The
Pilot Of That Ship Went Over Into The Canoe, And Gave The Indians Some
Baubles With Which They Were Much Pleased, And Said If They Were On Shore
They Would Have Brought Him Bread From Their Houses.
The account given of
these people was that they were well shaped and whiter than the other
islanders, wearing their hair long like women, bound up with small strings,
and that they covered their nudities with small clouts.
But the people in
the caravel did not detain any of them for fear of giving displeasure to
the admiral.
As soon as the ships had anchored at Punta del Arenal, the admiral sent
the boats on shore for water, and to endeavour to procure some information
respecting the Indians, but they could do neither, that country being very
low and uninhabited, and having no springs or rivulets. He therefore
ordered them next day to dig trenches or pits on the island in hope of
procuring water by that means; and by good fortune, they found these ready
made to their hands and full of excellent water, it being supposed that
they had been dug by the fishermen. Having taken what water they wanted,
the admiral resolved to proceed to another mouth or channel which appeared
towards the north-west, which he afterwards called Boca del Drago, or
the Dragons Mouth, to distinguish it from the one where he then was, to
which he had given the name of Boca del Sierpe, or the Serpents Mouth.
These two mouths or channels, like the Dardanelles, are made by the two
most westerly points of the island of Trinidada, and two other points of
the continent, and lie almost north and south of each other. In the midst
of the Serpents Mouth, where the admiral now anchored, there was a rock
which he called El Gallo, or the cock. Through this channel the water ran
continually and furiously to the northwards, as if it had been the mouth
of some great river, which was the occasion of naming it Boca del Sierpe,
because of the terror it put our people into; for, as they lay very
securely at anchor, there came a stronger current of the water than usual,
making a hideous noise and running furiously to the northwards; and being
opposed by another current running out from the Gulf of Paria, they met
with a hideous roaring noise, and caused the sea to swell up like a high
mountain, or ridge of hills along the channel. Soon afterwards, this
mountainous wave came towards the ships, to the great terror of all the
men, fearing they should be overset. But it pleased GOD that it passed
underneath, or rather lifted up the ships without doing any harm; yet it
drew the anchor of one of them and carried it away, but by means of their
sails they escaped the danger, not without mortal fear of being lost. That
furious current being past, and considering the danger of remaining there,
the admiral stood for the Dragons Month, which is between the north-west
point of Trinidada and the east point of Paria; but he went not through it
at that time, but sailed along the south coast of Paria westwards,
thinking it to have been an island, and expecting to find a way out
northwards into the Caribbean sea towards Hispaniola; and though there
were many ports along that coast of Paria, he would put into none, all
that inland sea being a harbour locked in by the continent.
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