ABSTRACT
The sity is situatid upon the sid a a1 holow hyle which goes falling downe towardes the porte ofTeshar,2 and frome the sea No house cann be seen, only the A by of St domyngo which standes upon the very heyght of the hyle, which by them Lykwise is fortefyed.3 This Cyty and porte is only to be asawtid 2 ways: the one is by the causy thatt Corns from the mayn of the Iland, 4 and making ther a lytel forte as Is determynid, and allredy donn thatt place is asurid ; the other is by the mouthe of the porte, the which the forte callid the moro that was then amaking and now fynyshid will asure the comyng in of the sayd harboro. The which is very difficult, by reason of the sholls and rokes of both sides, and the shipping going in receaving certain contrary calme of wind growing by dub ling the poynte of the mora ; and of nessescity they must
show Cecil (document 45). The paragraph following the heading appears to be a translation of what was written on the map, but the dating of this passage ('In Porte rico the 25 of aprill 1595') creates a problem, for Antoneli was in Panama in April 1595 and had not visited Puerto Rico since 1589 (Diego Angulo Iruguez, Bautista Antonelli: las Fortificaciones Americanas del Siglo XVI (Madrid, 1942), pp. 2o-8, 6r). The explanation that either Baskerville or Antoneli carelessly wrote '1595' for 'r589' is not acceptable because Antoneli lefi Puerto Rico before 25 April 1589. Moreover the words 'the moro that was then amaking and now fynyshid', unless interpolated by Baskerville, suggest that the description was written long afier the drawing of the map. It seems likely, therefore, that Antoneli drew the map in 1589 and wrote the description in 1595, not at Puerto Rico but at Porto Belo, the place-name being misread by Baskerville. On this assumption Baskerville could hardly have obtained the map from Puerto Rico, and indeed he had little opportunity to acquire any such materials there. On the other hand it could have come into English hands from Alberto Ojeda, Antoneli's assistant, when he came aboard at Nombre de Dios. The passage following the date consists of Baskerville' s own comments on the defences of the eastern end of the island, and seems to show more detailed knowledge than the English could have acquired in the course of the brief and necessarily superficial reconnaissance carried out by the caravel which approached the Boquer6n. It seems likely that this information came from the Spanish seamen who were taken prisoner during the night attack on the harbour. The document as a whole should be compared with the description of the defences given in Baskerville's 'discourse' (document 20 ). Both appear to be based partly on information gathered afier the event and to contain an element of exaggeration which in the circumstances is only to be expected. See also map I, p. 150.
