es that are
not poisonous so the people eat them without danger. And these
snakes feed on certain little animals called Guabiniquinazes, of
which sometimes seven or eight are found in their stomach, although
they are as big as hares, resembling a fox, the head of a weasel,
the tail of a fox, the hair long like a deer's, color somewhat
reddish, and the flesh tender and wholesome. This island should be
well populated; but it is not so at present, unless it be by some
Spaniards, who have exterminated the greater number of natives, of
which many died of starvation."

The Sieur Jean de Laet d'Anners, whose History of the New World bears
the imprint of Bonaventure and Elzevir, Printers of the University of
Leyden, also gives a description of Cuba as it was in the sixteenth and
beginning of the seventeenth century. He says:

"There are few towns in proportion to the size of the island;
Santiago ranks first, both for its age and name; it was built by
Diego Velasco. At the south coast of the island about 20 degrees
North Latitude, opposite Hispaniola, almost two miles from the sea,
in the depth of a harbor which one may well pronounce the first
among the large and safe harbors of the New World. For the ocean
enters through a narrow inlet and is received by a large bay, like
a gulf, with several little islands; it is so safe a port that one
does not need to cast anchor. This city was once well populated,
but now the population is reduced to a very small number. It has a
cathedral church and a bishop Suffragans of the archbishopric of
San Domingo and a monastery of the Minorite brothers. It is owned
by the Lieutenant-Governor of the island. The chief articles of
trade are ox-skins and sugar. Three miles from the town are rich
mines of copper, which is now extracted from high mountains, called
for that reason by the Spaniards Sierras de Cobre.

"Near this town to the East about thirty miles is the town of
Baracoa, built by the same Velasco on the North Coast The forests
near this town yield very good ebony and according to other reports
Brazilian redwood.

"The third city is San Salvador or Bayamo from the name of the
province, built by the same Velasco, thirty miles from Santiago,
which surpasses all other towns of the island by good air, fertile
soil and beautiful