Among These He Said That He Saw One Person
Clad In A White Coat Or Vest Down To His Knees,
Carried by two others who
had white vestments down to their feet, all three of them as white as
Spaniards;
But that he had no intercourse with them, because being afraid
of such a number he called out to his comrades, and the Indians ran away
without looking back[13].
Next day, the admiral sent some people on shore to look after these
natives, but they could not travel above half a league from the shore on
account of the thickness of the trees and bushes, and because all that
coast for two leagues up the country, where the hills and mountains begin,
is boggy and marshy, so that they only saw a few footsteps of fishermen on
the shore, and abundance of cranes like those of Spain but larger. Having
sailed about ten leagues farther westwards, they saw some houses on the
shore, whence some canoes came off with water, and such food as the
Indians use, and for which they were well paid. The admiral caused one of
those Indians to be detained, telling him and the rest, by means of an
interpreter, that he would freely permit him to go home as soon as he had
given him an account of the country and some directions for the voyage.
This Indian assured the admiral that Cuba was an island, and that the king
or cacique of the western part of it never spoke to any of his subjects
but by signs, yet that all his orders were immediately obeyed; that all
this coast was very low and full of small islands.
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