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1963 |
Journals and other documents on the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus.
New York, Limited Editions Club: xv + 417. Illus.
–Includes new transls. of, among other documents: the Diario, the Las Casas abstract of Columbus's journal of the first voyage, 1492-93 (41-179); Syllacio's letter to the Duke of Milan describing the second voyage, 1493-96 (229-245); and Ferdinand Columbus's account of the fourth voyage, 1502-04 (321-370). Manatees, 84, 148, 243, 245, 325, 328.
P. 84: "He [Columbus] ... says that they must have cows in it [Cuba] and other cattle, for he saw skulls which appeared to be those of cows." Las Casas suggested that these were manatees.
P. 148: "The day before, when the Admiral went to the Rio del Oro [on the north coast of the Dominican Republic] he said that he saw three mermaids who rose very high from the sea, but they were not as beautiful as they are painted, although to some extent they have a human appearance in the face. He said that he had seen some in Guinea on the coast of Malagueta." This latter observation, made on the Grain Coast (Liberia) probably between 1482 and 1484 (Morison, 1942: 42), may well have been the earliest recorded European observation of an African or any other manatee.
P. 243: "Huge fish as large as cattle are caught here [near Isabela, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic]; they are eaten avidly (after their legs have been removed) and have the taste of veal." A note on p. 245 presumes these to have been manatees.
P. 325 (chap. 89 of Ferdinand Columbus's Historie): "The other fish was taken [near Azua, Dominican Republic] through another device; the Indians call it the manati, and there are none of that kind in Europe. It is as big as a calf, resembling one both in color and flavor, except that perhaps it is somewhat better and fatter. Therefore, those who declare that there are in the sea all sorts of creatures which live on land, say that these fishes are real calves, since inside they are nothing like a fish, and feed only on the grass they find along shore." Ferdinand accordingly deserves credit for realizing that the manatee is a mammal.
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