Note 15 — Decade Fourth

5. The convent of Sidargào,15 which is an island ten leguas distant from the fort of Tanda, has two thousand Christian families. According to the testimony of persons of credit, certain manikins, small and beautiful, resembling pigmies in appearance and size, were seen in the said island on a certain occasion. They fled with great swiftness through the thickets of the forests, so that, notwithstanding the efforts made, they could not be caught. However, it is said that some of them were caught in former times, but that they died of fright in a few hours. A cross is preserved near the village of Sapào, on top of a rock of the size of two dedos above the stone, which has certain letters. Those letters cannot be read now, as they have been obliterated by the lashing [224] of the sea, which beats against it continually. It is a tradition that the first Spanish discoverers of that gulf made that cross, although it is not known when.