says, "is like those of the aforesaid islands, and
has the same speech and the same customs, except that these seem to me a
somewhat more domestic race, and more intelligent. * * * And I saw also
in this island cotton cloths made like mantles. * * *

"It is a very green island and flat and very fertile, and I have no
doubt that all the year through they sow panizo (panic-grass) and
harvest it, and so with everything else. And I saw many trees, of very
different form from ours, and many of them which had branches of many
sorts, and all on one trunk. And one branch is of one sort and one of
another, and so different that it is the greatest wonder in the world. *
* * One branch has its leaves like canes, and another like the lentisk;
and so on one tree five or six of these kinds; and all so different. Nor
are they grafted, for it might be said that grafting does it, but they
grow on the mountains, nor do these people care for them. * * *

"Here the fishes are so different from ours that it is wonderful. There
are some like cocks of the finest colors in the world, blue, yellow, red
and of all colors, and others painted in a thousand ways. And the colors
are so fine that there is no man who does not wonder at them and take
great pleasure in seeing them. Also, there are whales. As for wild
creatures on shore, I saw none of any sort, except parrots and lizards;
a boy told me that he saw a great snake. Neither sheep nor goats nor
any other animal did I see; although I have been here a very short time,
that is, half a day, but if there had been any I could not have failed
to see some of them." * * *

Wednesday, October 17. He left the town at noon and prepared to sail
round the island. He had meant to go by the south and southeast. But as
Martin Alonzo Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, had heard, from one of
the Indians he had on board, that it would be quicker to start by the
northwest, and as the wind was favorable for this course, Columbus took
it. He found a fine harbor two leagues further on, where he found some
friendly Indians, and sent a party ashore for water. "During this time,"
he says, "I went (to look at) these trees, which were the most beautiful
things to see which have been seen; there was as much verdure in the
same degree as in the month of May in Andalusia, and all the trees were
as different from ours as the day from the night. And so (were) the
fruits, and the herbs, and the stones and everything. The truth is