The Admiral Thought This Island Very
Large And Beautiful, And To Have An Unusual Number Of Towns; But It
Afterwards Turned Out To Be Jamaica Itself, Which Is Eighty Leagues Long
And Fifty Broad[7].
The weather becoming more settled, the admiral stood to the eastwards for
Hispaniola, and came to the extreme point of
That island stretching
towards Jamaica, which he called Cabo de Ferol, or Cape Lighthouse[8];
and on Wednesday the 20th of August, he got sight of the westernmost point
of Hispaniola, which he named Cape St Michael, now called Tiberoon;
which is twenty-five or thirty leagues from the easternmost point of
Jamaica[9]. On, Saturday the 23d of August, a cacique came off to the
ships, calling out Almirante! Almirante! from which circumstance he
inferred that he had fallen in with Hispaniola, of which he was not till
then assured. At the end of August, he anchored at a small island which
looks like a sail, which he therefore named Alto Vela, being twelve
leagues from Beata[10]. The other two ships being out of sight, the
admiral sent some of his men to the top of this island to look out for
them. While on shore the seamen killed five seals which lay asleep on the
sand, and knocked down many birds with their sticks, even catching some
with their hands, for a the island was uninhabited they were not afraid of
men. After six days waiting, the other ships rejoined the admiral; and he
proceeded to La Beata, and thence eastwards along the coast of
Hispaniola to a river running through a fine populous plain, now called
Catalina, or Catherines Plain, from the name of a lady to whom it once
belonged[11]. Some Indians came off to the ships in their canoes, who said
the Spaniards from the town of Isabella had been there, and were all well.
Going on eastwards from this place, a large town was observed on shore, to
which he sent the boats for water. The Indians came out armed with
poisoned arrows, and threatened to bind the Spaniards with cords; yet as
soon as the boats came near, they laid down their arms, inquired for the
admiral, and brought provisions to the Spaniards. This place is in the
province of Higuay, the natives of which are the most warlike of all the
tribes in Hispaniola, and use poisoned arrows.
Continuing the course to the eastwards, a large fish was seen resembling a
small whale, having a shell on its neck like that of a tortoise, as large
as a target. Its head, which it held above water, was like a pipe or large
cask; it had two vast fins on the sides, and the tail resembled that of a
tunny fish, but much larger. From the appearance of this fish, and by
other tokens in the sky, the admiral suspected an approaching storm, and
took shelter therefore within an island called Adamanoy by the Indians,
but which the Spaniards name Saona, which is about two leagues in length,
having a strait between it and Hispaniola about a league in breadth.
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