These people were found to be castrated; for they had been made prisoners by the Caribs in some other islands, who had so used them as we do capons, that they might become fatter and better food. Departing from thence, the admiral continued his voyage W.N.W. where he fell in with a cluster of above fifty islands, which he left to the northward of his course. The largest of these he named the island of St. Ursula, and the others he called the Eleven Thousand Virgins. He next came to the island called _Borriquen_ by the Indians, but which he named St John the Baptist, in a bay on the west side of which the fleet came to anchor, where they caught several sorts of fish, as skate, olaves, pilchards, and shads. On the land they saw falcons, and bushes resembling wild vines. More to the eastwards some Spaniards went to certain houses well built after the Indian fashion, having a square before them and a broad road down to the sea, with bowers on each side made of canes, and curiously interwoven with evergreens, such as are seen in the gardens of Valencia. At the end of the road next the sea there was a raised stage or balcony, lofty and well built, capable of containing ten or twelve men. On Friday the fifteenth of November the admiral reached the north side of Hispaniola, and immediately sent on shore at Samana one of the natives of the island who had been in Spain, and who being converted to our holy faith, offered to engage all his countrymen to submit to the Christians. The admiral continued his voyage to the Nativity, and off Cape Angel some Indians came on board to barter their commodities. Coming to anchor in the bay of Monte Christo a boat was sent on shore, the people of which found two dead men lying near a river. One of these seemed to be young and the other old, having a rope made of a substance like Spanish broom round his neck, and his arms extended and tied to a piece of wood in the form of a cross. Having been long dead, it could not be known whether these people were Christians or Indians, but it was considered an evil omen. The next day, twenty-sixth November, the admiral sent on shore in several places, and the Indians came boldly and freely to converse with the Spaniards, touching their shirts and doublets, and naming these articles in the Spanish language. This confidence and friendly behaviour relieved the admiral from the fears which he had conceived on account of the dead men; believing that if the natives had injured the Christians whom he had left, they would not have come so boldly on board the ships. But next day, coming to anchor about midnight near the town of Nauidad or the Nativity, a canoe came to the fleet and asked for the admiral, and being bid to come on board, they refused to do so till they should see him. The admiral therefore went to the ships side to hear what they had to say, and then two men from the canoe went up with two marks of gold, which they