Authentic Letters of Columbus. 191 



I have already said that I went 107 leagues along the coast of 

 Jnana, from east to west, Thus, according to my track, it is larger 

 than England and Scotland together, for, besides these 107 leagues, 

 there were further west two provinces to which I did not go, one of 

 which is called Cibau, the people of which are born with tails; which 

 provinces must be about fifty or sixty leagues long, according to what 

 I can make out from the Indians I have with me, who know all the 

 islands. The other island, (Espaiiola) is larger in circuit than the 

 whole of vSpain, from the Straits of Gibralter (the Columns) to Fuen- 

 tarabia in Biscay, as I sailed 138 long leagues in a direct line from 

 west to east. Once known it must be desired, and once seen one 

 desires never to leave it; and which, being taken possession of for 

 their Highnesses, and the people being at present in a condition 

 lower than I can possibly describe, the sovereigns of Castile may dis- 

 pose of it in any manner they please in the most convenient places. 

 In this Espafiola, and in the best district, where are gold mines, and, on 

 the other side, from thence to terra firma, as well as from thence to 

 the Great Khan, where everything is on a splendid scale — I have 

 taken possession of a large town, to which I gave the name of La 

 Navidad, and have built a fort in it, in every respect complete. And 

 I have left sufficient people in it to take care of it, with artillery and 

 provisions for more than a year; also a boat and coxswain with the 

 equipments, in coinplete friendship with the King of the islands, to 

 that degree that he delighted to call me and look on me as his 

 brother. And should they fall out with these people, neither he nor 

 his subjects know anything of weapons, and go naked, as I have 

 said, and they are the mcjst timorous people in the world. The few 

 people left there are sufficient to conquer the country, and the island 

 would thus remain without danger to them, they keeping order 

 among themselves. 



In all these islands it appeared to me the men are contented with 

 one wife, but to their governor or king they allow twenty. The women 

 seem to work more than the men, I have not been able to discover 

 whether they respect personal property, for it appeared to me things 

 were common to all, especially in the particular of provisions. Hith- 

 erto I have not seen in any of these islands any monsters, as there 

 were supposed to be ; the people, on the contrary, are generally well 

 formed, nor are they black like those of the Guinea, saving their 

 hair and they do not reside in places exposed to the sim's rays. It is 

 true that the sun is most powerful there, and it is only twenty-six 

 degrees from the equator. In this last winter those islands which 

 were mountainous were cold, but they were accustomed to it, with 

 good food and plenty of spices and hot nutriment. Thus I have 

 found no monsters nor heard of any, except at an island which is the 

 second in going to the Indies, and which is inhabited by a people who 

 are considered in all the islands as ferocious, and who devour human 

 flesh. These people have many canoes, which scour all the islands 

 of India, and plunder all they can. They are not worse formed than 

 the others, but they wear the hair long like women, and use bows 

 and arrows of the same kind of cane, pointed with a piece of hard 



