Peter Martyr further observes that Ayllon had been a persistent solicitor at the court of Spain, and that he wanted to obtain letters-patent to go again to these countries “to plant a colony there.[340] ... He brought one of the natives of Chicora with him.... While he remained [in Spain] prosecuting his business, I sometimes had Ayllon, the master, and the Chicoran, his servant, as my guests. The Chicoran is not a dull person nor superficially intelligent. He has learned the Spanish language passably well. The things which Ayllon showed me, written by his men and reported by the Chicoran, that are strange and remarkable, I will relate.... Ayllon says the natives there [in Duharhe] are white, which also Franciscus, the tawny Chicoran, asserts, and that they have long yellow hair hanging down to their ankles. “These people have a king of giant-like proportions, called Datha, and they say that the queen, his wife, is not much smaller.... This king being asked why he and his wife were so remarkably tall and the other people not, replied that their height was not hereditary, but that it had been caused by violent treatment. While they were infants in the charge of nurses their parents sent for those practicing the art, who anointed their limbs for a number of days with certain decoctions of herbs to soften their tender bones, which in time became as pliable as lukewarm wax. They then stretched their limbs, often leaving them almost dead. Thereupon the nurses, who had been fed with certain strength-producing meats, suckled them, the infants being covered with warm cloths. When they had again regained their vigor the practitioners again twisted and pulled their bones as they had previously done. This treatment was repeated from time to time until their limbs were lengthened so much that when they reached maturity they had the desired tallness.... “There is another region near Duharhe called Xapida. In it they say pearls and a precious stone resembling a pearl are to be found, which the natives highly prize. In all the country explored by them there were herds of deer kept like cattle with us. The deer fawn at home, and there they also rear their young. These deer, when free, wander and pasture in the woods during the day and at night return to their young. They are confined in pens and allow themselves to be milked.... The people fatten many kinds of fowl, as chickens, ducks, geese, and the like. Their bread is maize, the same as that of the people of the islands.... The grain of the maize is like our panic of Insubria, [in Italy,] but in size like pease. They sow another kind of corn called Xathi. They believe it is millet.... The natives have several varieties of potatoes, but they are small.... The Spaniards speak of many regions which they think are under the government of one and the same king,—Hitha, Xamunabe, Tihe.