mpared with this for beauty and fertility. All this island, as well as
the island of Tortuga, is cultivated like the plain of Cordova. They
raise on these lands crops of yams,[181-2] which are small branches, at
the foot of which grow roots like carrots, which serve as bread. They
powder and knead them, and make them into bread; then they plant the same
branch in another part, which again sends out four or five of the same
roots, which are very nutritious, with the taste of chestnuts. Here they
have the largest the Admiral had seen in any part of the world, for he
says that they have the same plant in Guinea. At this place they were as
thick as a man's leg. All the people were stout and lusty, not thin, like
the natives that had been seen before, and of a very pleasant manner,
without religious belief. The trees were so luxuriant that the leaves
left off being green, and were dark colored with verdure. It was a
wonderful thing to see those valleys, and rivers of sweet water, and the
cultivated fields, and land fit for cattle, though they have none, for
orchards, and for anything in the world that a man could seek for.

In the afternoon the king came on board the ship, where the Admiral
received him in due form, and caused him to be told that the ships
belonged to the Sovereigns of Castile, who were the greatest princes in
the world. But neither the Indians who were on board, who acted as
interpreters, nor the king, believed a word of it. They maintained that
the Spaniards came from Heaven, and that the Sovereigns of Castile must
be in Heaven, and not in this world. They placed Spanish food before the
king to eat, and he ate a mouthful, and gave the rest to his councillors
and tutor, and to the rest who came with him.

"Your Highnesses may believe that these lands are so good and fertile,
especially these of the island of Espanola, that there is no one who
would know how to describe them, and no one who could believe if he had
not seen them. And your Highnesses may believe that this island, and all
the others, are as much yours as Castile. Here there is only wanting a
settlement and the order to the people to do what is required. For I,
with the force I have under me, which is not large, could march over all
these islands without opposition. I have seen only three sailors land,
without wishing to do harm, and a multitude of Indians fled before them.
They have no arms, and are without warlike instincts; they all go naked,