I 4 HISTORY OF THE [BOOK. i. 



suspected, speaks of their beauty and fertility in 

 terms of the highest admiration. " There is a river 

 " (he observes in one of his letters to king Ferdinand 

 s( written from Cuba) which discharges itself into the 

 " harbour that I have named Porto Santo, of sufficient 

 f( depth to be navigable. I had the curiosity to sound 

 " it, and found eight fathom. Yet the water is so 

 " limpid, that I can easily discern the sand at the bot- 

 " torn. The banks of this river are embellished with 

 " lofty palm-trees, w r hose shade gives a delicious fresh- 

 " ness to the air; and the birds and the flowers are 

 " uncommon and beautiful. -I was so delighted with 

 " the scene, that I had almost come to the resolution 

 " of staying here the remainder of my days ; for believe 

 " me Sire, these countries far surpass all the rest of 

 " the world in pleasure and conveniency; and I have 

 <f frequently observed to my people, that, with all my 

 " endeavours to convey to your Alajesty an adequate 

 " idea of the charming objects which continually pre- 

 <c sent themselves to our view, the description will 

 fall greatly short of the reality/' 



... 



How ill informed, or prejudiced, are those writers,, 

 therefore, who, affecting to disbelieve, or endeavour- 

 ing to palliate, the enormities of the Spanish invaders, 

 represent these once delightful spots, when first dis- 

 covered by Columbus, to have been so many impene- 

 trable and unhealthy deserts ! It is true, that after the 

 Spaniards, in the courses of a few bloody years, had 

 exterminated the ancient and rightful possessors, the 

 earth, left to its own natural fertility, beneath the in- 

 fluence of a tropical sun, teemed with noxious vege- 



