Admiral came from the south,
from which he judged that there must be great lands toward the south, and
he said well since the mainland is so large that it occupies a large part
of the south.

The temperature of this land, he says, is very high, and according to him
this causes the color of the people, and the hair which is all flowing,
and the very thick groves which abound everywhere. He says it must be
believed that when once the boundary is passed, 100 leagues to the west
of the Azores, that many times he has said that there is a change in the
sky and the sea and the temperature, "and this," he says, "is manifest,"
because here where he was, so near to the equinoctial line, each morning,
he says, it was cool and the sun was in Leo. What he says is very true,
since I who write this have been there and required a robe nights and
mornings especially at Navidad.[337-2]

The waters were running toward the west with a current stronger than the
river of Seville; the water of the sea rose and fell 65 paces and more,
as in Barrameda so that they are able to beach carracks;[337-3] he says
that the current flows very strongly going between these two islands,
Trinidad and that one which he called Sancta, and the land which
afterwards and farther on he called Isla de Gracia. And he calls the
mainland an island, since he was already between the two which are two
leagues apart which [_i.e._, the channel] is like a river as it appears
on the map. They found fruits[338-1] like those of this Espanola, and the
trees and the soil, and the temperature of the sky. In this Espanola they
found few fruits native to the soil. The temperature of that country is
much higher than it is in this Espanola, except in the mines of Cibao and
in some other districts, as has been said above.

They found _hostias_ or oysters, very large, infinite fish, parrots as
large as hens, he says. In this land and in all the mainland the parrots
are larger than any of those in these islands and are green, the color
being very light, but those of the islands are of a green somewhat
darker. Those of the mainland have the yellow with spots and the upper
part of the wings with reddish spots, and some are of yellow plumage;
those of the islands have no yellow, the neck being red with spots. The
parrots of Espanola have a little white over the back; those of Cuba have
that part red and they are very pretty. Those of the island of San Juan I
believe are similar to those