808 ISLES OF SUMMER. 
them. ‘There are whalcs, also parrots and lizzards, but of beasts 
I have seen none.” 
Again he says: “‘ The people, one with another, are all of the 
same race, naked alike, and of the same stature. 
<< * * * Our men, who had gone for water, told me 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 scttlements I have met with, any one 
with more than twelve to fifteen houses.” 
Again: ‘‘The married women wear 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. 
«Your 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 flocks of parrots which 
are 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 
