The bark of this tree is said to be smooth and polished, and as it is not tough, but filled with a kind of pith, it is easily peeled off. This affords me an opportunity of relating to Your Excellency an interesting story, although it is not to the credit of its hero. The Lucayans, torn from their homes, became perfectly desperate. Some have died from exhaustion, refusing all food and hiding themselves in inaccessible valleys, deserted forests, and unknown mountain heights; while others have put an end to their unendurable lives. Those of more hopeful temperament clung to life, in the hope of one day regaining their freedom. The majority of those who were able to escape, betook themselves to the northern parts of Hispaniola, where they might breathe the air wafted from their native country; with extended arms and open mouths they seemed to drink in their native air, and when misery reduced them to exhaustion, they dropped dead upon the ground. One man who clung to life more than his comrades had been a carpenter in his own country, engaged in building houses, for though they have neither iron nor steel they have stone hatchets and other tools necessary for this trade. This man undertook an almost incredible task. Cutting a trunk of jaruma, he took all the pith from the inside. He then filled it with maize and pumpkins full of water, as supplies for his journey, and sealed up the ends of the tree. Throwing this trunk into the sea, he, and two of his relatives, a man and a woman, who knew how to swim, embarked upon it. Using oars they drove this tree-trunk towards their country. It was an amazing invention, but it brought no luck to those unfortunates, for two hundred miles from Hispaniola they met a vessel coming back from Chicora, a country concerning which I shall speak later. In spite of their despair, the Spaniards captured this prize; they brought the hollowed trunk back to Hispaniola as proof of this extraordinary under taking, and consumed their poor provisions. The treetrunk and the inventor of this barque were seen at Hispaniola by several trustworthy witnesses, who have spoken with me. This, however, is enough concerning the jaruma and this particular tree-trunk. There exists another tree, closely resembling a pomegranate, than which it is no larger, though its foliage is thicker. No mention is made of its fruit, but extraordinary things are told about its bark which is peeled from the trunk, just as every year cork is cut for making sandals without killing the tree, which continues to produce sprouts. This seems to happen with the cinnamontree. For my part, I believe it to be true, for I have tasted some of its bark that was brought from Hispaniola. I even sent a fruit to your uncle, Ascanio Sforza, when Columbus, the first discoverer of those regions, returned from his voyage and acquainted me with many of the new products he had found. At the close of the second chapter of my First Decade you will find this tree mentioned. The bark tastes like cinnamon, has the spice of ginger, and the delicate odour of cloves. In our ignorance we search in foreign parts for spices which we should not need did we but make use of those which grow spontaneously in our own islands. No doubt one day they will be appreciated. It is only the frantic craving for gold that goads the Spaniards on. Everything else, no matter how useful or valuable, is neglected and despised as of no consequence. Our pepper, of which I sent a specimen to Ascanio Sforza, grows abundantly everywhere in this country, just like mallows and nettles at home. The islanders crush it and spread it on their bread, which they soak in water before eating. There are five varieties, and it is hotter to the taste than the pepper of Malabar or the Caucasus. Five grains of ours are equivalent to twenty of Malabar or Caucasian pepper, and seasoned with these five grains the juices of meats acquire more flavour than with twenty of the other. But such is human stupidity that whatever is difficult to obtain is always thought to be better. It is not only on account of its bark that the above mentioned tree deserves to be noticed. It exhales sweet and refreshing perfumes, distinguishable at a distance of several stadia. Its shade is dense, and it grows throughout the archipelago. In its branches such a multitude of doves nest that the natives of the large neighbouring islands of Bimini and of the Florida coasts cross the sea to capture these birds, carrying off boatloads of them. The forests are full of wild vines, which overgrow the trees, as I have said is the case in Hispaniola. It is alleged that the women of the Lucayan islands are so beautiful that numerous inhabitants of the neighbouring countries, charmed with their beauty, abandon their homes, and for love of them settle in their country. It is also said that the islanders of the Lucayan archipelago have more civilised morals than those who live farther from the cultivated regions of Bimini and Florida. You will be pleased to learn the curious fashion of female dress. The men, as a matter of fact, are all naked except in war time and at festivals, when they dance and sing choruses. On these occasions they all adorn themselves by wearing clothes or head-dresses of various coloured plumes. As X long as the women are not fully developed and before the age of puberty, they wear no clothes; afterwards they wear loin-cloths of silk nets, mixed with herbs. When the critical period arrives, the parents invite the neighbours to festivities in order to marry off their daughters. Only the middle part of the body is covered as long as the women are marriageable; when they have lost their virginity they wear a kind of trousers covering their hips down to the knees, and made of stout plants or cotton, which grows wild in those countries. They make nets, which they sew, knot, and weave. Although they go naked, these natives make stuffs to decorate their rooms and the suspended beds called hammocks. They have kings, whom they obey with such respect that if one of them ordered a man to throw himself over a precipice for no reason whatever save that he commanded, "I want you to throw yourself down," the man would immediately obey. It is well, however, to know the limits of the royal power. The kings occupy themselves in planting, hunting, and fishing. Whatever is sown or planted or fished, and whatever has to do with hunting, or is manufactured in any way whatsoever, is done in accordance with the king's order. He distributes these tasks among his people according to his pleasure. Harvests are stored in royal granaries, to be divided during the remainder of the year, and are distributed among the different families according to their needs. The king there is like the queen bee a treasurer and distributor among his subjects. These natives, therefore, enjoy a golden age, for they know neither meum nor tuum, that germ of all discords. When they are not busy with sowing or harvests, they are playing tennis, dancing, hunting, or fishing. Judicial matters, trials, disputes among neighbours, are absolutely unknown. The king's will is held to be law and this same custom prevails in all the islands. In all things they are contented with little. A kind of precious stone which the natives highly prize is found in the waters; it is taken from red shells. They wear it in their ears. Another much more valuable stone is taken from large snails, whose flesh is good to eat. In the head of each of these snails are deposited little diaphanous red pebbles, as brilliant as fire. People who have examined them declare their value to be equal to the red stone vulgarly called the ruby. The natives call the snail cahobi and the stone cahobici. Transparent yellow and black stones are also found in the earth, and of these they make necklaces and bracelets for adorning |