ime; he therefore dismissed the messengers with some brass
trinkets and other baubles for Guacanagari, and a few to themselves.

Towards evening on Thursday the twenty-eighth November the admiral came
with all the fleet into the harbour of the Nativity, and found the whole
town burnt, and no person whatever could be seen about the place. Next
morning the admiral landed, and was much concerned to find the fort and
houses entirely destroyed, and nothing left which had belonged to the
Christians, except some tattered garments and other broken articles of no
value. Finding no person at whom he could make inquiries, he went up a
river in the neighbourhood with several boats, leaving orders to clean out
the well which he had dug in the fort, as he had directed the colonists to
throw all the gold they could get into that well, to be prepared against
the worst that might happen; but nothing of the kind could be found. On
his way up the river he could meet with none of the Indians, who all fled
from their houses into the woods on his approach. He therefore returned to
Nauidad, where eight of the Christians had been discovered and three
others in the fields, who were recognized by the remnants of their apparel,
and seemed to have been a month dead. While prosecuting this melancholy
search, a brother of the cacique Guacanagari came, accompanied by some
Indians, to the admiral. These men could speak a few words of Spanish, and
knew the names of all the Christians who had been left there. They said
that those Spaniards had soon fallen out among themselves after the
departure of the admiral, everyone taking for himself as much gold and as
many women as he could procure. That Gutierres and Escovedo killed one
named James, and then went away with nine others and all their women to
the territories of a cacique named Caunabo who was lord of the mines, and
by whom they had all been killed. That many days afterwards Caunabo came
with a great number of men to Nauidad, where only James de Arana remained
with ten men to guard the fort, all the rest of the Spaniards having
dispersed about the island. Caunabo came by night and set fire to the
houses where the Christians resided with their women, all of whom fled to
the sea, where eight of them were drowned, three of them being slain on
shore. That Guacanagari, in fighting against Caunabo in defence of the
Christians, had been wounded and fled.

This account agreed with that which was received by