"The Hunter"
This odd, somewhat disruptive image features a man with a gun juxtaposed with a large bird and a hare. According to Robert Tauber, the hare is a reference to the hare featured in Hopi mythology from the American Southwest. The fact that the Hopi live in North America suggests that Columbus had an uncanny “future-knowledge” about the greatness of his discovery.
The bird may be a parrot; the bright colors of their feathers and their enormous numbers fascinated early travelers from Europe. The gun provides an interesting contrast, because it is Rice’s only image that includes modern technology, suggesting a violent end to the tranquility of beauty that Columbus describes throughout the book.
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