"Incolas Omnes Genu Tenus Mares, Foeminas Surarum Tenus, Gossampinis Vestibus Amictos Simplicibus Repererunt; Sed Viros More Turcorum Insuto Minutim Gossypio Ad Belli Usum Duplicibus." (The Natives Were Clothed In Thin Cotton Garments; The Men's Reaching To The Knee, And The Women's To The Calf Of The Leg.

Their war-dress was thicker, and closely stitched with cotton after the Turkish manner.) - Pet. Martyr, dec.

2 lib. 7. Who were these people described as being comparatively civilized, and clothed with tunics (like those who lived an the summit of the Andes), and seen on a coast, where before and since the time of Pinzon, only naked men have ever been seen?) Gomara and Anghiera wrote from such oral information as they had been able to collect.

These marvels disappear, if we examine the recital which Ferdinand Columbus drew up from his father's papers. There we find simply, that "the admiral was surprised to see the inhabitants of Paria, and those of the island of Trinidad, better made, more civilized (de buena conversacion), and whiter than the natives whom he had previously seen."* (* Churchill's Collection volume 2, Herrera pages 80, 83, 84. Munoz, Hist. del Nuevo Mundo volume 1, "El color era baxo como es regular en los Indios, pero mas clara que en las islas reconocidas." (Their colour was dark, as is usual among the Indians; but lighter than that of the people of the islands previously known.) The missionaries are accustomed to call those Indians who are less black, less tawny, WHITISH, and even ALMOST WHITE.

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