n island;[264-2] and so I followed its
coast eastwardly for a hundred and seven leagues as far as where it
terminated; from which headland I saw another island to the east,
eighteen leagues distant from this, to which I at once gave the name La
Spanola.[264-3] And I proceeded thither, and followed the northern
coast, as with La Juana, eastwardly for a hundred and eighty-eight great
leagues in a direct easterly course, as with La Juana. The which, and
all the others, are most fertile to an excessive degree, and this
extremely so. In it, there are many havens on the sea-coast,
incomparable with any others that I know in Christendom, and plenty of
rivers so good and great that it is a marvel. The lands thereof are
high, and in it are very many ranges of hills, and most lofty mountains
incomparably beyond the island of Tenerife,[264-4] all most beautiful in
a thousand shapes, and all accessible, and full of trees of a thousand
kinds, so lofty that they seem to reach the sky. And I am assured that
they never lose their foliage; as may be imagined, since I saw them as
green and as beautiful as they are in Spain during May. And some of them
were in flower, some in fruit, some in another stage according to their
kind. And the nightingale was singing, and other birds of a thousand
sorts, in the month of November, there where I was going. There are
palm-trees of six or eight species, wondrous to see for their beautiful
variety; but so are the other trees, and fruits, and plants therein.
There are wonderful pine-groves, and very large plains of verdure, and
there is honey, and many kinds of birds, and many various fruits. In the
earth there are many mines of metals; and there is a population of
incalculable number.[265-1] Espanola is a marvel; the mountains and
hills, and plains, and fields, and the soil, so beautiful and rich for
planting and sowing, for breeding cattle of all sorts, for building of
towns and villages. There could be no believing, without seeing, such
harbors as are here, as well as the many and great rivers, and excellent
waters, most of which contain gold. In the trees and fruits and plants,
there are great diversities from those of Juana. In this, there are many
spiceries, and great mines of gold and other metals. The people of this
island, and of all the others that I have found and seen, or not seen,
all go naked, men and women, just as their mothers bring them forth;
although some women cover a single place w