PROEMIUM TO THE

MANY AUTHORS have written various books and accounts regarding the NEW WORLD and the West Indies, in which they give notice of the new and strange things that have been discovered in those parts, and of the deeds and successes of the Spaniards who have conquered and populated them. But until now, I have not seen an author who attempts to explain the causes and reasons for such novelties and strange phenomena of nature, nor one who makes a discourse or inquiry into this aspect; nor have I encountered a book whose subject matter is the deeds and history of the Indians themselves, the ancient and natural inhabitants of the new globe. In truth, both tasks have no small difficulty. The first, because they are matters of nature that depart from the Philosophy Natural Science anciently received and discussed: such as the region they call Torrid being very humid, and in parts very temperate; for it to rain there when the Sun is closest, and other similar things. And those who have written about the West Indies have not made a profession of such philosophy, nor have most of them even paid attention to such things. The second, to treat the deeds and own history of the Indians, required...