The History of Puerto Rico | Page 5

Father Marchena, the Admiral's first protector,
friend, and counselor; the two knight commanders of military orders
Gallego and Arroyo; the fleet's physician, Chanca; the queen's three
servants, Navarro, Peña-soto, and Girau; the pilot, Antonio de Torres,
who was to return to Spain with the Admiral's ship and first despatches.
There was Juan de la Cosa, cartographer, who traced the first map of
the Antilles; there were the father and uncle of Bartolomé de las Casas,
the apostle of the Indies; Diego de Peñalosa, the first notary public;
Fermin Jedo, the metallurgist, and Villacorta, the mechanical engineer.
Luis de Ariega, afterward famous as the defender of the fort at
Magdalena; Diego Velasquez, the future conqueror of Cuba; Vega,
Abarca, Gil Garcia, Marguéz, Maldonado, Beltrán and many other
doughty warriors, whose names had been the terror of the Moors during
the war in Granada. Finally, there were Diego Columbus, the Admiral's
brother; and among the men-at-arms, one, destined to play the principal
rôle in the conquest of Puerto Rico. His name was Juan Ponce, a native
of Santervas or Sanservas de Campos in the kingdom of Leon. He had
served fifteen years in the war with the Moors as page or shield-bearer
to Pedro Nuñez de Guzman, knight commander of the order of
Calatráva, and he had joined Columbus like the rest--to seek his fortune
in the western hemisphere.

FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: March 15, 1493.]
[Footnote 2: Literally, "hijos d'algo," sons of something or somebody.]
[Footnote 3: La Fuente. Hista. general de España.]
[Footnote 4: Along the 30th parallel of longitude W. of Greenwich.]
CHAPTER II
THE DISCOVERY
1493
THE first island discovered on this voyage lies between 14° and 15°
north latitude, near the middle of a chain of islands of different sizes,
intermingled with rocks and reefs, which stretches from Trinidad, near
the coast of Venezuela, in a north-by-westerly direction to Puerto Rico.
They are divided in two groups, the Windward Islands forming the
southern, the Leeward Islands the northern portion of the chain.
The Admiral shaped his course in the direction in which the islands,
one after the other, loomed up, merely touching at some for the purpose
of obtaining what information he could, which was meager enough.
For an account of the expedition's experiences on that memorable
voyage, we have the fleet physician Chanca's circumstantial description
addressed to the Municipal Corporation of Seville, sent home by the
same pilot who conveyed the Admiral's first despatches to the king and
queen.
After describing the weather experienced up to the time the fleet
arrived at the island "de Hierro," he tells their worships that for
nineteen or twenty days they had the best weather ever experienced on
such a long voyage, excepting on the eve of San Simon, when they had
a storm which for four hours caused them great anxiety.

At daybreak on Sunday, November 3d, the pilot of the flagship
announced land. "It was marvelous," says Chanca, "to see and hear the
people's manifestations of joy; and with reason, for they were very
weary of the hardships they had undergone, and longed to be on land
again."
The first island they saw was high and mountainous. As the day
advanced they saw another more level, and then others appeared, till
they counted six, some of good size, and all covered with forest to the
water's edge.
Sailing along the shore of the first discovered island for the distance of
a league, and finding no suitable anchoring ground, they proceeded to
the next island, which was four or five leagues distant, and here the
Admiral landed, bearing the royal standard, and took formal possession
of this and all adjacent lands in the name of their Highnesses. He
named the first island Dominica, because it was discovered on a
Sunday, and to the second island he gave the name of his ship,
Marie-Galante.
"In this island," says Chanca, "it was wonderful to see the dense forest
and the great variety of unknown trees, some in bloom, others with fruit,
everything looking so green. We found a tree the leaves whereof
resembled laurel leaves, but not so large, and they exhaled the finest
odor of cloves.[5]
"There were fruits of many kinds, some of which the men imprudently
tasted, with the result that their faces swelled, and that they suffered
such violent pain in throat and mouth[6] that they behaved like
madmen, the application of cold substances giving them some relief."
No signs of inhabitants were discovered, so they remained ashore two
hours only and left next morning early (November 4th) in the direction
of another island seven or eight leagues northward. They anchored off
the southernmost coast of it, now known as Basse Terre, and admired a
mountain in the distance, which seemed to reach into the sky (the
volcano "la Souffrière"),