On Account Of His Particular Devotion To
The Immaculate Conception Of The Virgin Mary, And Because She Is The Great
Patroness Of The Christians, He Named The Second Island St Mary Of The
Conception.
The third he named Fernandina in honour of the Catholic king;
the fourth Isabella in honour of the Catholic
Queen; and the next island
which he discovered, called Cuba by the natives, he named Joanna in
respect to prince John the heir of Castile, having in these several names
given due regard to both spirituals and temporals. Of the four islands
hitherto discovered, St Salvador, the Conception, Fernandina, and Isabella,
Fernandina far exceeded all the others in extent, goodness, and beauty,
and abounded more in delicious waters, pleasant meadows, and beautiful
trees, among which were many aloes. It had likewise some hills, which were
not to be seen in these other islands. Being much taken with its beauty,
the admiral landed to perform the ceremony of taking possession in some
meadows as pleasant and delightful as those of Spain in April, where
nightingales and other birds sung in the most cheerful manner, both in the
trees and flying about in such numbers as almost to darken the sun; but
most of them differed much from our birds in Spain.
In this island there were great abundance of waters and lakes, and in one
of them our people saw a sort of alligator seven feet long and above a
foot wide at the belly. This animal being disturbed threw itself into the
lake, which was by no means deep; and though somewhat alarmed by its
frightful appearance and fierceness, our people killed it with their
spears.
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