YBARRA | LETTER OF DR. DIEGO ALVAREZ CHANCA 447 
doubt arose as to its identity, because neither the admiral nor his 
companions on the first voyage had seen it. 
“This island of Hispaniola, being a large one, is divided up 
into provinces: that part which we first touched at, is called by the 
natives Haiti; another province adjoining it, they name Samand, 
and the next province is known by them as Bohio, which is the place 
where we now are. These three provinces are subdivided into 
smaller portions. 
“Those who have seen the length of its coast state that this is 
an island two hundred leagues long, and I, myself, should judge 
it not to be less than a hundred and fifty leagues. As to its breadth, 
nothing is hitherto known. At the date of writing this letter, it is 
already forty days since a caravel left here with the object of cir- 
cumnavigating it, and it has not yet returned.’ 
“The country is very remarkable, and contains a vast number of 
large rivers and extensive chains of mountains, with broad, open 
valleys, and the mountains are very high. It looks here as if 
the grass is never cut throughout the whole year. I do not think 
that they have any winter here, for at Christmas we found many 
bird-nests, some containing the young birds and others the eggs. 
No four-footed animal has ever been seen in this, nor in any of 
the other islands, except some dogs of various colors, as in our own 
country, but in shape and size like lap-dogs. Of wild, ferocious 
beasts, there are none. 
“T came near forgetting to mention another four-footed little 
animal, in the color of its hair, size, and fur, like a rabbit, but with 
long tail and feet similar to those of a rat. These animals climb 
up the trees, and many of our men who have eaten them say their 
taste is very good. 
“There are many snakes, small in size, also lizards, but not so 
many, for the Indians consider them as great a luxury as we do 
pheasants. These lizards are of the same size as ours, but different 
in shape. 
“Tn a small adjacent island, close by a harbor which we named 
‘Monte Cristo,’ where we stayed several days, our men saw an 
enormous kind of lizard which they said was as large around the 
body as a calf, and the tail shaped like a lance. They often went 
out to kill it, but bulky as it was it disappeared in the thicket and 
got into the sea, so that they could not catch it. 
*On the parallel of 18°25’ N. latitude the island of Santo Domingo has an 
extreme length of 400 miles, and its extreme breadth may be taken to be as 
of 150 miles on the meridian 71°20’ West from Greenwich Observatory. 
