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Page 32
They have in the ears various pendant trinkets as the orientals are
accustomed to have, the men like the women, among which we saw many
plates wrought from copper, by whom it is prized more than gold;
which, on account of its color, they do not esteem; wherefore among
all it is held by them more worthless; on the other hand rating blue
and red above any other. That which they were given by us which they
most valued were little bells, blue crystals and other trinkets to
place in the ears and on the neck. They did not prize cloth of silk
and of gold, nor even of other kind, nor did they care to have them;
likewise with metals like steel and iron; for many times showing them
our arms they did not conceive admiration for them nor ask for them,
only examining the workmanship. They did the same with the mirrors;
suddenly looking at them, they refused them, laughing. They are very
liberal, so much so that all which they have they give away. We formed
a great friendship with them, and one day, before we had entered with
the ship in the port, remaining on account of the unfavorable weather
conditions anchored a league at sea, they came in great numbers in
their little barges to the ship, having painted and decked the face
with various colors, showing to us it was evidence of good feeling,
bringing to us of their food, signaling to us where for the safety of
the ship we ought to anchor in the port, continually accompanying us
until we cast anchor there.
In which we remained XV days, supplying ourselves with many
necessities; where every day the people came to see us at the ship,
bringing their women, of whom they are very careful; because, entering
the ship themselves, remaining a long time, they made their women stay
in the barges, and however many entreaties we made them, offering to
give them various things, it was not possible that they would allow
them to enter the ship. And one of the two Kings coming many times
with the Queen and many attendants through their desire to see us, at
first always stopt on a land distant from us two hundred paces,
sending a boat to inform us of their coming, saying they wished to
come to see the ship; doing this for a kind of safety.
And when they had the response from us, they came quickly, and having
stood awhile to look, hearing the noisy clamor of the sailor crowd,
sent the Queen with her damsels in a very light barge to stay on a
little island distant from us a quarter of a league; himself remaining
a very long time, discoursing by signs and gestures of various
fanciful ideas, examining all the equipments of the ship, asking
especially their purpose, imitating our manners, tasting our foods,
then parted from us benignantly. And one time, our people remaining
two or three days on a little island near the ship for various
necessities as is the custom of sailors, he came with seven or eight
of his attendants, watching our operations, asking many times if we
wished to remain there for a long time, offering us his every help.
Then, shooting with the bow, running, he performed with his attendants
various games to give us pleasure.
Many times we were from five to six leagues inland, which we found as
pleasing as it can be to narrate, adapted to every kind of
cultivation--grain, wine, oil. Because in that place the fields are
from XXV to XXX leagues wide, open and devoid of every impediment of
trees, of such fertility that any seed in them would produce the best
crops. Entering then into the woods, all of which are penetrable by
any numerous army in any way whatsoever, and whose trees, oaks,
cypresses, and others are unknown in our Europe. We found Lucallian
apples, plums, and filberts, and many kinds of fruits different from
ours. Animals there are in very great number, stags, deer, lynx, and
other species, which, in the way of the others, they capture with
snares and bows, which are their principal arms. The arrows of whom
are worked with great beauty, placing at the end, instead of iron,
emery, jasper, hard marble, and other sharp stones, by which they
served themselves instead of iron in cutting trees, making their
barges from a single trunk of a tree, hollowed with wonderful skill,
in which from fourteen to XV men will go comfortably; the short oar,
broad at the end, working it solely with the strength of the arms at
sea without any peril, with as much speed as pleases them.
Going further, we saw their habitations, circular in form, of XIIII to
XV paces compass, made from semi-circles of wood [_i.e._, arched
saplings, bent in the form of an arbor], separated one from the other,
without system of architecture, covered with mats of straw ingeniously
worked, which protect them from rain and wind. There is no doubt that
if they had the perfection of the arts we have, they would build
magnificent edifices, for all the maritime coast is full of blue
rocks, crystals and alabaster; and for such cause is full of ports and
shelters for ships. They change said houses from one place to another
according to the opulence of the site and the season in which they
live. Carrying away only the mats, immediately they have other
habitations made. There live in each a father and family to a very
large number, so that in some we saw XXV and XXX souls. Their food is
like the others: of pulse (which they produce with more system of
culture than the others, observing the full moon, the rising of the
Pleiades, and many customs derived from the ancients), also of the
chase and fish. They live a long time and rarely incur illness; if
they are opprest with wounds, without crying they cure themselves by
themselves with fire, their end being of old age. We judge they are
very compassionate and charitable toward their relatives, making them
great lamentations in their adversities, in their grief calling to
mind all their good fortunes. The relatives, one with another, at the
end of their life use the Sicilian lamentation, mingled with singing
lasting a long time. This is as much as we were able to learn about
them.
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