Dan:  I finally got the book from storage and found the time to do the translation. The whole book is written in poetry, rhyming couplets, and I have not tried to duplicate that in English. Also the vocabulary is poetic, elevated, and often obscure, and the style tortured, so I have translated freely and not always searched for exact English equivalent words. Here goes. 

Juan de Castellanos, Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias. 3d ed. (Madrid: M. Rivadeneyra, Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1874). (First edition 1589, rare.)

All the material I read belongs to the "Segunda Parte". The author discusses the destruction and diseases caused by the conquest on the (pearl) island of Cubagua, which we all visited. (DAN'S NOTE: MURDO, WHO DID THE TRANSLATION, AND HIS WIFE, AND LEE AND I, WENT ON VACATION TOGETHER IN AROUND 2000.  ON THAT TRIP WE VISITED CUBAGUA.) He says he has been there and saw atrocities. (pp. 181,183). He also describes the area around Lake Maracaibo, its legends, houses, canoes, languages, and people (pp. 181-182).

The book appears to have been written during the second and third quarters of the 16th century. The author participated in the conquest of the coasts of what is today Venezuela and especially Colombia. Later he became a priest and was a parish priest in the Colombian city of Tunja. He was a Spaniard of course, probably from the north of the country, but surprisingly little is known about him or his origins. (Before coming to Trinidad and Venezuela he had been a minor official in Hispaniola.) My translation follows.

"Curacao and Aruba are on the frontiers of this coast.  They were given in perpetuity to Joan (Juan) de Ampiés, who was a tax collector and treasurer (for the Crown). He was the first to conquer these places, and these peoples are so close to the coast that I want to discuss them briefly.

These lands are about three leagues distant from the sea coast I have been describing. The people settled on them are much more distinguished than others, so much so that as another name the other peoples there call them and their lands "The Islands of Giants", because in general as a group they are people of well-formed bodies and large limbs. 

They have no reason to fight among themselves because of bad dispositions. The women are extremely beautiful and the men are well built. Consequently both males and females are of a peaceful nature, but they enjoy war (against others) when they have to. Their language is "caquetío". (The author had already mentioned this language as being one of the ones around Lake Maracaibo.)  (p. 183 ends).

They are very skilled when on water and very agile on land. They are excellent marksmen when hunting for birds, rabbits or fish. They have all been washed in the fountain which takes away stains and sins. (I.e., they have all been baptized as Christians.) They have settled villages, temples, and their chiefs lead by good example.

No people in the New World are better archers than they are, because from the age of babbling little boys they are trained to be good at hitting targets. At times many of the boys gather, hoping to be the best. They take their places at the end of a plaza, with a green ball like a squash.

Then, with all of them waiting, the ball is thrown as hard as an arm can do it, and any boy who cannot hit it from a kneeling position loses a certain prize that is awarded.

They move about alertly and with such a careful tread that they never miss a rabbit or a hutia ("a gnawing edible rodent found in some of the Antilles; there are various species".) Nor do they ever fire an arrow in vain.

They were first given instructions in Christianity by Juan de Ampiés and then by Bejarano, both of them, with Christian zeal, wanted to lay a good foundation.

But these two did not always have handy a person who could administer the sacraments (i.e., an ordained priest or friar), but if such a person was lacking they provided a layman who could give instruction. 

I know one such person, not an old man, and although he showed me that he was not frivolous all that solitude and lack of facilities made him live with little chastity. He was advised to give up his evil ways, but this proved how difficult it is not to be scornful and to give up bad habits.

Sometimes there was a priest there (on the islands) to take care of these matters, at least when that unfruitful position was granted to someone. But I also want to note that it was very hard work for a priest to reside among a flock that he wants to heal when he himself needs to be healed.

To find ways of consoling himself with his soul full of stains, he used to cross to Venezuela in a little canoe when he heard that the sea was calm, sometimes with great risk to his life. Because when things at sea appear favorable that is when one should have the least confidence in it.

There is a good herd of cattle there of all breeds, but of such a size that, if I don't deceive myself, they are larger than those we usually see. This harms the local Indians because the herd is so large. The Indian understands more how to work small herds when he wants to herd them into a corral.

Lázaro Bejarano succeeded to the government (of the islands), and I claim that as a successsor and as a fine person he turned out to be a great protector of the Indians. His ways earned him eternal fame, and I don't say that because I am his friend but rather because of his positive attributes and qualities. I doubt if his equal can be found.

I went to these islands; it must have been about the year 40 (i.e., 1540). There I saw him with his lady María, unhappy because of all the loniliness there. We arrived in a storm and they were happy to see us. He had come from Hispaniola with all his goods to inspect properties there.

Although he had important holdings (in Hispaniola) including a sugar mill and a considerable inheritance, it is the condition of us mortals that when we already have a good material living, we always try to make our wealth grow excessively. We don't fear risks or hard work, or long roads and sudden crises.

At the time we reached the islands' port there had been a grave misfortune there. His only son and heir had died. But he, a wise and thoughtful man, was bearing his loss with Christian fortitude. But his fine and straightforward wife was suffering badly and impatiently.

But the newly arrived people consoled her with Christian words, and then in a sturdy caravelle, weary of such a sad and lonely life, they sailed down to Cabo de Vela ("Sail Cape"), with a view to continuing on to Hispaniola, and in Río de la Hacha, where I am at present writing this, they gave them a great reception.

Rich and strange inventions, various colored fiesta clothing, and there were bullfights, jousting, and the game of cañas. They held races for rich prizes, in which all showed great skill, because each contestant was performing in front of his godess (girlfriend). But the whole fiesta was put together to show respect to doña María.

She certainly deserved such a huge and generous fiesta. For, in addition to being a capable and virtuous person, that lady was like the dawn when compared to other women, and was beautiful in every way.

With this we conclude, and here we stop this discussion of Aruba, Curacao and "Buinare".  (Bonaire). (p. 184).

(Then Castellanos continues to describe the mainland coast and discusses the German conquistadores who arrived there with the permission of Carlos V.)