ht us water, others things to eat. Others, when they saw that
I did not care to go ashore, threw themselves into the sea and came
swimming, and we understood that they asked us if we had come from
heaven. And an old man came into the boat, and others called all (the
rest) men and women, with a loud voice: 'Come and see the men who have
come from heaven; bring them food and drink.'

"There came many of them and many women, each one with something, giving
thanks to God, casting themselves on the ground, and raising their heads
toward heaven. And afterwards they called us with shouts to come ashore.

"But I feared (to do so), for I saw a great reef of rocks which
encircles all that island. And in it there is bottom and harbor for
as many ships as there are in all Christendom, and its entrance very
narrow. It is true that there are some shallows inside this ring, but
the sea is no rougher than in a well.

"And I was moved to see all this, this morning, so that I might be able
to give an account of it all to your Highnesses, and also (to find out)
where I might make a fortress. And I saw a piece of land formed like an
island, although it is not one, in which there were six houses, which
could be cut off in two days so as to become an island; although I do
not see that it is necessary, as this people is very ignorant of arms,
as your Highnesses will see from seven whom I had taken, to carry
them off to learn our speech and to bring them back again. But your
Highnesses, when you direct, can take them all to Castile, or keep them
captives in this same island, for with fifty men you can keep them all
subjected, and make them do whatever you like.

"And close to the said islet are groves of trees, the most beautiful I
have seen, and as green and full of leaves as those of Castile in the
months of April and May, and much water.

"I looked at all that harbor and then I returned to the ship and set
sail, and I saw so many islands that I could not decide to which I
should go first. And those men whom I had taken said to me by signs that
there were so very many that they were without number, and they repeated
by name more than a hundred. At last I set sail for the largest one, and
there I determined to go. And so I am doing, and it will be five leagues
from the island of San Salvador, and farther from some of the rest,
nearer to others. They all are very flat, without mountains and very
fertile, and all inhabited. And they make wa