There were also many streams. After having taken a survey of these parts, I returned to the ship, and setting sail, discovered s
uch a number of islands that I knew not which first to visit; the natives whom I had taken on board informed me by signs that there were so many of them that they could not be numbered; they repeated the names of more than a hundred. I determined to steer for the largest, which is about five leagues from San Salvador; the others were some at a greater, and some at a less distance from that island. They are all very level, without mountains, exceedingly fertile and populous, the inhabitants living at war with one another, although a simple race, and with delicate bodies. meaning
The main way in which the Iroquois Confederacy was like the US government was that both were made up of representatives from groups that originally considered themselves to be separate nations. The Iroquois Confederacy was made up of the Five Nations while the US government was made up of (originally) the 13 states.
