The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-20
ing which 1t would De long story for
me to describe individually.

me to describe individually.
Many things the mercy of God sup
Piled unto us when we touched those
regions, for water and wood had failed
us, and We were able to preserve our
lives ON the sea only few DAYS more.
10 Himself be the nonor ana glory ana
the exercise of His grace.
We adopted the plan Of sailing along
the shore of this continent toward the
eastward, without leaving the sight of
land, and afterwards we ran along this
shore to point where we came to an
angle when the coast made a turn to the
south, and from that place where we
first touched land up to this angle there
was distance of about 800 leagues. In
the space of this voyage we several
times descended to the land and con-
versed in a friendly manner with that
people, as you shall hear below.
had forgotten TO write that from the
promontory at Cape Verde up to the
commencement of this continent, there
are about 700 leagues, and / should esti-
mate that we had sailed more than /, 800
leagues, partly on account Of the admit
rails Ignorance Of the place and partly
by the tempests and winds, which i'm
peded our direct course and drove us
into freque,.t deviations. But IL my com
panions had not turned TO me, who I'M
derstood cosmography (there was no ad-
miral or commander of our voyage who
knew within 500 leagues where we were),
we were lost and wandering; moreover,
the instruments only showed accurately
the elevation of the heavenly bodies, and
these were the quadrant and the astrola-
be, as all were aware. Hence afterwards
they all bestowed upon me much honor;
for l showed unto them that without
marine chart, in the science of naviga-
ton was more skillful than all the ad-
mirals in the world For these admirals
have no knowledge except of those
places which they have visited frequent
ly in their voyages.
But where the above mentioned angle
of the land showed to US a turning Of
the shore toward the south, we agreed
to sail beyond it, and search out what
might be in those regions. We pro-
ceeded along the coast about six hundred
leagues, and often disembarked on the
land and talked and conversed with the
inhabitants Of those regions, and by
them were received kindly, and by them
selves, whenever we would remain
fifteen or twenty days together. were
amicably and Hospitality entertained, as
you will learn below.
A part of this new continent is in the
torrid zone, beyond the equinoctial line
equator toward the antarctic pole, for
the head of it begins in the eighth degree
beyond the equinoctial line (equator)
itself. We sailed along so much Of this
coast, that the tropic of Capricorn hav-
ing been passed, we found the antarctic
pole so degs. higher than their horizon,
and we were near to the antarctic circle,
as far as the latitude of III degs. and
what there / saw and learned concern
ing the character, habits and tractability
of those races, the fertility of the soil,
the salubriousness of the air, and the ar
rangement of the heavenly bodies, and
especially concerning the fixed stars, and
the eight spheres never before seen or
considered by our ancestors, ! win speak
of later.
First, then, as TO the peoples SO farss
we came upon the multitude Of the race
In those regions so great that no man
could count them, as we read in
the Apocalypse. call the race gentle
and tractable. All members Of both
races approach each other naked and
covering part OF the body, and even
as they come into the world so do they
exH rxntr tba time - thai 1o.kL
For they have large bodies with figures
square and shoulders well proportional,
and color bordering on redness, which
think happens to them because from
going about naked they are tanned with
the sun. They have thick, black hair.
In their gait, especially in their sports,
they are agile and easy, and of comedy
countenauce, which, however, they mar,
for they pierce the cheeks, the lips, the
nose and the ear; nor would you think
these holes to be small or as large as they
are. For have seen some of them who
had in their face alone seven holes, any
one of which was as large as small
plum. They stop up these holes with
pieces of crystal resembling marble and
bits of alabaster, which pieces are very
beautiful, and also with bits Of glitter
ing white bone and other substances,
skillfully carved according to their GUS
tom. But if you could see anything so
strange and monstrcus-a man, forsooth,
having in his cheeks and in his lips
seven stones, some of them half as long
again as your hand, you would not be
without astonishment; for oftentimes
have l considered and thought that seven
such stones would weigh sixteen ounces
and more. In each ear, pierced with
three holes, they are accustomed to carry
other pendant stones in rings, and this
custom is peculiar to the men, for the
women do not perforate the face, but
only the ears.
They do not have garments or cloaks
linen or silk-because they are not
necessary to them, nor do they possess
individual property, but all things are
owned in common. They live at the same
time without king, without a govern
ment, and each man is a law unto him
self. They have as many wives as they
please, and the son marries his mother,
and the brother with his sister, and the
first man the first woman wherever he
meets her. AS often as they wish they
break up their marriages, and in these
matters observe no rule. Moreover, they
have no temple and no law, nor are they
idolators. What can say more9 They
live according to nature, and may be
called epicureans rather than stoics.
Among them there are no traders nor is
there any exchange Of goods. The tribes
carry ON war among themselves without
art or recognized rules. The elders in
certain public assemblies of their own
turn the young men to whatever course
they desire. They are also eager for
wars, in which they kill each other with
cruelty, and those whom they have made
captives in battle they preserve for kill
ing, not for the sake of their lives, but
for the purpose of food. For sometimes
one side and sometimes the other is VIC
torious, and eat up the vanquished, and
among them human flesh is common
article of food.
OF this fact you may be certain, be
cause already father has been known
to eat up his sons and his wives, and
myself have known and talked with a
man whom they used to report had par
taken of more than three hundred human
bodies; besides spent twenty-seven days
in a certain town where l saw in the
houses human flesh sslted and hung
from the ceiling, just as it is the custom
among US to hang bacon and pork. !