56 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



base for further exploration and settlement, as that country was, 

 and still is, full of Indian tribes, 



144. There were left over from the voyage 900 quintals of biscuit, 

 6,000 jugs of wine, with vinegar, oil, rice, chickpeas, and other pro- 

 visions, which they looked after carefully ; and for its better storage 

 and distribution, it was turned over and entrusted to Ensign Andres 

 Garcia Pardo, who stored and distributed it with care ; and while 

 the residue of their provisions lasted, they kept in good health. But as 

 soon as it ran out, since they had had no chance to sow anything, 

 the weather having been severe, in the dire necessity of their dearth 

 they ate fruit and roots they knew nothing about, and whatever small 

 fry they came upon. Thus their food was poor, they lacked comfort, 

 they were only just out from Spain (chapetones, as newcomers are 

 called), and the Indians of the district had fled; these afflictions and 

 the dearth caused such a pestilence that in the year 1596 there died 

 on the island of Trinidad over 900 persons, 20 to 24 dying in a single 

 day, and the same over in Guiana, where more than 600 died of 

 illness and over 500 at the hands of the Indians, for as they did not 

 know the ways of the country, they were burned in their cabins. 

 And so, of the 5,000 souls arriving on this occasion for the explora- 

 tion and the settlement of the country, there will have survived till 

 today 40 persons, 25 in Trinidad, and in Guiana 15, as I was 

 informed by Capt. Andres Garcia Pardo, who was there and is today 

 a resident of the island of Trinidad. 



Chapter X 



Of the Island of Trinidad and the City of San Josef, and Their 

 Way of Growing and Curing Tobacco. 



145. The city of San Josef de Orufia on the island of Trinidad 

 counts 60 Spanish residents. It lies 2 leagues from the sea on an 

 impregnable site, thanks to the high mountain and thick forest hinder- 

 ing access to it. It has a parish church and a Franciscan convent. 

 The climate is hot ; they grow Indian corn and yucca, which is their 

 chief crop; the fertile soil bears these abundantly, and local fruit, 

 like papayas, plantains, pineapples, etc. ; they get wax and wild honey 

 from trees in the woods. It lies at barely 10° N. 



146. The chief staple of this country is tobacco, which at all times 

 has an excellent market ; since its effects and virtues are well known, 

 I shall describe the way in which it is grown. The tobacco is planted 

 in little seedbeds like lettuce, and when it is ready — in November and 

 December on this island — they transplant it along lines or rows, like 



