Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-19
Remarkable Document Of
Great Historical Importance

| cooking in pot, preparatory for eat
ing it.
1.-The difference between these Car
ibbees and the other Indians, with re-
| spect to dress, consists In their wear
ing their hair long, while the others
have it clipt irregularly; also because
they engrave on their heads innum-
| cradle cross-like marks and different
| devices, each according to his fancy;
and they make these lasting marks
with sharpened bamboo sticks. All of
them, both the Caribbee and other In
dians are beardless, so that 1t is an
unusual thing to find one of these men
with beard. The Caribbees whom we
have taken prisoners have their eyes
and eybrows stained circularly around,
which | think they do for ostentation
and also because it gives them a fe-
rocious appearance"
DR.. Chanca's letter is particularly in
teresting when he speaks of Porto
Rico, which he terms "Borinquen."
He says:
I'VE proceeded along, the coast the
greater part of that day, and on the
! evening of the next we discovered
another island called by the Indians
Borinquen, which we judged to be on
that side about thirty leagues in
length, for we were coasting along it
the whole of one day. This island is
very beautiful, and apparently very
make war upon it's inhabitants and Of
ten carry away many prisoners.
"These islanders have no large
canoes, nor any knowledge of naviga-
tion, as our prisoners inform US, but
they use bows like those of the Carib-
bees; and If by chance when they are
attacked they succeed in taking pris-
oners some of the invaders they eat
them up in like manner as the Carib-
bees themselves do
From Porto Rico sea wanderings
brought them to Santo Domingo known
to the Spaniards as Hispaniola.
when we reached Hispaniola the
land at the place where we approached
it was very low and flat, on seeing
which a general doubt across as to
its identity, because neither the ad-
miral nor his companions on the first
voyage had seen 1t.
This island of Hispaniola, being a
large one, is divided up into provinces;
that part which we touched at is called
by the natives Haiti; another province
| adjoining 1t they name Samana, and
the next province is known by them as
Bohio, which the place where we now
are. These three provinces are sub
IINluSu lIllO SIldllSE
DR.. Chanca writes in wonder at the
snakes and IAN enormous kind of liz
ard" and another four-footed little
animal. in the color of it's hair size
and fur like a abbitt, but with long
tail and feet similar to those of a rat"
These animals he says, climb UP
the trees and many of our men who
have eaten them say their taste is
very good"
pathetic incident in the trip was
the search for the little band of ad-
venturers Columbus had left the
previous year upon the island. The |
feelings of the searchers when they |
reached a harbor of Santo Domingo |
they called Monte Cristo are vividly |
described. DR.. Chanca says:
This harbor is twelve leagues from
the place where the Christians had
been left by the admiral on his return
to Spain from the first voyage, and |
under the protection of Guacamari, a
king of these Indians, who 1 suppose
is one of the principal sovereigns of |
the island. After we anchored at said |
spot the admiral ordered two lombards |
to be fired in order to see if there was
any response from the Christians, who |
would fire in return as a salute for |
they also had lombards with them;
see on the seashore anybody, or any
sign of houses whatever. Our people
then became very much chagrned
and began to realize what the cir
cumstances naturally suggested.
'While all of us were in this de-
pressed state of mind the same canoe
with several Indians on board which
we had seen that afternoon came I'D
tn whore |
Indians with loud voice inquired for
the admiral. They were conducted to
the admiraPs vessel and remained
there on board for three hours talking
with the admiral in. the presence of us
all. They said that some of the
Christians left on the island had died
of disease, others had been killed In
quarrels amongst themselves, and
that those who remained were all we'll.
They also said that province had been
invaded by two kings named Caonabe
and Hayreni, who burned all the
houses, and that King Guacamari
was at another place, some distance
away, lying i'll of wound in his leg,
which was the reason why he had not
come in person.
Next morning some of our men
landed by order of the admiral and
went to the spot where the Christians
had been housed. They found the
building which had been fortified to a
certain degree by a palisade surround
ing it, all burned up and leveled with
the ground.
They found also some rags and
stuffs which the Indians had brought
to set the fort and houses in the en-
virons on fire. They Observed too. that
the few Indians seen going about in
that neighborhood We're shy, and dared
not approach, but on the contrary,
when called, fled"
The gala attire of the Indians was a
source of amusement to the Europeans.
DR.. Chanca says:
when these Indians wish to ap-
pear full-dressed both men and wo-
men paint themselves, some black.
others white and red, and different |
combinations Of colors, in so many |
devices that the effect produced is |
very laughable; they also shave some |
parts of their heads, and in other parts
of 1t wear long tufts of matted hair. |
which give them an indescribably |
ridiculous appearance. In short what |
ever would be looked upon in our coun-
try as characteristic of a madman is |