fy himself whether it were an island or continent. At this time an
Indian youth came on board, and expressed by signs an anxious desire to go
along with the Christians; and though his parents and friends entreated
him with tears not to leave them, he would not be prevailed on to stay,
but went and hid himself in a private part of the ship, to avoid their
importunity.

On returning to the coast of Cuba, he discovered a cape or point, which he
called _Cabo de Cruz_, or Cape Cross; and continued to sail along the
coast, accompanied by much rain, and a great deal of thunder and lightning.
In this course he was greatly perplexed by numerous shoals and islands,
which increased in number the farther he went, some of the Islands being
bare sand, while others were covered with trees. The nearer these islands
were to the shore of Cuba, they appeared the higher, greener, and more
beautiful, some of them being a league or two in compass, and others,
three or four. On the first day he saw many, and the next still more; and
considering that they were so numerous that it was impossible to give each
a name, he called the whole group or range _El Jarden de la Reyna_, or the
Queen's Garden. Between these islands there were many channels through
which the ships could pass; and in some of them they found a sort of red
cranes, or _flamingos_, which are only found on the coast of Cuba and
among the small islands, living on the salt water upon some kind of food
which they there find. These birds are often domesticated, and are then
fed on _cazabi_, or casada, which is the Indian bread, and which is given
them in pans of salt water. They saw cranes likewise, resembling those in
Spain; also crows, and many kinds of singing-birds, and abundance of
tortoises or turtles as large as bucklers.

At this time the Spaniards were much astonished by a new mode of fishing
which they saw practised by some Indians in a canoe, who shewed no
symptoms of dread on the approach of the Christians. These people in the
first place caught some fishes called _reves_, the largest of which are
about the size of a pilchard, and have a certain roughness on their belly,
by which they cling with such force to any thing they have a mind to, that
they may be sooner torn in pieces than forced to quit their hold. Having
caught some of these, the Indian fishermen fastened them by the tail to
one end of a small cord about 200 fathoms long, and allowed the fish to
swim about in t