They believed that mankind issued from another cavern, the
large men from a great aperture, the small men from a little
cranny. They were for a long time destitute of women, but,
wandering on one occasion near a small lake, they saw certain
animals among the branches of the trees, which proved to be
women. On attempting to catch them, however, they were
found to be as slippery as eels, so that it was impossible to hold
them. At length they employed certain men, whose hands
were rendered rough by a kind of leprosy. These succeeded in
securing four of these slippery females, from whom the world
was peopled.
Irving, Washington, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 4 vols., London: John Murray, 1828, v. 2, pp. 117-118.
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