La Relación - page 9

La Relación - page 9

along with Álvaro de la Cerda as captain, with forty men and twelve horses. Two days after the Governor's arrival we set sail with four hundred men and eighty horses in four ships and one brigantine. The pilot whom we had just engaged took the ships through the shoals called Canarreo, so that the following day we ran aground. And there we remained for two weeks, with the keels of the ships often high and dry. Finally a storm from the South flooded the shoals so much that we were able to leave, but not without great danger.

Having departed from there and arrived at Guaniguanico, we almost perished in another storm that overtook us. We encountered another storm at Cape Corrientes, where we spent three days. After this we rounded Cape San Antonio and sailed with contrary winds until we were twelve leagues from Havana. The following day, as we were about to enter Havana, a wind from the South blew us away from the land. We crossed toward the coast of Florida, sighting land on Tuesday, April 12, and sailed along the coast of Florida. On Maundy Thursday we came upon a bay along that coast, at the head of which we saw several Indian houses and habitations.

CHAPTER THREE
How We Arrived in Florida

That same day Alonso Enríquez, the Purser, set out for an island in the same bay where he called the Indians, who came and were with him a good while, and as exchange they gave him fish and a few pieces of venison. The following day was Good Friday and the Governor disembarked with the greatest number of people he could take with him in the skiffs he had. When we arrived at the Indians' buhios, or lodges, which we had seen, we found them empty and abandoned, since the people had left that night

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