ives of
Ciguana were hidden in the forest beyond the river and were prepared
to attack the Spaniards when they crossed over. The Adelantado
therefore marched along the river bank seeking a ford. This he soon
found in the plain, and was preparing to cross the river when the
Ciguana warriors rushed out from the forest in compact battalions,
yelling in a most horrible manner. Their appearance is fearsome and
repulsive, and they march into battle daubed with paint, as did the
Thracians and Agathyrses. These natives indeed paint themselves from
the forehead to the knees, with black and scarlet colours which they
extract from certain fruits similar to pears, and which they carefully
cultivate in their gardens. Their hair is tormented into a thousand
strange forms, for it is long and black, and what nature refuses
they supply by art. They look like goblins emerged from the infernal
caverns. Advancing towards our men who were trying to cross the river,
they contested their passage with flights of arrows and by throwing
pointed sticks; and such was the multitude of projectiles that they
half darkened the light of the sun, and had not the Spaniards received
the blows on their shields the engagement would have ended badly for
them.

A number of men were wounded in this first encounter, but the
Adelantado succeeded in crossing the river and the enemy fled, the
Spaniards pursuing them, though they killed few, as the islanders are
good runners. As soon as they gained the protection of the woods, they
used their bows to repulse their pursuers, for they are accustomed to
woods, and run naked amongst underbrush, shrubs, and trees, like wild
boars, heedless of obstacles. The Spaniards, on the contrary, were
hindered amongst this undergrowth by their shields, their clothes,
their long lances, and their ignorance of the surroundings. After a
night passed uselessly in the woods the Adelantado, realising the next
morning that they could catch nobody, followed the counsel of those
islanders who are the immemorial enemies of the Ciguana tribe, and
under their guidance marched towards the mountains where the King
Maiobanexius lived at a place called Capronus. Twelve miles' march
brought them to the village of another cacique, which had been
abandoned by its terrified inhabitants, and there he established his
camp. Two natives were captured, from whom it was learned that King
Maiobanexius and ten caciques with eight thousand soldiers were
asse