397 / 1060
BooilX.
Roy4l Commentaries.
·~
.·
.
,
,
bought
at
Ciudad de Los
Reyes
ten Cows for a thoufand
Pieces
of
Eight,
which
makes one thoufand two hundred Ducats; then in the Year
1
5
>9·
I have feen·
them
fold
at
fevemeen Pieces of
Eight a
head; according to the fame proportion
the
price ofGoats and Hogs abated, as we
{hall
mention hereafter, by which we
may obferve, how fruitfull this Countrey is:
S~ce
the Year
1
5
90.
they write
me, that
a
Bullock bought fingly in the Market is not·worth above
fix
or feveli
Ducats,
and being bought in
a
Drove toge_ther? may be had
~heaper.
..
The Cows in the Ifie of
Barlovento
runnmg
m
the Mountams, became
all
wild;
ts
alfo the Horfes and Mares, excepting onely fuch Cows as they
k~t
up
in
their
Inclofures, for the conveniences and benefit of
Milk,
Butter and Cheete, which
they made of them ; but fuch
as
ran wild
in
the Mountains, multiplied and increa–
fed co fuch a number, as would be incredible, did not the Hides of them, which
are yearly brought thence into
Spain,
give us
clear and
demonftrative proofs there.–
of,
asAcofta.
verifies in the
33d
Chap.
ofhis4thBook, wherein he reports,
That
in
the Year
1
58
7.
there was then brought
in
the Fleet from
St.
Domingo,
ooely
3
S'
44+
Hides;
and
in
the
fame
Year,
from
Nd9 Spain, 64
35
o
Cow
Hides,
ma–
king in
all
997
9+
In
St.
Domingo, Cuba,
and the other
Iflands, their
increafe would have
been
much more ,
llad they
not
been
worried and defuoyed by Greyhounds
and
Ma–
fiiffi,
with
which
'1t
full
they
did
ufually
take them, which alfo living
in
the
Mountains, became wild as the Cows, and fo fierce, that unlefS ten or a
do~
Men went together, there was no fecurity; and thofe that killed thofe Dogs re–
ceived the fame reward as
for killing
a
Wol£
The
manner
of
killing
thefe Cows
was this: They watched when the_y_came down into the low Lands to feed,
and
then they ran upon them with their Horfes, and having
an
Iron
with lharp
prongs,
in
form of a half Moon, with which they firuck them, and then with a Cord
they
enfnared them about the Horns; but the Horfeman who ufes this fport, had
need cake care in
what
manner he goes to work; for
if
the
Beall:
be
before him,
he
muft take the right fide of him, and wound him on that fide, or elfe,
if
he be on
the left, to wound him on the le
fr,
but not'to meet juft before him, buc turn as
~e
turns, left he butt and wound the Rider
with
his
Hor.(lS,
an·d give
him
no time
~o
_avoid
his
blow. There are fame Men
fo
dextrous
in
this
Art,
that
in
one
ca..
riere of their Horfe, and twice difcharging their Gun, they will
kill
and knock
down twenty, thirty or fourcy Bqfis; ano theiefore
in
thefe.Hlands which yield
filch quantities of
Beef,
they might
in
my
opinion viChlal the
Spttni./h
Fleet with
fufficient provifions thereof for their Voyages,
Ul)lefS
by reafon of the heat and
moifiure of the Countrey, which are the cauies of corruption, the fle!h will not
eafily
receive the
falt
and pickle which are to preferve it.
I hear now
in
thefe
times that there are Cows in
Pen1,
which wander about in the difpeopled Countries,
and that the Bulls are
fo
fierce, that they
will
affault Men as they travel in the
way, and that there are almofr as many wild Cattel there on the Continent, as
in
the Hlands; which in gratefoll remembrance
to
Spain,
for the benefit they recei–
ved by the Stock of Cattel fem from thence, do now, by the great numbers of
Hides which yea.rly
they
fend, make their due acknowledgments and returns for
~fu~
.
'·
cc
c
2
CH AP.
I
~79