sland. As soon as his ships were refitted,
he attacked and defeated, with great slaughter, the savage warriors,
who, decorated with coronets of gaudy plumes, their bodies painted, and
armed with bows, arrows, and lances, gallantly met and resolutely fought
him on the beach. He then pursued his voyage along the coast, passed the
island of Curacoa, and penetrated into the deep gulf to the south. On
the eastern shore he found an Indian village which struck him with
surprise. The houses were built on piles, and the communication was
carried on in canoes. From these resemblances to the Italian city, he
called it Venezuela, or little Venice, a name it still bears, and which
is now extended to the bay and the province around. The natives made a
treacherous attack on Ojeda, but manning his boats, the gallant Spaniard
charged among the thickest of the enemy, and soon drove them to the
shore, whence they fled into the woods. Not desiring to cause useless
irritation, he continued his voyage as far as the port of Maracaibo,
which still retains its Indian name. In the territory beyond, called
Coquibacoa, he found a gentler race of inhabitants, who received the
Spaniards with delight, and solicited them to visit their towns.

"Ojeda, in compliance with their entreaties, sent a detachment
of twenty-seven Spaniards on a visit to the interior. For nine
days they were conducted from town to town, and feasted and
almost idolized by the Indians, who regarded them as angelic
beings, performing their national dances and games, and
chanting their traditional ballads for their entertainment.

"The natives of this part were distinguished for the symmetry
of their forms; the females in particular appeared to the
Spaniards to surpass all others that they had yet beheld in the
new world for grace and beauty; neither did the men evince, in
the least degree, that jealousy which prevailed in other parts
of the coast.

"By the time the Spaniards set out on their return to the ship,
the whole country was aroused, pouring forth its population,
male and female, to do them honour. Some bore them in litters
or hammocks, that they might not be fatigued with the journey,
and happy was the Indian who had the honour of bearing a
Spaniard on his shoulders across a river. Others loaded
themselves with the presents that had been bestowed on their
guests, consist