St Salvador, but makes it one of the tributaries of that river a considerable distance up the stream. In order to avoid the tedious interruption of the narrative, one other probable misconception was not adverted to at the moment. It has been assumed, with Herrera, that Cabot left his vessels at the island of St Gabriel, and proceeded thence in boats. More probably, however, the island of Martin Garcia was the one intended. Eden says expressly (fol. 316), that De Solis was killed in attempting to take possession of the island of Martin Garcia, and that it was the same afterwards carried by Cabot. We must bear in mind that Herrera is giving, somewhat loftily and reluctantly, the details of an expedition to which he attaches little importance, and he might not care for minute accuracy. He saw the name of Gabriel conferred by Cabot, and did not choose, perhaps, to occupy the page of his History with describing the further progress of six leagues before the ships were quitted. The account of Eden, who approached the subject in a different temper, is confirmed by other considerations. The island is spoken of by Herrera as one standing by itself. Now the St Gabriel is a group of small islets, correctly stated in the "Ruttier" to be five in number. But still more conclusively: Cabot's report, as given by Herrera, states that seven leagues from the island at which he left his ships, he came to the mouth of a river, which he called St Salvador, and to which he afterwards brought up his ships. Now the "Ruttier" speaks of the position at St Salvador, as nine leagues in all from the island of Martin Garcia, two of which being up the St Salvador, there is, of course, an exact correspondence. The St Gabriel group, on the contrary, is correctly stated in the "Ruttier" to lie six leagues lower down than the island of Martin Garcia. While the statement of Eden produces greater harmony in the accounts, the position of the fort is not contingent on success in this reconciliation, but seems conclusively settled by the language of the "Ruttier." An incident is mentioned by Gomara, but without the attendant circumstances, as occurring at this point, from which it would appear that the position was not gained without resistance. The natives killed and carried off two Spaniards but declared, in a spirit of fierce derision, that they would not cat them, as they were soldiers, of whose flesh they had already had a specimen in De Solis and his followers! *Gomara, cap. lxxxix. "En el puerto de San Salvador que es otro Rio quarenta leguas arriba, que entra en el de la Plata, le mataron los Indios dos Espanoles i no los quisieron comer diciendo que eran Soldados que ia los havian probado en Solis i sus companeros." CHAP. XXI. CABOT PROCEEDS UP THE PARANA-ERECTS ANOTHER FORT CALLED SANTUS SPIRITUS, AND AFTERWARDS FORT CABOT-ITS POSITION-CONTINUES TO ASCEND-CURIOSITY OF THE NATIVES AS TO THE EXPEDITION -PASSES THE MOUTH OF THE PARANA-ENTERS THE PARAGUAY-SANGUINARY BATTLE THIRTY-FOUR LEAGUES UP THAT RIVER-THREE HUNDRED OF THE NATIVES KILLED, WITH A LOSS TO CABOT OF TWENTYFIVE OF HIS PARTY-MAINTAINS HIS POSITION-GARCIA ENTERS THE RIVER-INTERVIEW WITH CABOT-MISTAKES OF CHARLEVOIX, &c.— CABOT RETURNS TO THE FORT SANTUS SPIRITUS." HAVING Completed the Fort, and taken every precaution for the safety of the ships at St Salvador, Cabot resolved to ascend the Parana. Leaving, therefore, a party under the command of Antonio de Grajeda, he proceeded in the boats and a caravel cut down for the purpose. The point at which he next paused and built a second Fort, is not a matter of doubt. It was on the south bank of the Parana, near a river called by the natives Zarcaranna or Carcaranna. This name was subsequently changed by the Spaniards into Terceiro. On the map of De la Rochette, already referred to, and also on that of Juan de la Cruz Canoy Olmedilla,* it is designated at the early stages as Terceiro, but lower down, gathering strength, it re-assumes the aboriginal title. The Fort stood not immediately on the bank of this river but some miles further up the "Mapa Geografica de America Meridional dispuesto y gravado por de Juan de la Cruz Canoy Olmedilla, Geogfo. Pensdo. de S. M. Individuo de la Rl. Academia de S. Fernando, y de la Sociedad Bascongada de los Amigos del Pais; teniendo presentes varios mapas y noticias originales con arreglo á observaciones astronomicas Año de 1775. Este Mapa de los Dominios Españoles y Portugueses en America Meredional, es una copia literal y exacta de un Mapa Español mui raro; compuesto y gravado en Madrid, año 1775, de orden del Rey España, por Dn. Juan de la Cruz Cano y Omedilla, Geofo. Pedo. de S. M. C. Londres, Publicardo por Guillermo Faden, Geografo del Rey, y del Principe de Gales, Enero 1. de 1799." Parana, as appears by the earliest maps, and by the small but admirable one of D'Anville, in vol. xxi. of the "Letters, Edifiantes et curieuses."* On the great map of De la Rochette its position is marked with much precision. There is laid down the "Cart Road" from Buenos Ayres to Sante Fe, which passes through El Rosario and S. Miguel; then comes "el Rincon de Caboto, Fort destroyed;" then Calcachi, and, a little beyond this last, the river Monge. The same representation is made, substantially, by Juan de la Cruz Canay Olmedilla. The only remark of Cabot with regard to the natives of this quarter which Herrera repeats is, that they were intelligent ("gente de buena razon"). He left in this fort a garrison under the command of Gregorio Caro, who had commanded the Maria del Espinar, one of the ships of the squadron, and proceeded in person further up the river. His force must now have been inconsiderable, consisting, as it did, originally, of only one hundred and fifty men, increased perhaps by the gentlemen volunteers. Besides the loss of three principal officers, and inevitable mortality, he had weakened his numbers by leaving garrisons in two forts. Yet his plan was, undoubtedly, a prudent one of thus forming points on which he could fall back, in case of disaster, and break the force and rapidity of a rush towards the vessels. Herrera furnishes no account of his intermediate movements until he reaches the Parana. The incidents which occurred during that long and interesting route are therefore unknown, except from a slight glimpse given in the conversation reported in Ramusio. In ascending the river, Cabot is there represented as "fyndynge it every where verye fayre and inhabited with infinite people which with admyration came runnynge dayly to oure shyppes."+ "Lettres Edifiantes et curieuses ecrites des Missions Etrangers par quelques Missionaires de la Campagnie de Jesus." The work is in the King's Library, British Museum (title in Catalogue Epistola). + Richard Eden's Decades, fol. 255. The original in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 415. "Trovandolo sempre bellissimo et habitato da infiniti popoli che per maraviglia correvano à vedermi." On reaching the junction of the Parana and Paraguay, he saw that the direction of the former was to Brasil, and, therefore, leaving it on his right he ascended thirty-four leagues up the other. The region on which he was now entering presented a new aspect. For the first time, the natives were found engaged in the cultivation of the soil, and, with the feeling that springs from exclusive property, they regarded the strangers with jealousy. The tribes in this quarter are marked, both on the old and the recent maps, as distinguished for ferocity and as the deadliest enemies of the Spaniards and Portuguese. A collision soon took place. Three of Cabot's men having, incautiously, strayed from the main body to gather the fruit of the palm tree, were seized by the natives. There followed a fierce and very sanguinary battle. Three hundred of the natives were killed, and Cabot lost twenty-five of his party.* He would seem to have maintained his position, for, among the incidents occurring below, to which it is time to turn, we find the commander of the lower fort apprised, by letter, of what had taken place. The Portuguese Diego Garcia now re-appears in the narrative of Herrera. That personage, who had left Spain in August 1526, after touching at the Canaries and Cape de Verds proceeded to the coast of Brasil, and is found in January 1527† at the Abrolhos shoals. He visits the Bay of All Saints, the Island of Patos (now St Catherine), all places at which Cabot had touched, and finally the La Plata. We are now without dates, except that in ascending the river Good Friday is mentioned as the day of his departure from Santus Spiritus. Of his previous history nothing is known, except from the anecdote told by Herrera of the fraud on his employers in hiring the principal vessel to the slave-dealer at Cape Vincent. We might charitably conclude that he was looking for Juan Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i. сар. i. |