had ornaments of gold, which they readily exchanged for the merest trifle of European manufacture. At one of the harbours where he was detained by contrary winds, he was visited by a young cacique, apparently of great importance, who came borne on a litter by four men, and attended by two hundred of his subjects. He entered the cabin where Columbus was dining, and took his seat beside him, with a frank unembarrassed air, while two old men, who were his councillors, seated themselves at his feet, watching his lips, as if to catch and communicate his ideas. If any thing were given him to eat, he merely tasted it, and sent it to his followers, maintaining an air of great gravity and dignity. After dinner, he presented the admiral with a belt curiously wrought, and two pieces of gold. Columbus made him various presents in return; he showed him a coin bearing the likenesses of Ferdinand and Isabella, and endeavoured to give him an idea of the power and grandeur of those sovereigns. The cacique, however, could not be made to believe that there was a region on earth which produced such wonderful people and wonderful things, but persisted in the idea that the Spaniards were more than mortal, and that the country and sovereigns they spoke of must exist somewhere in the skies.

On the 20th of December, Columbus anchored in a fine harbour, to which he gave the name of St. Thomas, supposed to be what at present is called the Bay of Acùl. Here a large canoe visited the ships, bringing messengers from a grand cacique named Guacanagari, who resided on the coast a little farther to the eastward, and reigned over all that

part of the island. The messengers bore a present of a broad belt, wrought ingeniously with coloured beads and bones, and a wooden mask, the eyes, nose, and tongue of which were of gold. They invited Columbus, in the name of the cacique, to come with his ships opposite to the village where he resided. Adverse winds prevented an immediate compliance with this invitation; he therefore sent a boat well armed, with the notary of the squadron, to visit the chieftain. The latter returned with so favourable an account of the appearance of the village, and the hospitality of the cacique, that Columbus determined to set sail for his residence as soon as the wind would permit.

Early in the morning of the 24th of December, therefore, he weighed anchor, with a light wind that scarcely filled the sails. By eleven o'clock at night, he was within a league and a half of the residence of the cacique: the sea was calm and smooth, and the ship almost motionless. The admiral having had no sleep the preceding night, retired to take a little repose. No sooner had he left the deck, than the steersman gave the helm in charge to one of the ship-boys, and went to sleep. This was in direct violation of an invariable order of the admiral, never to intrust the helm to the boys. The rest of the mariners who had the watch took like advantage of the absence of Columbus, and in a little while the whole crew was buried in sleep. While this security reigned over the ship, the treacherous currents, which run swiftly along this coast, carried her smoothly, but with great violence, upon a sandbank. The heedless boy, feeling the rudder strike, and hearing the rushing of the sea, cried out for aid.

Columbus was the first to take the alarm, and was soon followed by the master of the ship, whose duty it was to have been on watch, and by his delinquent companions. The admiral ordered them to carry out an anchor astern, that they might warp the vessel off. They sprang into the boat, but being confused and seized with a panic, as men are apt to be when suddenly awakened by an alarm, instead of obeying the commands of Columbus, they rowed off to the other caraval. Vincente Yañez Pinzon, who commanded the latter, reproached them with their pusillanimity, and refused to admit them on board; and, manning his boat, he hastened to the assistance of the admiral.

In the mean time, the ship swinging across the stream, had been set more and more upon the bank. Efforts were made to lighten her, by cutting away the mast, but in vain. The keel was firmly bedded in the sand; the seams opened, and the breakers beat against her, until she fell over on one side. Fortunately, the weather continued calm, otherwise both ship and crew must have perished. The admiral abandoned the wreck, and took refuge, with his men, on board of the caraval. He lay to until daylight, sending messengers on shore to inform the cacique Guacanagari of his disastrous shipwreck.

When the chieftain heard of the misfortune of his guest, he was so much afflicted as to shed tears; and never, in civilized country, were the vaunted rites of hospitality more scrupulously observed, than by this uncultured savage. He assembled his people, and sent off all his canoes to the assistance of the admiral, assuring him, at the same time, that every

thing he possessed was at his service. The effects were landed from the wreck, and deposited near the dwelling of the cacique, and a guard set over them, until houses could be prepared, in which they could be stored. There seemed, however, no disposition among the natives to take advantage of the misfortune of the strangers, or to plunder the treasures thus cast upon their shores, though they must have been inestimable in their eyes. Even in transporting the effects from the ship, they did not attempt to pilfer or conceal the most trifling article. On the contrary, they manifested as deep a concern at the disaster of the Spaniards as if it had happened to themselves, and their only study was how they could administer relief and consolation. Columbus was greatly affected by this unexpected goodness. "These people,” said he, in his journal, intended for the perusal of the sovereigns, "love their neighbours as themselves, their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied by a smile. I swear to your majesties there is not in the world a better nation or a better land."

When the cacique first met with Columbus, he was much moved at beholding his dejection, and again offered him every thing he possessed that could be of service to him. He invited him on shore, where a banquet was prepared for his entertainment, consisting of various kinds of fish and fruit, and an animal called Utia by the natives, which resembled a coney. After the collation, he conducted Columbus to the beautiful groves which surrounded his residence, where upwards of a thousand of the natives were assembled, all perfectly. naked, who performed several of their national

games and dances. Thus did this generous cacique try, by every means in his power, to cheer the melancholy of his guest, showing a warmth of sympathy, a delicacy of attention, and an innate dignity and refinement, which could not have been expected from one in his savage state. He was treated with great deference by his subjects, and conducted himself towards them with a gracious and prince-like majesty. His whole deportment, in the enthusiastic eyes of Columbus, betokened the inborn grace and dignity of lofty lineage.

When the Indians had finished their games, Columbus gave them an entertainment in return, calculated to impress them with a formidable opinion of the military power of the Spaniards. A Castilian, who had served in the wars of Granada, exhibited his skill in shooting with a Moorish bow, to the great admiration of the cacique. A cannon and an arquebus were likewise discharged; at the sound of which the Indians fell to the ground, as though they had been struck by a thunderbolt. When they saw the effect of the ball rending and shivering the trees, they were filled with dismay. On being told, however, that the Spaniards would protect them with these arms, against the invasions of their dreaded enemies, the Caribs, their alarm was changed into confident exultation, considering themselves under the protection of the sons of heaven, who had come from the skies, armed with thunder and lightning. The cacique placed a kind of coronet of gold on the head of Columbus, and hung plates of the same metal round his neck, and he dispensed liberal presents among his followers. Whatever trifles Columbus gave in return were regarded with reverence