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.
He took the above mentioned precaution to prevent any from rebelling during his absence and seizing the ships to return home, as several had attempted to do during his sickness. Many had embarked in this voyage under the belief that they might load themselves with gold as soon as they landed, and so return rich home in a short time. But gold wherever it is to be found requires time, trouble and labour to gather it; and matters not turning out according to their sanguine expectations, they became dissatisfied and offended, and weary of the fatigue attending the building of Isabella, and of the diseases which the climate and change of diet had engendered among them. One Bernard de Pisa, who had been an inferior officer of justice at court, and who had gone the voyage as comptroller for their Catholic majesties, was the ring-leader and head of these mutineers; therefore the admiral would not punish him any otherwise than by securing him on board ship, with the design of sending him home to Spain, with his process regularly drawn up, as well on account of his mutinous conduct as for having written a false information against the admiral, which he had hidden in the ship.
Having properly ordered all these matters, and having left some persons in whom he could confide both at sea and on shore, to look to and secure the fleet under the charge of his brother Don James Columbus, he set out for Cibao, carrying with him all the necessary tools and implements for building a fort to keep that district under subjection, and for securing the Christians who might be left there to gather gold from any evil designs or attempts of the Indians. And the more to impress the natives with awe and respect, and to take away all hopes that they might be able to do now as they had done with Arana and the thirty-eight Christians who had been left with him at the Nativity, he carried all the men that he could along with him, that the natives might see and be sensible of the power of the Christians, and that if any injury should be offered even to a single individual of our people, there was a sufficient force to ensure due and severe chastisement. To appear the more formidable to the natives, when he set out from Isabella, and whenever he passed any of the Indian towns, he caused his men to march with their arms in rank and file as is usual in time of war, with trumpets sounding and colours flying. In this way he marched along the river, which lay about a musket-shot from Isabella; he crossed a smaller river about a league beyond, and halted for the night in a plain divided into pleasant fields about three leagues from Isabella, which reached to a craggy hill about two bow-shots high. To this place he gave the name of Puerta de los Hidalgos, or the Gentlemens Pass, because some gentlemen had been sent on before to order a road to be opened, which was the first road ever made in the Indies. The paths made by the Indians are only broad enough for one person to pass at a time.
Beyond this pass he entered upon a large plain over which he marched five leagues the next day, and halted on the banks of a large river called the River of Canes, which falls into the sea at Monte Christo, and over which the people crossed on rafts and in canoes. In the course of the journey they passed many Indian towns, consisting of round thatched houses, with such small doors that it requires a person entering to stoop very low. As soon as the Indians from Isabella who accompanied the march entered any of those houses they took what they liked best, and yet the owners seemed not to be at all displeased, as if all things were in common among them. In like manner the people of the country were disposed to take from the Christians whatever they thought fit, thinking our things had been in common like theirs; but they were soon undeceived. In the course of this journey they passed over mountains most delightfully wooded, where there were wild vines, aloes, and cinnamon trees37; and another sort that produces a fruit resembling a fig, which were vastly thick at the foot, but had leaves like those of our apple trees.
The admiral continued his march from the River of Canes on Friday the 14th March, and a league and a half beyond it he came to another which he called the River of Gold, because some grains of gold were gathered in passing. Having crossed this river with some difficulty, the admiral proceeded to a large town, whence many of the inhabitants fled to the mountains; but most of them fortified their houses by barring the doorways with large canes, as if that had been a sufficient defence to hinder any body from coming in; for according to their customs, no one dares to break in at a door that is barred up in this manner, as they have no wooden doors or any other means of shutting up their houses. From the river of gold the march was continued to another fine river, which was named Rio verde, or the Green River, at which the party halted for the night. Continuing the march next day, they passed several considerable towns, the inhabitants of which had barricadoed their doors with canes and sticks in the manner already mentioned. The whole party being fatigued with the march of this day, halted for the night at the foot of a rugged mountain, to which the admiral gave the name of Puerto de Cibao, or the Pass of Cibao, because the province or district of Cibao begins beyond that mountain. Betwixt the former ridge named the Hidalgos Pass and this of Cibao they had travelled directly south for eleven leagues over a fine level plain. From this place the admiral sent back a party with several mules to Isabella to bring a supply of bread and wine, as they began to want provisions; the Spaniards suffered the more on this long journey that they were not yet accustomed to the food of the country, which is more easy of digestion and agrees better with the constitution in that country than what is brought from Europe, according to the experience of those who now live and travel in these parts, though not so nourishing.
The people who had been sent for provisions having returned, the admiral passed over the mountain along a path so narrow, steep, and winding, that the horses were led over with much difficulty. They now entered the district of Cibao, which is rough and stoney and full of gravel, yet plentifully covered with grass, and watered with several rivers in which gold is found. The farther they went in this country they found it the rougher and more uncouth, and everywhere encumbered with mountains, on the summits even of which they found grains of gold, which is washed down from the tops of these mountains by the great rains and torrents into the beds of the rivers, and there found in small dust, sand, or grains, interspersed with some of a larger size. This province is as large as Portugal, and abounds in mines and brooks producing gold; but for the most part has few trees, and these are mostly pines and palms of several sorts, growing on the banks of the rivers. As Ojeda had travelled before into this country, the Indians had some knowledge of the Christians; and understanding that they came in search of gold, the natives came to meet the admiral everywhere during the march with small quantities of gold which they had gathered, and bringing presents of provisions. Being now 18 leagues from Isabella38, and the country he had marched over from the Pass of Cibao very rugged, the admiral ordered a fort to be constructed in a strong and very pleasant situation, to command the country about the mines, and to protect the Christians that might be employed there in procuring gold, and gave it the name of the castle of St Thomas. He gave the command of this new fort to Don Pedro Margarite, with a garrison of 56 men, among whom were workmen of all kinds for building the castle, which was constructed of clay and timber, as of sufficient strength to resist the efforts of any number of Indians that might come against it. On breaking ground for the foundations of the fort, and cutting a rock to form its ditches, at two fathoms below the surface, they found several nests made of hay and straw, containing instead of eggs three or four round stones as large as oranges, as artificially made as if they had been cannon-balls39. In the river that runs at the foot of the hill on which the castle was built, they found stones of several colours, some of them large, of pure marble, and others of jasper.
37
Those here called cinnamon trees must only have had some distant resemblance to true cinnamon in flavour; probably what is now called
38
By the description of the route in the foregoing narrative, the distances appear to have been, from Isabella to the pass of Hidalgos 3 leagues; from Hidalgos to the pass of Cibao 11 leagues; and from this latter pass to the Castle of St Thomas 4 leagues: in all 18 leagues as in the text. –E.
39
This story, like the iron pan in Dominica formerly mentioned, seems to have gained circumstances in its passage to the author. Such collections of balls or round stones are not uncommon in mines, and are termed nests: The hay and straw seem an embellishment. –E.