CHAP. I I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
315
various utensils and weapons similar to those already found among the natives, he perceived others of a much superior kind. There were hatchets for cutting wood, formed not of stone but copper ; wooden swords, with channels on each side of the blade, in which sharp flints were firmly fixed by cords made of the intes tines of fishes ; being the same kind of weapon afterwards found among the Mexicans. There were copper bells, and other arti cles of the same metal, together with a rude kind of crucible in which to melt it ; various vessels and utensils neatly formed of clay, of marble, and of hard wood ; sheets and mantles of cotton, worked and dyed with various colors ; great quantities of cacao, a fruit as yet unknown to the Spaniards, but which, as they soon found, the natives held in great estimation, using it both as food and money. There was a beverage also extracted from maize or Indian corn, resembling beer. Their provisions consisted of bread made of maize, and roots of various kinds, similar to those of His paniola. From among these articles, Columbus collected such as were important to send as specimens to Spain, giving the natives European trinkets in exchange, with which they were highly satisfied. They appeared to manifest neither astonishment nor alarm when on board of the vessels, and surrounded by people who must have been so strange and wonderful to them. The women wore mantles, with which they wrapped themselves, like the female Moors of Granada, and the men had cloths of cotton round their loins. Both sexes appeared more particular about these coverings, and to have a quicker sense of personal modesty than any Indians Columbus had yet discovered. These circumstances, together with the superiority of their im plements and manufactures, were held by the admiral as indica tions that he was approaching more civilized nations. He endea-
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