356 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL, 



tie ; on one side of the hut were jars of turtle oil, 

 and outside, rather too near when the wind was 

 in certain quarters, were the skeletons of turtles 

 from which he had extracted it. 



Toward evening the breeze again died away, we 

 slowly got round the point, and at half past eight 

 came to anchor, having made six leagues on our 

 voyage. Our captain told us that this desolate point 

 was Cape Catoche, the memorable spot on the Con- 

 tinent of America at which the Spaniards first land- 

 ed, and approaching which, says Bernal Dias, we 

 saw at the distance of two leagues a large town, 

 which, from its size, it exceeding any town in Cuba, 

 we named Grand Cairo. The Spaniards set out 

 for it, and passing by some thick woods, were attack- 

 ed by Indians in ambuscade. Near the place of this 

 ambuscade, he adds, were three buildings of lime 

 and stone, wherein were idols of clay, with diaboli- 

 cal countenances, &c. 



Navigators and geographers, however, have as- 

 signed different locahties to this memorable point, 

 and its true position is, perhaps, uncertain. 



At daylight we were again under way, and soon 

 were opposite Boca Nueva, being the entrance to a 

 passage between the island and the main, better 

 known to the fishermen as the Boca de Iglesia, 

 from the ruins of a church visible at a great distance. 

 This church was one of the objects I intended to 

 visit ; and one reason for preferring the canoa, when 

 we had the chance of Don Vicente's sloop, was that 



