themselves in the advance, and aiding the labourers and pioneers, and stimulating them with promises of liberal reward, they soon constructed the first road formed by Europeans in the new world, which, in commemoration of their generous zeal, was called El Puerto de los Hidalgos, or the Pass of the Hidalgos.

On the following day the army toiled up this steep defile, and arrived where the gorge of the mountain opened into the interior. Here a glorious prospect burst upon their view. Below lay a vast and delicious plain, enamelled with all the rich variety of tropical vegetation. The magnificent forests presented that mingled beauty and majesty of vegetable forms peculiar to these generous climates. Palms of prodigious height, and spreading mahogany trees, towered from amid a wilderness of variegated foliage. Universal freshness and verdure were maintained by numerous streams which meandered gleaming through the deep bosom of the woodland, while various villages and hamlets seen among the trees, and the smoke of others rising out of the forests, gave signs of a numerous population. The luxuriant landscape extended as far as the eye could reach, until it appeared to melt away and mingle with the horizon. The Spaniards gazed with rapture upon this soft voluptuous country, which seemed to realise their ideas of a terrestrial paradise; and Columbus, struck with its vast extent, gave it the name of the Vega Real, or Royal Plain.

Having descended the rugged pass, the army issued upon the plain, in military array, with great clangour of warlike instruments. When the Indians beheld this band of warriors, glittering in steel,

emerging from the mountains with prancing steeds and floating banners, and heard, for the first time, their rocks and forests echoing to the din of drum and trumpet, they were bewildered with astonishment. The horses, especially, excited their terror and admiration. They at first supposed the rider and his steed to be one animal, and nothing could exceed their surprise on seeing the horseman dis

mount.

On the approach of the army the Indians generally fled with terror, but their fears were soon dispelled; they then absolutely retarded the march of the army by their kindness and hospitality; nor did they appear to have any idea of receiving a recompense for the provisions they furnished in abundance. The untutored savage, in almost every part of the world, scorns to make a traffic of hospitality.

For two or three days they continued their march across this noble plain, where every scene presented the luxuriance of wild uncivilized nature. They crossed two large rivers; one, called the Yagui by the natives, was named by the admiral the River of Reeds; to the other he gave the name of Rio Verde, or Green River, from the verdure and freshness of its banks. At length they arrived at a chain of lofty and rugged mountains, which formed a kind of barrier to the vega, and amidst which lay the golden region of Cibao. On entering this vaunted country, the whole character of the scenery changed, as if nature delighted in contrarieties, and displayed a miser-like poverty of exterior when teeming with hidden treasures. Instead of the soft, luxuriant landscape of the vega, nothing was to be seen but

chains of rocky and steril mountains, scantily clothed with pines. The very name of the country bespoke the nature of the soil; Cibao, in the language of the natives, signifying a stone. But what consoled the Spaniards for the asperity of the soil, was to observe particles of gold among the sands of the streams, which they regarded as earnests of the wealth locked up in the mountains.

Choosing a situation in a neighbourhood that seemed to abound in mines, Columbus began to build a fortress, to which he gave the name of St. Thomas, intended as a pleasant, though pious, reproof of Firmin Cado and his doubting adherents, who had refused to believe that the island contained gold, until they should behold it with their eyes, and touch it with their hands.

While the admiral remained superintending the building of the fortress, he despatched a young cavalier of Madrid, named Juan de Luxan, with a small band of armed men, to explore the province. Luxan returned, after a few days, with the most satisfactory accounts. He found many parts of Cibao more capable of cultivation than those that had been seen by the admiral. The forests appeared to abound with spices; the trees were overrun with vines bearing clusters of grapes of pleasant flavour; while every valley and glen had its stream, yielding more or less gold, and showing the universal prevalence of that precious metal.

The natives of the surrounding country likewise flocked to the fortress of St. Thomas, bringing gold to exchange for European trinkets. One old man brought two pieces of virgin ore weighing an ounce, and thought himself richly repaid on receiving a

hawk's bell. On remarking the admiration of the admiral at the size of these specimens, he assured him that in his country, which lay at half a day's distance, pieces were found as big as an orange. Others spoke of masses of ore as large as the head of a child, to be met with in their neighbourhood. As usual, however, these golden tracts were always in some remote valley, or along some rugged and sequestered stream; and the wealthiest spot was sure to lie at the greatest distance,-for the land of promise is ever beyond the mountain.

CHAPTER XXI.

Customs and Characteristics of the Natives.

THE fortress of St. Thomas being nearly completed, Columbus left it in command of Pedro Margarite, a native of Catalonia, and knight of the order of Santiago, with a garrison of fifty-six men, and set out on his return to Isabella. He paused for a time in the vega to establish routes between the fortress and the harbour; during which time he sojourned in the villages, that his men might become accustomed to the food of the natives, and that a mutual good-will might grow up between them.

Columbus had already discovered the error of one of his opinions concerning these islanders formed during his first voyage. They were not so entirely pacific, nor so ignorant of warlike arts, as he had imagined. The casual descents of the Caribs had compelled the inhabitants of the sea-coast to acquaint themselves with the use of arms; and Caonabo had introduced something of his own warlike spirit into the centre of the island. Yet, generally speaking, the habits of the people were mild and gentle. Their religious creed was of a vague yet simple nature. They believed in one Supreme Being, who inhabited the sky, who was immortal, omnipotent, and invisible; to whom they ascribed an origin, having had a mother, but no father. They never addressed