a strange thing happened: that very day many of them became sick and the following day eight men died. Wherever this was known throughout the land, people were so afraid of us that it seemed that they were going to die of fear when they saw us. They begged us not to be angry or to wish any more of them dead, since they were certain that we killed them by willing it. We were truly and completely grieved by this, not only because we were seeing some of them die, but also because we were afraid they would all die or, acting out of fear, would leave us alone and all the peoples ahead would do the same, seeing what had happened to these people.

We prayed to God our Lord for his help, and all sick began to get well. We saw a very amazing thing: the parents and siblings and wives of those who later died were very grieved to see them ailing, but after they died the relatives showed no feelings. We did not see them weep or speak to one another nor show any emotion. They did not dare to approach their dead until we told them to carry them away for burial. In the two weeks that we were with them, we did not see people speaking to one another. We did not even see a child laugh or cry; in fact, one who cried was taken far away from there and scratched with sharp mouse teeth from the shoulders to nearly the bottom of the legs. When I saw this cruel treatment I was angered by it, and asked them why they did it. They replied that they did it to punish the child because it had cried in my presence. They instilled these fears in all the others who joined them to see us. They did this so that the new people would give us everything they had, since they knew that we would give it all to them and keep none of it. These were the most obedient people we found in this land, having the best temperament. They generally are very handsome.

By the time the sick people felt well, we had been there three days, and the women we had sent returned,