Writing
Concerning The Mouth Of A River Which Forms A Harbour Which He Named
Puerto Santo, Or The Holy Harbour, He Says Thus:
"When I went with the boats before me to the mouth of the harbour towards
the south, I found a river up the mouth of which a galley could row easily;
and it was so land-locked that its entrance could not be discovered unless
when close at hand.
The beauty of this river induced me to go up a short
distance, where I found from five to eight fathoms water. Coming to anchor,
I proceeded a considerable way up the river with the boats; and such was
the delightfulness of the place that I could have been tempted to remain
there for ever. The water was so clear that we could see the sand at the
bottom. The finest and tallest palm trees I had ever seen were in great
abundance on either shore, with an infinite number of large verdant trees
of other kinds. The soil seemed exceedingly fertile, being every where
covered by the most luxuriant verdure, and the woods abounded in vast
varieties of birds of rich and variegated plumage. This country, most
serene princes, is so wonderfully fine, and so far excels all others in
beauty and delightfulness as the day exceeds the night; wherefore I have
often told my companions that though I should exert my utmost endeavours
to give your highness a perfect account of it, my tongue and pen must ever
fall short of the truth. I was astonished at the sight of so much beauty,
and know not how to describe it. I have formerly written of other
countries, describing their trees, and fruits, and plants, and harbours,
and all belonging to them as largely as I could, yet not so as I ought, as
all our people affirmed that no others could possibly be more delightful.
But this so far excels every other which I have seen, that I am
constrained to be silent; wishing that others may see it and give its
description, that they may prove how little credit is to be got, more than
I have done, in writing and speaking on this subject so far inferior to
what it deserves."
While going up this river in the boat, the admiral saw a canoe hauled on
shore among the trees and under cover of a bower or roof, which was as
large as a twelve-oared barge, and yet hollowed out of the trunk of one
tree. In a house hard by they found a ball of wax and a mans skull, each,
in a basket, hanging to a post, and the same was afterwards found in
another house; and our people surmized that these might be the skulls of
the founders of these two houses. No people could be found in this place
to give any information, as all the inhabitants fled from their houses on
the appearance of the Spaniards. They afterwards found another canoe all
of one piece, about seventy feet long, which would have carried fifty
persons.
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