Puerto Viejo, April 26,
1535.
Sacred Imperial Catholic Majesty:
It seemed
right to me to let Your Majesty know the progress of my trip
from the time I left Panama, which was on the twenty-third of
February of the current year, until I arrived in the town of
Puerto Viejo.
The ship sailed with very good
breezes for seven days, and the pilot kept near land and we had
a six-day calm; the currents were so strong and engulfed us in
such a way that on Wednesday, the tenth of March, we sighted
an island; and, as on board there was only enough water for only
two more days, they agreed to lower the life-boat and go on land
for water and grass for the horses, and once out, they found
nothing but seals, and turtles, such big tortoises, that each
could carry a man on top of itself, and many iguanas that are
like serpents.
On another day, we saw another
island larger than the first, and with great sierras; and thinking
that on account of its size and monstrous shape, there could
not fail to be rivers and fruits, we went to it, because the
distance around the first one was about four or five leagues
around the other, ten or twelve leagues, and at this juncture
the water on the ship gave out and we were three days in reaching
the island on account of the calms, during which all of us, as
well as the horses, suffered great hardships. . . .
FRAY TOMAS EPS.
LOCATELLI AURIL
