n told to us, and about which everybody agrees. When asked
why they did not bring more considerable quantities of gold from that
country, the Spaniards answer that miners are required, and that the
explorers of the new countries are not men inured to fatigue. This
explains why much less gold is obtained than the wealth of the soil
affords. It would even seem that precious stones are found there.
Without repeating what I have said concerning Cariai and the
neighbourhood of Santa Marta, here is another proof. A certain Andreas
Morales, a pilot of these seas, who was a friend and companion of Juan
de la Cosa during his lifetime, possessed a diamond which a young
native of Paria in Cumana had discovered. It was of the greatest
rarity and is described as being as long as two middle finger joints.
It was as thick as the first thumb joint, was pointed at both ends,
and had eight well-cut facets. When struck upon an anvil, it wore the
files and hammers, itself remaining intact. This young man of Cumana
wore it hanging round his neck, and he sold it to Andreas Morales for
five green glass beads because their colour pleased him. The Spaniards
also found topazes on the beach, but as they only think of gold, they
turn their backs on these precious stones; for only gold attracts
them, only gold do they seek. Thus the majority of Spaniards despise
people who wear rings and precious stones, regarding it as almost a
contemptible thing to decorate one's self with precious stones. Our
people above all hold this opinion. Sometimes the nobles, for a
wedding ceremony or a royal festival, like to display jewels in their
golden necklaces, or to embroider their costumes with pearls mixed
with diamonds; but on all other occasions they abstain, for it is
considered effeminate to decorate one's self in this wise, just as it
would be to be perfumed with the odours of Araby. Any one they meet
smelling of musk or castor, they suspect of being given to guilty
passions.

Fruit plucked from a tree argues that the tree bears fruit; a fish
taken from a river warrants the affirmation that fish live in the
river. In like manner a bit of gold or a single precious stone
justifies the belief that the earth where they are found, produces
gold and precious stones.

This must certainly be admitted. We have already related what the
companions of Pedro Arias and some officials discovered at the port of
Santa Marta in the Cariai region when they penetrated there