Their Oars Were Formed Like A
Bakers Peel, With Which They Rowed, Or Paddled Rather, As If Digging With
A Spade.
Though easily overset, the Indians were excellent swimmers, and
easily turned their canoes up, again, after which they laded the water out
with calabashes, which they carried with them for that purpose.
They
brought much cotton on board to barter with the Spaniards, and some of
them gave as many clews as weighed a quarter of a hundred weight in
exchange for a small brass Portuguese coin called centis, worth less
than a farthing. These people were never satisfied with gazing on the
Spaniards, and used to kneel down and hold up their hands, as if praising
God for their arrival, and were continually inviting each other to go and
see the men who had come from heaven. They wore no jewels, nor had they
any other thing of value, except some little gold plates which hung at
their noses. Being asked whence they had this gold, they answered by signs
that they procured it from the southwards, where there was a king, who had
abundance of that metal. The ships were never clear of Indians, who, as
soon as they could procure a bit of any thing, were it only a fragment of
a broken earthen dish, went away well pleased and swam ashore with their
acquisition, offering whatsoever they possessed for the meanest trifle.
Thus the whole day was spent in trading, their generosity in giving being
occasioned by the value they set upon what they received in return, as
they looked upon the Spaniards as people come from heaven, and were
therefore desirous of something to keep in remembrance of them.
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