32 
The V O Y 
Bellaforma^ becaiife it looked well. On the 5th of Augiifi 
he failed five Leagues from the Cape Lapa^ and fa\v fe- 
Vtmi very good Harbours ; he fent the Boats afiiore, and 
the Men found Fiih, faw the Track of People, and a 
great Houfe uncovered. He proceeded eight Leagues 
further, ftill difcovering good Llarbours, much Land 
and many Rivers. Going afhore they found well 
tafted Grapes, Apples, and a fort of Fruit that looked 
. like Oranges, and within were like Figs ^ and faw miany 
Monkeys. 
On the 26th he failed five Leagues ; a Canoe, with 
five Men in it, came toward the Caravel that was neareft 
the Land. The Pilot called the Indians^ giving them to 
underftand, that he would go. afhore ; And as foon as he 
was got into the Canoe, he overfet it, and fwimming 
about, took and carried the Indians to the Admiral. 
They were of a proportionable Stature, had their Privy 
Members tied up and covered ; but the Women were 
all flark naked. The Admiral gave thofe Indians Hawks 
Bells, Glafs Beads, and Sugar, and fent them afhore, be- 
caufe a great Number of People appeared. And as foon 
as they underftood how well the others had been enter- 
tained, if there had been Canoes enough, they would 
have all gone aboard. The Admiral ufed them well, 
gave them ail Toys, afked thern Queftions ; they an- 
fwered, but did not apprehend each other. They brought 
him Bread and Water, and a fort of Liquor like green 
Wine. All of them had Targets, Bows, and poifoned 
Arrows. Before they entred, they fmelled to the Boat, 
and afterward to the Men. On the 7th abundance of 
Indians came, bringing Bread, Indian Corn, and Eatables j 
as alfo Pitchers of Liquor, fome of it as white as Milk, 
taping like Wine, and fome green made of Fruit and 
Maize. They valued not the Beads the Admiral gave 
them '5 they had a great Lfteem for Tin, they called it 
Turey, as if it were come from Heaven, for they called 
Heaven Turey •, and found a certain Scent in it that 
much pleafed them. And whatever was given them, 
they fmelled to. They carried on board abundance of 
Parrots of three forts, and Bits of Cotton Cloth, well 
wrought, and wove of feveral Colours. 
The Admiral would willingly have taken half a Dozen 
Indians to carry away with him, but he could not ; for 
before Night they left the Ship. The next Day a Canoe, 
' with twelve Men, caime on board the Admiral, fix of whom 
he took, and fent the reft on fliore. He proceeded to 
Futa del Aguia^ . or Cape Needle.^ whence he faw a fine 
Country, and well peopled. And being come before a 
Town, which for its Beauty he called the Gardens^ hav- 
ing a vaft Number of Houfes and People, he anchored ; 
and m.any reforted to the Ships, with their wrought Cloths 
about their Heads, like the little Veils worn by the Moor- 
ijh Women. They wore fome little Plates of Gold about 
their Necks ; and the Indians that were on board faid there 
was plenty of it in thofe Parts, and fhewed how they 
gathered it. The Admnral confidering that he was above 
three hundred Leagues from Hifpaniola, and that his 
Provifions began to grow fiiort, made no long ftay in that 
Country, which he thought very agreeable, full of good 
Houfes, and inhabited by a polite and warlike People. 
Being come to Point Aguja, he difcovered another to 
th^ Southward, which he thought to be an Hand running 
out South-eaft and North-weft, very large, and the Land 
high. He gave it the Name of Sabcta. A.nd in the Af- 
ternoon faw another, and they were Parts of the Conti- 
nent. He anchored at the Gardens^ many Canoes, great 
and Imall, came on board with abundance of People wear- 
ing Pieces of Gold about their Necks, in the Shape of a 
Horfe-fhoe : And though they feemed to value it, they 
Would have given all for Hawks-Bells, but he had none 
left : However, fome Gold he got, which was very low, 
and they told him there were Hands hereabout that yield- 
ed much fuch bafe Gold : But the Men were Canibals. 
And they aftually faw an Indian who had a fingle Grain 
of Gold as big as an Apple. 
More Canoes came ftill, all the People, wearing Gold 
, Collars and Beads of abundance of forts, their Clothes 
tied about their Pleads, their Hair cut fhort, which look- 
ed well. There fell much Rain, which hindered many 
AGES of Book I. 
more from going on board. Some Women went who had 
Strings of little Beads about their Arms, and among them 
fome Seed Pearl, as alfo fome large, which raifed the 
Hopes of the Spaniards much. The Admiral afleed, where 
they found them ? they fliewed him the Mother-of-pearl, 
and by very intelligible Signs gave him to underftand. 
That they were found .to the Weftward, behind that 
Mountain, which is Cape Lapa^ being the Point of the Pro- 
vince of P aria. He fent the Boats afhore, and found the 
P eople fo traftable, that tho’ the Sailors went not v/ith a 
Defign to land ; yet two of their Chiefs civilly conftrained 
themi to it, and conduced them to a Pioufe where they 
entertained them, and gave them Bread and Fruits of fe- 
veral forts, and that fort of white Liquor, before mentioned, 
and another of a red Colour and good Tafte, the Men all 
the while keeping together at one End of the Pioufe, 
and the V/om.en at the other. When they had been fo 
treated at that Houfe by tliC deleft, the youngeft carried 
them, to another, and treated them in the fame manner. 
It feemed to them that the one was the Cazique, and the 
other his Son •, and the Sailors afterwards returned very 
well fatisfied to their Boats. They thought thefe People of 
a very good Stature, whiter than any other Indians., the 
Country delightful and cold, which was admired by rea- 
fon of its being fo near the Equinodial. The Admiral 
called this, which he thought to be an Hand, Paria. 
On the I oth he failed to the W eftward, feeking fome 
Paftages to get clear of thofe which he took to be Hands, 
and named Yfabeta and Tramontana, but were Part of 
the Continent : And the Indians he had on board faid the 
Pearls were found farther Weftward. He failed on ia 
that Bay, and fent the little Caravel to fee whether there 
was any Paflage out to the Northward, becaufe oppofite 
to Tfabeta and the Continent there appeared a very high 
and beautiful Hand. The Caravel returned and brought 
an Account that they had found a very large Bay, and 
in it four fpecious Openings that looked like fmall Bays,, 
and a River at the End of each of them, which he cal- 
led The Bay of Pearls, though there are none it. The 
Admiral believed thofe Openings were four Hands, 
which formed that Bay of forty Leagues ; but the Ma- 
riners alfumed they were Mouths of Rivers j and fo it 
proved, at ieaft in tv,ro of them ; for the great River 
Tuyaparitan came out at one End, and that of Caurari at 
the other : And tho’ the Admiral would have difcovered . 
all very particularly, he could not ftay, butrefolved to fail 
for Ilifpaniola, to fend for Men and Provifions into Spain, 
and order his Brother to continue this Difeovery. To 
which Purpofe, on the nth of Augufi he fteered over to 
the Eaftward, in order to pals through betv/een the Point 
of Paria and the Continent. He advanced to a good 
Harbour, which he called Puerto de Gatos, or Cafs Port, 
which is near the Mouth, where the two Hands lye, be- 
tween the Capes of Lapa and Boto, 
There he came to an Anchor on the thirteenth, intend- 
ing to fail next Day. The Boat was fent to take a View 
of another Harbour juft by, which was alfo good and 
near it were fome Filhermens Houfes ; for which reafon. 
he called it Puerto de las Cabanas, or the Port of Cottages, 
Near the Sea they faw many Mirabolan Trees, with a- 
bundance of Oyfters fticking to the Branches that hung 
over the Sea, and open to receive the Dew. On the 14th 
he advanced to Cape Lapa, which is that of Paria, to 
pafs through the Opening, which he called, the Dra- 
gon’s, Mouth, which is between Point Lapa to the Weft- 
ward, and Cape Boto ; the Diftance between the two 
Capes being a League and an half beyond the fmall 
Hands that lye in the Middle. He ran a great Rifque 
of being loft in repaffing the Streight, where the running 
out of the frefti Water, and the comiing in of the Salt, 
occafioned a very dreadful Appearance, at leaft to the 
Spaniards, who were unacquainted therewith, though it 
is common enough on our Coafts, and particularly at 
the Mouth of the Severn, where the riding of one Tide 
upon another is called the Egre. 
The Admiral himfelf was ixiore amazed at it than at 
any thing he had feen, and could not help faying. That 
if they got fafe through this Danger, they might be faid 
to have efcaped out of the Dragorf s Moutii ; whence the 
I Name 
