Its entire contents were lost.  What a pitiful sight!  Of all the provisions they only saved twelve barrels of flour, a few cheeses, and a small quantity of biscuit.  All their animals were drowned, and the men, almost naked, with some of their weapons, were saved by the brigantine and the ship’s boat.  Thus from one misfortune to another they were reduced to extreme peril of their lives, and thought no more about gold.

Behold them, therefore, alive and safe in view of the land they had desired with their whole hearts.  It was necessary, first of all, to find some means of subsistence, for men do not live on air, and as they had nothing of their own, they took what belonged to others.  One happy resource lightened their misfortunes; for they found a palm grove not far from the coast, between which and the neighbouring swamps there wandered herds of wild swine.  They lived, therefore, for some time on the flesh of these animals, which are said to be smaller than ours and have such a short tail it appears to have been cut off.  Their feet are also different from those of our wild boars, for the hind feet have only one toe and no hoof.  Their flesh is much more succulent and wholesome than that of our wild boars.

The Spaniards likewise ate fruits and roots of a variety of palms, called cabbage palms, such as are eaten in the interior of Andalusia, and of whose leaves brooms are made in Rome.  Besides this they found other fruits in the country, though most of them, even the plums, were not yet ripe and were somewhat hard and red in colour.  I assume that these were the variety I ate in the month of April in Alexandria, where they grew on trees, which the Jews, who are versed in the Mosaic law, claim to be the cedar of Lebanon.  They are edible and sweet though not without a trace of bitterness, resembling the fruit of crab-apple trees.  The natives plant this tree in their gardens in place of peach, cherry, and other similar trees, and cultivate it with the greatest care.  In size, the character of its trunk and its leaves, it closely resembles the jujube tree.

When the wild boar gave out, the Spaniards were obliged to take thought for the future, so they marched their troops into the interior.  The inhabitants of Caribana country are very skilful in the use of bows and arrows.  The troop of Enciso consisted of a body of a hundred men.[7] They encountered three naked savages who, without the slightest fear, attacked them.  The natives wounded four with poisoned arrows and killed some others, after which, their quivers being exhausted, they fled with the rapidity of the wind, for they are extremely agile.  In their flight they hurled insults at the Spaniards, and they never shot an arrow that failed to hit its mark.  Much depressed and inclined to abandon the country, the Spaniards returned to their point of departure, where they found the natives had destroyed the blockhouse built by Hojeda, and burned the village of thirty houses as soon as Francisco Pizarro and his companions, deserted by Hojeda, abandoned it.