From All That Could Be Learnt, It Appeared There Had Been Divisions Among The Christians, Which Had Originated In The Disobedience Of The Biscainers, And That They Would Not Have Miscarried If They Had Obeyed The Orders Left By The Admiral.

Guacanagari sent a message to the admiral, requesting a visit from him, as he was unable to go abroad on account of his wounds.

The admiral did so, and the cacique, with a melancholy countenance, gave him a recital of all that has been already said, shewing him his wounds and those of many of his men, which plainly appeared to have been made by the weapons used by the Indians, being darts pointed with fish bones. When the discourse was ended, the cacique gave the admiral 800 small stone beads, called cibas, on which the Indians set great value; likewise 100 gold beads, a crown of gold, and three little gourds or calabashes, called ybueras, full of gold in grains; the whole weighing about 200 pieces of eight. The admiral presented him with several glass toys, knives, scissars, hawks-bells, pins, needles, and small mirrors, which the cacique considered as a rich treasure. He attended the admiral to his quarters, and was astonished at the sight of the Spanish horses, and at seeing the way in which these animals were rode and managed. Some officers of the expedition, and even Friar Boyle, advised that Guacanagari should be secured, till he had cleared himself in a more satisfactory manner from having a concern in the death of the Christians who had been left in his country. But the admiral was of a different opinion, conceiving it very improper to use severity, or to go rashly to war, at his first settling in the country; meaning first to fortify himself and establish the colony on a permanent footing, examining more accurately into the matter gradually, and if the cacique were ultimately found guilty, he could be punished at any time.

The admiral was full of perplexity how best to give a good beginning to the great object he had undertaken; and though the province of Marien, in which he had formerly built the Nativity, had good harbours and excellent water, it was a very low country, in which stone and other materials for building were scarce. He resolved, therefore, to return along the coast to the eastwards, to look out for a more convenient situation in which to build a town. With this design, he sailed with all the fleet on Saturday the 7th December, and anchored that evening near some small islands not far from Monte Christo, and came next day to anchor close to that mountain. Imagining that Monte de Plata was nearer to the province of Cibao, in which he had been told the rich gold mines were situated, which he fancied to be Cipango, he was desirous to draw near that part of the island. But the wind proved so adverse after leaving Monte Christo, that the men and horses became much fatigued, and he was unable to reach the port of Garcia, where Martin Alonso Pinzon had been, and which is now called the river of Martin Alonso, being five or six leagues from Puerta de Plata.

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