He Anchored In A Great River, To Which He Gave The Name
Of San Salvador, For A Good Omen.
The wood appeared very thick, and
composed of tall trees, bearing blossoms and fruit quite different from
those of Spain, and frequented by numberless birds.
Wanting some
information, the admiral sent to two houses in sight, but the inhabitants
fled away, taking their nets and fishing tackle, and accompanied by a dog
that did not bark. He would not allow any thing to be touched, but went on
to another great river, which he named De la Luna, or Moon river; and
thence to another which he called Mares, or Sea river, the banks of
which were thickly peopled, but the inhabitants all fled to the mountains,
which were thickly clothed with many kinds of tall trees. The Indians he
had brought with him from Guanahani, said that there were gold and pearls
to be found here; which last he thought likely, as muscles were seen.
These Indians added that the continent was only ten days sail from this
island; but, from a notion he had imbibed from the writings of Paul, a
physician of Florence, and though he was in the right, it was not the land
he imagined[5]. Believing that the Indians would be afraid if many men
were to land, he sent only two Spaniards on shore, along with one of the
Guanahani Indians, and one belonging to Cuba who had come on board in a
canoe. The Spaniards were Roderick de Xeres, a native of Ayamonte, and
Lewis de Torres, who had been a Jew, and spoke Hebrew and Chaldee, and
some Arabic. These people were furnished with toys to barter, and were
restricted to six days, having proper instructions of what they were to
say in the name of their Catholic majesties, and were directed to
penetrate into the country, informing themselves of every thing worth
notice, and not to do any injury to any of the natives. In the mean time,
the admiral refitted the ships, and found all the wood they used for fuel
produced a kind of gum like mastic, the leaf and fruit much resembling the
lentisc, but the tree was much larger. In this river of Mares, the ships
had room to swing, having seven or eight fathoms water at the mouth, and
five within. There were two small hills on the west side of the river, and
a pleasant flat cape running out to the W.N.W. This was afterwards the
port of Barocoa, which the adelantado Velasquez called Assumption.
On the 5th of November, when the ships were ready to sail, the two
Spaniards returned, accompanied by three natives of the island. They
reported that they had penetrated twenty-two leagues, and found a town of
50 houses, built like those which had been seen already, and containing
about 1000 inhabitants, as a whole race lived in one house. The prince and
chief men came out to meet them, and led them by the arms to lodge in one
of the houses, where they were seated on stools of an entire piece of wood,
shaped like a living creature with short legs, the tail standing upright,
and the head before, with gold eyes and ears. All the Indians sat about
them on the ground, and came in succession to kiss their hands, believing
they came from heaven, and gave them boiled roots to eat, which tasted
like chesnuts. They were entreated to remain, or at least to stay for some
days to rest themselves, as the Indians that went with them had said a
great deal in their praise. The men afterwards went away, and many women
came to see them, who were much amazed, kissed their hands and feet, and
touched them fearfully as if holy, offering them what they had to give. On
their return, many of the natives desired to accompany them; but they
would only permit the lord of the town, with his son and a servant, whom
the admiral treated with much respect. They added, that they met with
several towns, both in going and returning, where they were courteously
entertained; but none of them contained more than five or six houses. On
the way, they met many people carrying lighted fire-brands to make fire
with, to smoke themselves with certain herbs they carried along with them,
and to roast roots, which were their chief food. They could easily light a
fire, by rubbing pieces of a certain wood together, as if boring. They saw
several sorts of trees differing from those on the sea coast, and an
extraordinary variety of birds, quite different from those of Spain; but
among these there were partridges and nightingales; and they found no
quadrupeds, except the dogs formerly mentioned, that could not bark. The
Indians had much land in cultivation, part in those roots before mentioned,
and part sown with a grain named Maize, which was well tasted; either
boiled whole, or made into flour. They saw vast quantities of spun cotton,
made up into clews, and thought there was above 12,000 weight of it in one
house. This cotton grows wild in the fields, and opens of itself when ripe,
and there were some heads open and others shut on the same plants; and
this was held in so little estimation by the natives, that they would give
a basket full for a leather thong, a piece of glazed earthen ware, or a
bit of mirror. Being all naked, the only use to which this cotton was
applied, was for net hammocks, in which they slept, and for weaving into
small clouts to cover their nakedness. Being asked for gold and pearls,
they said there was plenty of them at Bohio, pointing to the east. The
Spaniards made much inquiry among the natives on board, for gold, and were
told it camp from Cubanocan; which some thought meant the country of the
Chan of Cathay, and that it was not far off, as their signs indicated four
days journey.
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