lleged that some have been
seen capable of carrying eighty rowers. It has been nowhere discovered
that iron is used by the natives of Hispaniola. Their houses are most
ingeniously constructed, and all the objects they manufacture for
their own use excited the admiration of the Spaniards. It is positive
that they make their tools out of very hard stones found in the
streams, and which they polish.

The Spaniards learned that there were other islands not far distant,
inhabited by fierce peoples who live on human flesh; this explained
why the natives of Hispaniola fled so promptly on their arrival. They
told the Spaniards later that they had taken them for the cannibals,
which is the name they give to these barbarians. They also call them
_Caraibes_. The islands inhabited by these monsters lie towards the
south, and about half-way to the other islands. The inhabitants of
Hispaniola, who are a mild people, complained that they were exposed
to frequent attacks from the cannibals who landed amongst them and
pursued them through the forests like hunters chasing wild beasts.
The cannibals captured children, whom they castrated, just as we do
chickens and pigs we wish to fatten for the table, and when they were
grown and become fat they ate them.[9] Older persons, who fell into
their power, were killed and cut into pieces for food; they also ate
the intestines and the extremities, which they salted, just as we do
hams. They did not eat women, as this would be considered a crime and
an infamy. If they captured any women, they kept them and cared for
them, in order that they might produce children; just as we do with
hens, sheep, mares, and other animals. Old women, when captured, were
made slaves. The inhabitants of these islands (which, from now on we
may consider ours), women and men, have no other means of escaping
capture by the cannibals, than by flight. Although they use wooden
arrows with sharpened points, they are aware that these arms are of
little use against the fury and violence of their enemies, and they
all admit that ten cannibals could easily overcome a hundred of their
own men in a pitched battle.

[Note 9: See Henry Harrisse, _Christophe Colombe_, ii., p. 72.
Letter of Simone Verde to Nicoli.]

Although these people adore the heavens and the stars, their religion
is not yet sufficiently understood; as for their other customs, the
brief time the Spaniards stopped there and the want of interpreters
did not all