Hispaniola

Come noi partimmo per andare al paese del detto Mauiatuè, cioè io frate Roman Pane, pouero Eremita, & frate Giouan Borgognone dell'ordine di S. Francesco, & Giouan Matteo il primo, che riceuè l'acqua del Santo Battesimo nell'Isola Spagnuola. Nel secondo dì, che partimmo dalla popolatione, & habitatione di Guarionex, per andare all'altro Cacique, detto Mauiatuè, la gente di Guariones fabricaua vna casa presso alla casa di Oratione, nella qual lasciammo alcune imagini, dinanzi alle quali s'inginocchiassero, & orassero, & si consolassero i Catecumini, i quali erano la madre, i fratelli, & i parenti del sopradetto Giouan Matteo, primo Christiano; a cui si aggiunsero altri sette; e poi tutti quelli di casa sua si fecero Christiani, & perseuerauano nel loro buon proposito, secondo la nostra Fede: di modo che tutta la sopradetta casa restaua in guardia di detta casa di Oratione, & alcune possessioni, che io haueua lauorate, & fatto lauorare.

This is how we set out for the land of Mauiatuè: I, Friar Ramón Pané, a poor hermit, with Friar Juan the Burgundian, of the Order of St. Francis, and Juan Mateo, the first to receive the water of Holy Baptism on the island of Hispaniola. On the second day after we left Guarionex's settlement for the other cacique, Mauiatuè, Guarionex's people were building a house near the house of prayer. In the house of prayer we had left some images. Before them the catechumens could kneel, pray, and find comfort. These were the mother, brothers, and relatives of Juan Mateo, the first Christian. Seven others joined them, and then his whole household became Christian. They held to their good purpose, according to our Faith. So that whole household stayed behind to guard the house of prayer, and some fields that I had worked and had others work.

En la dicha isla Española tienen los indios y los cristianos, que después usan comer el pan de estos indios, dos maneras de ello. La una es maíz, que es grano, y la otra cazabi, que es raíz. El maíz se siembra y coge de esta manera: esto es un grano que nace en unas mazorcas de un geme, y mas y menos longueza, llenas de granos cuasi tan gruesos como garbanzos; y para los sembrar, lo que se hace primero es talar los cañaverales y monte donde lo quieren sembrar, porque la tierra donde nace yerba, y no árboles y cañas, no es tan fértil, y después que se ha hecho aquella tala ó roza, quémase; y después de quemada la tierra que así se taló, queda de aquella ceniza un temple á la tierra, mejor que si se estercolara; y toma el indio un palo en la mano, tan alto como él, y da un golpe de punta en tierra y sácale luego, y en aquel agujero que hizo echa con la otra mano siete ó ocho granos poco mas ó menos del dicho maíz, y da luego otro paso adelante y hace lo mismo, y de esta manera á compás prosigue hasta que llega al cabo de la tierra que siembra, y va poniendo la dicha simiente; y á los costados del tal indio van otros en ala haciendo lo mismo, y de esta manera tornan á dar al contrario la vuelta sembrando, y así continuándolo hasta que acaban.

On the island of Española, the Indians have two kinds of bread, and so do the Christians, who have since taken to eating it. One is maize, which is a grain, and the other is cazabi, which is a root. Maize is sown and harvested like this. It is a grain that grows on ears about a geme long, more or less, full of kernels almost as big as chickpeas. To sow it, they first cut down the canebrakes and woods where they want to plant it. Land where only grass grows, and not trees and canes, is not as fertile. Once the land has been cut and cleared, it is burned. After the burning, the ash gives the soil a richness better than manure. Then the Indian takes a stick in his hand as tall as he is, strikes its point into the ground, and pulls it out. Into that hole he throws seven or eight kernels of maize with his other hand. Then he takes another step forward and does the same, and he keeps on in this steady rhythm to the end of the field, planting the seed as he goes. Beside him others walk in a line, doing the same. Then they all turn and sow their way back the other way, and go on like this until they finish.

Descubriéronse las Indias en el año de mil y quatrocientos y noventa y dos. Fuéronse á poblar el año siguiente de Cristianos Españoles, por manera que ha 49 años que fueron á ellas cantidad de Españoles, y la primera tierra donde entraron para hecho de poblar, fue la grande y felicisima isla Española que tiene seiscientas leguas en torno.

The Indies were discovered in the year 1492. Spanish Christians went to settle them the next year, so it is now forty-nine years since a number of Spaniards went there. The first land they entered to settle was the large and most fortunate island of Española, which is six hundred leagues around.

Su comida es tal, que la de los Santos Padres en el desierto no parece haber sido mas estrecha, ni menos deleytosa, ni pobre. Sus vestidos comunmente son en cueros, cubiertas sus vergüenzas, y quando mucho cúbrense con una manta de algodon que será como vara y media ó dos varas de lienzo en quadro. Sus camas son encima de una estera, y quando mucho, duermen en unas como redes colgadas, que en lengua de la isla Española llamaban hamacas.

Their food is such that the food of the holy fathers in the desert does not seem to have been more meager, less pleasing, or poorer. As for clothes, they usually go naked, with only their private parts covered. At most they cover themselves with a cotton blanket about a yard and a half or two yards square. Their beds are a mat, or at most they sleep in a kind of hanging net, which in the language of the island of Española they called hamacas.

En estas ovejas mansas y de las calidades susodichas por su hacedor y criador así dotadas, entraron los Españoles desde luego que las conocieron, como lobos, y tigres y leones crudélisimos, de muchos dias hambrientos. Y otra cosa no han hecho de 40 años á esta parte hasta hoy, y hoy en este dia lo hacen, sino despedazallas, matallas, angustiallas, afligillas, atormentallas y destruíllas, por las estrañas, y nuevas, y varias, y nunca otras tales vistas, ni leídas, ni oídas maneras de crueldad; de las quales algunas pocas abajo se dirán: en tanto grado, que habiendo en la isla Española sobre tres cuentos de ánimas que vimos, no hay hoy de los naturales della dos cientas personas.

Their Maker and Creator gave these gentle sheep all these qualities. Among them the Spaniards entered, from the moment they knew them, like wolves and tigers and the cruelest lions starved for many days. For forty years until today, and still today, they have done nothing else but tear them to pieces, kill them, torment them, afflict them, torture them, and destroy them. They have used strange, new, and many kinds of cruelty, never seen, read, or heard of before, and a few of them will be told below. It has gone so far that on the island of Española, where we saw more than three million souls, not two hundred of its native people are left today.