ept the Spaniards in Hispaniola was gold.
At that time the Admiral sent an officer with a troop of armed men
to reconnoitre the southern coast of the island, and this officer
reported that the regions he had visited had suffered to such an
extent from the famine, that during six days he and his men had eaten
nothing but the roots of herbs and small plants, or such fruits as
grow on the trees. Guarionex, whose territory had suffered less than
the others, distributed some provisions amongst our people.

Some days later Columbus, with the object of lessening journeys and
also to provide more numerous retreats for his men in case of sudden
attack by the natives, had another blockhouse built, which he called
Concepcion. It is situated between Isabella and San Tomas in the
territory of Cibao, upon the frontiers of the country of Guarionex. It
stands upon an elevation, well watered by a number of fresh streams.
Seeing this new construction daily nearing completion, and our fleet
half ruined lying in the port, the natives began to despair of liberty
and to ask one another dejectedly whether the Christians would ever
evacuate the archipelago.

It was during these explorations in the interior of the mountainous
district of Cibao that the men of Concepcion obtained an ingot of
massive gold, shaped in the form of a sponge-like stone; it was as
large as a man's fist, and weighed twenty ounces. It had been found by
a cacique, not on a river bank but in a dry mound. I saw it with my
own eyes in a shop at Medina del Campo in Old Castile, where the Court
was passing the winter; and to my great admiration I handled it and
tested its weight. I also saw a piece of native tin, which might have
served for bells or apothecaries' mortars or other such things as are
made of Corinthian brass. It was so heavy that not only could I not
lift it from the ground with my two hands, but could not even move it
to the right or left. It was said that this lump weighed more than
three hundred pounds at eight ounces to the pound. It had been found
in the courtyard of a cacique's house, where it had lain for a long
time, and the old people of the country, although no tin has been
found in the island within the memory of any living man, nevertheless
knew where there was a mine of this metal. But nobody could ever learn
this secret from them, so much were they vexed by the Spaniards'
presence.[6] Finally they decided to reveal its whereabouts, but it
was ent