Quantities of fish were found in their dwellings, as also domesticated parrots, scarlet cranes, and some dumb dogs, which they fattened as an article of food. One day a number of natives were seen in a canoe, occupied in fishing. They employed a small fish, tied by the tail, the flat head of which was furnished with numerous suckers, by which it attached itself so firmly to any object as to be torn to pieces rather than abandon its hold. In this way the Spaniards witnessed the taking of a tortoise of enormous size. The same mode of fishing is said to be employed on the eastern coast of Africa. The natives led the Admiral to suppose that the sea was full of islands south and west, and that Cuba ran to the west without any termination. Having extricated himself from this archipelago, Columbus steered for a mountainous part of Cuba, and landing at a large village, he was received with the same kindness which invariably distinguished its inhabitants. He found them mild, hospitable, and pacific; even the animals were tamer as well as larger and better than those seen elsewhere. Here stock doves were brought to him, whose crops were found to contain several spices. The cacique told him that the name of his province was Ornofay, and that farther on to the west was the province of Mangon, whose inhabitants would give him more ample information. He was struck by the sound of the name. It resembled that of Mangi, the richest province of the Grand Khan bordering the ocean. He understood the Indians to say that it was inhabited by people who had tails, and wore garments to conceal them. He recollected that Sir John Mandeville had recorded a story to the same effect as current among certain naked tribes, who could not conceive that people would wear clothes unless to conceal some defect. He flattered himself, therefore, that he should soon come to the rich province of Mangi and the long-robed inhabitants of the empire of Tartary. He therefore sailed on, animated by one of the pleasing illusions of his imagination, along a coast where, for thirty-five leagues, the navigation is unembarrassed by banks or islands. The shores were thickly populated. As the vessels glided by, the natives came off in their canoes to offer fruits and other productions of the land. Often too the sound of their loud music could be heard, as they celebrated the arrival of the white men.