Página — Ingles 8 (pág. 114)

The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci A--tr

(Extract)

Letter on his Third Voyage from Amerigo Vespucci to Lorenzo Pietro Francesco di Medici. March (or April) 1503.

... We went towards the Antarctic Circle; and I have seen those people, their customs, the resources and fertility of the land,the salubrity of the air, the positions of the celestial bodies in the heavens, and, above all, the fixed stars, never seen by our ancestors, as I shall explain below.

Regarding the people: we have found such a multitude in those countries that no one could enumerate them. They are gentle people, and all of both sexes go naked, not covering any part of their bodies, just as they came from their mothers"wombs, and so they go until their deaths. They have large,well-proportioned bodies. Their color reddish, which I think is caused by their going naked and being exposed to the sun.

Their hair is thick and black. They are agile in walking,and of quick sight. They are of a free and good-looking expression of countenance, which they themselves destroy by perforating the nostrils and lips, the nose and ears; nor must you believe that the accessories are small, nor that they only have one, for I have seen those who had no less than seven accessories in the face, each one the size of a plum. They stop up these perforations with blue stones,bits of marble or crystal, and also with very white bones and other things artificially prepared according to their customs. This custom is only for the men, as the women do not perforate their faces but only their ears...

...The land is very fertile, with

many hills, valleys, and large rivers, and is irrigated by very refreshing springs. It is covered with extensive and dense forests, which are almost impenetrable, and full of every kind of wild beast. Great trees grow without cultivation, of which many yield fruits pleasant to the taste and nourishing to the human body; and a great many have an opposite effect. The fruits are unlike those in our country, and there are innumerable different kinds of fruits and herbs, of which they make bread and excellent food. They also have many seeds different from ours. No kind of metal has been found except gold, though we haven't brought anything back in this, our first navigation. The natives, however, assured us that there was an immense quantity of gold underground.

Adapted from: Vespucci, A., De Las Casas,, B. Columbus, C. (n.d.) The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci and other documents illustrative of his career. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3QqVpp9




112

one hundred and twelye

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