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_. Under these circumstances, he was forced
to turn back three leagues to a place where he had observed a large river