. _Odyssey_, x. 119; Thucyd. vi. 2.--Irving (vol. i. p. 385)
finds it hard to believe these stories, but the prevalence of
cannibalism, not only in these islands, but throughout a very
large part of aboriginal America, has been superabundantly
proved.]

[Sidenote: Fate of the colony at La Navidad.]

It was late at night on the 27th of November that Columbus arrived in
the harbour of La Navidad and fired a salute to arouse the attention of
the party that had been left there the year before. There was no reply
and the silence seemed fraught with evil omen. On going ashore next
morning and exploring the neighbourhood, the Spaniards came upon sights
of dismal significance. The fortress was pulled to pieces and partly
burnt, the chests of provisions were broken open and emptied, tools and
fragments of European clothing were found in the houses of the natives,
and finally eleven corpses, identifiable as those of white men, were
found buried near the fort. Not one of the forty men who had been left
behind in that place ever turned up to tell the tale. The little colony
of La Navidad had been wiped out of existence. From the Indians,
however, Columbus gathered bits of information that made a sufficiently
probable story. It was a typical instance of the beginnings of
colonization in wild countries. In such instances human nature has shown
considerable uniformity. Insubordination and deadly feuds among
themselves had combined with reckless outrages upon the natives to
imperil the existence of this little party of rough sailors. The cause
to which Horace ascribes so many direful wars, both before and since the
days of fairest Helen, seems to have been the principal cause on this
occasion. At length a fierce chieftain named Caonabo, from the region of
Xaragua, had attacked the Spaniards in overwhelming force, knocked their
blockhouse about their heads, and butchered all that were left of them.

[Sidenote: Building of Isabella.]

[Sidenote: Exploration of Cibao.]

This was a gloomy welcome to the land of promise. There was nothing to
be done but to build new fortifications and found a town. The site
chosen for this new settlement, which was named Isabella, was at a good
harbour about thirty miles east of Monte Christi. It was chosen because
Columbus understood from the natives that it was not far from there to
the gold-bearing mountains of Cibao, a name which still seemed to
signify Cipango.