In This Harbour The Indians Had Pens In
Which They Shut Up The Fish.
On the north side there are likewise good
harbours, the best of which was formerly called Carenas, but now Havanna,
which is so large and safe that few can be compared to it.
Twenty leagues
east is the harbour of Matanaos, which is not quite safe. About the middle
of the island there is another good port, called del Principe; and
almost at the end is the port of Baraca, where good ebony is cut. All
along this coast there are good anchorages, though none so large and
commodious as those already mentioned.
Cuba produces great numbers of birds, as pigeons, turtle-doves, partridges
like those of Spain but smaller, and cranes. There are none of these two
latter on the other islands, but there are cranes on the continent. There
is another bird, not found on the continent, as large as cranes, which are
white when young, but grow red at their full growth, which are called
flamences or flamingos. These would have been much valued in New Spain,
for the curious feather-works which are made by the natives. These
flamingos are found in vast flocks of 500 to 1000 together. They seldom
fly, but stand much in the water. When the Indians kept any of these birds
about their houses, they had to put salt into the water they gave them to
drink. There are infinite numbers of parrots, which are very good eating
when young, about the month of May. They have few land animals, except a
kind of rabbits like those of Hispaniola; but to make amends for this want,
they have vast quantities of fish both in the sea and the rivers: among
these the chiefest is tortoises or turtles, in vast abundance, excellent
of their kind, and very wholesome, which cure the leprosy and the itch, in
such as are content to make them their constant food. It produces maize or
Indian corn in great abundance; and every thing considered, it may be
pronounced the finest and best provided country in that part of the world.
The natives of Cuba were of the same nation with those of the Lucayos
islands, a good sort of people, and very well tempered. They were governed
by caciques, having towns of 200 or 300 houses, in each of which several
families resided, as in Hispaniola.
They had no religion, having no temples, idols, or sacrifices; but they
had a kind of conjuring priests or jugglers, like those in Hispaniola, who
pretended to have communication with the devil, and to obtain answers from
him to their questions. To obtain this favour, they fasted three or four
months, using only the juice of herbs; and when reduced to extreme
weakness, they were worthy of inspiration, and to be informed whether the
seasons of the year would be favourable or otherwise; what children were
to be born, and whether those born were to live, and such like questions.
These conjurors, who were called behiques, were the oracles of the
natives, whom they led into many superstitions and absurdities; pretending
to cure the sick by blowing on them, and other mummeries, muttering some
unintelligible words between their teeth. The natives of Cuba acknowledged
that the heavens and earth, and all things contained in these, had been
created. They are even said to have had traditions concerning the flood,
and the destruction of the world by water, occasioned by three persons who
came three several ways. The old men reported, that a sage who knew the
approaching deluge, built a great ship, into which he went with his family,
and many animals. That he sent out a crow, which remained a long while out,
feeding on the dead bodies, and afterwards returned with a green branch.
They added many other particulars respecting the deluge, even to two of
Noah's sons covering him when drunk, while the third scoffed him; adding
that the Indians were descended from the latter, and therefore had no
clothes, whereas the Spaniards descended from the other sons, and had
therefore clothes and horses. As they lived in towns under the authority
of caciques, it is probable that the will of these chiefs served as law.
Some time before the expedition of Velasquez to Cuba, a cacique of the
province of Guatiba, in Hispaniola, named Hatuey, to escape from the
tyranny of the Spaniards, went over to the eastern end of Cuba with as
many of his people as he could induce to accompany him; the distance
between the two islands being only eighteen leagues. He settled with his
followers in the nearest district of Cuba, called Mayci, reducing the
inhabitants of that place to subjection, but not to slavery. In fact
slavery does not appear to have been practised in any part of the West
Indies, no difference being made even by the caciques between their people
and their children; except in New Spain and other provinces of the
continent, where they used to sacrifice prisoners of war to their idols.
This cacique Hatuey, always had spies in Hispaniola, to inform him what
was going on there, as he feared the Spaniards would pass over into Cuba.
Having information of the admiral's design, and the intended expedition of
Velasquez, he assembled all the warriors of his tribe, and putting them in
mind of the many sufferings they had endured under the Spaniards, he
informed them of their new intentions. Then taking some gold from a basket
of palm leaves, he addressed them as follows: "The Spaniards have done all
these things which I have told you of for the sake of this, which is the
god whom they serve, and their only object in coming over to this island
is in search of this their lord. Let us therefore make a festival, and
dance to this lord of the Spaniards, that when they come hither, he may
order them not to do us any harm." They accordingly all began to dance and
sing, and continued till they were quite tired, as it is their custom to
dance from nightfall till daybreak, as long as they can stand.
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