seen drops of water changed into
fleas. Wherever a hole one palm deep is dug, water bursts forth; but
it is filthy and contaminated because of the river which flows
through a deep valley over a stagnant bed to the sea. The Spaniards,
therefore, considered changing the site. Necessity had first of all
obliged them to stop there, for the first arrivals were so reduced by
famine that they did not even think of moving it. Nevertheless they
are tormented in this unfortunate place by the rays of the sun; the
waters are impure and are pestiferous, the vapours malarious, and
consequently everybody is ill. There is not even the advantage of a
good harbour to offset these inconveniences, for the distance from the
village to the entrance of the gulf is three leagues, and the road
leading thither is difficult and even painful when it is a question of
bringing provisions from the sea.

But let us pass to other details. Hardly had the Spaniards landed when
divers adventures overtook them. An excellent doctor of Seville, whom
the authority of the bishop[4] and likewise his desire to obtain gold
prevented from peacefully ending his days in his native country, was
surprised by a thunderbolt when sleeping quietly with his wife. The
house with all its furniture was burnt and the bewildered doctor and
his wife barely escaped, almost naked and half roasted. Once when
a dog eight months old was wandering on the shore, a big crocodile
snapped him up, like a hawk seizing a chicken as its prey; he
swallowed this miserable dog under the very eyes of all the Spaniards,
while the unfortunate animal yelped to his master for help. During the
night the men were tortured by bats, which bit them; and if one of
these animals bit a man while he was asleep, he lost his blood, and
was in danger of losing his life. It is even claimed that some people
did die on account of these wounds. If these bats find a cock or a hen
at night in the open air, they strike them on their combs and kill
them. The country is infested by crocodiles, lions, and tigers, but
measures have already been taken to kill a large number of them. It is
reported that the skins of lions and tigers killed by the natives are
found in their cabins. Horses, pigs, and oxen grow rapidly, and become
larger than their sires. This development is due to the fertility of
the soil. The reports concerning the size of trees, different products
of the earth, vegetables, and plants we have acclimatised,