plant blossoms, buds, and open pods. A thousand other productions I have also observed, which doubtless are of great value, but it is impossible for me to describe them." On the fifth of November, the party sent to the Grand Kahn returned, and gave these particulars of their journey: "After having travelled a dozen leagues they came to a town containing about fifty houses, where there were probably a thousand inhabitants ; each house containing a large number of people. The houses were built after the manner of large tents. The inhabitants received them, after their fashion, with great ceremony. The men and women flocked to behold them, and they were lodged in their best houses. They showed their admiration and reverence by touching the strangers, kissing their hands and feet, and manifesting astonishment. They imagined them to be from heaven, and signified as much to them. They were feasted with such food as the natives had to offer. Upon their arrival at the town the chief men of the place led them by the arms to the principal building ; here they gave them seats, and the Indians sat upon the ground in a circle round them. The Indians who had accompanied the Spaniards explained to the natives the manner in which their strange guests lived, and gave a favorable account of their character. The men then left the building, and the women entered, and sat around the Spaniards as the men had done. They kissed their hands and feet and examined them to see whether they were flesh and bone like their own. *** No village was seen upon the road of a larger size than five houses. numbers of birds were observed, all different from those of Spain except the nightingales, which delighted ** * Great them with their songs. Partridges and geese were also found in great number. Of quadrupeds they saw none except dogs that could not bark. The soil appeared fertile and under good cultivation, producing the mames already mentioned and beans very dissimilar to ours, as well as the grain called panic. They saw large quantities of cotton, spun and manufactured. A single house contained more than five hundred arrobas' of it. Four thousand quintals might be collected here yearly. *** These people are inoffensive and peaceable. They are unclothed, but the women wear a slight covering about their loins. Their manners are very decent, and their complexion not very dark, but lighter than the inhabitants of the Canary Islands. I have no doubt, most serene sovereigns,' says the admiral, 'that were some proper, devout, and religious persons to come among them and learn their language, it would be an easy matter to convert them all to Christianity, and I hope in our Lord that your highnesses will devote yourselves with much diligence to this object, and bring as great a multitude into the church, inasmuch as you have exterminated those who refused to confess the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' "I have observed that these people have no religion, neither are they idolaters, but are a very gentle race, without the knowledge of any iniquity. They neither kill, steal, nor carry weapons, and are so timid that one of our men can put a hundred of them to flight, although they readily sport and play tricks with them. They have the knowledge that there is a God above, and are firmly persuaded that we have come from heaven. They quickly learn such prayers as we'repeat to them, and also to make the sign of the cross.' * * * 'An arroba is equal to twenty-five pounds. Along the Rio de Mares, which I left last evening, [Sunday, the eleventh of November,] there is undoubtedly considerable mastic, and the quantity might be increased, for the trees when transplanted easily take root. They are of a lofty size, bearing leaves and fruit like the lentisk. The tree, however, is taller and has a larger leaf than the lentisk, as is mentioned by Pliny, and as I have myself observed in the island of Scio, in the Archipelago. I ordered many of these trees to be tapped in order to extract the resin, but as the weather was rainy all the time I was on the river, I was unable to procure more than a very small quantity, which I have preserved for your highnesses. * Great quantities of cotton might be raised here, and sold profitably, as I think, without being carried to Spain, but to the cities of the Grand Khan, which we shall doubtless discover, as well as many others belonging to other sovereigns. These may become a source of profit to your highnesses by trading there with the productions of Spain and of the other countries of Europe. Here also is to be found plenty of aloe, which, however, is not of very great value, but the mastic assuredly is, as it is found nowhere else than in the previously mentioned island of Scio, where, if I rightly remember, it is produced to the amount of fifty thousand ducats annually." Columbus further remarks, that at this point, near the river which he had called Rio del Sol, "he found the weather somewhat cold, and, as it was in the winter, he thought it not prudent to prosecute his discoveries any farther toward the north." * 'Las Casas remarks: "From what he here relates, it appears that had he proceeded farther northerly he would undoubtedly, in two more days, have discovered Florida."-MS. of Las Casas. Vide Personal narrative of the first voyage of Columbus to America. [Kettell.] pp. 73-86. |