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.
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