e time. As I had found every thing true
that had been told me in the different places which I had visited, I felt
satisfied it would be the same with respect to Ciguare,[394-3] which
according to their account, is nine days journey across the country
westward: they tell me there is a great quantity of gold there, and that
the inhabitants wear coral ornaments on their heads, and very large coral
bracelets and anklets, with which article also they adorn and inlay their
seats, boxes, and tables. They also said that the women there wore
necklaces hanging down to their shoulders. All the people agree in the
report I now repeat, and their account is so favorable that I should be
content with the tithe of the advantages that their description holds
out. They are all likewise acquainted with the pepper-plant;[395-1]
according to the account of these people, the inhabitants of Ciguare are
accustomed to hold fairs and markets for carrying on their commerce, and
they showed me also the mode and form in which they transact their
various exchanges; others assert that their ships carry cannon, and that
the men go clothed and use bows and arrows, swords and cuirasses, and
that on shore they have horses which they use in battle, and that they
wear rich clothes and have good things.[395-2] They also say that the sea
surrounds Ciguare, and that at ten days' journey from thence is the river
Ganges; these lands appear to hold the same relation to Veragua, as
Tortosa to Fontarabia, or Pisa to Venice.[395-3] When I left Carambaru
and reached the places in its neighborhood, which I have mentioned above
as being spoken of by the Indians, I found the customs of the people
correspond with the accounts that had been given of them, except as
regarded the golden mirrors: any man who had one of them would willingly
part with it for three hawks'-bells,[395-4] although they were equivalent
in weight to ten or fifteen ducats. These people resemble the natives of
Espanola in all their habits. They have various modes of collecting the
gold, none of which will bear comparison with the plans adopted by the
Christians.

All that I have here stated is from hearsay. This, however, I know, that
in the year ninety-four I sailed twenty-four degrees to the westward in
nine hours,[396-1] and there can be no mistake upon the subject, because
there was an eclipse; the sun was in Libra and the moon in Aries.[396-2]
What I had learned by the mouth of these people I alr