came off to the ships in a peaceable manner to see our people and to barter provisions and other articles for such trifles as our people offered.  In this bay, which is in the form of a horse shoe, the admiral repaired his ship which was leaky; and then sailed on the ninth of May, keeping along shore to the westwards, the Indians following continually in their canoes to trade or barter with our people.  The wind proving rather contrary, and not being able to make so much way as he wished, the admiral left the coast of Jamaica and stood over for Cuba, designing to keep along its coast for five or six hundred leagues, that he might be satisfied whether it were an island or the continent.  That day while leaving Jamaica, a young Indian came on board desiring to be carried into Spain, and when several of his kindred and others entreated him to return he refused to change his resolution, and to avoid the importunities of his friends, and not to see his sisters cry and sob, he went where they could not come to him.  The admiral admired his resolution, and gave orders that he should be civilly treated.

Leaving Jamaica on Wednesday the 15th of May, the admiral came to that point of Cuba which he named Cabo de Santa Cruz, or Cape Holy Cross.  In running along the coast they encountered a great storm of thunder and lightning which, combined with numerous flats and strong currents, occasioned much trouble and great danger, being obliged to struggle at the same time against two evils which required opposite remedies; for it is proper during thunder to strike the sails, whereas it is necessary to spread them to avoid the flats, and had this double calamity lasted for eight or ten leagues it had been quite insupportable.  The worst of all was, that all over this sea, both northwards, and to the north-east, the farther they went the greater number of low little islands they met with, in some of which there were trees, but others were sandy and scarcely appeared above the surface of the water; some of these were a league in compass, some more and some less.  The nearer they kept to the coast of Cuba the higher and pleasanter these small islands appeared; and it being difficult and useless to give names to every one, the admiral called them all in general Jardin de la Reyna, or the Queens Garden.  They saw many more islands next day to the north-east, north-west, and south-west, insomuch that they counted 160 islands that day, all parted by deep channels, many of which the ships sailed through.  In some of these islands they saw many cranes resembling those of Spain in shape and size, but of a scarlet colour[12].  In others they found great numbers of turtles, or sea tortoises, and immense quantities of their eggs, which are not unlike those of a hen but with much harder shells.  The female turtle deposits her eggs in holes on the sand, and covering them up leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the sun, which brings forth the little turtles,