On the eve of the ides of October of this year, 1516, Roderigo Colmenares, whom I have above mentioned, and a certain Francisco de la Puente belonging to the troop commanded by Gonzales de Badajoz came to see me.  The latter was amongst those who escaped the massacre executed by the cacique Pariza.  Colmenares himself left Darien for Spain after the vanquished arrived.  Both of them report, one from hearsay and the other from observation, that a number of islands lie in the South Sea to the west of the gulf of San Miguel and the Isla Rica and that on these islands trees, bearing the same fruits as in the country of Calicut, grow and are cultivated.  It is from the countries of Calicut, Cochin, and Camemor that the Portuguese procure spices.  Thus it is thought that not far from the colony of San Miguel begins the country where spices grow.  Many of those who have explored these regions only await the authorisation to sail from that coast of the South Sea; and they offer to build ships at their own cost, if they only be commissioned to seek for the spice lands.  These men think that ships should be built in the gulf of San Miguel itself, and that the idea of following the coast in the direction of Cape San Augustin should be abandoned, as that route would be too long, too difficult, and too dangerous.  Moreover it would take them beyond the fortieth degree of the southern hemisphere.

This same Francisco, who shared the labours and the perils of Gonzales says, that in exploring those countries he saw veritable herds of deer and wild boar, of which he captured many in the native fashion by digging ditches across the trails followed by these animals and covering them over with branches; this is the native method of trapping these wild quadrupeds.  In catching birds they use doves just as we do.  They tie a tame dove in the trees, and the birds of each species which flock about it are then shot with arrows.  Another way is by spreading a net in an open space, sprinkling food round about it, and placing the tame dove in the middle.  The same system is used with parrots and other birds.  The parrots are so stupid that, while one chatters on a tree in whose branches the bird-catcher is concealed, the others flock thither, and allow themselves to be easily caught.  They are not frightened when they see the bird-catcher, but sit looking until the noose is thrown round their necks.  Even when they see one of their companions captured and thrown into the hunter’s bag, they do not fly away.

There is another system of bird-hunting which is quite original and diverting to relate.  We have already stated that there exist in the islands, and especially at Hispaniola, stagnant lakes and ponds upon whose waters flutters a whole world of aquatic birds, because those waters are covered with grasses, and little fish and a thousand varieties of frogs, worms, and insects live in that liquid mud.  The work of corruption and generation ordained by the secret decree of providence is promoted in these depths by the heat of the sun.  Different species of birds swarm in these waters:  ducks, geese, swans, divers, gulls, sea-mews, and countless similar.