Arizona weekly citizen., 1892-09-17

| were entirely destitute of boards. Their | hair was not crisped, like the recently 1 discovered tribes of the African coast, under the same latitude, but straight and coarse, partly cut short above the | ears. but some locks were left long behind | and falling upon their shoulders. Their 1 features, though obscured and dis6gured by paint, were agreeable; they had lofty | fOreheads and remarkably fine eyes. | They were of moderate stature and well | formed; most of them appeared to be under thirty years of age; there was but one female with them, quite young. naked like her companions, and beauti- fully formed.
 As Columbus supposed himself to havs landed on an island at the extremity of India, he called the natives by the general appellation of Indians, which was universally adopted before the true nature of his discovery was known, and has since been extended to all the aborig inals of the New World
 The islanders were friendly and gen. tie Their only arms were lances, hard ened at the end by fire, or pointed with a flint, or the teeth or bone of fish | There was no iron to be. seen, nor did they appear acquainted with it's proper | ties; for, when a drawn sword was pre- sented to them, they unguardedly took it by the edge.
 Columbus distributed among them colored caps, glass beads, hawks bells and other trihes, such as the Portuguese were accustomed to trade with among the nations of the gold coast of Africa. They received them eagerly, hung the beads round their necks, and were won derfully pleased with their fnery and with the sound of the bells. The Span iards remained all day on shore refresh ing themselves after their anxious voy- age amid the beautiful groves of the island, and returned on board late in the evening delighted with all they had seen.
 On the following morning. at break of day, the shore was thronged with the natives; some swan off to the ships, others came in light barlls which they called canoes, formed of a single tree, hollowed, and capable of holding from one man to the number of forty or fifty. These they managed dexterously with paddles, and, if overturned, swan about in the water with perfect unconcern, as if in their natural element, fighting their canoes with great facility, and bailing them Wijh calabashes
 They were eager to procure more toys and trinkets, not apparently from any idea of their intrinsic value. but because -ve-vthin1 from tEe hands of the stran- gers lrSsesStd 9 supernatural virtue in .he:r eve ;.s having been brought from heaven. they even picked up fragments of glass and earthenwGre as valuable prizes They had but few objects to offer in return. except parrots, of which great numbers Were dOmcsticated among them. and cotton yarn, of which they had abundance. and would exchange large balls of five and twenty pounds weighr for the merest trifie.
 They brought also cakes of a kind of bread called cassava. which constituted a principal part of their food, and was afterward an important article of pro visions with the Spaniards. It was formed from great root called yuca, which they cultivated in fields. This they cut into small mOrsels, which they grated or scraped. and strained in press, making a broad, thin cake, which was afterward dried hard and would keep for long time, being steeped in water when eaten It was insipid, but nOurishing, though the water strained from it in the preparation was deadly frha,-o Lind 0fx destitute of this poisonous quality, which was eaten in the root, either boiled or roasted.
 The avarice of the discoverers was quickly excited by the sight of small or naments of gold worn by some of the natives in their noses. These the latter gladly exchanged for glass beads and hawks bells, and both parties exulted in the bargain, no doubt aduiring each others simplicity. As gold, however, was an object of royal monopoly i'll all enterprises of discovery, Columbus for bade any traffic in it without his express sanction; and he put the same prohibi- tion on the traffic for cotton, reserving to the crown all trade for it, wherever it Sl4OuINA OC lOOAANA III
 He inquired of the natives where this gold was procured. They answered him by signs, pointing to the south, where, he understood them, dwelt a king of such wealth that he was served in vessels of wrought gold. He understood also that there was land to the south, the southwest and the northwest, and that the people from the last mentioned quar- ter frequently proceeded to the south west in quest of gold and precious stones, making in their way descents upon the islands and carrying of the inhabitants. Several of the natives showed him scars of wounds received in battles with these invaders. It is evident that great part of his fancied intelligence was self de- fusion on the part of Columbus, for he was under a spell of the imagination, which gave its own shapes and colors to every object. He was persuaded that he had arrived among the islands described by Marco Polo as lying opposite Cathay, in the Chinese sea, and he construed everything 10 accord with ssoocS-i-- given of those opUlent regions. Thus the enemies which the natives spoke of as coming from the northwest he concluded to be the people of the mainland of Asia, the subjects of the great khan of Tar tary, who were represented by the Vene- tian traveller as accustomed to make war upon the islands and to enslave their in- habitants. The country to the south, abounGing in gold, could be none other than the famous island of Cipango; and the king who was served out of vessels of gold must be the monarch whose mag nifcent city and gorgeous palace, GOV cred with plates of gold, had been ex- tolled in such splendid terms by Marco Polo.