p by drop from the burning wood. As for the
fruit, it is as small as a plum and quite good to eat; but it is the
foliage of the trees which possesses a very special quality. It is
believed that this tree is the one whose leaves were used by the
Chaldeans, the first inventors of writing, to convey their ideas to
the absent before paper was invented. The leaf is as large as a palm
and almost round. Using a needle or pin, or a sharp iron or wooden
point, characters are traced upon it as easily as upon paper.

It is laughable to consider what the Spaniards have told the natives
concerning these leaves. These good people believe the leaves speak in
obedience to the command of the Spaniards. An islander had been sent
by a Spaniard of Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, to one
of his friends living in the interior of the colony. The messenger
likewise carried some roasted utias which, as we have said, are
rabbits. On the way, whether from hunger or greediness, he ate three;
these animals not being larger than rats. The friend wrote upon one
of these leaves what he had received. "Well, my man," the master then
said, "you are a fine lad in whom to put confidence! So you have been
so greedy as to eat the utias I gave you?" Trembling and amazed the
native confessed his fault, but asked his master how he had discovered
it. The Spaniard replied: "The leaf which you yourself have brought
me has told me everything. Moreover, you reached my friend's house at
such an hour and you left it at such another." In this way our people
amuse themselves by mystifying these poor islanders, who think they
are gods, with power to make the very leaves reveal what they believe
to be secret. Thus the news spread through the island that the leaves
speak in response to a sign from the Spaniards; and this obliges the
islanders to be very careful of whatever is confided to them. Both
sides of these leaves may be used for writing, just as is the case
with our paper. Such a leaf is thicker than a piece of paper folded in
two, and is extraordinarily tough; so much so that when it is freshly
plucked, the letters stand out white upon a green ground, but when it
dries it becomes white and hard like a piece of wood, and then these
characters change to yellow; but they remain indelible until it is
burnt, never disappearing, even when the leaf is wet.

There is another tree called the _hagua_, whose fruit when green
exudes a juice which dyes so fast everyth