stay of two weeks in all, at the flat and sandy islets
now called “ R a g g ed ,” to which he gave the more
graceful, if not more appropriate, name of Las Islas
de Arenas (The Islands of Sand). Having seven
Lucayan natives with him, he sailed south for two
days, and on October 28th reached the coast of
Cuba at what is now the port of Gibara. He called
the country Juana, in honour of Juan, son of F e r dinand
and Isabella. He thought surely he had
come to the realm of the Grand Khan, and he undertook
to send an embassy to that potentate, but
neither he nor the splendid capital described by
Marco Polo was to be found. Neither was there
evidence of great riches in these parts, and the mission
of converting the heathen must await the discovery
of earthly treasures.
T he disappointed navigator coasted eastward until
he reached the cape which he called Maisi, and which
still bears the name. T he natives, with disinterested
zeal, assured him that the land of gold was “ Bohio,”
over the water to the east. Martin Pinzón seems to
have wearied of the search, or determined to make
it on his own account, for he had deserted his commander
and put off to the eastward alone with the
Pinta. So, when Columbus arrived off the western
end of Haiti, on the 6th of December, he had only
the Santa Maria and the little Niña left, with considerably
less than a hundred men. T he point of land
before him he called Cape San Nicolas, from the
saint on whose day he first beheld it. It is where
the termination of a mountain ridge stands like a
huge breakwater, and is still called Mole St. NichoTHE
PROCESS OF DISCOVERY 39
las. This western end of the island was called by
the natives Bohio, the “ great country,” and the
other end was Quisqueya, “ mother of the earth,”
and the whole island was Haiti, the “ land of mountains.”
Columbus called it Española, or L ittle Spain,
and the Latinised form, Hispaniola, came into common
use. Access to the land of gold was still far to
the east, and the two lone vessels, the Niña in the
van, made their way along the northern coast, the scenery
of which charmed the adventurous Admiral, as
his journal testifies. T h e y reached the spacious bay
of Acul, and heard of the great king, Guacanagari,
and also of the interior region of Cibao, which was
the very heart of the land of gold. Cibao must, indeed,
be that Cipango which was the chief object of
their quest.
Before they reached the realm of the coast monarch
with the long name, the Santa Maria was run
aground by a sleepy boy in whose charge the rudder
was left, and became a wreck. T h e Indian village
of Guarico was still some miles away, but the good
cacique lent timely aid, and the wreckage of the
ship and the whole company were got to that spot
on Christmas morning. In honour of that event,
Columbus called the fort which he built of the timbers
of the Santa Maria and armed with her guns,
La Natividad, or Navidad. He was treated with
generous hospitality b y Guacanagari, who made an
imprudent display of gold ornaments; and in grateful
recognition the explorer took possession of the
land in the name of their Majesties of Castile and
Leon, and planned an expedition of plunder to