CHAP. VI.]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
another, without laws, without books, and without judges.
199
They
take him for an evil and mischievous man, who taketh pleasure in doing hurt to another; and albeit they delight not in superfluities, yet they make provision for the increase of such roots whereof they make their bread, contented with such simple diet, whereby health is preserved and disease avoided.”* Much of this picture may be overcolored by the imagination, but it is generally confirmed by contemporary historians.
They
all concur in representing the life of these islanders as approach ing to the golden state of poetical felicity; living under the abso lute but patriarchal and easy rule of their caciques, free from pride, with few wants, an abundant country, a happily-tempered climate, and a natural disposition to careless and indolent enjoy ment. * P. Martyr, decad. i. lib. iii; Transl. of Richard Eden, 1555.