Vespucci does not mention the names of the commanders of the expedition, nor of any of his Spanish comrades; and he gives only one native word, _Carabi_; three names of articles of food, _Yuca_, _Casabi_, and _Ignami_; and two names of places, _Iti_ and _Parias_ (or _Lariab_?).
Two of the names for food, _Yuca_ and _Casabi_, belong to the language of the Antilles, and Vespucci would have heard of them during his voyage with Hojeda. _Ignami_ is an African word, which he would have picked up at Lisbon. The use of the word _Yuca_, as belonging to the language of the natives of the Mexican coast near 23° N., is one more proof of the imposture of his narrative.[41]
The name of _Parias_ requires fuller notice. It is alleged to be the name of a province in 23° N., and is thus spelt in the Latin version. Las Casas, therefore, naturally used it as one argument against the truth of Vespucci's narrative, for _Paria_ was well known to be a province of the mainland opposite the island of Trinidad, discovered by Columbus. But in the Italian version the word is _Lariab_, an _L_ being substituted for _P_, and _b_ for _s_. Varnhagen endeavours to make a strong point of this discrepancy. He eagerly adopts _Lariab_ as the correct form, having found (not _Lariab_) but two words ending in _ab_ in a vocabulary of the Huasteca Indians, whose country is near the northern frontier of Mexico. It is impossible to ascertain, with certainty, whether _Parias_, or _Lariab_, or either, was the word in the original manuscript of Vespucci, which is lost. It is in favour of _Lariab_ that the Italian version was probably printed from the manuscript without previous translation; while the version containing _Parias_ was translated into French, and then into Latin, before it was printed. On the other hand, there is strong reason for the belief that the editor of the Latin version had not then heard of the particulars of the third voyage of Columbus, or of the name of Paria.[42] In that case it could not have come into his head to print _Parias_ for _Lariab_, and consequently _Parias_ was the original form, and _Lariab_ a misprint of the Italian version. On the whole, _Parias_ is probably correct; but the question is not important, because the evidence against Vespucci is quite sufficient without the _Parias_ argument.