the Spanish conquerors, was scarcely that of the highest type of
the faith, and the inducements to accept it were somewhat violent.
Nevertheless it must be noted that it is from Spanish sources this
testimony as to the docility of the Cuban natives comes. Under
these circumstances it becomes a magnified crime that the Spanish
conquerors absolutely exterminated the hundreds of thousands of
native Cubans whom they found at the time of the discovery, and
that within little more than a century, there was absolutely not a
trace of native stock to be found anywhere in the island.

When Columbus first rested his eyes on the island of Cuba it
seemed to him an enchanted land. He was charmed with its lofty
mountains, its beautiful rivers, and its blossoming groves, and in
his account of the voyage he said: "Everything is green as April
in Andalusia. The singing of the birds is such that it seems as if
one would never desire to depart. There are flocks of parrots that
obscure the sun. There are trees of a thousand species, each
having its particular fruit, and all of marvelous flavor."

Columbus was first of the opinion that he had found an island, but
after following the shores for many miles he concluded that it was
a continent. He retained the latter belief until his death, for it
was not until 1508 that the island was circumnavigated, when it
was discovered that it was of about the same area as England. In a
subsequent expedition he reached the coast of South America, but
he had no appreciation of the magnitude of that continent, and to
him Cuba was the grandest of his discoveries in the New World.

Cuba was twice visited by Columbus after its discovery, in April,
1494, and again in 1502, and these visits but confirmed his first