343
LIFE A N D V O Y A G E S
OF
[BOOK
VI.
C H A P T E E VII.
EXPEDITION OP ALONSO D E R I O R OP THE ISLAND.
OJEDA
TO
E X P L O R E THE INTE
DISPATCH OP THE SHIPS TO SPAIN.
[1493.]
T H E ships having discharged their cargoes, it was necessary to send the greater part of them back to Spain. pressed upon the mind of Columbus.
Here new anxieties
He had hoped to find trea
sures of gold and precious merchandise accumulated by the men left behind on the first voyage; or at least the sources of wealthy traffic ascertained, by which speedily to freight his vessels.
The destruc
tion of the garrison had defeated all those hopes.
He was aware
of the extravagant expectations entertained by the sovereigns and the nation.
What would be their disappointment when the return
ing ships brought nothing but a tale of disaster!
Something must
be done, before the vessels sailed, to keep up the fame of his dis coveries, and justify his own magnificent representations. As yet he knew nothing of the interior of the island.
If it
were really the island of Cipango, it must contain populous cities, existing probably in some more cultivated region, beyond the lofty mountains with which it was intersected.
All the Indians
concurred in mentioning Cibao as the tract of country whence they derived their gold.
The very name of its cacique, Caonabe,