The Fight Ended Upon This, And
Afterwards Many Natives Came Off To The Ships In A Peaceable Manner To See
Our People And To Barter Provisions And Other Articles For Such Trifles As
Our People Offered.
In this bay, which is in the form of a horse shoe, the
admiral repaired his ship which was leaky; and then sailed on the ninth of
May, keeping along shore to the westwards, the Indians following
continually in their canoes to trade or barter with our people.
The wind
proving rather contrary, and not being able to make so much way as he
wished, the admiral left the coast of Jamaica and stood over for Cuba,
designing to keep along its coast for five or six hundred leagues, that he
might be satisfied whether it were an island or the continent. That day
while leaving Jamaica, a young Indian came on board desiring to be
carried into Spain, and when several of his kindred and others entreated
him to return he refused to change his resolution, and to avoid the
importunities of his friends, and not to see his sisters cry and sob, he
went where they could not come to him. The admiral admired his resolution,
and gave orders that he should be civilly treated.
Leaving Jamaica on Wednesday the 15th of May, the admiral came to that
point of Cuba which he named Cabo de Santa Cruz, or Cape Holy Cross. In
running along the coast they encountered a great storm of thunder and
lightning which, combined with numerous flats and strong currents,
occasioned much trouble and great danger, being obliged to struggle at the
same time against two evils which required opposite remedies; for it is
proper during thunder to strike the sails, whereas it is necessary to
spread them to avoid the flats, and had this double calamity lasted for
eight or ten leagues it had been quite insupportable.
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