seeing a cape covered with
palm trees, to which he gave the name of Cabo de Palmas,[133-5] after
having made good 15 leagues. The Indians on board the caravel _Pinta_
said that beyond that cape there was a river,[134-1] and that from the
river to Cuba it was four days' journey. The captain of the _Pinta_
reported that he understood from that, that this Cuba was a city, and
that the land was a great continent trending far to the north. The king
of that country, he gathered, was at war with the Gran Can, whom they
called Cami, and his land or city Fava, with many other names. The
Admiral resolved to proceed to that river, and to send a present, with
the letter of the Sovereigns,[134-2] to the king of that land. For this
service there was a sailor who had been to Guinea, and some of the
Indians of Guanahani wished to go with him, and afterwards to return to
their homes. The Admiral calculated that he was forty-two degrees to the
north of the equinoctial line (but the handwriting is here
illegible).[134-3] He says that he must attempt to reach the Gran Can,
who he thought was here or at the city of Cathay,[134-4] which belongs to
him, and is very grand, as he was informed before leaving Spain. All this
land, he adds, is low and beautiful, and the sea deep.

_Wednesday, 31st of October_

All Tuesday night he was beating to windward, and he saw a river, but
could not enter it because the entrance was narrow. The Indians fancied
that the ships could enter wherever their canoes could go. Navigating
onwards, he came to a cape running out very far, and surrounded by sunken
rocks,[134-5] and he saw a bay where small vessels might take shelter.
He could not proceed because the wind had come round to the north, and
all the coast runs N.W. and S.E. Another cape further on ran out still
more.[135-1] For these reasons, and because the sky showed signs of a
gale, he had to return to the Rio de Mares.

_Thursday, November the 1st_

At sunrise the Admiral sent the boats on shore to the houses that were
there, and they found that all the people had fled. After some time a man
made his appearance. The Admiral ordered that he should be left to
himself, and the sailors returned to the boats. After dinner, one of the
Indians on board was sent on shore. He called out from a distance that
there was nothing to fear, because the strangers were good people and
would do no harm to anyone, nor were they people of the Gran Can, but
they had g