History of the New World

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Hakluyt Society, 1857 - America - 280 pages
 

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Page 17 - Cristobal, even if you had not undertaken this great enterprise, we should not have lacked a man who would have made the same discovery that you did, here in our own country of Spain, as it is full of great men clever in cosmography and literature.
Page 70 - ... till they are very dry ; and when they wish to use them, they take a leaf of their grain (maize) and putting one of the others into it, they roll them round tight together ; HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD.
Page 70 - ... to use them, they take a leaf of their grain (maize), and putting one of the others into it, they roll them round tight together ; then they set fire to one end, and putting the other end into the mouth, they draw their breath up through it, wherefore the smoke goes into the mouth, the throat, the head, and they retain it as long as they can, for they find a pleasure in it ; and so much do they fill themselves with this cruel...
Page 17 - They all tried, and no one succeeded in making it stand up. When the egg came round to the hands of Columbus, by beating it down on the table he fixed it, having thus crushed a little of one end; wherefore all remained confused, understanding what he would have said : that after the deed is done, everybody knows how to do it ; that they ought first to have sought for the Indies, and not laugh at him who had sought for it first, while they for some time had been laughing, and wondered at it as an...
Page 71 - WORLD. then they set fire to one end, and putting the other end into the mouth, they draw their breath up through it, wherefore the smoke goes into the mouth, the throat, the head, and they retain it as long as they can, for they find a pleasure in it, and so much do they fill themselves with this cruel smoke, that they lose their reason. And there are some who take so much of it, that they fall down as if they were dead, and remain the greater part of the day or night stupified.
Page 85 - Many Spaniards prophesy for certain that the island in a short time will fall entirely into the hands of these blacks.
Page 72 - Mexican language is called tabacco, and immediately perceiving the sharp fetid smell of this truly diabolical and stinking smoke, I was obliged to go away in haste, and seek some other place.* " In La Espanola and the other islands, when their doctors wanted to cure a sick man, they went to the place were they were to administer the smoke, and when he was thoroughly intoxicated by it, the cure was mostly effected. On returning to his senses, he told a thousand stories of his having been at the council...
Page 17 - ... Indies.' They all tried, and no one succeeded in making it stand up. When the egg came round to the hands of Columbus, by beating it down on the table he fixed it, having thus crushed a little of one end; wherefore all remained confused, understanding what he meant : that after the deed is done everybody knows how to do it; that they ought first to have sought for the Indies, and not laugh at him who had sought for them first.
Page 71 - See what a pestiferous and wicked poison from the devil this must be. It has happened to me several times that, going through the provinces of Guatemala and Nicaragua, I have entered the house of an Indian who had taken this herb, which in the Mexican language is called tobacco, and immediately perceiving the sharp fetid smell of this truly diabolical and stinking smoke, I was obliged to go away in haste, and seek some other place.
Page 67 - the natives finding themselves intolerably oppressed . . . went to the woods and there hung themselves, after having killed their children, saying it was far better to die than to live so miserably serving such and so many ferocious tyrants and wicked thieves. . . . Some threw themselves from high cliffs down precipices, others jumped into the sea, others again into rivers, and others starved themselves to death.

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