He tell them to plant corn and live like white mans.'
"One day when we were on the top of a hill on the west side of the
island, Friday suddenly began to jump and dance about in great glee.
I asked him what the matter was. 'O, joy, O glad,' he said; 'there
my country!' The air was so clear that from this place, as I had before
discovered, land could be distinctly seen looking westward.
"I asked him how far it was from our island to his country and whether
their canoes were ever lost in coming and going. He said that there
was no danger. No canoes were ever wrecked and that it was easy to
get back and forth. I asked him many things about his people and country.
He told me that away to the west of his country there lived 'white
mans like you.' I thought these must be the people of Central America,
and asked him how I might come from this island and get among these
white men. He made me understand that I must have a large boat as big
as two canoes.
"I resolved at once to begin to make a boat large enough for us to
pass over to the land we could see lying to the west and if possible
to go on to the white man's country Friday told me about. It took us
nearly two months to make our boat and rig her out with sails, masts,
rudder, and anchor. We had to weave our sails and twist our rope. We
burned out the canoe from a large fallen log. We used a great stone
tied securely to the end of a strong rope for an anchor.
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