Note 223-1 — JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS (continued 3)

Las Casas, I. 434, says that a section in the northeastern part of Española “was inhabited by a tribe which called themselves Mazariges and others Ciguayos and that they spoke different languages from the rest of the island. I do not remember if they differed from each other in speech since so many years have passed, and to-day there is no one to inquire of, although I have talked many times with both generations; but more than fifty years have gone by.” The Ciguayos, he adds, were called so because they wore their hair long as women do in Castile. This passage shows that Las Casas was writing this part of his history a half-century after he went first to Española, which was in 1502, with Ovando.