only asked a little bell in return for two grains of
gold weighing an ounce. Seeing that the Spaniards admired the size of
these grains, and quite amazed at their astonishment, he explained to
them by signs that they were of no value; after which, taking in his
hands four stones, of which the smallest was the size of a nut and the
largest as big as an orange, he told them that in his country, which
was half a day's journey distant, one found here and there ingots of
gold quite as large. He added that his neighbours did not even take
the trouble to pick them up. It is now known that the islanders set no
value on gold as such; they only prize it when it has been worked by
a craftsman into some form which pleases them. Who amongst us pays
attention to rough marble or to unworked ebony? Certainly nobody;
but if this marble is transformed by the hand of a Phidias or a
Praxiteles, and if it then presents to our eyes the form of a Nereid
with flowing hair, or a hamadryad with graceful body, buyers will not
be wanting. Besides this old man, a number of natives brought ingots,
weighing ten or twelve drachmas,[7] and they had the effrontery to
say that in the region where they had found them, they sometimes
discovered ingots as big as the head of a child whom they indicated.

[Note 7: The Greek drachma weighed one eighth of an ounce.]

During the days he passed at San Tomas, the Admiral sent a young
nobleman named Luxan, accompanied by an escort, to explore another
region. Luxan told even more extraordinary things, which he had heard
from the natives, but he brought back nothing; it is probable that he
did this in obedience to the Admiral's orders. Spices, but not those
we use, abound in their forests, and these they gather just as they do
gold; that is to say, whenever they wish to trade with the inhabitants
of the neighbouring islands for something which pleases them; for
example, long plates, seats, or other articles manufactured out of a
black wood which does not grow in Hispaniola. On his return journey,
towards the ides of March, Luxan found wild grapes of excellent
flavour, already ripe in the forest, but the islanders take no account
of them. The country, although very stony (for the word Cibao means
in their language _rocky_) is nevertheless covered with trees and
grasses. It is even said that the growth on the mountains, which
strictly speaking is only grass, grows taller than wheat within four
days after it has been