of October the ships weighed anchor, heading a
trifle to the south of west, and after a pleasant and uneventful voyage
they sighted land on the 3d of November.[559] It turned out to be a
small mountainous island, and as it was discovered on Sunday they called
it Dominica. In a fortnight's cruise in these Caribbean waters they
discovered and named several islands, such as Marigalante, Guadaloupe,
Antigua, and others, and at length reached Porto Rico. The inhabitants
of these islands were ferocious cannibals, very different from the
natives encountered on the former voyage. There were skirmishes in which
a few Spaniards were killed with poisoned arrows. On Guadaloupe the
natives lived in square houses made of saplings intertwined with reeds,
and on the rude porticoes attached to these houses some of the wooden
pieces were carved so as to look like serpents. In some of these houses
human limbs were hanging from the roof, cured with smoke, like ham; and
fresh pieces of human flesh were found stewing in earthen kettles, along
with the flesh of parrots. Now at length, said Peter Martyr, was proved
the truth of the stories of Polyphemus and the Laestrygonians, and the
reader must look out lest his hair stand on end.[560] These western
Laestrygonians were known as Caribbees, Caribales, or Canibales, and have
thus furnished an epithet which we have since learned to apply to
man-eaters the world over.

[Footnote 557: "E con questo preparamento il mercolede ai 25
del mese di settembre dell' anno 1493 un' ora avanti il levar
del sole, essendovi io e mio fratel presenti, l' Ammiraglio
levo le ancore," etc. _Vita dell' Ammiraglio_, cap. xliv.]

[Footnote 558: Eight sows were bought for 70 maravedis apiece,
and "destas ocho puercas se han multiplicado todos los puercos
que, hasta hoy, ha habido y hay en todas estas Indias," etc.
Las Casas, _Historia_, tom. ii. p. 3.]

[Footnote 559: The relation of this second voyage by Dr. Chanca
may be found in Navarrete, tom. i. pp. 198-241; an interesting
relation in Italian by Simone Verde, a Florentine merchant then
living in Valladolid, is published in Harrisse, _Christophe
Colomb_, tom. ii. pp. 68-78. The narrative of the curate of Los
Palacios is of especial value for this voyage.]

[Footnote 560: Martyr, _Epist._ cxlvii. _ad Pomponium Laetum_;
cf