the day Columbus got into talk with an old man who told him that
there was a great quantity of gold to be found on some island about a
hundred leagues away; that there was one island that was all gold; and
that in the others there was such a quantity that they natives gathered
it and sifted it with sieves and made it into bars. The old man pointed
out vaguely the direction in which this wonderful country lay; and if he
had not been one of the principal persons belonging to the King Columbus
would have detained him and taken him with him; but he decided that he
had paid the cacique too much respect to make it right that he should
kidnap one of his retinue. He determined, however, to go and look for
the gold. Before he left he had a great cross erected in the middle of
the Indian village; and as he made sail out of the harbour that evening
he could see the Indians kneeling round the cross and adoring it. He
sailed eastward, anchoring for a day in the Bay of Acul, which he called
Cabo de Caribata, receiving something like an ovation from the natives,
and making them presents and behaving very graciously and kindly to them.

It was at this time that Columbus made the acquaintance of a man whose
character shines like a jewel amid the dismal scenes that afterwards
accompanied the first bursting of the wave of civilisation on these happy
shores. This was the king of that part of the island, a young man named
Guacanagari. This king sent out a large canoe full of people to the
Admiral's ship, with a request that Columbus would land in his country,
and a promise that the chief would give him whatever he had. There
must have been an Intelligence Department in the island, for the chief
seemed to know what would be most likely to attract the Admiral; and with
his messengers he sent out a belt with a large golden mask attached to
it. Unfortunately the natives on board the Admiral's ship could not
understand Guacanagari's messengers, and nearly the whole of the day was
passed in talking before the sense of their message was finally made out
by means of signs. In the evening some Spaniards were sent ashore to see
if they could not get some gold; but Columbus, who had evidently had some
recent experience of their avariciousness, and who was anxious to keep on
good terms with the chiefs of the island, sent his secretary with them to
see that they did nothing unjust or unreasonable. He was scrupulous to
see that the natives got t