the same rights, privileges, and immunities which are enjoyed by free born persons. It is our pleasure that their merit in having acquired their freedom, shall produce in their favor not only with regards to their persons, but also to their property, the same effects which our other subjects derive from the happy circumstances of their having been born free.
In the name of the King
Fazende, Brusle, Perry Bienville, De la Graise
March, 1724

The Irish were treated harshly as well, but they were not stripped, and that is why they know they are Irish today. Even today in Spain there is now a group of Moorish descendants referred to as Afro-Spanish whereas these people are Moors by birth rite, their Moorish Ancestors were shipped by Spaniards and Portuguese traffickers as Negros and Latinos to the Spanish American colonies, where they were ultimately stripped of their names and heritage, many of the descendants of those Moors who were stripped have returned to Al Andalus now Spain and Portugal from the Spanish American colonies (Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea) and are now referred to as Afro Spaniards which is defined as Spanish nationals of black-African descent, interestingly enough Afro American were the pre-cursor to African American (a racial synonym for Black and Negroe in the U.S.A.) which is defined as Black and Negroe. Most are not aware that the term Moor is older than the term African and that the term African is a term that does originate with the Ancient Romans via the province of Africa they established as a result of the Punic Wars in what we know to day as North Africa, the continent was known as Mauretania and Libya prior to the end of the Punic Wars. Ethnolinguistic wise Black, Negroe, Colored, Latino language wise are Exonyms or xenonyms (from the Greek: á¼Î¾Ï, éxÅ, out or ξένοÏ-, xénos, foreign andá½Î½Î¿Î¼Î±, ónoma, name) is the name given to an ethnic group or to a geographical entity by another ethnic group, often derogatory or offensive. Exonyms and endonyms can be names of places (toponym), ethnic groups (ethnonym), languages (glossonym), or individuals (personal name)

The reason the Slave Traders listed Moors as Negroes, Blacks, Coloreds Latinos etc, was specifically for purposes of circumventing treaties that recognized Moors on the footing with all other recognized Nation which resulted in recognizing them as Humans and party to the Families of Nations. We Moors have been fighting against the Negro and Black Badges of Slavery for generations. For Example: Africans who identified themselves as Moors in 1790 Petitioned the South Carolina Legislatures as Subjects of the Emperor of Morocco; and residents in South Carolina, praying that in case they should Commit Any Fault amenable to be brought to Justice, that they as Subjects to a Prince in Alliance with the United States of America, may be tried under the same Laws as the Citizens of this State would be liable to be tried, and not under the Negro Act, which was received and read. Some years past had the misfortune while fighting in the defense of their Country, to be captured with their wives and made prisoners of War by one of the Kings of Africa.

THE LYNCHING OF SO CALLED NEGROES. (BLACK PEOPLE)1885. . . . .184 1895. . . . .171
1886. . . . .138 1896. . . . .131
1887. . . . .122 1897. . . . .166
1888. . . . .142 1898. . . . .127
1889. . . . .176 1899. . . . .107
1890. . . . .127 1900. . . . .115
1891. . . . .192 1901. . . . .135
1892. . . . .235 1902. . . . .96
1893. . . . .200 1903(to Sept. 14,
eight and a half months). . . . .76
1894. . . . .190

Total lynchings. Whites. Negroes. In the South. In the North.
1900. . . . . . . 115 8 107 107 8
1901. . . . . . . 135 26 107 121 14
1902. . . . . . . . 96 9 86 87 9
1903(to Sept. 14). . . . .76 13 63 66 10

Causes Assigned. 1900 1901.* 1902.† 1903.
Murder 39 39 37 32
Rape 18 19 19 8
Attempted rape 13 9 11 5
Race prejudice 10 9 2 3
Assaulting whites 6 – 3 3
Threats to kill 5 – 1 –
Burglary 4 1 – –
Attempt to murder 4 9 4 6
Informing 2 – – –
Robbery 2 “Theft” 12 1 –
Complicity in murder 2 6 3 5
Rape and murder – – – 1
Suspicion of murder 2 3 1 3
Suspicion of robbery 1 – – –
No offence 1 – – –
Arson 2 4 – –
Suspicion of arson 1 – – –
Aiding escape of murderer 1 – 1 –
Insulting a white woman – 1 – –
Cattle and horse stealing – 7 1 –
Quarrel over profit-sharing – 5 – –
Suspicion of rape – 1 – –
Suspicion of rape and murder – 1 – –
Unknown offences 2 6 – 4
Mistaken identity – 1 1 3

NOTE.—The lynchings in the various States and Territories in 1900 were as follows:
Alabama 8 New York 0
Arkansas 6 Nevada 0
California 0 North Carolina 3
Colorado 3 North Dakota 0
Connecticut 0 Ohio 0
Delaware 0 Oregon 0
Florida 9 Pennsylvania 0
Georgia 16 Rhode Island 0
Idaho 0 South Carolina 2
Illinois 0 South Dakota 0
Indiana 3 Tennessee 7
Iowa 0 Texas 4
Kansas 2 Vermont 0
Kentucky 1 Virginia 6
Louisiana 20 West Virginia 2
Maine 0 Wisconsin 0
Maryland 1 Washington 0
Massachusetts 0 ! Wyoming 0
Michigan 0 Arizona 0
Minnesota 0 District of Columbia 0
Mississippi 20 New Mexico 0
Missouri 2 Utah 0
Montana 0 Indian Territory 0
Nebraska 0 Oklahoma 0
New Jersey 0 Alaska 0
New Hampshire 0

* In 1901 one Indian and one Chinaman lynched. † In 1902 one Indian lynched.

From these tables certain facts may be deduced. The first is that, in the year of which an analysis is given (1900), over nine-tenths of the lynchings occurred in the South, where only about one-third of the population of the country were, but where nine- tenths of the negroes were; secondly, that, of these lynchings, about nine-tenths were of negroes and one-third were in the three States where the negroes are most numerous; thirdly, that, while the lynchings appear to be diminishing at the South, the ratio, at least, is increasing at the North.

It further appears that, though lynching began as a punishment for assault on white women, it has extended until less than one-fourth of the instances are for this crime, while over three-fourths of them are for murder, attempts at murder, or some less heinous offence. This may be accounted for, in part, by the fact that the murders in the South partake somewhat of the nature of race-conflicts.

Over 2,700 lynchings in eighteen years are enough to stagger the mind. Either we are relapsing into barbarism, or there is some terrific cause for our reversion to the methods of mediaevalism, and our laws are inefficient to meet it. The only gleam of light is that, of late years, the number appears to have diminished.

To get at the remedy, we must first get at the cause.

Time was when the crime of assault was unknown throughout the South. During the whole period of slavery, it did not exist, nor did it exist to any considerable extent for some years after Emancipation. During the War, the men were away in the army, and the negroes were the loyal guardians of the women and children. On isolated plantations and in lonely ! neighbor hoods, women were as secure as in the streets of Boston or New York.

Then came the period and process of Reconstruction, with its teachings. Among these was the teaching that the negro was the equal of the white, that the white was his enemy, and that he must assert his equality. The growth of the idea was a gradual one in the negro’s mind. This was followed by a number of cases where members of the negro militia ravished white women; in some instances in the presence of their families.*[A]

The result of the hostility between the Southern whites and Government at that time was to throw the former upon their own acts for their defence or revenge, with a consequent training in lawless punishment of acts which should have been punished by law. And here lynching had its evil origin.

It was suggested some time ago, in a thoughtful paper read by Professor Wilcox, that a condition something like this had its rise in France during the religious wars.

The first instance of rape, outside of these attacks by armed negroes, and of consequent lynching, that attracted the attention of the country was a case which occurred in Mississippi, where the teaching of equality and of violence found one of its most fruitful fields. A negro dragged a woman down into the woods, and tying her, kept her bound there a prisoner for several days, when he butchered her. He was caught and was lynched.

With the resumption of local power by the whites came the temporary and partial ending of the crimes of assault and of lynching.

As the old relation, which had survived even the strain of Reconstruction, dwindled with the passing of the old generation from the stage, and the “New Issue” with the new teaching took its place, the crime broke out again with renewed violence. The idea of equality began to percolate more extensively among the negroes. In evidence of it is the fact that since the assaults began again they have been chiefly directed against the plainer order of people, instances of ! attacks on women of the upper class, though not unknown, being of rare occurrence.*[B]

Conditions in the South render the commission of this crime peculiarly easy. The white population is sparse, the forests are extensive, the officers of the law distant and difficult to reach; but, above all, the negro population has appeared inclined to condone the fact of mere assault.

Twenty-five years ago, women went unaccompanied and unafraid throughout the South, as they still go throughout the North. To-day, no white woman, or girl, or female child, goes alone out of sight of the house except on necessity; and no man leaves his wife alone in his house, if he can help it. Cases have occurred of assault and murder in broad day, within sight and sound of the victim’s home. Indeed, an instance occurred not a great while ago in the District of Columbia, within a hundred yards of a fashionable drive, when, about three o’clock of a bright June day, a young girl was attacked within sight and sound of her house, and when she screamed her throat was cut. So near to her home was the spot that her mother and an officer, hearing her cries, reached her before life was extinct.

For a time, the ordinary course of the law was, in the main, relied on to meet the trouble; but it was found that, notwithstanding the inevitable infliction of the death penalty, several evils resulted therefrom. The chief one was that the ravishing of women, instead of diminishing, steadily increased. The criminal, under the ministrations of his preachers, usually professed to have “gotten religion,” and from the shadow of the gallows called on his friends to follow him to glory. So that the punishment lost to these emotional people much of its deterrent force, especially where the real sympathy of the race was mainly with the criminal rather than with his victim. Another evil was the dreadful necessity of calling on the innocent victim, who, if she survived, as she rarely did, was already bowed to the earth by shame, to relate in public! the sto ry of the assault–an ordeal which was worse than death. Yet another was the delay in the execution of the law. With these, however, was one other which, perhaps, did more than all the rest together to wrest the trial and punishment from the Courts and carry them out by mob-violence. This was the unnamable brutality with which the causing crime was, in nearly every case, attended. The death of the victim of the ravisher was generally the least of the attendant horrors. In Texas, in Mississippi, in Georgia, in Kentucky, in Colorado, as later in Delaware, the facts in the case were so unspeakable that they have never been put in print. They could not be put in print. It is these unnamable horrors which have outraged the minds of those who live in regions where they have occurred, and where they may at any time occur again, and, upsetting reason, have swept from their bearings cool men and changed them into madmen, drunk with the lust of revenge.

Not unnaturally, such barbarity as burning at the stake has shocked the sense of the rest of the country, and, indeed, of the world. But it is well for the rest of the country, and for the world, to know that it has also shocked the sense of the South, and, in their calmer moments, even the sense of those men who, in their frenzy, have been guilty of it. Only, a deeper shock than even this is at the bottom of their ferocious rage—the shock which comes from the ravishing and butchery of their women and children.

It is not necessary to be an apologist for barbarity because one states with bluntness the cause. The stern underlying principle of the people who commit these barbarities is one that has its root deep in the basic passions of humanity; the determination to put an end to the ravishing of their women by an inferior race, no matter what the consequence.

For a time, a speedy execution by hanging was the only mode of retribution resorted to by the lynchers; then, when this failed of its purpose, a more savage method was essayed, born of a! savage fury at the failure of the first, and a stern resolve to strike a deeper terror into those whom the other method had failed to awe.

The following may serve as an illustration. Ten or twelve years ago, the writer lectured one afternoon in the early spring in a town in the cotton-belt of Texas–one of the prettiest towns in the Southwest. The lecture was delivered in the Court-house. The writer was introduced by a gentleman who had been a member of the Confederate Cabinet and a Senator of the United States, and the audience was composed of refined and cultured people, representing, perhaps, every State from Maine to Texas.

Two days later, the papers contained the account of the burning at the stake in this town of a negro. He had picked up a little girl of five or six years of age on the street where she was playing in front of her home, and carried her off, telling her that her mother had sent him for her; and when she cried, he had soothed her with candy which, with deliberate prevision, he had bought for the purpose. When she was found, she was unrecognizable. With her little body broken and mangled, he had cut her throat and thrown her into a ditch.

A strong effort was made to save him for the law, but without avail: the people had reverted to the primal law of vengeance. Farmers came from fifty miles to see that vengeance was exacted. They had resolved to strike terror into the breasts of all, so that such a crime could never occur again. This was, perhaps, the second or third instance of burning in the country.

Of late, lynching at the stake has spread beyond the region where it has such reason for existence as may be given by the conditions that prevail in the South. Three frightful instances by burning have occurred recently in Northern States, in communities where some of these conditions were partly wanting. The horror of the main fact of lynching was increased, in two of the cases, by a concerted attack on a large element of the negro population which was wholly i! nnocent. Even the unoffending negroes were driven from their homes, a consequence which has never followed in the South, where it might seem there was more occasion for it.

It thus appears that the original crime, and also the consequent one in its most brutal form, are not confined to the South, and, possibly, are only more frequent there because of the greater number of negroes in that section. The deep racial instincts are not limited by geographical bounds.

These last-mentioned lynchings were so ferocious, and so unwarranted by any such necessity, real or fancied, as may be thought to exist at the South by reason of the frequency of assault and the absence of a strong police force, that they not unnaturally called forth almost universal condemnation. The President felt it proper to write an open letter, commending the action of the Governor of Indiana on the proper and efficient exercise of his authority to uphold the law and restore order in his State. But who has ever thought it necessary to commend the Governors of the Southern States under similar circumstances? The militia of some of the Southern States are almost veterans, so frequently have they been called on to protect wretches whose crimes stank in the nostrils of all decent men. The Governor of Virginia boasted, a few years ago, that no lynching should take place during his incumbency, and he nearly made good his boast; though, to do so, he had to call out at one time or another almost the entire force of the State.

Editorials in some of the Eastern papers note with astonishment recent instances where law-officers in the South have protected their prisoners or eluded a mob. The writers of these editorials know so little of the South that one is scarcely surprised at their ignorance. But men are hanged by law for this crime of assault every few months in some State in the South. A few years ago, Sheriff Smith, of Birmingham, protected a murderer at the cost of many lives; a little later, Mayor Prout, of Roanoke, defended a n! egro rav isher and murderer, and, though the mob finally succeeded in their aim, six men were killed by the guards before the jail was carried. These are only two of the many instances in which brave and faithful officers have, at the risk of their lives, defended their charges against that most terrible of all assailants—a determined mob.*

*The following table is from the Chicago Tribune. The number of legal executions in 1900 was 118, as compared with 131 in 1899, 109 in 1898, 128 in 1897, 122 in 1896, 132 in 1895, 132 in 1894, 126 in 1893, and 107 in 1892. The executions in the several States and Territories were in 1900 as follows:
Alabama 4 New York 3
Arkansas 0 Nevada 0
California 5 North Carolina 9
Colorado 0 North Dakota 1
Connecticut 1 Ohio 1
Delaware 0 Oregon 1
Florida 1 Pennsylvania 15
Georgia 14 Rhode Island 0
Idaho 2 South Carolina 3
Illinois 0 South Dakota 0
Indiana 0 Tennessee 4
Iowa 0 Texas 18
Kansas 0 Vermont 0
Kentucky 0 Virginia 7
Louisiana 6 West Virginia 0
Maine 0 Wisconsin 0
Maryland 3 Wyoming 0
Massachusetts 0 Washington 2
Michigan 0 Arizona 4
Minnesota 0 District of Columbia 3
Mississippi 1 New Mexico 0
Missouri 3 Utah 0
Montana 3 Indian Territory 0
Nebraska 0 Oklahoma 0
New Jersey 4 Alaska 0
New Hampshire 0

There were 80 hanged in the South and 39 in the North, of whom 60 were whites, 58 were blacks, and one a Chinaman. The crimes for which they were executed were: murder, 113; rape, 5; arson, 1. Thus, of the 119 hangings, about two-thirds (80) were in the South and one-third (39) in the North; about one-half (60) of the entire number were of whites, and one-half (58) were of blacks. So, the South appears to have done its part in the matter of punishing by law as well as by violence.

For a time, the assaults by negroes were confined to young women who were caught alone in solitary and secluded places. The company even of a child was sufficient to protect ! them. Th en the ravishers grew bolder, and attacks followed on women when they were in company. And then, not content with this, the ravishers began to attack women in their own homes. Sundry instances of this have occurred within the last few years. As an illustration, may be cited the notorious case of Samuel Hose, who, after making a bet with a negro preacher that he could have access
to a white woman, went into a farmer’s house while the family, father, mother, and child, were at supper; brained the man with his axe; threw the child into a corner with a violence which knocked it senseless, and ravished the wife and mother with unnamable horrors, butchered her and bore away with him the indisputable proof of having won his wager. He was caught and was burnt.

Another instance, only less appalling, occurred two years ago in Lynchburg, Virginia, where the colored janitor of a white female school, who had been brought up and promoted by the Superintendent of Schools, and was regarded as a shining example of what education might accomplish with his race, entered the house of a respectable man one morning, after the husband, who was a foreman in a factory, had gone to his work; and ravished the wife, and then putting his knee on her breast, coolly cut her throat as he might have done a calf’s. There was no attempt at lynching; but the Governor, resolved to preserve the good name of the commonwealth, felt it necessary to order out two regiments of soldiers, in which course he was sustained by the entire sentiment of the State.

These cases were neither worse nor better than many of those which have occurred in the South in the last twenty years, and in that period hundreds of women and a number of children have been ravished and slain.

Now, how is this crime of assault to be stopped? For stopped it must be, and stopped it will be, whatever the cost. One proposition is that separation of the races, complete separation, is the only remedy. The theory appears Utopian. Colonization has been! the dre am of certain philanthropists for a hundred years. And, meantime, the negroes have increased from less than a million to nine millions. They will never be deported; not because we have not the money, for an amount equal to that spent in pensions during three years would pay the expenses of such deportation, and an amount equal to that paid in six years would set them up in a new country. But the negroes have rights; many of them are estimable citizens; and even the body of them, when well regulated, are valuable laborers. It might, therefore, as well be assumed that this plan will never be carried out, unless the occasion becomes so imperative that all other rights give way to the supreme right of necessity.

It is plain, then, that we must deal with the matter in a more practicable manner, accepting conditions as they are, and applying to them legal methods which will be effective. Lynching does not end ravishing, and that is the prime necessity. Most right- thinking men are agreed as to this. Indeed, lynching, through lacking the supreme principle of law, the deliberateness from which is supposed to come the certainty of identification, fails utterly to meet the necessity of the case even as a deterrent. Not only have assaults occurred again and again in the same neighborhood where lynching has followed such crime; but, a few years ago, it was publicly stated that a negro who had just witnessed a lynching for this crime actually committed an assault on his way home. However this may be, lynching as a remedy is a ghastly failure; and its brutalizing effect on the community is incalculable.

The charge that is often made, that the innocent are sometimes lynched, has little foundation. The rage of a mob is not directed against the innocent, but against the guilty; and its fury would not be satisfied with any other sacrifices than the death of the real criminal. Nor does the criminal merit any consideration, however terrible the punishment. The real injury is to the perpetrators of the crime ! of destr oying the law, and to the community in which the law is slain.[C]

It is pretty generally conceded that the “law’s delay” is partly responsible for the “wild justice” of mob vengeance, and this has undoubtedly been the cause of many mobs. But it is far from certain if any change in the methods of administration of law will effect the stopping of lynching; while to remedy this evil we may bring about a greater peril. Trial by jury is the bed-rock of our liberties, and the inherent principle of such trial is its deliberateness. It has been said that the whole purpose of the Constitution of Great Britain is that twelve men may sit in the jury-box. The methods of the law may well be reformed; but any movement should be jealously scanned which touches the chief barrier of all liberty. The first step, then, would appear to be the establishment of a system securing a reasonably prompt trial and speedy execution by law, rather than a wholesome revolution of the existing system.

Many expedients have been suggested; some of the most drastic by Northern men. One of them proposed, not long since, that to meet the mob–spirit, a trial somewhat in the nature of a drum-head court-martial might be established by law, by which the accused may be tried and, if found guilty, executed immediately. Others have proposed as a remedy emasculation by law; while a Justice of the Supreme Court has recently given the weight of his personal opinion in favor of prompt trial and the abolishment of appeals in such cases. Even the terrible suggestion has been made that burning at the stake might be legalized!

These suggestions testify how grave the matter is considered to be by those who make them.

But none of these, unless it be the one relating to emasculation, is more than an expedient. The trouble lies deeper. The crime of lynching is not likely to cease until the crime of ravishing and murdering women and children is less frequent than it has been of late. And this crime, which is will-nigh wholly con! fined to the negro race, will not greatly diminish until the negroes themselves take it in hand and stamp it out.

From recent developments, it may be properly inferred that the absence of this crime during the period of Slavery was due more to the feeling among the negroes themselves than to any repressive measures on the part of the whites. The negro had the same animal instincts in Slavery that he exhibits now; the punishment that follows the crime now is as certain, as terrible, and as swift as it could have been then. So, to what is due the alarming increase of this terrible brutality?

To the writer it appears plain that it is due to two things: first, to racial antagonism and to the talk of social inequality, from which it first sprang, that inflames the ignorant negro, who has grown up unregulated and undisciplined; and, secondly, to the absence of a strong restraining public opinion among the negroes of any class, which alone can extirpate the crime. In the first place, the negro does not generally believe in the virtue of women. It is beyond his experience. He does not generally believe in the existence of actual assault. It is beyond his comprehension. In the next place, his passion, always his controlling force, is now, since the new teaching, for the white woman.*[D]

That there are many negroes who are law-abiding and whose influence is for good, no one who knows the worthy members of the race, those who represent the better element, will deny. But while there are, of course, notable exceptions, they are not often of the “New Issue,” nor even generally among the prominent leaders: those who publish papers and control conventions.

As the crime of rape had its baleful origin in the teaching of equality and the placing of power in the ignorant negroes’ hands, so its perpetration and increase have undoubtedly been due in large part to the same teaching. The intelligent negro may understand what social equality truly means; but to the ignorant and brutal young negro, it ! signifie s but one thing: the opportunity to enjoy, equally with white men, the privilege of cohabiting with white women. This the whites of the South understand; and if it were understood abroad, it would serve to explain some things which have not been understood hitherto. It will explain, in part, the universal and furious hostility of the South to even the least suggestion of social equality.

A close following of the instances of rape and lynching, and the public discussion consequent thereon, has led the writer to the painful realization that even the leaders of the negro race–at least, those who are prominent enough to hold conventions and write papers on the subject–have rarely, by act or word, shown a true appreciation of the enormity of the crime of ravishing and murdering women. Their discussion and denunciation have been almost invariably and exclusively devoted to the crime of lynching. Underlying most of their protests is the suggestion, that the victim of the mob is innocent and a martyr. Now and then, there is a mild generalization on the evil of lawbreaking and the violation of women; but, for one stern word of protest against violating women and cutting their throats, the records of negro meetings will show many against the attack of the mob on the criminal. And, as to any serious and determined effort to take hold of and stamp out the crime that is blackening the entire negro race to- day, and arousing against them the fatal and possibly the undying enmity of the stronger race, there is, with the exception of the utterances of a few score individuals like Booker Washington, who always speaks for the right, Hannibal Thomas and Bishop Turner, hardly a trace of such a thing. A crusade has been preached against lynching, even as far as England; but none has been thought of against the ravishing and tearing to pieces of white women and children.

Happily, there is an element of sound-minded, law-abiding negroes, representative of the old negro, who without parade stand for good order! , and do what they can to repress lawlessness among their people. But for this class and the kindly relations which are preserved between them and the whites, the situation in the South would long since have become unbearable. These, however, are not generally among the leaders, and, unfortunately, their influence is not sufficiently extended to counteract the evil influences which are at work with such fatal results.

One who reads the utterances of negro orators and preachers on the subject of lynching, and who knows the negro race, cannot doubt that, at bottom, their sympathy is generally with the “victim” of the mob, and not with his victim.

Until the negroes shall create among themselves a sound public opinion which, instead of fostering, shall reprobate and sternly repress the crime of assaulting women and children, the crime will never be extirpated, and until this crime is stopped the crime of lynching will never be extirpated. Lynching will never be done away with while the sympathy of the whites is with the lynchers, and no more will ravishing be done away with while the sympathy of the negroes is with the ravisher. When the negroes shall stop applying all their energies to harboring and defending negroes, no matter what their crime so it be against the whites, and shall distinguish between the law-abiding negro and the law-breaker, a long step will have been taken.

Should the negroes sturdily and faithfully set themselves to prevent the crime of rape by members of that race, it could be stamped out. Should the whites set themselves against lynching, lynching would be stopped. The remedy then is plain. Let the negroes take charge of the crime of ravishing and firmly put it away from them, and let the whites take charge of the crime of lynching and put it away from them. It is time that the races should address themselves to the task; for it is with nations as with individual men; whatsoever they sow that shall they also reap.

It is the writer’s belief that the arrest and ! the prom pt handing over to the law of negroes by negroes, for assault on white women, would do more to break up ravishing, and to restore amicable relations between the two races, than all the resolutions of all the Conventions and all the harangues of all the politicians.

It has been tried in various States to put an end to lynching by making the county in which the lynching occurs liable in damages for the crime. It is a good theory; and, if it has not worked well, it is because of the difficulty of executing the provision. Could some plan be devised to array each race against the crime to which it is prone, both rape and lynching might be diminished, if not wholly prevented.

The practical application of such a principle is difficult, but, perhaps, it is not impossible. It is possible that in every community negroes might be appointed officers of the law, to look exclusively after lawbreakers of their own race. The English in the East manage such matters well, under equally complicated and delicate conditions. For example, in the Island of Malta, where the population are of different classes among whom a certain jealousy exists, there are several classes of police: the naval police, the military police, and the civil or municipal police. To each of these is assigned more especially the charge of one of the three classes of whom the population of the Island is composed. Again, in Hong Kong, where the situation is even more delicate, there are several classes of police: the English, the Chinese, and the Indian police. Only the first are empowered to make general arrests; the others have powers relating exclusively to the good order of the races to which they belong, though they may in all cases be called in to assist the English police.

Somewhat in the same way, the negroes might be given within their province powers sufficiently full to enable them to keep order among their people, and they might on the other hand be held to a certain accountability for such good order. It might even be ! required that every person should be listed and steadily kept track of, as is one in Germany at present. The recent vagrant laws of Georgia, where there are more negroes than in the entire North, are an attempt in this direction.

In the same way, the white officials charged with the good order of the county or town might be given enlarged powers of summoning posses, and might be held to a high accountability. For example, ipso facto forfeiture of the official bond and removal from office, with perpetual disability to hold any office again, might be provided as a penalty for permitting any persons to be taken out of their hands.

Few ravishings by negroes would occur if the more influential members of the race were held accountable for the good order of their race in every community; and few lynchings would occur, at least after the prisoners were in the hands of the officers of the law, if those officers, by the mere fact of relinquishing their prisoners should be disqualified from ever holding office again.

These suggestions may be as Utopian as others which have been made; but if they cannot be carried out, it is because the ravishings by negroes and the murders by mobs have their roots so deep in racial instincts that nothing can eradicate them, and in such case the ultimate issue will be a resort to the final test of might, which in the last analysis underlies everything.

It was stated by Russell Means that he was given documents from scholars in Turin, Italy (the true home of the Shroud of Turin) that the Native people of this continent were called “Indians”, not because of so called confusion between this land and India, but because the early explorers to this continent saw the spiritual nature of the Original Man living here and wrote back to Italy and Spain and said “these people are Indios (In-Dios)” meaning, In God or with God. Please share this little known fact with the Universal Zulu Nation. Respect due, Bro. Ernie PanicciolioThat Phoebe Fraunces a Black women saved George Washington’s life on the eve of the Revolutionary War. The British had a agent Irishman name Thomas Hickey,who was George Washingtons bodyguard who had an intimate friendship with Fraunces and gave her a dish of poisoned peas to served Washington when he came for dinner. She became suspicious of the Irishmans actions and warned Washington, who threw away the peas into the yard, where some chickens ate the peas and fell dead . For Hickey assassination attempt on Washington’s life, he was hanged before a crowed of 20,000 in New York City. Both Miss Fraunces and her father, Black Sam were officially recognized by the Continental Congress for their service to the fledging country and given a sum of money. When George became Americas President, he appointed Fraunces White House steward.

That President Ulysses Grant was probably the first and only American President to be arrested, and that it was a Black District of Columbia policeman by the name of Officer William West who performed the deed in the 19th century. Officer West book the President for violating the district speeding law and for professionalism as an officer of the law, the President later on promoted Officer West to a mounted policeman. President Grant not want to be in the public eye as someone who is above the law.

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