henceforth regarded with great veneration. Until the
arrival of the Spaniards the natives rendered it the homage of their
continual gifts; the same as we do Jerusalem, the cradle of our
religion; or the Turks, Mecca, or the ancient inhabitants of the
Fortunate Isles venerated the summit of a high rock on the Grand
Canary. Many of these latter, singing joyous canticles, threw
themselves down from the summit of this rock, for their false priests
had persuaded them that the souls of those who threw themselves from
the rock for the love of Tirana, were blessed, and destined to an
eternity of delight. The conquerors of the Fortunate Isles have found
that practice still in use in our own time, for the remembrance of
these sacrifices is preserved in the common language, and the rock
itself keeps its name. I have, moreover, recently learned that
there still exists in those islands since their colonisation by the
Frenchman Bethencourt under the authorisation of the King of Castile,
a group of Bethencourt's people, who still use the French language and
customs. Nevertheless, his heirs, as I have above stated, sold the
island to the Castilians, but the colonists who came with Bethencourt
built houses in the archipelago and prosperously maintained their
families. They still live there mixed with Spaniards and consider
themselves fortunate to be no longer exposed to the rigours of the
French climate.

Let us now return to the people at Matanino. Hispaniola was first
called by its early inhabitants Quizqueia, and afterwards Haiti.
These names were not chosen at random, but were derived from natural
features, for Quizqueia in their language means "something large" or
larger than anything, and is a synonym for universality, the whole;
something in the sense that [Greek: pan] was used among the Greeks.
The islanders really believed that the island, being so great,
comprised the entire universe, and that the sun warmed no other land
than theirs and the neighbouring islands. Thus they decided to call it
Quizqueia. The name Haiti[1] in their language means _altitude_, and
because it describes a part, was given to the entire island. The
country rises in many places into lofty mountain-ranges, is covered
with dense forests, or broken into profound valleys which, because of
the height of the mountains, are gloomy; everywhere else it is very
agreeable.

[Note 1: Meaning in the Caribs' language _mountainous_. Columbus,
as we have mentioned,