mountains, the fertility of its valleys, the forests upon its hills, or the number of rivers watering it.  Upon the slopes of all the mountains and hills, and in the river beds, gold in abundance is found; and in the latter, fish of delicious flavour; only one is to be excepted, which from its source in the mountains to the sea is perpetually salt.  This river is called Bahaun, and flows through Maguana, a district of the province of Bainoa.  It is thought that this river passes through chalk and saline strata, of which there are many in the island, and of which I shall later speak more fully.

We have noted that Hispaniola may be divided into four or five parts, by rivers or by provinces.  Still another division may be made; the entire island might be divided by the four mountain chains which cut it in two from east to west.  Everywhere there is wealth, and gold is everywhere found.  From the caverns and gorges of these mountains pour forth all the streams which traverse the island.  There are frightful caves, dark valleys, and arid rocks, but no dangerous animal has ever been found; neither lion, nor bear, nor fierce tiger, nor crafty fox, nor savage wolf.  Everything thereabouts speaks of happiness and will do so still more, Most Holy Father, when all these thousands of people shall be gathered among the sheep of your flock, and those devil images, the zemes, shall have been banished.

You must not be vexed, Most Holy Father, if from time to time in the course of my narrative I repeat certain particulars, or allow myself some digressions.  I feel myself carried away by a sort of joyous mental excitement, a kind of Delphic or Sibylline breath, when I read of these things; and I am, as it were, forced to repeat the same fact, especially when I realise to what an extent the propagation of our religion is involved.  Yet amidst all these marvels and fertility, there is one point which causes me small satisfaction; these simple, naked natives were little accustomed to labour, and the immense fatigues they now suffer, labouring in the mines, is killing them in great numbers and reducing the others to such a state of despair that many kill themselves, or refuse to procreate their kind.  It is alleged that the pregnant women take drugs to produce abortion, knowing that the children they bear will become the slaves of the Christians.  Although a royal decree has declared all the islanders to be free, they are forced to work more than is fit for free men.  The number of these unfortunate people diminishes in an extraordinary fashion.  Many people claim that they formerly numbered more than twelve millions; how many there are to-day I will not venture to say, so much am I horrified.[3] Let us finish with this sad subject and return to the charms of this admirable Hispaniola.