Editorial note — BOOK III

[Note 17: None of the natives of the islands wore white tunics, nor indeed any but the most scanty covering. It has been surmised that the soldier who made this report may indistinctly and from a distance have descried a flock of tall white cranes, otherwise he was either the victim of an hallucination or an inventor of strange tales to astonish his fellows. Humboldt (Histoire de la Géographie du nouveau Continent) quotes an instance of the colonists of Angostora once mistaking a flock of cranes for a band of soldiers.]

[Note 18: There were no lions nor large beasts of prey in the island; it has been suggested that these tracks may have been footprints of an alligator.]