The Worst Of All Was,
That All Over This Sea, Both Northwards, And To The North-East, The Farther
They
Went the greater number of low little islands they met with, in some
of which there were trees, but others
Were sandy and scarcely appeared
above the surface of the water; some of these were a league in compass,
some more and some less. The nearer they kept to the coast of Cuba the
higher and pleasanter these small islands appeared; and it being difficult
and useless to give names to every one, the admiral called them all in
general Jardin de la Reyna, or the Queens Garden. They saw many more
islands next day to the north-east, north-west, and south-west, insomuch
that they counted 160 islands that day, all parted by deep channels, many
of which the ships sailed through. In some of these islands they saw many
cranes resembling those of Spain in shape and size, but of a scarlet
colour[12]. In others they found great numbers of turtles, or sea
tortoises, and immense quantities of their eggs, which are not unlike
those of a hen but with much harder shells. The female turtle deposits her
eggs in holes on the sand, and covering them up leaves them to be hatched
by the heat of the sun, which brings forth the little turtles, which grow
in time to be as large as a buckler or great target. In these islands they
also saw crows and cranes like those of Spain, and sea crows, and infinite
numbers of small birds which sung delightfully, and the very air was sweet,
as if they had been among roses and the finest perfumes; yet the danger
was very great on account of the innumerable channels among the islands,
by which much time was spent in finding the way through.
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