rom the signs he made, was
understood to be a captive from some other island; another party
brought a child that had been abandoned by the man who was leading it
by the hand when he perceived the Spaniards; others had taken some
women; and one party was accompanied by women who had voluntarily
joined them and who, on that account, were believed to be captives
also. Captain Diego Marquiz with six men, who had entered the thickest
part of the forest, did not return that night, nor the three following
days, notwithstanding the Admiral had sent Alonzo de Ojeda with forty
men to explore the jungle, blow trumpets, and do all that could be
done to find them. When, on the morning of the fourth day, they had
not returned, there was ground for concluding that they had been
killed and eaten by the natives; but they made their appearance in
the course of the day, emaciated and wearied, having suffered great
hardships, till by chance they had struck the coast and followed it
till they reached the ships. They brought ten persons, with
them--women and boys.
During the days thus lost the other captains collected more than
twenty female captives, and three boys came running toward them,
evidently escaping from their captors. Few men were seen. It was
afterward ascertained that ten canoes full had gone on one of their
marauding expeditions. In their different expeditions on shore the
Spaniards found all the huts and villages abandoned, and in them "an
infinite quantity" of human bones and skulls hanging on the walls as
receptacles. From the natives taken on board the Spaniards learned
that the name of the first island they had seen was Cayri or Keiree;
the one they were on they named Sibuqueira, and they spoke of a third,
not yet discovered, named Aye-Aye. The Admiral gave to Sibuqueira the
name of Guadaloupe.
Anchors were weighed at daybreak on November 10th. About noon of the
next day the fleet reached an island which Juan de la Cosa laid down
on his map with the name Santa Maria de Monserrat. From the Indian
women on board it was understood that this island had been depopulated
by the Caribs and was then uninhabited. On the same day in the
afternoon they made another island which, according to Navarrete, was
named by the Admiral Santa Maria de la Redonda (the round one), and
seeing that there were many shallows in the neighborhood, and that it
would be dangerous to continue the voyage during the night, the fleet
came to anchor.
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