In the same year 1502, Alfonso Hojeda went to discover the Terra Firma, and followed its coast till he came to the province of Uraba I7.  In 1503, Roderigo Bastidas of Seville went with two caravels at his own cost, to the Antilles, where he first came to the Isla Verde, or the Green island, close by Guadaloupe; whence he sailed westwards to Santa Martha and Cape do la Vela, and to the Rio Grande or Great river.  He afterwards discovered the haven of Zamba, the Coradas, Carthagena, the islands of S. Bernard de Baru, the Islas de Arenas, Isla Fuerta, and the Point of Caribana, at the end of the Gulf of Uraba, where he had sight of the Farrallones, close by the river of Darien.  From Cape de la Vela to this last place, which is in lat. 9 deg. 40’ N. is 200 leagues.  From thence he stood over to Jamaica for refreshments.  In Hispaniola he had to lay his ships on the ground to repair their bottoms, because a certain species of worms had eaten many holes in the planks.  In this voyage Bastidas procured four hundred marks[18] of gold; though the people were very warlike, and used poisoned arrows.

In the same year 1502, Columbus entered upon his fourth voyage of discovery, with four ships, taking with him his son Don Ferdinando.  The particular object of this voyage, by command of King Ferdinand, was to look out for the strait which was supposed to penetrate across the continent of the new world, and by which a route to India by the west was expected to be discovered.  He sailed by Hispaniola and Jamaica to the river Azua, Cape Higueras, the Gamares islands, and to Cape Honduras, which signifies the Cape of the Depths.  From thence he sailed eastwards to Cape Garcias a Dios, and discovered the province and river of Veragua, the Rio Grande, and others, which the Indians call Hienra.  Thence to the river of Crocodiles, now called Rio de Chagres, which rises near the South Sea, within four leagues of Panama, and runs into the Caribbean Sea.  He went next to the Isle of Bastimentos, or of Provisions, and after that to Porto Bello; thence to Nombre de Dios and Rio Francisco, and the harbour of Retreat.  Then to the Gulf of Cabesa Cattiva, the islands of Caperosa and Cape Marmora; having discovered two hundred leagues along the coast.  He thence returned to the island of Cuba, and from that to Jamaica, where he laid his ships aground, on account of their bottoms being much eaten by the worms.

On the tenth of February 1S02, Don Vasques de Gama, now admiral, sailed from Lisbon for India, with nineteen or twenty caravels.  On the last day of February he reached Cape de Verd, whence he went to Mosambique, and was the first who crossed over from thence to India.  In this passage he discovered the islands of Amirante, in four degrees of south latitude.  Having taken in a cargo of pepper and drugs, de Gama returned to Lisbon, leaving Vincent Sodre to keep the coast of India, with four stout ships.  These were the first of the Portuguese who navigated the coast of Arabia Felix, which is so barren, that the inhabitants are forced to support their camels and other cattle on dried fish.  The sea on that coast is so abundant in fish, that the cats are in use to take them.  One Antonio de Saldania is reported to have discovered Socotora, formerly named Coradis, and the Cape of Guardafu in 1503.