Two days were passed at Santa Cruz, where thirty of our Spaniards placed in an ambuscade saw, from the place where they were watching, a canoe in the distance coming towards them, in which there were eight men and as many women.  At a given signal they fell upon the canoe; as they approached, the men and women let fly a volley of arrows with great rapidity and accuracy.  Before the Spaniards had time to protect themselves with their shields, one of our men, a Galician, was killed by a woman, and another was seriously wounded by an arrow shot by that same woman.  It was discovered that their poisoned arrows contained a kind of liquid which oozed out when the point broke.  There was one woman amongst these savages whom, as nearly as could be conjectured, all the others seemed to obey, as though she was their queen.  With her was her son, a fierce, robust young man, with ferocious eyes and a face like a lion’s.  Rather than further expose themselves to their arrows, our men chose to engage them in a hand to hand combat.  Rowing stoutly, they pushed their barque against the canoe of the savages, which was overturned by the shock; the canoe sank, but the savages, throwing themselves into the water, continued while swimming to shoot their arrows with the same rapidity.  Climbing upon a rock level with the water, they still fought with great bravery, though they were finally captured, after one had been killed and the son of the queen had received two wounds.  When they were brought on board the Admiral’s ship, they no more changed their ferocious and savage mood than do the lions of Africa, when they find themselves caught in nets.  There was no one who saw them who did not shiver with horror, so infernal and repugnant was the aspect nature and their own cruel character had given them.  I affirm this after what I have myself seen, and so likewise do all those who went with me in Madrid to examine them.

I return to my narrative.  Each day the Spaniards advanced farther.  They had covered a distance of five hundred miles.  Driven first by the south wind, then by the west wind, and finally by the wind from the north-west, they found themselves in a sea dotted with innumerable islands, strangely different one from another; some were covered with forests and prairies and offered delightful shade, while others, which were dry and sterile, had very lofty and rocky mountains.  The rocks of these latter were of various colours, some purple, some violet, and some entirely white.  It is thought they contain metals and precious stones.

The ships did not touch, as the weather was unfavourable, and also because navigation amongst these islands is dangerous.  Postponing until another time the exploration of these islands which, because of their confused grouping could not be counted, the Spaniards continued their voyage.  Some lighter ships of the fleet did, however, cruise amongst them, reconnoitring forty-six of them, while the heavier ships, fearing