378
LIFE
A N D
VOYAGES
OF
[BOOK V I .
vacant inactivity, under the shade of their trees, or amusing them selves occasionally with various games and dances. In fact, they were destitute of powerful motives to toil, being free from most of those wants which doom mankind in civilized life, or in less genial climes, to incessant labor.
They had no
sterile winter to provide against, particularly in the valleys and the plains, where, according to Peter Martyr, “ the island enjoyed perpetual spring-time, and was blessed with continual summer and harvest.
The trees preserved their leaves throughout the year,
and the meadows continued always green." “ There is no pro vince, nor any region," he again observes, “ which is not remarka ble for the majesty of its mountains, the fruitfulness of its vales, the pleasantness of its hills, and delightful plains, with abundance of fair rivers running through them.
There never was any
noisome animal found in it, nor yet any ravening four-footed beast; no lion, nor bear; no fierce tigers, nor crafty foxes, nor devouring wolves, but all things blessed and fortunate.”* In the soft region of the Vega, the circling seasons brought each its store of fruits; and while some were gathered in full maturity, others were ripening on the boughs, and buds and blos soms gave promise of still future abundance.
"What need was
there of garnering up and anxiously providing for coming days, to men who lived in a perpetual harvest ?
"What need, too, of
toilfully spinning or laboring at the loom, where a genial tempera ture prevailed throughout the year, and neither nature nor custom prescribed the necessity of clothing? The hospitality which characterizes men in such a simple and easy mode of existence, was evinced towards Columbus and his * Peter Martyr, decad. iii. lib. ix., translated by R. Eden.
London, 1555.