[11a] All these mighty promises of mines turned out only torrents and rivulets, in the beds of which gold dust and grains were found with infinite labour, and which, after the destruction of the natives, were all abandoned as unprofitable.--E. [12] Flamingos. [13] The remarkable whiteness of these three natives might have proceeded from the use of white pigments, which, as well as red and black, were used by the natives of the West India islands.--E. [14] There must be a gross error here in the original translation, as the circumstance of towing ships in such shallow water is impossible. The passage ought probably to be thus understood: "There was not a foot of water _to spare_, and the wind being foul the channel was too narrow to turn through, which occasioned the necessity of towing." As expressed in the text, the boats could not have floated.--E. [15] These strong descriptive epithets seem to have been colloquial exaggerations of the recounter to Don Ferdinand Columbus.--E. [16] Columbus seems now to have changed his course, back again the way be came, though not clearly so expressed in the text.--E. [17] Probably alluding to the dress of the Spanish priest who had said mass, and explanatory of the clothed natives who had been seen in that place during this voyage.--E. [18] This bread, which is called cassada or cassava in the British West Indies, is made from the roots of Manioca pounded or grated, and carefully pressed free from its juice, which is alleged to be poisonous. The process will be found minutely described in other parts of this collection.--E. [19] It is not competent in the bounds of a note to enter upon philosophical discussions. But it may be shortly mentioned that the regular evening rains can be easily accounted for upon Dr Huttons ingenious theory of rain. The heated land air loaded to saturation with water, by the periodical change of the land and sea breezes, meets and mixes with the colder sea air, likewise saturated. The reduced mean temperature of the mixture is no longer able to hold the same quantity of water in solution, and the superabundant quantity precipitates in rain. Hence likewise the prodigious rains in all warm latitudes at the changes of the monsoon. The observation of Columbus respecting clearing away the woods has been verified in several West India islands.--E. [20] The longitude of Cadiz is 6°18' W. from Greenwich. That of _Saono_, the modern name of Adamanoi, is 68°30'. The difference between these is only 62°12', or four hours five minutes. The calculation in the text therefore is one hour and eighteen minutes erroneous in point of time, and 12°15' in longitude; and would remove the east end of Hispaniola, to long 80°45' west from Greenwich, considerably beyond the west end of Jamaica.--E.