1492 #

_              _Because I knew
they were a people to be converted
_              _to our faith by love
rather than by force, I gave them
_              _red caps, glass beads,
and other things of little value.
_              _At this, they became
so entirely our friends, they swam
_              _to our boats and brought
parrots, cotton thread, and spears,
_              _which they traded
for more beads, then hawks’ bells;
_              _these they hung
about their necks. They gave
_              _what they had,
but seemed deficient in everything.
_              _They go naked
as their mothers bore them,
_              _and the women, also,
though I saw only one young girl.
_              _Of all the handsome bodies
I did see, not one was thirty years of age.
_              _Their hair is coarse,
almost like a horse’s tail, their skin
_              _the color of the people
in the Canaries, neither black nor white.
_              _Some are painted black,
some white or red, or any color they find.
_              _Some paint their faces
or their whole bodies, some only the eyes.
_              _They do not bear arms
or know them, for the sword I showed them
_              _they took by the blade,
cutting themselves in ignorance.
_              _Their spears are reeds,
some with a fish tooth at the end.
_              _They have no iron.
I saw some who bore wounds and,
_              _when I made signs
to inquire about this, they indicated
_              _people had come
from other islands but they escaped.

_              _How easily
they should be made Christian,
_              _for they appear
to have no creed. They would make
_              _good servants; quite quickly
they repeat whatever is said to them.
_              _The Lord willing,
I will bring back six to Your Highnesses,
_              _that they may learn to talk.
I saw no beast of any kind on this island,
_              _except parrots.