She was so surprised at the sight, that she knew not how to contain herself; but, to show her gratitude, she pulled out another plate of gold out of her own hair, and gave it to our officer; and, not content with that, she sent one of her women to the crowd of females who first attended her, and whether she stripped them of all the gold they had, or only a part, she brought so many pieces, that, when together, they weighed almost two pounds.
When she was thus dressed she stepped forward very nimbly and gracefully towards the king, to show him what she had got; and, finding he was dressed as fine as herself, they had work enough for near two hours to look at one another, and admire their new ornaments.
Our men reported, that the king was a tall, well-shaped man, of a very majestic deportment, only that when he laughed he showed his teeth too much, which, however, were as white as ivory: as for the queen, saving that her skin was of a tawny colour, she was a very pretty woman; very tall, a sweet countenance, admirable features, and, in a word, a complete handsome lady.
She was very oddly dressed; she was quite naked from her head to below her breasts; her breasts were plump and round, not flaggy and hanging down, as it generally is with the Indian women, some of whose breasts hang as low as their bellies, but projecting as beautifully as if they had been laced up with stays round her body; and below her breast she had a broad piece of a skin of some curious creature, spotted like a leopard, probably of some fine spotted deer. This was wrapped round her very tight, like a body-girt to a horse; and under this she had a kind of petticoat, as before described, hanging down to her ankles. As for shoes or stockings, they were only such as nature had furnished. Her hair was black, and, as supposed, very long, being wreathed up and twisted in long locks about the plate of gold she wore; for when she pulled off the plate above mentioned, it hung down her back and upon her shoulders very gracefully; but it seems she did not think so, for, as soon as she found it so fallen down, she caused one of her women to roll it up, and tie it in a great knot which hung down in her neck, and did not look so well as when it was loose.
While the king and the queen were conversing together about their fine things, as above, our men went back to the boat, where they left the purchase they had got, and furnished themselves with other things fit to traffick with as they saw occasion; and they were not quite come up to the king again, when they perceived that the men the king had sent up into the country were returned, and that they brought with them a great quantity of such provisions as they had, which chiefly consisted of roots and maize, or Indian corn, and several fruits which we had never seen before. Some of them resembled the large European figs, but were not really figs; with some great jars of water, having herbs steeped in it, and roots, that made it look as white as milk, and drank like milk sweetened with sugar, but more delicious, and exceeding cool and refreshing. They brought also a great quantity of oranges, but they were neither sweet nor sour, and our men believed they were not ripe; but when they were dressed after the manner of the country, which they showed our men, and which was to roast them before the fire, they had an admirable flavour, and our men brought a great many away to us, and when we roasted them they exceeded anything of the kind I had ever tasted.
After our men had received what was brought, and shown that the whole was very acceptable, the king made signs that he would be gone, but would come again to them the next morning; and, pointing to the queen's head, where the plate of gold had been that she had given to our men, intimated that he would bring some of the same with him the next day. But while he was making these signs, one of his other messengers came back, and gave the king something into his hand wrapped up, which our men could not see. As soon as the king had it, as if he had been proud to show our men that he could make himself and his queen as fine as they could make him, he undid the parcel, and decked out his queen with a short thing like a robe, which reached from her neck down to the spotted skin which she wore before, and so it covered her shoulders and breast. It was made of an infinite number and variety of feathers, oddly, and yet very curiously put together; and was spangled all over with little drops or lumps of gold; some no bigger than a pin's head, which had holes made through them, and were strung six or seven together, and so tied on to the feathers; some as big as a large pea, hanging single, some as big as a horse-bean, and beaten flat, and all hanging promiscuously among the feathers, without any order or shape, which, notwithstanding, were very beautiful in the whole, and made the thing look rich and handsome enough.
As soon as he had thus equipped his queen, he put another upon himself, which was larger, and had this particular in its shape, that it covered his arms almost to his elbows, and was so made that it came round under the arm, and being fastened there with a string, made a kind of sleeve.
As the king's robe, or whatever it may be called, was longer, for it came down to his waist, so it had a great deal more gold about it, and larger pieces than that the queen wore. When their majesties had thus put on their robes, it may be guessed how glorious they looked, but especially the queen, who being a most charming beautiful creature, as said before, was much more so when glistening thus with gold. Our men looked very narrowly to observe whether there were any diamonds or pearls among their finery, but they could not perceive any.
The king and queen now withdrew for that evening, but their people did not leave our men so, for they thronged about them; and some brought them jars of the white liquor, some brought them roots, others fruits, some one thing, some another; and our men gave every one of them some small matter or other in proportion to what they brought. At last, there came four particular tall lusty men, with bows and arrows; but before they came close up to our men, they laid down their bows and arrows on the ground, and came forward with all the tokens of friendship they were able to make.