A wild vine of the
country having been pruned, had produced large and excellent grapes. On
the 30th of March a peasant gathered some ears of wheat which had only
been sown in the latter end of January. There were vetches likewise, but
much larger than the seed they had brought from Spain; these had sprung up
in three days after they were sown, and the produce was fit to eat after
twenty-five days. The stones of fruit set in the ground sprouted in seven
days. Vine branches shot out in the same time, and in twenty-five days
they gathered green grapes.
Sugar canes budded in seven days. All this wonderful rapidity of
vegetation proceeded from the temperature of the climate, which was not
unlike that of the south of Spain, being rather cool than hot at the
present season of the year. The waters likewise were cold, pure, and
wholesome; so that upon the whole the admiral was well satisfied with the
soil and air, and with the people of the country.
On Tuesday the 1st of April, intelligence was brought by a messenger from
fort St Thomas, that all the Indians of that country had withdrawn from
the neighbourhood, and that a cacique named Caunabo was making
preparations to attack the fort.
