The admiral still held on his course westwards among infinite numbers of islands, and came to one on the 22d of May somewhat larger than the rest, which he called St Mary.  They landed at a town which was seen on shore, but none of the natives would stay to converse with the Christians, and nothing was found in their houses save fish upon which they feed, and several dogs like mastiffs which feed likewise on fish.  They sailed thence to the north-west still among numerous islands, on which they saw many scarlet cranes or flamingos, parrots, and other birds, and dogs like those mentioned before, and the sea was covered with large quantities of weeds.  The sailing among so many islands, channels, and shoals, fatigued the admiral extremely, as sometimes they had to stand west, sometimes north, and sometimes south, according as the channels would permit; and notwithstanding his constant care in sounding and keeping men continually on the look-out from the round top, yet the ship often touched, and there was no avoiding it, there being no end to the flats on all hands.  Sailing on in this manner, they came at length again to Cuba to take in water, of which they stood much in need.  Though no town could be seen because the place was entirely overgrown with trees, yet one of the seamen who was on shore, having gone among the trees to kill some bird or beast with his cross-bow, saw about thirty people armed after the Indian manner with spears and a kind of clubs or staves, which they use instead of swords, and which they call macanas.  Among these he said that he saw one person clad in a white coat or vest down to his knees, carried by two others who had white vestments down to their feet, all three of them as white as Spaniards; but that he had no intercourse with them, because being afraid of such a number he called out to his comrades, and the Indians ran away without looking back[13].

Next day, the admiral sent some people on shore to look after these natives, but they could not travel above half a league from the shore on account of the thickness of the trees and bushes, and because all that coast for two leagues up the country, where the hills and mountains begin, is boggy and marshy, so that they only saw a few footsteps of fishermen on the shore, and abundance of cranes like those of Spain but larger.  Having sailed about ten leagues farther westwards, they saw some houses on the shore, whence some canoes came off with water, and such food as the Indians use, and for which they were well paid.  The admiral caused one of those Indians to be detained, telling him and the rest, by means of an interpreter, that he would freely permit him to go home as soon as he had given him an account of the country and some directions for the voyage.  This Indian assured the admiral that Cuba was an island, and that the king or cacique of the western part of it never spoke to any of his subjects but by signs, yet that all his orders were immediately obeyed; that all this coast