im, by saying that he had raised this storm
by magic art to be revenged on Bovadilla and the rest of his enemies who
perished with him, since none of his own four ships were lost; whereas of
the eighteen which had set out at the same time with Bovadilla, the
_Ajuga_, or Needle, only held on its course for Spain, where it arrived in
safety though the worst of the whole fleet, the other three that escaped
having returned to St Domingo in a shattered and distressed condition. In
the Ajuga there were 4000 pesos of gold belonging to the admiral, each
peso being worth eight shillings.

The admiral gave his men a breathing time in the port of Azua, to recover
from the fatigues which they had encountered in the storm; and as it is
one of the usual diversions of seamen to fish when they have nothing else
to do, I shall make mention of two sorts of fish in particular which I
remember to have seen taken at that place, one of which was pleasant, and
the other wonderful. The first was a fish called _Saavina_, as big as half
an ordinary bull, which lay asleep on the surface of the water, and was
struck by a harpoon from the boat of the ship Biscaina; being held fast by
a rope so that it could not break loose, it drew the boat after it with
the swiftness of an arrow in various directions, so that those who were in
the ship, seeing the boat scud about at a strange rate without knowing the
cause, could not imagine how it could do so without the help of oars. At
length it sunk, and being drawn to the ships side was hoisted on deck by
the tackle. The other fish is called Manati by the Indians, and there is
nothing of the kind seen in Europe. It is about as large as an ordinary
calf, nothing differing from it in the colour and taste of the flesh,
except that it is perhaps better and fatter. Those who affirm that there
are all sorts of creatures to be found in the sea, will have it that these
fishes are real calves, since they have nothing within them resembling a
fish, and feed only on the grass which they find along the banks[4].

Having refreshed his men and repaired his ships, the admiral went from
Azua to the port of Brazil called Yaquimo by the Indians, to shun another
storm of which he observed the approach. From thence he sailed again on
the 14th of July, and was so becalmed that instead of holding on his
course he was carried away by the current to certain small sandy islands
near Jamaica; not finding any springs in these islands, t