ven or eight men buried near the fort, whom
they knew to have been Christians by their clothes. While employed in this
distressing search, a brother of Guacanagari and some other Indians made
their appearance, who spoke a little Spanish, and who were able to name
all the men who were left in the fort: From these men, by the help of one
of the Indians who had been in Spain, called James Columbus, they received
an account of the disaster which had befallen the Christians of the
Nativity. They declared, "That, as soon as the admiral departed, the
Spaniards disagreed among themselves, refusing obedience to their
commander, and went about the country in a disorderly manner, seizing
women and gold from the natives. That Peter Gutierrez, and Roderick de
Escovedo, killed one of the Spaniards, named Jacome; after which they went
off with their women and goods to the district of a cacique named
_Caunabo_, the lord of the mines, who killed them all. That soon
afterwards Caunabo came with a great number of men to the fort, in which
there were then only James de Arana, and five others. That Caunabo set the
fort on fire during the night; and those few who were in it, in
endeavouring to escape to the sea were drowned. That all the rest of the
Spaniards had dispersed into different parts of the island. That
Guacanagari went out to fight against Caunabo in defence of the Christians,
and was severely wounded, being still ill of his wounds." All this agreed
with the intelligence brought to the admiral by some of the Spaniards, who
had been sent in search of information, and who had seen Guacanagari at
his place of residence, finding him ill of his wounds, which he urged in
excuse for not waiting on the admiral.

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,