80^ ISttlR OF ftPMMEtt. 



them. There are whales, also parrots and lizzards, but of boasts 

 I have seen none."" 



Again he says: " The people, one with another, arc all of the 

 same race, naked alike, and of the same stature. 



'" * * * Our men, who had gone for water, told mo they 

 went into their houses, which they found swept very clean, and 

 that their beds and furniture were of cotton net. Their houses 

 are like tents, and of a good height, with chimneys. But I have 

 not seen among the many settlements I have met with, any one 

 with more than twelve to fifteen houses."" 



Again: "The married women Avear cotton aprons, but the 

 girls none, excepting some above eighteen years of age." One 

 man " had a piece of gold in his nose about the size of a half 

 dollar. 



"Yonr highness may depend that this country is the most 

 fertile, temperate, and even there is in the world. " 



*'My eye can never tire admiring so much beautiful verdure, 

 and so different from ours too. 



"And the singing of the birds, and the (locks of parrots which 

 arc so numerous as to obscure the sky, are so delightful that no 

 one could desire to leave it. The birds are so numerous, and so 

 different from ours that it is quite wonderful. And there are a 

 thousand different kind of trees, and all with fruit and delicious 

 perfume. " 



Under date of October 22d, 1492, he writes: "And many 

 natives came to see us, similar to those of the other islands, all 

 naked and painted, some white, some red. some black, after their 

 fashion. They brought spears and some cotton balls for trade. 

 * * * Some of them wore bits of gold in their noses." 



The West Indian islands include the Bahamas, and, when dis- 

 covered by the Spaniard •<, they were occupied by substantially 

 one people. There existed minor differences, the results of their 



