Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/63

Rh races began and ended in amity. Nor does it appear that those nine natives whom Columbus transported were taken against their will, or were treacherously kidnapped, as, more than a century later, were Indians on the New England coast by British freebooters.

Before Columbus sailed on his return, one of his vessels having been shipwrecked on the western end of Hispaniola, the cacique of the natives of that district, Guacanagari, had shown him sympathy and kindness, offering him all friendly help. The spot was so lovely, and life seemed so attractive there, that the Admiral yielded to the wishes of many of his men that he would leave them as a colony on the shore, to pursue the objects of the discoverers. Obtaining the consent and the promise of supplies from the cacique, Columbus, using portions of the wreck for the purpose, constructed a fort, and with explicit and discreet commands for caution, good discipline, and peaceful courses, he left in it thirty-nine men. The subsequent woes of the Admiral, and the opening of hostile relations with the natives, are to be traced to this ill-omened experiment.

The site of the colony was called Navidad, the Admiral having landed there on Christmas day. He returned to Spain with undiminished confidence in his visions of precious wealth from the New World. His illusion that he was on the confines of India was confirmed in the chance similarity of sounds which fell upon his ears in the names of places. When the natives, pointing in the direction whence gold came, used the word “Cubanacan” (“the centre of Cuba”), it signified to the Admiral the Grand Khan. The island which they called “Cibao,” and which really proved the richest in treasure, was this longed-for Cipango.

When Columbus made his second visit to the Islands, it was with a company of fifteen hundred men, of every class and condition of life, clerical, noble, professional, and menial.