but had sallied forth from his stronghold in the
mountains with warriors and had slaughtered those
in the fort and wiped out the village of the mild
Arawak chieftain who had encouraged the despoilers
of the land. This was discouraging, and the site
for a colony was abandoned and a new one sought
farther east. fflT
Columbus bethought him of Monte Cristi and the
River of Gold, some forty miles east of Cape Hai-
tien, and in a spacious bay beyond the river s mouth
he decided to plant his colony. I t was in January,
1494, and he built a fort and a church, and in a
couple of months had founded the first real settlement
in the New World, which he called the C ity of
Isabella. I t was a starting-place for the search for
gold, and a roadway was constructed through the
mountain gorges to the valley on the other side
down which flowed the Rio del Oro (the Yaqui).
Columbus himself headed a force of four hundred
of his men, some of them mounted on horses, and
with flags flying, drums beating, and helmets gleaming
in the sun, the cavalcade forced its way toward
the golden realm of Cibao through what came to be
known as the Pass of the Hidalgos. He established
a fort, or mining station, which he called Santo
Tomas de Yanico, visited the Indian villages, and
gathered gold, insomuch that in February a vessel
was sent to Spain to bear it to the K in g as earnest
of what was to be expected.
Leaving a garrison of fifty-six men at the fort,
under command of Pedro Margarita, the Admiral
returned to Isabella, but word soon came of a