Guayque cumuepo, or cumuepuec, they are going to

kill game. Zazamar, road.

Conopyaune, or conopyayere,

in the time of the shower. Quenpotupra quoguaz, I do not know him. Quenepra quoguaz, I have not seen him. Terepuirpuec, why is he frightened?

Turayerpuec, because of the disease.

Chetayma, within.
Cumueripian, he wanted to

beat him.

Upatay guane mana, there is
honey in my hut.
Tumanemia, always dancing.
Utechirin, I will go also.
Mazpantonoma apotoaca itu-
muecon, the wicked only
will go into the fire.
Patre Cumanantacanan, is the
father at Cumana ?
Cumanantacamana, yes, he is
at Cumana.

Montaonocon, or taronocon,
those of this place.
Miyonocon, those of that
place below.

Yequis puec capuemiaz, 1

tied him to the tree.

NOTE C.

When Christopher Columbus returned from his third voyage, a vague report was spread throughout all Europe, that he had discovered by certain movements of the polar star, that the coast of Paria and the neighbouring sea were ele. vated like a vast table-land; that the Earth was not perfectly round, but that (in the western countries) it had a rising toward the equator; that travellers ascended, in going from Cadiz to the peninsula of Paria, and that owing to the greater elevation of these lands, Paria had a less burning climate, and a race of men less darkly coloured, than those of

Africa. These singular hypotheses are mentioned by all the Historians of that time. (Pet. Martyr, Ocean., Dec. 1, lib. vii, p. 77. Gomara, Hist. gen., cap. viii, p. 110. Herrera, Dec. 1, lib. iii, cap. xii.)

But what observation of the polar star could induce Christopher Columbus to adopt such strange ideas? Ferdinand Columbus explains this in the life of his father (Churchill's Collection, Vol. ii, p. 583). The admiral had observed, in the latitude of the Azores, the meridian altitude of the polar star above and below the pole. The difference of these two altitudes was 5°; and this gave 2° 30' for the distance of the star from the pole; while, by a trigonometric calculation, it ought to have been at that time 3° 24′ 30′′. There was an error therefore of 54' minus. Columbus judged of the passage of the star over the meridian by the position of the Great Bear. When the wain was east, or west, he considered it as indicating the passage of the star over the meridian; but this indication being very uncertain, Columbus was not sure of observing when the polar star was in the meridian; the inferior altitude must have been too great, and the superior too little; and this explains why Columbus found a difference of 5° only between the two altitudes.

Under the torrid zone, at about 7° or 8° of N. latitude, he found the pole star 11 above the horizon, at it's superior meridian, and only six when it was in declination, or at the altitude of the pole, which gave him a polar distance of 5o. Here Columbus supposed again, that the pole star was in the superior meridian, when the wain was in the west; but as he could not perceive the pole star at it's inferior meridian, because it was too low, he observed the altitude when the wain was in the superior meridian, and indicated the declination of the star. The pole star appeared to him again at the altitude of 9°, when the wain was in the inferior meridian and consequently not visible, because of the small elevation of the pole.

If the constellation did not indicate with precision the

passages of the polestar over the meridian, it appears, that the indications it gave of the declinations were still less exact; for it is very probable, that Columbus took the altitude of the polestar when it was below the declination and the pole, and therefore found too small an altitude, and a polar distance of 5° instead of 2° 30′, which he had deduced from his observations in the Azores. In order to explain so great a difference, he imagined, that the Earth had the form not of a pincushion but of a pear; and that mariners ascended prodigiously toward the sky, in going from the Azores to Paria, where the circle described by the polestar must appear very large, because it was seen from a nearer place. "Though I am not," says he, "quite master of my explanation, the star appears in it's full orbit at the equator, while the nearer we approach the pole, the more this orbit diminishes, because of the obliquity of the sky." All this is not calculated to give us a favourable idea of the astronomical knowledge of Columbus. Is it possible that so great a man had not more rational notions of the distance and apparent motions of the stars? The Admiral relates, that while he was at Paria, he had an inflammation in the eyes. Perhaps he observed worse than usual, or entered in his journal the observations of his pilots. Perhaps too the son has given a confused account of the ideas of his father. Gomara blames the Admiral for having imagined that Paria is nearer the sky than Spain. "The Earth," says he, " is round, and not of the figure of a pear. This false opinion of Columbus has maintained it's ground to our own days, and makes some unlearned pilots believe, that from India and Paria to Spain they descend to come to Europe, cuesta abaxo." Peter Martyr d'Anghiera judges also the Admiral with great sevetity, "quæ de poli varietate refert Colonus, contra omnium astronomorum sententiam prolata videntur.”

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER X.

Second abode at Cumana. Earthquakes.
Extraordinary meteors.

WE remained a month longer at Cumana. The voyage which we were going to undertake on the Oroonoko and the Rio Negro required preparations of every kind. We had to choose the instruments, that could be most easily transported in narrow boats; and to furnish ourselves with guides for an inland journey of ten months, across a country which is without communication with the coasts. The astronomical determination of places being the most important object of this undertaking, I felt greatly interested in not missing the observation of an eclipse of the Sun, which was to be visible at the end of the month of October: and in consequence I preferred remaining till that period