he is at liberty to sell him. When these people give or lend anything
to one another, the favor must be repaid double, even if between
parents and children, or between brothers. At times they sell their
own children, when there is little need or necessity of doing so.

These people declare war among themselves at the slightest
provocation, or with none whatever. All those who have not made a
treaty of peace with them, or drawn blood with them, are considered
as enemies. Privateering and robbery have a natural attraction for
them. Whenever the occasion presents itself, they rob one another,
even if they be neighbors or relatives; and when they see and meet
one another in the open fields at nightfall, they rob and seize one
another. Many times it happens that half of a community is at peace
with half of a neighboring community and the other halves are at war,
and they assault and seize one another; nor do they have any order
or arrangement in anything. All their skill is employed in setting
ambuscades and laying snares to seize and capture one another, and
they always try to attack with safety and advantage to themselves.

The land is fertile, and abounds in all provisions common to this
region. [12] If at times some places lack the necessaries of life,
it is because the natives are the laziest people in the world,
or because they are forced to leave their towns through war, or for
other reasons. The land is neither sowed nor cultivated. Another cause
for the lack of provisions is, that they have so little authority
over their slaves. They are satisfied with what is necessary for the
present, and are always more ready to rob their neighbors of their
possessions, than to work and cultivate their own land.

More or less gold is found in all these islands; it is obtained from