ed it. All these people agree as to its inviting
character. It is believed that neither gold nor precious stones will
be found there; but in the beginning the same opinion was held of
Cuba.

The island of Guadaloupe, formerly called by the natives Caraqueira,
lies south of Hispaniola, four degrees nearer to the equator. It is
thirty-five miles in circumference and its coast line is broken by two
gulfs, which almost divide it into two different islands, as is the
case with Great Britain and Caledonia, now called Scotland. It has
numerous ports. A kind of gum called by the apothecaries _animen
album_, whose fumes cure headaches, is gathered there. The fruit of
this tree is one palm long and looks like a carrot. When opened it is
found to contain a sweetish flour, and the islanders preserve these
fruits just as our peasants lay by a store of chestnuts and other
similar things for the winter. The tree itself might be a fig-tree.
The edible pineapple and other foods which I have carefully studied
above also grow in Guadaloupe, and it is even supposed that it was the
inhabitants of this island who originally carried the seeds of all
these delicious fruits to the other islands.

In conducting their man-hunts, the Caribs have scoured all the
neighbouring countries; and whatever they found that was likely to be
useful to them, they brought back for cultivation. These islanders
are inhospitable and suspicious, and their conquest can only be
accomplished by using force. Both sexes use poisoned arrows and are
very good shots; so that, whenever the men leave the island on an
expedition, the women defend themselves with masculine courage against
any assailants. It is no doubt this fact that has given rise to the
exploded belief that there are islands in this ocean peopled entirely
by women. The Admiral Columbus induced me to believe this tale and I
repeated it in my First Decade.

In the island of Guadaloupe there are mountains and fertile plains;
it is watered by beautiful streams. Honey is found in the trees and
crevices of the rocks, and, as is the case at Palma, one of the
Fortunate Isles, honey is gathered amongst briar and bramble bushes.

The island recently named La Deseada lies eighteen miles distant from
the former island, and is twenty miles in circumference.

There is another charming island lying ten miles to the south of
Guadaloupe, which is called Galante; its surface is level and it is
thirty miles in circumfere