The Spaniards Were Roderick De Xeres, A Native Of Ayamonte, And
Lewis De Torres, Who Had Been A Jew, And Spoke Hebrew And Chaldee, And
Some Arabic.
These people were furnished with toys to barter, and were
restricted to six days, having proper instructions of what
They were to
say in the name of their Catholic majesties, and were directed to
penetrate into the country, informing themselves of every thing worth
notice, and not to do any injury to any of the natives. In the mean time,
the admiral refitted the ships, and found all the wood they used for fuel
produced a kind of gum like mastic, the leaf and fruit much resembling the
lentisc, but the tree was much larger. In this river of Mares, the ships
had room to swing, having seven or eight fathoms water at the mouth, and
five within. There were two small hills on the west side of the river, and
a pleasant flat cape running out to the W.N.W. This was afterwards the
port of Barocoa, which the adelantado Velasquez called Assumption.
On the 5th of November, when the ships were ready to sail, the two
Spaniards returned, accompanied by three natives of the island. They
reported that they had penetrated twenty-two leagues, and found a town of
50 houses, built like those which had been seen already, and containing
about 1000 inhabitants, as a whole race lived in one house. The prince and
chief men came out to meet them, and led them by the arms to lodge in one
of the houses, where they were seated on stools of an entire piece of wood,
shaped like a living creature with short legs, the tail standing upright,
and the head before, with gold eyes and ears. All the Indians sat about
them on the ground, and came in succession to kiss their hands, believing
they came from heaven, and gave them boiled roots to eat, which tasted
like chesnuts. They were entreated to remain, or at least to stay for some
days to rest themselves, as the Indians that went with them had said a
great deal in their praise. The men afterwards went away, and many women
came to see them, who were much amazed, kissed their hands and feet, and
touched them fearfully as if holy, offering them what they had to give. On
their return, many of the natives desired to accompany them; but they
would only permit the lord of the town, with his son and a servant, whom
the admiral treated with much respect. They added, that they met with
several towns, both in going and returning, where they were courteously
entertained; but none of them contained more than five or six houses. On
the way, they met many people carrying lighted fire-brands to make fire
with, to smoke themselves with certain herbs they carried along with them,
and to roast roots, which were their chief food. They could easily light a
fire, by rubbing pieces of a certain wood together, as if boring.
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