ile we were debating this subject, thirty-six
men entered the house where we were drinking; they were of such large
stature that each one was taller when upon his knees than I when standing
erect. In fact, they were of the stature of giants in their size and
in the proportion of their bodies, which corresponded well with their
height. Each of the women appeared a Pantasilea, and the men Antei. When
they came in, some of our own number were so frightened that they did not
consider themselves safe. They had bows and arrows, and very large clubs
made in the form of swords. Seeing that we were of small stature, they
began to converse with us, in order to learn who we were and from what
parts we came. We gave them fair words, for the sake of peace, and said
that we were going to see the world. Finally, we held it to be our
wisest course to part from them without questioning in our turn; so
returned by the same path in which we had come, they accompanying us
quite to the sea, till we went on board the ships.

Nearly half the trees of this island are dye-wood, as good as that of
the East. We went from this island to another in the vicinity, at ten
leagues' distance, and found a very large village, the houses of which
were built over the sea, like Venice, with much ingenuity. While we were
struck with admiration at this circumstance, we determined to go and
see them; and as we went to their houses, they attempted to prevent our
entering. They found out at last the manner in which the sword cuts, and
thought it best to let us enter. We found their houses filled with the
finest cotton, and the beams of their dwellings were made of dye-wood.
We took a quantity of their cotton and some dye-wood and returned to the
ships.

Your excellency must know that in all parts where we landed we found a
great quantity of cotton, and the country filled with cotton-trees, so
that all the vessels in the world might be loaded in these parts with
cotton and dye-wood.

At length we sailed three hundred leagues farther along the coast,
constantly finding savage but brave people, and very often fighting with
them and vanquishing them. We found seven different languages among them,
each of which was not understood by those who spoke the others. It is
said there are not more than seventy-seven languages in the world, but I
say there are more than a thousand, as there are more than forty which I
have heard myself.

After having sailed along this coas