erable ones that are
depicted on the maps of the world in the Far East.[148-1] He believed
that they yielded very great riches in precious stones and spices and
that they extend much further to the south, widening out in all
directions. He gave the name of La Mar de Nuestra Senora, and to the
haven, which is near the mouth of the entrance to these islands, Puerto
del Principe. He did not enter it, but examined it from outside, until
another time, on Saturday of the next week, as will there appear. He
speaks highly of the fertility, beauty, and height of the islands which
he found in this gulf, and he tells the Sovereigns not to wonder at his
praise of them, for that he has not told them the hundredth part. Some of
them seemed to reach to heaven, running up into peaks like diamonds.
Others rising to a great height have a flat top like a table. At their
bases the sea is of a great depth, with enough water for a very large
carrack. All are covered with foliage and without rocks.

_Thursday, 15th of November_

The Admiral went to examine these islands in the ships' boats, and speaks
marvels of them, how he found mastic, and aloes without end. Some of them
were cultivated with the roots of which the Indians make bread; and he
found that fires had been lighted in several places. He saw no fresh
water. There were some natives, but they fled. In all parts of the sea
where the vessels were navigated he found a depth of 15 or 16 fathoms,
and all _basa_, by which he means that the ground is sand and not rocks;
a thing much desired by sailors, for the rocks cut their anchor cables.

_Friday, 16th of November_

As in all parts, whether islands or mainlands, that he visited, the
Admiral always left a cross; so, on this occasion, he went in a boat to
the entrance of these havens, and found two very large trees on a point
of land, one longer than the other. One being placed over the other, made
a cross, and he said that a carpenter could not have made it better. He
ordered a very large and high cross to be made out of these timbers. He
found canes on the beach, and did not know where they had grown, but
thought they must have been brought down by some river, and washed up on
the beach (in which opinion he had reason). He went to a creek on the
south-east side of the entrance to the port. Here, under a height of rock
and stone like a cape, there was depth enough for the largest carrack in
the world close in shore, and there was a