rried us on their backs.

"Having arrived at the sea and entered the boats, which had
come ashore for us, we are astonished at the crowd which
endeavored to get into the boats to go to see our ships, for
they were so overloaded that they were ofttimes on the point
of sinking. We carried as many as we could on board, and so
many more came by swimming that we were quite troubled at
the multitude, although they were all naked and unarmed.
They marvelled greatly at the size of our ships, our
equipments, and implements. Here quite a laughable
occurrence took place, at their expense. We concluded to try
the effect of discharging some of our artillery, and when
they heard the thunderous report the greater part of them
jumped into the sea from fright, acting like frogs sitting
on a bank, who plunge into the water on the approach of
anything that alarms them. Those who remained on the ship
were so timorous that we repented of having done this.
However, we reassured them by telling them that these were
our arms, with which we killed our enemies. After they had
amused themselves on the ship all day, we told them that
they must go, as we wished to depart in the night; so they
took leave of us with many demonstrations of friendship,
even affection, and went ashore.

"I saw more of the manners and customs of these people while
in their country than I care to dwell on here. Your
Excellency will notice that in each of my voyages I have
noted the most extraordinary things which have occurred, and
have compiled the whole into one volume, in the style of a
geography, and entitled it _The Four Voyages_. In this work
will be found a minute description of the things which I
saw; but, as there is no copy of it yet published, owing to
my being obliged to examine it carefully and make
corrections, it becomes necessary for me to impart them to
you herein.

"This country is full of inhabitants and contains a great
many rivers. Very few of the animals are similar to ours,
excepting the lions, panthers, stags, hogs, goats, and deer,
and even these are a little different in form. They have
neither horses, mules, nor asses; neither cows, dogs, nor
any kind of domestic animals. Their other animals, however,
are so very numerous that it is impossible