passed round with a small ditch, where through
at their pleasure, they may let in the sea.

"About two leagues from Havana there lieth another town called
Guanabacoa, in which there are dwelling about one hundred Indians;
and from this place sixty Leagues there lieth another town named
Bahama, situated on the north side of the island. The chiefest city
of the island of Cuba which is above two hundred miles in length,
is also called Cuba (Santiago de Cuba); where dwelleth a Bishop and
about 200 Spaniards; which town standeth on the south side of the
island about a hundred leagues from Havana.

"All the trade of this island is cattle; which they kill only for
the hides that are brought thence into Spain. For which end the
Spaniards maintain there many negroes to kill the cattle, and
foster a great number of hogs, which being killed are cut into
small pieces that dry in the sun; and so make provisions for the
ships which come for Spain."

Many books of West Indian travel are by French writers, among them an
anonymous "Relation des voyages et des decouvertes que las Espagnols on
fait," Jean de Laet's "Histoire du Nouveau Monde," Jean Baptiste Labat's
"Nouveau Voyage aux iles de l'Amerique," Francois Coreal's "Relation des
Voyages aux Indes Occidentales" and that interesting work entitled
"Relation de ce qui s'est passe dans les iles et Terra Firma de
l'Amerique," which does not give the name of the author, but bears on
its title-page the name of the printer, "Gervais Clouzier au Palais, a
la seconde Boutique sur les degres en montant pour aller a la Ste.
Chapelle au Voyageur MDCLXXI" and is dedicated to the Duc de Luynes, a
peer of France. There is also the work of a Dutchman, Linschoten:
"Histoire de la Navigation de Jean Hugues de Linschoten," which has been
translated into English, French and other languages.

Jan Huygens van Linschoten was a born traveler. His favorite reading had
always been books of travel and as the news of the exploits of foreign
mariners in the New World came pouring into Holland, this young Dutchman
was seized with an irresistible longing to see those far-off worlds. He
frankly speaks in his book of travel of the difficulties he encountered
in trying to persuade his family to approve of his venture, and whether
they did or not, he set out for Lisbon as the place where he would be
most likely to obtain passage. He arrived