Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.203

c10.203

1493.—"In a small adjacent island . . . our men saw an enormous kind of lizard (lagarto muy grande), which they said was as large round as a calf, and with a tail as long as a lance . . . but bulky as it was, it got into the sea, so that they could not catch it."—*Letter of Dr. Chanca, in Select Letters of Columbus by Major, Hak. Soc. 2nd ed., 43.*