ur left hand, and lastly at the ocean upon our right.
Now this people, I should say, drew their wealth from the sea as well as
from the land, since they were great fishermen and went out upon it in
rude boats or rafts made of a wooden frame to which were lashed blown-up
skins and bundles of dried reeds. Upon these boats, frail as they
seemed, such as further south were called balsas, they made considerable
journeys to distant islands where they caught vast quantities of fish,
some of which they used to manure their land. Moreover, besides the
oars, they rigged a square cotton sail upon the balsas which enabled
them to run before the wind without labour, steering the craft by means
of a paddle at the stern.

While we were there I observed that on the springing up of a wind from
the north, although it was of no great strength, the _balsas_ all came
to shore and were drawn up out of reach of the waves. When I inquired
why through Kari, the answer given was because the fishing season was
over, since that wind from the north would blow for a long time without
changing and those who went out in it upon the sea might be driven
southwards to return no more. They stated, indeed, that often this had
happened to venturesome men who had vanished away and been lost.

"If you wish to travel south, there is a way of doing so," I said to
Kari.

At the time he made no answer, but on the following day asked me
suddenly if I dared attempt such a journey.

"Why not?" I answered. "It is as easy to die in the water as on land and
I weary of journeying through endless swamps and forests or of crossing
torrents and climbing mountain ridges."

The end of it was that for a knife and a few nails Kari purchased the
largest _balsa_ that these people had, provisioning it with as much
dried fish, corn and water in earthenware jars as it would carry
together with ourselves, and such of our remaining goods as we wished to
take with us. Then we announced that I, the god who had come out of the
sea, desired to return into the sea with himself, my servant.

So on a certain fine morning when the wind was blowing steadily but not
too strongly from the north, we embarked upon that _balsa_ while the
simple savages made obeisance with wonder in their eyes, hoisted the
square canvas, and sailed away upon what I suppose was one of the
maddest voyages ever made by man.

Although it was so clumsy the _balsa_ moved through the water at a good
rate, covering