The Cotton of this Island (of which the Clothes and Hammocks that are made, are vended in most parts of the Western World) grows on a Tree of equal heighth with a Peach-Tree, with a straight Stem or Body, out of which shoot Boughs of an equal length, and at equal distance; between the Leaves, which are narrow and long, grow red Flowers, and from them, oval Cods, which when ripe, inclose the Cotton, and a Seed like Pepper.
Description of the Alligator.
Of hurtful Creatures here, besides the Manchonele, and a sort of Snakes call’d Guaana’s, wherein ’tis thought there is little or nothing of a poysonous quality; the most observable is the Alligator, with which many Rivers and Ponds abound; it is a very voracious Creature, but is seldom known to prey upon a Man; it moves swiftly and strongly forward, but turns slow; the biggest of them are about twenty Foot long, their Backs scaly and impenetrable, so that they are hardly kill’d but in the Belly or Eye; they have four Feet or Fins, with which they go or swim indifferently; are observ’d to make no kind of noise; their usual course for getting their Prey, is to lie on their Backs as dead, then with a sudden onset to surprize what-ever Fowl or Beast comes fearlesly near them; the best caution other Creatures have of them is from the strong smell that flows from their Bodies: to requite the harm done by them, they have something of vertue, for the Fat or Oyl of their Bodies hath been experienc’d to be an admirable Ointment for all kinds of Pains and Aches; they Lay Eggs no bigger than a Turkies by the Water side, still covering them with Sand, which heated by the Sun-beams, hatcheth the young ones, who naturally creep into the Water.
Muschilli and Merrywings.
In some parts of the Countrey there are also a sort of stinging Flies, call’d Muschilli and Merrywings, but the English Quarters are little infested by them.
Hugh Linschot writes, That the antient Natives of this Place were a subtile and sharp-witted People, skilful in Handicrafts, and expert in warlike Affairs, above all the Americans besides.
First Discovery of the Island.
The Island was discover’d by the Spaniards under the Conduct of Columbus, who first built there the Town of Mellilla; which disliking, he remov’d again to Oristana; and finding that an incommodious and unhealthy Situation, he remov’d again to another Plantation, where he built a very fair Town, first call’d Sevilla, afterwards St. Jago de la Vega, consisting of about seventeen hundred Houses, two Churches, two Chappels, and an Abbey, being the chief, if not the onely Seat of the Spaniards before the arrival of the English, for their Estanchas, or small Plantations, were committed wholly to the custody of their Slaves.
Diego, the Son of Christopher Colonus, (or, as he is vulgarly call’d, Columbus) was the first that was constituted Governor of this Island, and sent Juan de Squibello Commander, who upon their first arrival here committed such horrid Cruelties and Massacres, that (as the fore-mention’d Bartholomeo de las Casas writes) five thousand Inhabitants were in a short time reduc’d to less than three hundred, multitudes being put to death in a most inhumane and barbarous manner, some roasted alive, others torn in pieces by the Spanish Dogs, besides many other studied ways of Butchery, too dreadful to be read with patience; nor were they free from Civil War amongst themselves, which first began in this Island.
