ptain and the men
who accompanied him brought back some women and boys, ten in number.
Neither this party, nor those who went out to seek them, had seen any of
the men of the island, which must have arisen either from their having
fled, or possibly from there being but very few men in that locality;
for, as the women informed us, ten canoes had gone away to make an attack
upon the neighboring islands. The wanderers had returned from the
mountains in such an emaciated condition, that it was distressing to see
them; when we asked them how it was that they lost themselves, they said
that the trees were so thick and close that they could not see the sky;
some of them who were mariners had climbed the trees to get a sight of
the stars, but could never see them, and if they had not found their way
to the sea-coast, it would have been impossible to have returned to the
fleet. We left this island eight days after our arrival.[291-1] The next
day at noon we saw another island, not very large,[291-2] at about twelve
leagues distance from the one we were leaving; the greater part of the
first day of our departure we were kept close in to the coast of this
island by a calm, but as the Indian women whom we brought with us said
that it was not inhabited, but had been dispeopled by the Caribbees, we
made no stay in it. On that evening we saw another island;[291-3] and in
the night finding there were some sandbanks near, we dropped anchor, not
venturing to proceed until the morning. On the morrow another island
appeared, of considerable size, but we touched at none of these because
we were anxious to convey consolation to our people who had been left in
Espanola; but it did not please God to grant us our desire, as will
hereafter appear. Another day at the dinner hour we arrived at an island
which seemed to be worth the finding, for judging by the extent of
cultivation in it, it appeared very populous. We went thither and put
into harbor, when the Admiral immediately sent on shore a well manned
barge to hold speech with the Indians, in order to ascertain what race
they were, and also because we considered it necessary to gain some
information respecting our course; although it afterwards plainly
appeared that the Admiral, who had never made that passage before, had
taken a very correct route. But as matters of doubt should always be
brought to as great a certainty as possible by inquiry, he wished that
communication should be held with t