ting,
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. Having reached the top of
the mountain on Thursday, they beheld a great plain beyond of wonderful
beauty, being eighty leagues long, and between twenty and thirty leagues
wide. This appeared one of the finest plains in the world, so green and
delightful that the Spaniards thought it a terrestrial paradise, on which
account the admiral named it _Vega Real_, or the Royal Plain. Coming down
from the mountain, they marched five leagues across this noble plain,
passing through several towns, where they were kindly received. Coming to
a considerable river, called _Yaqui_ by the natives, the admiral gave it
the name of _Rio de los Cannas_, or River of Canes, because of the great
number of these that grew upon its banks, forgetting, or not being aware,
that he had named the same river at its mouth, in his first voyage, _Rio
del Oro_, or golden river, where it falls into the sea near Monte Christo.
The Spanish party halted for the night on the banks of this river, much
pleased with their days march. The Indians whom they had brought along
with them from the country near Isabella, went freely into all the houses
as they marched along, taking whatever they had a mind to, as if all
property were common, and the owners shewed no displeasure at this freedom:
These, in return, went to the quarters of the Christians, taking what they
liked, believing that this had been equally the custom among the Spaniards.
The admiral and the infantry of his party crossed the river next day, by
means of rafts and canoes, and the cavalry crossed at a ford not far off.
A league and half beyond the River of Canes, they came to another river
which they called _Rio del Oro_, or Golden Rive