pect in their
intercourse with the natives,--to treat them with gentleness and
justice,--to be highly discreet in their conduct towards the Indian
females, and, moreover, not to scatter themselves, or on any account
stray beyond the friendly territory of Guacanagari.

On the 2nd of January, 1493, Columbus bade farewell to the generous
cacique and his chieftains, commending those he left behind to their
care. To impress the Indians with an idea of the warlike prowess of the
white man, after a banquet he had given at his house, he ordered them to
engage in mock fights with swords, bucklers, crossbows, arquebuses, and
cannon.

Guacanagari shed tears as he parted with Columbus, who, returning on
board, two days afterwards set sail, the garrison on shore answering the
cheers of their comrades who were about to return to their native land.
The ship, being towed out of the harbour, they stood to the eastward,
but were detained for two days by a contrary wind.

On the 6th, a seaman aloft cried out that he saw the _Pinta_. The
certainty that he was right cheered the heart of the Admiral and his
crew. In a short time she approached, and, as the wind was contrary,
Columbus put back to a little bay west of Monte Cristo, where he was
followed by the _Pinta_.

Pinzon endeavoured to excuse himself, but Columbus discovered that he
had purposely separated, and had gone to Hispaniola, where he had
remained trading with the natives; collecting a considerable quantity of
gold, the greater part of which he retained, and the rest divided among
the men to secure his secret.

Columbus, however, knowing the number of friends the Pinzons had on
board, repressed his indignation; but so much was his confidence in his
confederates impaired, that, instead of continuing his explorations, as
he hoped to have done when he first saw the _Pinta_, he resolved at once
to sail for Spain.

While obtaining wood and water for the voyage at a river flowing into
the bay, so much gold was perceived in the sand at its mouth that the
name of Rio del Oro, or the Golden River, was given to it. At present
it is called the Santiago. Turtles of large size were found here, and,
as a proof how so sagacious a man as Columbus might deceive himself, he
states that he here saw three mermaids, who were very far from lovely,
although they had traces of human countenances. They were undoubtedly
manatees or sea-cows.

Putting into the river where Pinzon had been tr