CHAP. I I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
165
COLUMBUS.
The night coming on, Columbus ordered that the ships should lie to, as the navigation was difficult and dangerous among these unknown islands, and he feared to venture upon a strange coast in the dark.
In the morning they again made sail, but meeting
with counter-currents, it was not until sunset that they anchored at the island.
The next morning (16th) they went on shore, and
Columbus took solemn possession, giving the island the name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion.
The same scene occurred with
the inhabitants as with those of San Salvador.
They manifested
the same astonishment and awe; the same gentleness and simplicity, and the same nakedness and absence of all wealth.
Colum-
bus looked in vain for bracelets and anklets of gold, or for any other precious articles : they had been either fictions of his Indian guides, or his own misinterpretations. Returning on board, he prepared to make sail, when one of the Indians of San Salvador, who was on board of the Niña, plunged into the sea, and swam to a large canoe filled with natives.
The boat of the caravel put off in pursuit, but the
Indians managed in their light bark with too much velocity to be overtaken, and, reaching the land, fled to the woods. The sailors took the canoe as a prize, and returned on board the caravel. Shortly afterwards a small canoe approached one of the ships, from a different part of the island, with a single Indian on board, who came to offer a ball of cotton in exchange for hawks' bells. As he paused when close to the vessel, and feared to enter, several sailors threw themselves into the sea and took him prisoner. Columbus having seen all that passed from his station on the high poop of the vessel, ordered the captive to be brought to him; he came trembling with fear, and humbly offered his ball of cotton as a gift.
The admiral received him with the utmost