They left these people and proceeded along the coast, often landing
and having intercourse with different tribes, until they arrived at a
port where, as they entered, they saw a town built over the water like
Venice. Americo says that it contained twenty very large houses, built,
like the others he had seen, in the shape of a bell, and raised on very
strong piles. At the doors of the houses they had drawbridges, by which,
as if they were streets, they went from one house to another. (_Las Casas
then gives the account of the encounter with the natives of this town on
piles, just as it is given by Vespucci._) They made sail from this port,
and proceeded for eighty leagues along the coast; and this was the land
of Paria discovered by the Admiral, as has already been shown. Here they
found another people, with very different customs and language. They
anchored and got into their boats to go on shore, where they found over
4,000 natives on the beach. The Indians were so frightened that they
did not wait, but fled to the mountains. The Christians having landed,
followed a path, and came to many huts, which they believed were those
of fishermen. Here they found fish of various kinds, and also one of the
_iguanas_ which I have already described, and which astonished them,
for they thought it was some very fierce serpent. The bread eaten by
these people, says Americo, was made with fish steeped in hot water,
and afterwards pounded. From this mass small loaves were kneaded and
baked, making very good bread, in his judgment. They found many kinds
of fruits and herbs; but they not only took nothing, but left many small
things from Castille in the huts, in the hope that thus the fears of the
natives would be dispelled, and the Spaniards then returned to the ships.
(_Las Casas here inserts the account given by Vespucci of a journey
inland, and of intercourse with these natives._) Americo then says that
the land was populous, and also full of many different animals, few being
like those of Spain. He mentions lions, bears, deer, pigs, wild goats,
which had a certain deformity, and were unlike ours. But in truth I do
not believe that he saw either lions or bears, because lions are very
rare, and there cannot have been so many as that he should see them;
and the same remark applies to bears. No one who has been to the Indies
has even seen goats there, nor can I understand how he can have seen
the difference between deer and goats nor how he can have seen pigs,
there being none in those parts. Deer he may well have seen, as there
are many on the mainland. He says there are no horses, mules, asses,
cows, nor sheep, nor dogs, and here he tells the truth, although there
is a kind of dog in some parts. He says that there is great abundance
of other wild animals of various kinds, but if they were not rabbits he
could have little true evidence of having seen them. Of birds of different
plumage and species he says that he saw many; and this I believe, for
there is an infinite number. He says that the region is pleasant and
fertile, full of woods and great forests, which consist of evergreens,
yielding fruits of many sorts; and all this is also true.
He then repeats that many people came to see the whiteness and persons
of the Spaniards. (I do not know whether he is speaking of this same
land, as it would seem, or of another, for he appears to confuse his
account here with what he had said before, that they had to depart that
night.) He tells us that the natives asked whence the Spaniards came,
and they replied that they had come down from heaven to see the things of
the earth, which the Indians undoubtedly believed. Here the Christians
committed a great sacrilege, thinking to make an agreeable offering to
God. As they saw the natives so gentle, meek, and tractable, although
neither could understand a single word of what the other said, and
therefore the Spaniards could not teach the Indians any doctrine, yet,
says Americo, they baptized an infinite number; whence it appears how
little Americo, and those who were with him, appreciated the practice
of the sacraments and the reverence that is due to them, nor even the
disposition and frame of mind with which they should be received. It is
manifest that those Christians, in baptizing the natives, committed a
great offence against God. Americo says that after they were baptized,
the Indians used the word _charaybi_, which means that they called the
Spaniards men of great knowledge. This statement is a thing to laugh at,
for the Spaniards did not even know the Indian names for bread or for
water, which are among the first that we learn in acquiring a language;
yet during the few days they remained Americo wants us to believe that he
understood that _charaybi_ signifies men of great knowledge. Here Americo
declares that the natives called this land _Paria_; and he conceals,
what he must have known, that the Admiral had already been there several
days, which was a reason for not remaining silent.
* * * * *