stakes and bamboo and the roofs are made
of palm leaves. Notwithstanding all this the country is healthy. At
night there is an agreeable temperature, and during the day are the
flood-tides of the sea. There is water in abundance. The evening dew
is not harmful. If there were the same protection from the sun that
exists in Sevilla, this country would be as healthy--and some places
more so, if one lives temperately (especially as regards continence),
and does not imbibe too freely; for the penalty for immoderate living
is death. The food here is rice, which is the bread of this country. It
is cultivated in the following manner. They put a basketful of it into
the river to soak. After a few days they take it from the water; what
is bad and has not sprouted is thrown away. The rest is put on a bamboo
mat and covered with earth, and placed where it is kept moist by the
water. After the sprouting grains have germinated sufficiently, they
are transplanted one by one, as lettuce is cultivated in Espana. In
this way they have abundance of rice in a short time. There is another
crop of rice, which grows of itself, but it is not so abundant. Wine
is made from the cocoa-palm, from rice, and from millet, and they
have _ajonjoli_ [6]--but of all these only a little, because the
people are Indians. There is plenty of fish, but it is not so good
as that of Espana. The same fowl are found here as in Castilla, but
they are much better than those of Castilla. There are many swine,
deer, and buffalo, but he who wishes them must kill them himself,
because no native will kill or hunt them. Meat spoils very quickly
here on account of the heat.

83. The soil is very fertile--better than that of Nueva Espana; and
the rains come at about the same season. There is no such thing as
a bad year, unless some hurricane works damage.

84. The people here are naked, and barefoot. They wrap a cotton cloth
around their loins. Those who possess such a thing wear a little cotton
or China silk shirt. They are people capable of much toil. Some are
Moros, and they obtain much gold, which they worship as a god. All
their possessions are gold and a few slaves, the latter being worth
among them five or six pesos each. They do not let their hair hang
but wind a small turban about the head. They believe that paradise
and successful enterprises are reserved for those who submit to the
religion of the Moros of Borney, of which they make much account. They
do not ea