the haste we were in, and having repaired the ships, and provided all we wanted, the admiral sent his brother on shore with some men on the 2d of October, to view the town, and to endeavour to learn as much as possible of the manners of the people, and the nature of the country.  The most remarkable thing they saw was a great wooden building covered with canes, in which were several tombs.  In one of these there lay a dead body dried up and embalmed, in another two bodies wrapped up in cotton sheets and without any ill scent; and over each there was a board carved with the figures of beasts, and on one of them the effigies as was supposed of the person deposited underneath, adorned with guaninis, beads, and others of their most valued ornaments.  These being the most civilized Indians yet met with, the admiral ordered some to be taken that he might learn the secrets of the country; seven men were accordingly seized, and of these two of the chiefest were selected, and the rest sent away with some gifts and courteous treatment, that the country might not be left in commotion; and these were told as well as we could express our meaning, that they were only to serve as guides upon that coast, and then to be set at liberty.  But believing that they were taken out of covetousness, in order that they might ransom themselves with their valuable goods, great numbers of the natives came down next day to the shore, and sent four of their number on board to the admiral to treat for the ransom of their friends, offering such things as they possessed, and freely giving three hogs of the country, which, though small, are very ferocious.  Observing, therefore, the uncommon policy of this nation, the admiral was the more anxious to be acquainted with them; and though he would not listen to their offers of ransoming their friends, he ordered some trifles to be given to the messengers that they might not go away dissatisfied, and that they should be paid for their hogs.

Among other creatures which that country produces, there is a kind of cats of a greyish colour, as large as a small greyhound, but with a much longer tail, which is so strong, that whatever they clasp with it is as if bound fast with a rope.  These animals ran about the trees like squirrels, and when they leap, they not only hold fast with their claws, but with their tails also, by which they often hang to the boughs, either to rest themselves or to sport.  It happened that one Ballaster brought one of these cats out of a wood, having knocked him from a tree, and not daring to meddle with it when down because of its fierceness, he cut off one of its fore paws and brought it on board in that mutilated condition.  Even in that maimed state, it terrified a good dog we had on board, but put one of the Indian hogs into much greater fear.  The hog used to run at every person, and would not allow the dog to remain on deck; but the moment it saw the cat it ran away with signs of the utmost terror.  The admiral therefore gave orders that the hog and the cat should be placed close together; the cat immediately wound her tail around the snout of the hog, and with its remaining fore-leg fastened on the pole of the hog, which grunted the while most fearfully.  From this we concluded that these cats hunt like the wolves or dogs of Spain.