junction
with Mercury, the sun being in opposition to Jupiter, which is the cause
of high winds. He sent the boat on shore to a beautiful beach to obtain
yams for food. They found some men with bows and arrows, with whom they
stopped to speak, buying two bows and many arrows from them. They asked
one of them to come on board the caravel and see the Admiral; who says
that he was very wanting in reverence, more so than any native he had yet
seen.[222-1] His face was all stained with charcoal,[222-2] but in all
parts there is the custom of painting the body different colors. He wore
his hair very long, brought together and fastened behind, and put into a
small net of parrots' feathers. He was naked, like all the others. The
Admiral supposed that he belonged to the Caribs, who eat men,[222-3] and
that the gulf he had seen yesterday formed this part of the land into an
island by itself. The Admiral asked about the Caribs, and he pointed to
the east, near at hand, which means that he saw the Admiral yesterday
before he entered the bay. The Indian said there was much gold to the
east, pointing to the poop of the caravel, which was a good size, meaning
that there were pieces as large. He called gold _tuob_, and did not
understand _caona_, as they call it in the first part of the island that
was visited, nor _nozay_, the name in San Salvador and the other islands.
Copper or a base gold is called _tuob_ in Espanola.[223-1] Of the island
of Matinino this Indian said that it was peopled by women without
men,[223-2] and that in it there was much _tuob_, which is gold or
copper, and that it is more to the east of Carib.[223-3] He also spoke of
the island of Goanin,[223-4] where there was much _tuob_. The Admiral
says that he had received notices of these islands from many persons;
that in the other islands the natives were in great fear of the Caribs,
called by some of them Caniba, but in Espanola Carib. He thought they
must be an audacious race, for they go to all these islands and eat the
people they can capture. He understood a few words, and the Indians who
were on board comprehended more, there being a difference in the
languages owing to the great distance between the various islands. The
Admiral ordered that the Indian should be fed, and given pieces of green
and red cloth, and glass beads, which they like very much, and then sent
on shore. He was told to bring gold if he had any, and it was believed
that he had, from some small