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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 102 



nized and the home of the first Christians in the Indies ; for it was 

 from there, as from their mother, that they went out and conquered 

 all the others and preached the Holy Gospel in them. It appears there- 

 fore that it was the City of Refuge of all the explorers and mis- 

 sionaries of that New World, and so I shall begin with a description 

 of Hispaniola as both the womb and the religious center of the Indies, 

 so as to continue with greater clearness and sharpness of outline in 

 the following book. 



