sked our lives in the expedition.

As soon as our wounds were healed, I and two other soldiers, desiring to
go to the town of Trinidad, agreed for our passage with an inhabitant of
the Havanna, who was going there in a canoe to sell a cargo of cotton, for
which he was to be paid ten crowns in gold. We accordingly embarked with
him, and after coasting along for eleven days, we were driven on shore in
a violent gale of wind, near an Indian town named _Canarreon_, the canoe
being dashed to pieces, while we reached the shore with much difficulty
naked, bruised, and wounded. We were forced to adopt the clothing of our
first parents, and tied sandals to our feet made of bark which we cut from
the trees with sharp stones, fixing them on by means of the tough flexible
roots of a plant called _bejucos_. Travelling in this sorry plight, we
came in two days to the village of _Yaguarrama_, where _Fray Bartholome de
las Casas_ was then parish priest, who was afterwards bishop of _Chiapa_.
I went next day to the town of _Chipiona_, belonging to Alonso de Avila,
where I got myself decently clothed at the house of a friend named
Antonio de Medina. I then continued my journey to St Jago, where the
governor, Velasquez, was preparing to fit out another expedition of
discovery. Being my relation, as well as governor, I went to wait upon him,
when he asked if I was willing to undertake another expedition to Yucutan.
I answered, that it ought rather to be called the land of wounds and
disasters. He replied, he knew that we suffered much in the last voyage,
but such was often the fate of those who sought fame and honour by new
discoveries, and that he would take care to inform the king of our
services, that we might be rewarded according to our merits. "And now,"
said he, "my son, if you will try your fortune once more, I will place you
in a station where you may reap honour."

[1] The present voyage of Cordova was in 1517: that of Ponce de Leon in
1512, only five years before.--E.

[2] Nothing can be more ridiculous than this fancy of the Americans being
descended from the Jews: Without stopping to controvert this absurd
opinion, it need only be noticed that the Jews, at least after their
return from captivity, have uniformly rejected the use of images, even
under the severest persecutions; except perhaps in Spain, where the
modern Jews are said to worship the Catholic idols with much apparent
devotion, to avoi