OBAP. I I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
307
the crater of a volcano, rose to a great height, with streams of water gushing from it. As they approached within three leagues, they beheld a cataract of such height, that, to use the words of the narrator, it seemed to be falling from the sky.
As it broke
into foam in its descent, many at first believed it to be merely a stratum of white rock.*
To this island, which was called by
the Indians Turuqueira,t the admiral gave the name of Guadaloupe, having promised the monks of our Lady of Guadaloupe in Estremadura to call some newly-discovered place after their convent. Landing here on the 4th, they visited a village near the shore, the inhabitants of which fled, some even leaving their children behind in their terror and confusion.
These the Spaniards
soothed with caresses, binding hawks' bells and other trinkets round their arms.
This village, like most of those of the island,
consisted of twenty or thirty houses, built round a public place or square.
The houses were constructed of trunks of trees inter
woven with reeds and branches, and thatched with palm-leaves. They were square, not circular like those of the other islands,! and each had its portico or shelter from the sun.
One of the
porticos was decorated with images of serpents tolerably carved in wood.
For furniture they had hammocks of cotton net, and
utensils formed of calabashes or earthenware, equal to the best of those of Hispaniola.
There were large quantities of cotton;
some in the wool, some in yarn, and some wrought into cloth of very tolerable texture; and many bows and arrows, the latter • * Letter of Dr. Chanca. t Letter of Dr. Chanca.
Peter Martyr calls it Carucueira, or Queraquiera,
decad. i. lib. ii. t Hist del Almirante, cap. 62.
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