Rodrigo de Escovedo, our secretary; you, of course, Rodrigo Sanchez,
since the king sent you on purpose to bear witness to this occasion.
Alonzo Pinzon and Vincent, carry your standards of the green cross;
and the admiral bears the royal standard of our sovereigns. All
aboard--put off the boat--row for the shore.

64. The curious natives flock about these strange beings, who come in
winged ships, and have bodies covered with something besides skin
handsome natives, evidently no cannibals, and very obliging. No lions,
or hippogriffs, or unicorns. But gold--yes, little pieces of it
hanging about the savages' necks. They make signs that it comes from a
land to the south. Cipango, thought Columbus, and set sail to find it.
They were in the group of islands between North and South America,
which we call the Bahamas and the West Indies. The first island
discovered the natives called Guanahani, but Columbus named it San
Salvador--"Holy Saviour."

65. They sailed about among them, hunting for gold and Cipango;
bartering with the astonished natives; observing the land. Not quite
equal to Mandeville's tales were the sights they saw, yet the
luxuriant, tropical vegetation of the islands, the trees with luscious
fruit and sweet perfume, the brilliant birds flitting through the
green foliage, the marvelous fish flashing in the waters, the lizards
darting across the paths, were wonderful enough in their new beauty to
the sea-weary eyes of the Europeans. "I saw no cannibals," says
Columbus; but he heard of an island full of them. He heard, too, of
the island of the Amazons, fierce, wild women, who use bows and
spears, and are less like women than men. And there was an island
where the inhabitants had no hair, and one where the people had tails.
Mermaids he saw, but, adds the honest admiral, they were "not so like