Spaniards
returned to report what they had learned to the Admiral.

Columbus had meanwhile sent some officers with an escort of men to
effect a reconnaissance farther in the interior; two of the most
conspicuous of these were Hojeda and Corvalano, both young and
courageous noblemen. One of them discovered three rivers, the other
four, all of which had their sources in these same mountains. In the
sands of these rivers gold was found, which the Indians, who acted as
their escort, proceeded in their presence to collect in the following
manner: they dug a hole in the sand about the depth of an arm, merely
scooping the sand out of this trough with the right and left hands.
They extracted the grains of gold, which they afterwards presented to
the Spaniards. Some declared they saw grains as big as peas. I have
seen with my own eyes a shapeless ingot similar to a round river
stone, which was found by Hojeda, and was afterwards brought to Spain;
it weighed nine ounces. Satisfied with this first examination they
returned to report to the Admiral.

Columbus, as I have been told, had forbidden them to do more than
examine and reconnoitre the country. The news spread that the king
of the mountain country, where all these rivers rise, was called the
Cacique Caunaboa, that is to say, the Lord of the Golden House; for in
their language _boa_ is the word for a house, _cauna_ for gold, and
_cacique_ for king, as I have above written. Nowhere are better
fresh-water fish to be found, nor more beautiful nor better in taste,
and less dangerous. The waters of all these rivers are likewise very
wholesome.

Melchior has told me that amongst the cannibals the days of the month
of December are equal to the nights, but knowledge contradicts this
observation. I well know that in this self-same month of December,
some birds made their nests and others already hatched out their
little ones; the heat was also considerable. When I inquired
particularly concerning the elevation of the north star above the
horizon, he answered me that in the land of the cannibals the Great
Bear entirely disappeared beneath the arctic pole. There is nobody who
came back from this second voyage whose testimony one may more safely
accept than his; but had he possessed knowledge of astronomy he would
have limited himself to saying that the day is about as long as the
night. For in no place in the world does the night during the solstice
precisely equal the day; and it