Chap. XV. *A ME%_IC A. ?5 i 



their Middle, but the Maids went ftark naked, all of them Dancing and Singing 

 Songs in praife of the Idol; after which having faluted the Cafique, they thruft 

 little Sticks down their Throats, fo to bring up all they had upon their Stomachs ♦ 

 which done, and fitting down with their Legs under them, they began to Sing 

 anew, often bowing and (hewing Reverence to the Cafique ; whileft fome Women 

 carried Baskets of Bread amongft thofe that Sang, and utter'd certain Prayers, which 

 were anfwer'd by fome of the Men 5 the Bread being blefs'd by the Priefts, they 

 gave every one a piece, with which they returned home very merry and jocund. 



But the God of this Ifland, whoever he was , hath been a long time left 

 without Worfhippers • for thofe that were left by the Invading Cannibals, were 

 cruelly maflacred by the Spaniards, infomuch that they have been thereby necefli* 

 tated to furnifh themfelves with Ifygro's to work in their Mines and Sugar.Mills * 

 and thefe alio not able to endure fuch hard Entertainment, ran mod of them away ; 

 for when a tygro did not bring Gold enough home at Night, his Mafter tying him 

 naked to a Stake or Poft, and beat him with Rods or Switches fo long, till the 

 Blood ran down his Back, then pour'd boyling Oyl into the Wounds, and theri 

 threw Pepper and Salt into them, and fo let him lie, or elfe put him into a Pit, out 

 of which his Head appeared onely. But thofe that fled gathering together, fome* 

 times met with the Spaniards, and paid them in their own Coin. . 



E Aft ward of Torto <I{ico y and betwixt it and Hifpaniola, there lieth a little, but J^jJ 

 fruitful Ifland call'd Mona ; and Weft ward of that, another call'd Monico, or Mtn,(9 - 

 Monetta ■ which laft the Englijh, when time was, found fo admirably ftor'd with a 

 fort of Wild Fowl, that the huge Flights of them feem'd to darken the Air over their 

 Heads, and upon their Landing found fuch plenty of their Eggs upon the Shore 

 and Ground thereabouts, that they prefently laded two of their Boats with them. 

 But how peopled or poffefs'd, not fo well known. 









MkMM^Mi 



CHAP. XV. 



Cuba. 



WEfiward, or rather to the North-Weft of Hijjwiiola, lieth Cuba, ac- ™^ r t al 

 counted one of the four Iflesof Barhvento, and by Columbus, upon his <*'•»• 

 firft Difcovery, call'd Joanna, afterwards Fernandina, then Alpha and 

 Omega, till at laft the prefent Name prevail'd 5 it is parted from the other by a 

 Frith, or narrow Channel, which runneth betwixt the Capes of St. Nicholas, be* 

 longing to Hifpaniola, and that call'd May%i, belonging to Quba : On the North it it> Bounds. 

 hatha Frie of little Iflands call'd The Leucay* I/lands, of which more in their proper 

 place, fo many and fo- thick fcatter'd, that they ferve for no fmall Security and De- 

 fence of the Ifland on that fide ; befides, a part of the Teninfula of Florida, which 

 Coafteth it likewife Northward 5 on the Weft it hath the Countrey of Jucatan, 

 which is part of the Continent, but at a diftancc of forty or fifty Leagues ; and on 

 the South, Jamaica. It is reckon'd to be in length from Cape Mayzj, which looks 

 towards Hifpaniola to the Cape of St. Anthony, which is upon the Bay of Mexico, two 

 hundred and thirty Leagues; but in breadth in fome places not above fifteen or fix* 

 teen Leagues over 5 in the broadeft place from Jardtnes to Lucanaca, not above forty, 



in 





