The Admiral Gave Her Some Hawks-Bells
And Glass Beads, And Ordered Her To Have A Shirt, And Sent Her Away With
Three Spaniards, And Three Of The Indian Captives, To Accompany Her To Her
Dwelling.
SECTION VIII.
Farther Discovery of Hispaniola: Simplicity of the Natives: Kind
reception from the Cacique Guacanagari. The Admiral loses his ship, and
resolves to settle a Colony in the Island.
Next day the admiral sent nine armed Spaniards, with an Indian of St
Salvador to serve as interpreter, to the womans habitation, which was four
leagues to the south-east of where the ships then lay. They here found a
town of 1000 scattered houses; but it was quite deserted, as all the
inhabitants had fled into the woods. The Indian interpreter was sent after
them, and at length persuaded them to return, by saying much in praise of
the Spaniards. They returned accordingly to the town, trembling with fear
and amazement, laying their hands on the heads of the Spaniards, out of
honour and respect, entreating of them to eat, and to remain with them for
the night. Abundance of people now collected; some of them carrying the
woman on their shoulders in triumph to whom the admiral had given a shirt,
and her husband came among them, on purpose to return thanks for the
honourable gift. The Spaniards now returned to the ships, reporting that
the country abounded in provisions, that the natives were whiter and
better-looking than those of the other islands; but that the gold country
lay still more to the eastwards. By their description the men were not of
large size, yet brawny and well set, without beards, having wide nostrils
and broad smooth ungraceful foreheads, which were so shaped at their birth
as a beauty, for which reason, and because they always went bareheaded,
their skulls were hard enough to break a Spanish sword. Here the admiral
observed the length of the day and night, and found that twenty half-hour
glasses run out between sun-rise and sun-set, making the day consequently
ten hours long; but he believed the seamen had been negligent and had made
a mistake, and that the day was somewhat more than eleven hours. Though
the wind was contrary, he resolved to leave this place, and continue his
course to the eastwards through the channel between Tortuga and Hispaniola,
where he found an Indian fishing in a canoe, and wondered his small vessel
was not swallowed up, as the waves rose very high; he accordingly took
both Indian and canoe into the ship, where he treated him well, and sent
him on shore afterwards with some toys. This man commended the Spaniards
so much that many of the natives resorted to the ships; but they had only
some small grains of gold hanging at their noses, which they freely parted
with. Being asked whence that gold came, they made signs that there was
plenty of it farther on. On the admiral inquiring for Cipango, which he
still expected to find in these seas, they thought he had meant Cibao,
and pointed to the eastwards, as the place in the island which produced
most gold.
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