His beard was black, thin, and
scanty; his hair in the same manner. His breast and shoulders were
broad, and his body very thin. He was very well limbed, and his legs
rather bowed; an excellent horseman, and dexterous in the use of arms.
He also possessed the heart and mind which is the principal part of the
business. I have heard that when he was a lad in Hispaniola he was very
wild about women, and that he had several duels with able swordsmen, in
which he always came off with victory. He had the scar of a sword wound
near his under lip, which appeared through his beard if closely
examined, and which he received in some of those affairs. In his
appearance, manners, transactions, conversation, table, and dress,
everything bore the appearance of a great lord. His clothes were
according to the fashion of the time; he was not fond of silks, damasks,
or velvets, but everything plain, and very handsome; nor did he wear
large chains of gold, but a small one of fine workmanship bearing the
image of Our Lady the Blessed Virgin with her precious Son in her arms,
and a Latin motto; and on the reverse, St. John the Baptist with another
motto. He wore on his finger a ring with a very fine diamond, and in his
cap, which according to the fashion of that day was of velvet, he bore a
medal, the head and motto of which I do not recollect; but latterly he
wore a plain cloth cap without any ornament.

His table was always magnificently attended and served, with four
major-domos or principal officers, a number of pages, and a great
quantity of plate, both gold and silver. He dined heartily at midday,
and drank a glass of wine mixed with water, of about half a pint. He was
not nice in his food, nor expensive, except on particular occasions
where he saw the propriety of it. He was very affable with all his
captains and soldiers, especially those who accompanied him in his first
expedition from Cuba. He was a Latinist, and as I have been told, a
bachelor of laws. He was also something of a poet, and a very good
rhetorician; very devout to Our Holy Virgin and to St. Peter, St. Jago,
and St. John the Baptist, and charitable to the poor. When he swore he
used to say, "By my conscience!" and when he was angry with any of us
his friends, he would say, "Oh! may you repent it." When he was very
angry, the veins in his throat and forehead used to swell, and when in
great wrath he would not utter a syllable to any one. He was very
patient under insul