nobles, brought up in royal and
gentle life, are more delicate than they; although there are among
them such as are of the peasant class. They are also a very poor
people, who of worldly goods possess little, nor wish to possess:
and they are therefore neither proud, nor ambitious, nor avaricious.
6. Their food is so poor, that it would seem that of the Holy Fathers
in the desert was not scantier nor less pleasing. Their way of
dressing is usually to go naked, covering the private parts; and at
most they cover themselves with a cotton cover, which would be about
equal to one and a half or two ells square of cloth. Their beds are
of matting, and they mostly sleep in certain things like hanging
nets, called in the language of Hispaniola hamacas.
7. They are likewise of a clean, unspoiled, and vivacious intellect,
very capable, and receptive to every good doctrine; most prompt to
accept our Holy Catholic Faith, to be endowed with virtuous customs;
and they have as little difficulty with such things as any people
created by God in the world.
8. Once they have begun to learn of matters pertaining to faith, they
are so importunate to know them, and in frequenting the sacraments
and divine service of the Church, that to tell the truth, the clergy
have need to be endowed of God with the gift of pre-eminent patience
to bear with them: and finally, I have heard many lay Spaniards
frequently say many years ago, (unable to deny the goodness of those
they saw) certainly these people were the most blessed of the earth,
had they only knowledge of God.
9. Among these gentle sheep, gifted by their Maker with the above
qualities, the Spaniards entered as soon as they knew them, like
wolves, tigers, and lions which had been starving for many days, and
since forty years they have done nothing else; nor do they otherwise
at the present day, than outrage, slay, afflict, torment, and
destroy them with strange and new, and divers kinds of cruelty,
never before seen, nor heard of, nor read of, of which some few will
be told below: to such extremes has this gone that, whereas there
were more than three million souls, whom we saw in Hispaniola, there
are to-day, not two hundred of the native population left.
10. The island of Cuba is almost as long as the