The Indian Guides Who Accompanied Him,
And The Natives Of The Place, Gathered Gold In His Presence; And He
Returned With A Sufficient Quantity To Shew That It Was To Be Had There In
Great Abundance.
This gave great satisfaction to the admiral and the rest
of the colony; and he sent these samples, and what had been before given
him by Guacanagari to their Catholic majesties, by Anthony de Torres,
under whose command he sent home the twelve ships before mentioned.
Thus
ended the year 1493.
Soon after the departure of Torres for Spain, the admiral being recovered
from his sickness, received information of a plot having been formed by
some of the people who repented of having engaged in the expedition, and
who had chosen Bernal de Pisa as their leader, with the intention of
carrying off the remaining five ships, or some of them, in order to return
into Spain. He immediately ordered Bernal de Pisa into custody; and,
having made formal examinations of his mutinous conduct, sent him, and a
copy of the proceedings, into Spain by one of the ships, that their
majesties might direct him to be dealt with according to their pleasure.
He caused some of the other chief conspirators to be punished at Isabella,
though not with the severity their crime deserved, yet his enemies took
occasion from thence to tax him with tyranny and oppression. About the
same time, an information, drawn up in form against the admiral, was found
concealed in the buoy of one of the ships, which he also transmitted to
their majesties. This was the first mutinous attempt against the authority
of the admiral in the West Indies, and became the foundation of all the
opposition which was made against him and his successors in the exercise
and enjoyments of their rights. Having quelled this mutiny, and restored
the colony to order, he chose a party of his best men, with some labourers
and proper tools, in order to visit the province of Cibao, and to dig for
gold. He carried materials likewise along with him for the construction of
a blockhouse, or fortalice, in case he found that precaution requisite. He
accordingly set out on this expedition with colours flying, drums beating,
trumpets sounding, and his troops in martial array, in which manner he
marched through all the towns on his way, to impress the Indians with awe
of his power, who were particularly astonished at the horses in his train.
He left the new town of Isabella on the 12th of March 1494, leaving his
brother Don James Columbus to command in his absence; a gentleman of a
peaceable disposition, and most orderly behaviour. After marching three
leagues the first day, Columbus halted at the foot of a craggy pass in the
mountains; and, as the Indian paths were exceedingly narrow, he sent on
some pioneers under the direction of several gentlemen to level the road;
from which circumstance this place acquired the name of El puerto de los
Hidalgos, the port or pass of the gentlemen.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 262 of 415
Words from 138798 to 139309
of 219607
