some of them having gold
also. Here, also, the people did not live upon the shore, but two or
three leagues back in the interior, and they only came to the sea by
their canoes upon the rivers.

The next province was then called Cobraba, but Columbus made no landing
for want of a proper harbor. All his courses since he struck the
continent had been in a southeasterly direction. That an expedition
for westward discovery should be sailing eastward, seemed in itself a
contradiction. What irritated the crews still more was, that the wind
seemed always against them.

From the second to the ninth of November, 1502, the little fleet lay
at anchor in the spacious harbor, which he called Puerto Bello, "the
beautiful harbor." It is still known by that name. A considerable
Spanish city grew up there, which became well known to the world in the
last century by the attack upon it by the English in the years 1739 and
1742.

The formation of the coast compelled them to pass eastward as they went
on. But the currents of the Gulf flow in the opposite direction. Here
there were steady winds from the east and the northeast. The ships
were pierced by the teredo, which eats through thick timbers, and is so
destructive that the seamen of later times have learned to sheath the
hulls of their vessels with copper.

The seamen thought that they were under the malign influence of
some adverse spell. And after a month Columbus gave way to their
remonstrances, and abandoned his search for a channel to India. He was
the more ready to do this because he was satisfied that the land by
which he lay was connected with the coast which other Spaniards had
already discovered. He therefore sailed westward again, retracing his
course to explore the gold mines of Veragua.

But the winds could change as quickly as his purposes, and now for
nearly a fortnight they had to fight a tropical tempest. At one moment
they met with a water-spout, which seemed to advance to them directly.
The sailors, despairing of human help, shouted passages from St. John,
and to their efficacy ascribed their escape. It was not until the
seventeenth that they found themselves safely in harbor. He gave to the
whole coast the name of "the coast of contrasts," to preserve the memory
of his disappointments.

The natives proved friendly, as he had found them before; but they told
him that he would find no more gold upon the coast; that the mines were
in the country of the Veragua.