He next came to St Maria la Antigua,
which is about twenty-eight leagues in extent.
Still holding on his course
to the N.W. there appeared several other islands towards the north, and in
the N.W. and S.E. all very high and woody; at one of these he cast anchor
and named it St Martin. They here took up some pieces of coral sticking to
the flukes of the anchors, which made them hope to find other useful
articles of commerce in these islands. Though the admiral was always
anxious to examine into every place which he discovered, he yet resolved
to hold on his course towards Hispaniola, that he might carry relief to
the people who had been left there. But the weather being bad, he was
obliged to come to anchor at an island on the 14th of November, where he
gave orders to take some of the inhabitants, that he might learn
whereabout he then was. As the boat was returning to the fleet with four
women and three children whom they had taken, it met a canoe in which were
four men and a woman; who perceiving that they could not escape, stood
upon their defence, and hit two of the Spaniards with their arrows, which
they discharged with such force and dexterity that the woman pierced a
target quite through. The Spaniards attempted to board, and the canoe was
overset, so that all the Indians were taken swimming in the water; and one
of them shot several arrows while swimming, as dexterously as if he had
been on dry land.
These people were found to be castrated; for they had been made prisoners
by the Caribs in some other islands, who had so used them as we do capons,
that they might become fatter and better food. Departing from thence, the
admiral continued his voyage W.N.W. where he fell in with a cluster of
above fifty islands, which he left to the northward of his course. The
largest of these he named the island of St. Ursula, and the others he
called the Eleven Thousand Virgins. He next came to the island called
Borriquen by the Indians, but which he named St John the Baptist, in a
bay on the west side of which the fleet came to anchor, where they caught
several sorts of fish, as skate, olaves, pilchards, and shads. On the land
they saw falcons, and bushes resembling wild vines. More to the eastwards
some Spaniards went to certain houses well built after the Indian fashion,
having a square before them and a broad road down to the sea, with bowers
on each side made of canes, and curiously interwoven with evergreens, such
as are seen in the gardens of Valencia. At the end of the road next the
sea there was a raised stage or balcony, lofty and well built, capable of
containing ten or twelve men.
On Friday the fifteenth of November the admiral reached the north side of
Hispaniola, and immediately sent on shore at Samana one of the natives of
the island who had been in Spain, and who being converted to our holy
faith, offered to engage all his countrymen to submit to the Christians.
The admiral continued his voyage to the Nativity, and off Cape Angel some
Indians came on board to barter their commodities. Coming to anchor in
the bay of Monte Christo a boat was sent on shore, the people of which
found two dead men lying near a river. One of these seemed to be young and
the other old, having a rope made of a substance like Spanish broom round
his neck, and his arms extended and tied to a piece of wood in the form of
a cross. Having been long dead, it could not be known whether these people
were Christians or Indians, but it was considered an evil omen. The next
day, twenty-sixth November, the admiral sent on shore in several places,
and the Indians came boldly and freely to converse with the Spaniards,
touching their shirts and doublets, and naming these articles in the
Spanish language. This confidence and friendly behaviour relieved the
admiral from the fears which he had conceived on account of the dead men;
believing that if the natives had injured the Christians whom he had left,
they would not have come so boldly on board the ships. But next day,
coming to anchor about midnight near the town of Nauidad or the Nativity,
a canoe came to the fleet and asked for the admiral, and being bid to come
on board, they refused to do so till they should see him. The admiral
therefore went to the ships side to hear what they had to say, and then
two men from the canoe went up with two marks of gold, which they
presented with many compliments to the admiral as from the cacique
Guacanagari. Being asked concerning the Christians who were left at the
Nativity, they answered that some of them had died of distempers, some had
parted from the company and had gone into other parts of the country, and
that all of them had four or five wives. Though it appeared from the way
in which these Indians spoke, that all or most of the colonists were dead,
yet the admiral did not think fit to take much notice of the circumtance
at the time; he therefore dismissed the messengers with some brass
trinkets and other baubles for Guacanagari, and a few to themselves.
Towards evening on Thursday the twenty-eighth November the admiral came
with all the fleet into the harbour of the Nativity, and found the whole
town burnt, and no person whatever could be seen about the place. Next
morning the admiral landed, and was much concerned to find the fort and
houses entirely destroyed, and nothing left which had belonged to the
Christians, except some tattered garments and other broken articles of no
value.
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