reatest of treasures. One of the seamen for a latchet received a
piece of gold weighing two dollars and a half, and others, for other
things of much less value, obtained more. Again, for new silver
coin they would give everything they possessed, whether it was worth
two or three doubloons or one or two balls of cotton. Even for
pieces of broken pipe-tubes they would take them and give anything
for them, until, when I thought it wrong, I prevented it. And I
made them presents of thousands of things which I had, that I might
win their esteem, and also that they might be made good Christians
and be disposed to the service of Your Majesties and the whole
Spanish nation, and help us to obtain the things which we require
and of which there is abundance in their country.

"And these people appear to have neither religion nor idolatry,
except that they believe that good and evil come from the skies; and
they firmly believed that our ships and their crews, with myself,
came from the skies, and with this persuasion,--after having lost
their fears, they always received us. And yet this does not proceed
from ignorance, for they are very ingenious, and some of them
navigate their seas in a wonderful manner and give good account of
things, but because they never saw people dressed or ships like
ours.

"And as soon as I arrived in the Indies, at the first island at
which I touched, I captured some of them, that we might learn from
them and obtain intelligence of what there was in those parts. And
as soon as we understood each other they were of great service to
us; but yet, from frequent conversation which I had with them, they
still believe we came from the skies. These were the first to
express that idea, and others ran from house to house, and to the
neighbouring villages, crying out, "Come and see the people from the
skies." And thus all of them, men and women, after satisfying
themselves of their safety, came to us without reserve, great and
small, bringing us something to eat and drink, and which they gave
to us most affectionately.

"They have many canoes in those islands propelled by oars, some of
them large and others small, and many of them with eight or ten
paddles of a side, not very wide, but all of one trunk, and a boat
cannot keep wa