Diary of Alonso de Cárdenas

Diary entry #3

March 3rd, 1507

We've built 6 houses now with the help of the natives, they were generous to help us, and we paid them with colored glass beads. The soldier that came with us has begun to learn some spanish. His name was Hatuey, however he chose the spanish name José. We've taught him to go from clubs to polearms. He's coming along nicely, the people here are very quick learners.

We traded animals, they did not have many pack animals, so we traded them two pigs for a new animal we hadn't seen. It was quite an odd looking animal, green fur, white skin, it looked like a fox from the old world that got thrown into a vat of crushed grapes. The fox-like animal was quite sizable compared to the other wildlife on the island, we decided to call it a "Maguá fox" since they'd given it to us.

We planted the seeds they gave us, José showed us spacing and how to farm it. We mixed in some bean seeds with some of their "Mahiz" and it worked pretty nicely, the plants seem to be okay. José made a meal for us, he went on the ocean and spearfished a manatee somehow, then made (as he called it) Yuca bread, and added some guava with it. He even added a little bit of old world olive oil with it too!

Hernandez is still unrelenting in his mistrust. He threw the food José had made down and cursed at it. The rest of the crew however, has begun to admire José's work ethic. He's quite the dilligent fellow, seems not older than 14 but determined and strong, our men can barely make half the speed the taino do in most cases.

We gave him some wine we'd packed for the journey, and at first, he thought it to be dangerous. He drank a bit, and his face scrunched in distaste, causing the crew to erupt into laughter.

Although he didn't like it st first, he got used to it quickly, he even suggested trying to make alcohol out of Mahiz, he took a barrel from the village and mashed some of the mahiz, we'll see how it turns out soon.