The Admiral Still Held On His Course Westwards Among Infinite Numbers Of
Islands, And Came To One On The 22d Of May Somewhat Larger Than The Rest,
Which He Called St Mary.
They landed at a town which was seen on shore,
but none of the natives would stay to converse with the Christians, and
nothing was found in their houses save fish upon which they feed, and
several dogs like mastiffs which feed likewise on fish.
They sailed thence
to the north-west still among numerous islands, on which they saw many
scarlet cranes or flamingos, parrots, and other birds, and dogs like those
mentioned before, and the sea was covered with large quantities of weeds.
The sailing among so many islands, channels, and shoals, fatigued the
admiral extremely, as sometimes they had to stand west, sometimes north,
and sometimes south, according as the channels would permit; and
notwithstanding his constant care in sounding and keeping men continually
on the look-out from the round top, yet the ship often touched, and there
was no avoiding it, there being no end to the flats on all hands. Sailing
on in this manner, they came at length again to Cuba to take in water, of
which they stood much in need. Though no town could be seen because the
place was entirely overgrown with trees, yet one of the seamen who was on
shore, having gone among the trees to kill some bird or beast with his
cross-bow, saw about thirty people armed after the Indian manner with
spears and a kind of clubs or staves, which they use instead of swords,
and which they call macanas. Among these he said that he saw one person
clad in a white coat or vest down to his knees, carried by two others who
had white vestments down to their feet, all three of them as white as
Spaniards; but that he had no intercourse with them, because being afraid
of such a number he called out to his comrades, and the Indians ran away
without looking back[13].
Next day, the admiral sent some people on shore to look after these
natives, but they could not travel above half a league from the shore on
account of the thickness of the trees and bushes, and because all that
coast for two leagues up the country, where the hills and mountains begin,
is boggy and marshy, so that they only saw a few footsteps of fishermen on
the shore, and abundance of cranes like those of Spain but larger. Having
sailed about ten leagues farther westwards, they saw some houses on the
shore, whence some canoes came off with water, and such food as the
Indians use, and for which they were well paid. The admiral caused one of
those Indians to be detained, telling him and the rest, by means of an
interpreter, that he would freely permit him to go home as soon as he had
given him an account of the country and some directions for the voyage.
This Indian assured the admiral that Cuba was an island, and that the king
or cacique of the western part of it never spoke to any of his subjects
but by signs, yet that all his orders were immediately obeyed; that all
this coast was very low and full of small islands. This latter information
was found to be too true; as next day, the 11th of June, the admiral was
forced to have the ships towed over a flat where there was not a foot of
water, and its whole breadth did not exceed two ships length[14]. Bearing
up closer to Cuba, they saw turtles of vast bigness, and in such numbers
that they covered the sea. At break of day, they saw such an enormous
flock of sea crows as even darkened the sun, these were going from sea
towards to the island, where they all alighted; besides these abundance of
pigeons and other birds were seen; and the next day such immense swarms of
butterflies, as even to darken the air, which lasted till night, when a
heavy rain carried them all away.
Perceiving that the coast of Cuba ran far west, and that it was extremely,
difficult to sail in that direction, on account of the infinite multitude
of islands and shoals, and because provisions were very scanty, the
admiral resolved on the 13th of June to return to Isabella. He anchored
therefore at an island which he named Evangelista which is thirty
leagues in circuit, and lies 700 leagues west from Dominica, to take in
wood and water; and thence directed his course southwards, hoping to get
better out in that direction from among the labyrinth of islands in which
he had been so long bewildered. After sailing in the channel which seemed
the clearest for a few leagues, he found it entirely shut up, which
dismayed the people extremely, at seeing themselves apparently hemmed in
on all sides, and destitute of provisions and all hopes of comfort. But
he, who was always wise and courageous, cheered their faint-heartedness,
by saying he was thankful for being forced back so soon, as if they had
been able to continue their voyage in that direction, they might possibly
have got into a situation whence they could hardly have extricated
themselves, when they had neither ships nor provisions to carry them back,
but which was now easily in their power. He therefore returned to
Evangelista, and sailed thence on the 25th of June to the N.W. towards
some small islands about five leagues off. Going on still a little farther,
they found the sea so patched with green and white that it seemed one
entire sand, though there was two fathoms water. Along this singular
looking sea they sailed seven leagues, and then came to another sea as
white as milk and very thick; this was much wondered at, and dazzled the
eyes of all the beholders, who could not conceive that there was water
enough for the ships, and yet it was about three fathoms deep.
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