refers probably to
Yucatan and to the relatively high state of culture of the Mayas, drew no
further comment from Columbus. From our point of view it ought to have
made a much greater impression than we have evidence that it did; from
his point of view that he was off Asia it was just what was to be
expected and so is recorded without comment.

[216-1] This is the large river Yaqui, which contains much gold in its
sand. It was afterwards called the Santiago. (Navarrete.)

[217-1] Afterwards called the Rio de Santiago. (Navarrete.)

[217-2] This should be 8 leagues. (_Id._)

[217-3] Las Casas, I. 429, says the distance to the mines was not 4
leagues.

[217-4] Punta Isabelica. (_Id._)

[217-5] The distance is 10-1/2 leagues, or 42 of the Italian miles used
by Columbus. (_Id._)

[218-1] The mermaids [Spanish, "sirens"] of Columbus are the _manatis_,
or sea-cows, of the Caribbean Sea and great South American rivers. They
are now scarcely ever seen out at sea. Their resemblance to human beings,
when rising in the water, must have been very striking. They have small
rounded heads, and cervical vertebrae which form a neck, enabling the
animal to turn its head about. The fore limbs also, instead of being
pectoral fins, have the character of the arm and hand of the higher
mammalia. These peculiarities, and their very human way of suckling their
young, holding it by the forearm, which is movable at the elbow-joint,
suggested the idea of mermaids. The congener of the _manati_, which had
been seen by Columbus on the coast of Guinea, is the _dugong_. (Markham.)

[218-2] Las Casas has "on the coast of Guinea where manequeta is
gathered" (I. 430). _Amomum Melequeta_, an herbaceous, reedlike plant,
three to five feet high, is found along the coast of Africa, from Sierra
Leone to the Congo. Its seeds were called "Grains of Paradise," or
_maniguetta_, and the coast alluded to by Columbus, between Liberia and
Cape Palmas, was hence called the Grain Coast. The grains were used as a
condiment, like pepper, and in making the spiced wine called _hippocras_.
(Markham.)

[219-1] Rio Chuzona chica. (Navarrete.)

[219-2] Reading _broma_ ("ship worm") for _bruma_ ("mist") in the
sentence: _sino que tiene mucha bruma_. De la Roquette in the French
translation gives _bruma_ the meaning of "shipworm," supposing it to be a
variant form of _broma_. The Italian translator of the letter on the
fourth voyage took _broma_ to be _bruma_, transla