a fruit resembling in its form and flavour our plum, though it is somewhat larger, and appears really to be the mirobolan, which grows so abundantly in Hispaniola that the pigs are fed on its fruit.  When it is ripe it is in vain the swineherd seeks to keep his pigs, for they evade him and rush to the forest where these trees grow; and it is for this reason that wild swine are so numerous in Hispaniola.  It is also claimed that the pork of Hispaniola has a superior taste and is more wholesome than ours; and, indeed, nobody is ignorant of the fact that diversity of foodstuffs produces firmer and more savoury meat.

The most invincible King Ferdinand relates that he has eaten another fruit brought from those countries.  It is like a pine-nut in form and colour, covered with scales, and firmer than a melon.  Its flavour excels all other fruits.[1] This fruit, which the King prefers to all others, does not grow upon a tree but upon a plant, similar to an artichoke or an acanthus.  I myself have not tasted it, for it was the only one which had arrived unspoiled, the others having rotted during the long voyage.  Spaniards who have eaten them fresh plucked where they grow, speak with the highest appreciation of their delicate flavour.  There are certain roots which the natives call potatoes and which grow spontaneously.[2] The first time I saw them, I took them for Milanese turnips or huge mushrooms.  No matter how they are cooked, whether roasted or boiled, they are equal to any delicacy and indeed to any food.  Their skin is tougher than mushrooms or turnips, and is earth-coloured, while the inside is quite white.  The natives sow and cultivate them in gardens as they do the yucca, which I have mentioned in my First Decade; and they also eat them raw.  When raw they taste like green chestnuts, but are a little sweeter.

[Note 1:  The pineapple.]

[Note 2:  This is the first mention in literature of the potato.]

Having discoursed of trees, vegetables, and fruits, let us now come to living creatures.  Besides the lions and tigers[3] and other animals which we already know, or which have been described by illustrious writers, the native forests of these countries harbour many monsters.  One animal in particular has Nature created in prodigious form.  It is as large as a bull, and has a trunk like an elephant; and yet it is not an elephant.  Its hide is like a bull’s, and yet it is not a bull.  Its hoofs resemble those of a horse, but it is not a horse.  It has ears like an elephant’s, though smaller and drooping, yet they are larger than those of any other animal.[4] There is also an animal which lives in the trees, feeds upon fruits, and carries its young in a pouch in the belly; no writer as far as I know has seen it, but I have already sufficiently described it in the Decade which has already reached Your Holiness before your elevation, as it was then stolen from me to be printed.

[Note 3:  It is hardly necessary to say that there were no lions or tigers in America.  Jaguars, panthers, leopards, and ocelots were the most formidable beasts of prey found in the virgin forests of the New World.]