Next day the admiral sent two boats on shore, to endeavour to procure some person who might be able to give him some account of the country, and to inform him in what direction Hispaniola lay. Each of the boats brought off a youth, who agreed in saying that they were not of that island, but of another which they called Borriquen, now St John; and that the inhabitants of Guadaloupe were Caribs or Canibals, and had taken them prisoners from their own island. Soon afterwards, the boats returned on shore to bring off some Christians who had been left, and found six women who had fled to them from the Caribs, and came off willingly to the ships. To allure the Indians, the admiral would not keep them, but set them on shore against their wills, giving them some glass beads and bells. This was not done unadvisedly, for as soon as they landed, the Caribs even in sight of the Christians, took away all the trinkets which had been given them. Therefore, either through hatred or fear of the Caribs, when the boats returned some time afterwards for wood and water, the women got into them and requested to be carried back to the ships, and gave the seamen to understand by signs that those people eat men and make slaves of the women, and therefore they would not remain with them. Yielding to their entreaties, the seamen brought them back, with two children and a young man who had escaped from the Caribs; these people thinking themselves safer in the hands of strangers whom they had never seen or heard of, than among the cruel and wicked Caribs who had eaten their husbands and children, but who are said not to eat women, whom they keep as slaves. One of the women said there were many islands to the south, some inhabited and others not, which they severally named Giamachi, Cairvaco, Huino, Buriari, Arubeira, and Sixibei. They said that the continent was very large, and both they and the inhabitants of Hispaniola named it Zuanta; saying, that in former times canoes had come from that land to the islands to barter with abundance of lads, of whom there were two thirds in an island not far distant[7]. They also said that the king of the island, from which they fled, was gone with ten large canoes and 300 men to make incursions into the neighbouring islands to take prisoners to eat. The women likewise gave information where Hispaniola lay; for though the admiral had inserted it in his chart, yet he was inclined to hear what the natives of these islands knew respecting it for his better guidance.

[7] The meaning of this passage is quite inexplicable.--E.

The admiral now wished to proceed on his voyage, but was told that one Captain Mark had gone on shore before day with eight men without his leave, and had not yet returned. He was therefore obliged to send out to look for him, though in vain, by reason of the thickness of the trees. Therefore, that they might not be lost or be obliged to leave a ship for them, which might afterwards miss its way to Hispaniola, the admiral resolved to remain till next day; and because the country was full of extensive and thick woods, he ordered them to be carefully sought after, making a great noise with trumpets and muskets to lead them on the right way. But the people having searched the whole day ineffectually, returned to the ships in the evening without finding them, or hearing any thing of them. It was now Thursday morning, and no news had been heard of them since Tuesday; and considering that they had gone without leave, the admiral declared his resolution to continue the voyage, or at least made a shew of doing so to deter others from doing the like in future; but he allowed himself to be prevailed on by some of the kindred and friends of the stragglers to stay a little longer, and gave orders in the meantime for all the ships to complete their wood and water, and for the people to wash their linens; and he sent Captain Hojeda with forty men to look out for those who were amissing, and to examine into the nature of the country. Hojeda found mastick, aloes, sandal, ginger, frankincense, and some trees resembling cinnamon in taste and smell, and abundance of cotton. He saw many falcons, and two of them pursuing the other birds; also kites, herons, daws, turtles, partridges, geese, and nightingales; and he affirmed, that in travelling six leagues they had crossed twenty-six rivers, several of which were very deep; but I am apt to believe, as the country was very woody and uneven, that they had often crossed the same river. While the party under Hojeda were admiring the beauties of the country, and other parties were going about in all directions in search of the stragglers, they returned to the ship on Friday the 8th of November without having been met by any of those who looked for them. They excused themselves by saying that they had lost their way in the woods; but to punish their presumption, the admiral ordered the captain to be put in irons, and that the rest should have their allowance of provisions retrenched. The admiral then landed and went to some of the houses, where he saw all the particulars which have been already mentioned; likewise abundance of cotton, both spun and unspun, and looms for weaving, many human skulls hung up, and baskets full of human bones. The houses in this island were better, and more plentifully furnished with provisions and other things used by the Indians, than any which he had seen in his first voyage.

On Sunday the 10th of November the admiral weighed anchor, standing with the whole fleet towards the N.W. along the coast of Guadaloupe, and came to an island which he named Monseratte on account of its height; and was informed by the Indians on board that the Caribs had entirely dispeopled it by devouring all the inhabitants. He thence proceeded by St Mary Redonda, so named on account of its round and upright shape, insomuch, that there seemed no possibility of getting up to it without ladders. It was called Ocamaniro by the Indians. He next came to St Maria la Antigua, which is about twenty-eight leagues in extent. Still holding on his course to the N.W. there appeared several other islands towards the north, and in the N.W. and S.E. all very high and woody; at one of these he cast anchor and named it St Martin. They here took up some pieces of coral sticking to the flukes of the anchors, which made them hope to find other useful articles of commerce in these islands. Though the admiral was always anxious to examine into every place which he discovered, he yet resolved to hold on his course towards Hispaniola, that he might carry relief to the people who had been left there. But the weather being bad, he was obliged to come to anchor at an island on the 14th of November, where he gave orders to take some of the inhabitants, that he might learn whereabout he then was. As the boat was returning to the fleet with four women and three children whom they had taken, it met a canoe in which were four men and a woman; who perceiving that they could not escape, stood upon their defence, and hit two of the Spaniards with their arrows, which they discharged with such force and dexterity that the woman pierced a target quite through. The Spaniards attempted to board, and the canoe was overset, so that all the Indians were taken swimming in the water; and one of them shot several arrows while swimming, as dexterously as if he had been on dry land.

These people were found to be castrated; for they had been made prisoners by the Caribs in some other islands, who had so used them as we do capons, that they might become fatter and better food. Departing from thence, the admiral continued his voyage W.N.W. where he fell in with a cluster of above fifty islands, which he left to the northward of his course. The largest of these he named the island of St. Ursula, and the others he called the Eleven Thousand Virgins. He next came to the island called Borriquen by the Indians, but which he named St John the Baptist, in a bay on the west side of which the fleet came to anchor, where they caught several sorts of fish, as skate, olaves, pilchards, and shads. On the land they saw falcons, and bushes resembling wild vines. More to the eastwards some Spaniards went to certain houses well built after the Indian fashion, having a square before them and a broad road down to the sea, with bowers on each side made of canes, and curiously interwoven with evergreens, such as are seen in the gardens of Valencia. At the end of the road next the sea there was a raised stage or balcony, lofty and well built, capable of containing ten or twelve men.

On Friday the fifteenth of November the admiral reached the north side of Hispaniola, and immediately sent on shore at Samana one of the natives of the island who had been in Spain, and who being converted to our holy faith, offered to engage all his countrymen to submit to the Christians. The admiral continued his voyage to the Nativity, and off Cape Angel some Indians came on board to barter their commodities. Coming to anchor in the bay of Monte Christo a boat was sent on shore, the people of which found two dead men lying near a river. One of these seemed to be young and the other old, having a rope made of a substance like Spanish broom round his neck, and his arms extended and tied to a piece of wood in the form of a cross. Having been long dead, it could not be known whether these people were Christians or Indians, but it was considered an evil omen. The next day, twenty-sixth November, the admiral sent on shore in several places, and the Indians came boldly and freely to converse with the Spaniards, touching their shirts and doublets, and naming these articles in the Spanish language. This confidence and friendly behaviour relieved the admiral from the fears which he had conceived on account of the dead men; believing that if the natives had injured the Christians whom he had left, they would not have come so boldly on board the ships. But next day, coming to anchor about midnight near the town of Nauidad or the Nativity, a canoe came to the fleet and asked for the admiral, and being bid to come on board, they refused to do so till they should see him. The admiral therefore went to the ships side to hear what they had to say, and then two men from the canoe went up with two marks of gold, which they presented with many compliments to the admiral as from the cacique Guacanagari. Being asked concerning the Christians who were left at the Nativity, they answered that some of them had died of distempers, some had parted from the company and had gone into other parts of the country, and that all of them had four or five wives. Though it appeared from the way in which these Indians spoke, that all or most of the colonists were dead, yet the admiral did not think fit to take much notice of the circumtance at the time; he therefore dismissed the messengers with some brass trinkets and other baubles for Guacanagari, and a few to themselves.

Towards evening on Thursday the twenty-eighth November the admiral came with all the fleet into the harbour of the Nativity, and found the whole town burnt, and no person whatever could be seen about the place. Next morning the admiral landed, and was much concerned to find the fort and houses entirely destroyed, and nothing left which had belonged to the Christians, except some tattered garments and other broken articles of no value. Finding no person at whom he could make inquiries, he went up a river in the neighbourhood with several boats, leaving orders to clean out the well which he had dug in the fort, as he had directed the colonists to throw all the gold they could get into that well, to be prepared against the worst that might happen; but nothing of the kind could be found. On his way up the river he could meet with none of the Indians, who all fled from their houses into the woods on his approach. He therefore returned to Nauidad, where eight of the Christians had been discovered and three others in the fields, who were recognized by the remnants of their apparel, and seemed to have been a month dead. While prosecuting this melancholy search, a brother of the cacique Guacanagari came, accompanied by some Indians, to the admiral. These men could speak a few words of Spanish, and knew the names of all the Christians who had been left there. They said that those Spaniards had soon fallen out among themselves after the departure of the admiral, everyone taking for himself as much gold and as many women as he could procure. That Gutierres and Escovedo killed one named James, and then went away with nine others and all their women to the territories of a cacique named Caunabo who was lord of the mines, and by whom they had all been killed. That many days afterwards Caunabo came with a great number of men to Nauidad, where only James de Arana remained with ten men to guard the fort, all the rest of the Spaniards having dispersed about the island. Caunabo came by night and set fire to the houses where the Christians resided with their women, all of whom fled to the sea, where eight of them were drowned, three of them being slain on shore. That Guacanagari, in fighting against Caunabo in defence of the Christians, had been wounded and fled.

This account agreed with that which was received by some Spaniards whom the admiral had sent up into the country, and had gone to a town in the interior where the cacique lay ill of his wounds. This he said had prevented him from waiting upon the admiral and giving him an account of the catastrophe of the Christians, which he narrated exactly in conformity with the account given by his brother, and he requested that the admiral would go to see him as he was unable to be moved. The admiral went accordingly next day, and with great signs of sorrow the cacique related all that had happened, and that he and his men had all been wounded in endeavouring to defend the Christians, as appeared by their wounds, which had not been inflicted by Christian weapons, but with aragayas or wooden swords and arrows pointed with fish bones. At the end of his discourse the cacique presented to the admiral eight strings of small beads made of white, green, and red stones, a string of gold beads, a royal crown of gold, and three small calabashes full of gold dust, all of which might be about four marks weight of gold, the mark being half a pound. In return for all this the admiral gave him abundance of our baubles, which though not worth three ryals or eighteen-pence, he yet valued exceedingly. Although Guacanagari was very ill, he insisted upon going, with the admiral to see the fleet, where he was courteously entertained, and was much delighted to see the horses, of which he had received an account from the Christians. And as some of those who had been killed had given him a very erroneous account of our holy faith, the admiral used his best endeavours to instruct him, and prevailed with him to wear an image of the Virgin Mary suspended from his neck, which he had at first refused to receive.

Reflecting on the disaster of the Christians at Nauidad, and his own misfortune in that neighbourhood by losing his ship, and considering that there were other places at no great distance more commodious for the establishment of a colony, he sailed on Saturday the seventh of December with the whole fleet to the eastwards, and about evening cast anchor not far from the islands of Monte Christo. And the next day removed to Monte Christo, among those seven low islands which were mentioned in the account of the former voyage. These little islands, although destitute of trees, are yet extremely pleasant; for in that season of winter they found a profusion of fine flowers, the nests had many of them eggs, and young birds in others, and all other things resembled the appearance of summer in Spain. Removing thence, he went to anchor before an Indian town where he had resolved to plant his colony, and landed all the men, provisions, utensils, and animals which had been brought on board the fleet. The place he now chose was a fine plain near a rock on which a fort might be very conveniently built for its defence; and here he immediately began to build a town which he named Isabella, in honour of the queen of Castile. The port of this place, though exposed to the N.W. was large and convenient, and had a most delicious river only a bow-shot distant, from which canals of water might be drawn for the use of the town, to run through the streets. Immediately beyond that river there lay a vast open plain, from the extremity of which the Indians said the gold mines of Cibao were not far remote. For all these reasons the admiral was so extremely intent upon settling the colony, that what with the fatigues which he had endured at sea and the labour he now encountered, he not only was unable to write down from day to day the occurrences as had been his usual custom, but he fell sick, by which causes his journal was interrupted from the eleventh of December 1493 till the twelfth of March 1494. During all this time however, he ordered the affairs of the colony to the best advantage, as far as he was able. In this interval likewise he detached Alonzo de Hojeda with an escort of fifteen men to explore the mines of Cibao. And afterwards he sent on the second of February twelve ships of his fleet back to Spain under the command of Captain Anthony de Torres, who was brother to the nurse of Don John prince of Spain. Torres was a man of great judgment and entire honour, in whom their Catholic majesties and the admiral reposed much confidence. With him the admiral sent a detailed account in writing of the nature of the country, and of every thing which was required for the assistance of the infant colony, as well as an ample account of every occurrence from the time the fleet had departed from Spain.

Hojeda returned soon after the departure of the fleet, and gave an account of his journey. He reported that he halted on the second night of his journey at the pass of a mountain which was of very difficult access. That afterwards at many leagues distance, he found Indian villages and caciques who had been very kind to him; and that at the end of his sixth days journey he came to the mines of Cibao, were the Indians immediately took up gold in his presence from the bed of a small river, as they had done in many other places on his route, where he affirmed that there was plenty of gold. This news greatly rejoiced the admiral, who was now recovered from his sickness, and he resolved to go on shore to observe the nature of the country and the disposition of the inhabitants, that he might be the better able to judge of what ought to be done. Accordingly, on Wednesday the twelfth of March 1494, he set out from Isabella to inspect the mines of Cibao, taking all the people along with him who were in health, part on foot and part on horseback; leaving a good guard in the two ships and three caravels that remained of the fleet, and causing all the tackle and ammunition belonging to the other ships to be removed into his own.