trary winds, so that we
had continually to tack out to sea and stand in again, sometimes gaining,
and sometimes losing ground, according as the wind happened to be scant or
large when we put about. And had not the coast afforded such good
anchoring we had been much longer upon it; but being free from shoals or
rocks, and having always two fathoms of water at half a league from the
shore, and two more at every league farther distant, we had always the
convenience of anchoring every night when there was little wind. When on
the 14th of September we reached the cape, and found the land turned off
to the southwards, so that we could conveniently continue our voyage with
those _levanters_ or east winds that so continually prevailed, we all gave
thanks to GOD for the happy change, for which reason the admiral gave it
the name of Cape Garcias a Dios. A little beyond that cape we passed by
some dangerous sands, that ran out to sea as far as the eye could reach.

It being requisite to take in wood and water, the boats were sent on the
16th of September to a river that seemed deep and to have a good entrance,
but the coming out proved disastrous, for the wind freshening from the sea,
and the waves running high against the current of the river, so distressed
the boats, that one of them was lost with all the men in it; for which the
admiral named it _Rio de la Disgratia_, or the River of Disaster. In this
river, and about it, there grew canes as thick as a mans leg. Still
running southwards, we came on Sunday the 25th of September to anchor near
a small island called Quiriviri, and near a town on the continent named
Cariari, where were the best people, country, and situation we had yet
seen, as well because it was high and full of rivers, and thickly wooded
with forests of palms, mirabolans, and other trees. For this reason, the
admiral named this island Hucite. It is a small league from the town named
Cariari by the Indians, which is situated near a large river, whither a
great number of people resorted from the adjacent parts; some with bows
and arrows, others armed with staves of palm tree, as black as coal and as
hard as horn, pointed with fish bone, and others with clubs, and they came
in a body as if they meant to defend their country. The men had their hair
braided, and wound round their heads, and the women wore their hair short
like our men. But perceiving that we had no hostile intentions, they were
very desirous to barter