CHAP. V I I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
country, returned with similar reports.
345
These flattering accounts
served for a time to reanimate the drooping and desponding colo nists, and induced Columbus to believe that it was only necessary to explore the mines of Cibao, to open inexhaustible sources of riches.
He determined, as soon as his health would permit, to
repair in person to the mountains, and seek a favorable site for a mining establishment.* The season was now propitious for the return of the fleet, and Columbus lost no time in dispatching twelve of the ships under the command of Antonio de Torres, retaining only five for the service of the colony. By this opportunity he sent home specimens of the gold found among the mountains and rivers of Cibao, and all such fruits and plants as were curious, or appeared to be valuable.
He wrote in
the most sanguine terms of the expeditions of Ojeda and Gorvalan, the last of whom returned to Spain in the fleet. He repeated his confident anticipations of soon being able to make abundant shipments of gold, of precious drugs, and spices; the search for them being delayed for the present by the sickness of himself and people, and the cares and labors required in building the infant city.
He described the beauty and fertility of the island ;
its range of noble mountains; its wide, abundant plains, watered by beautiful rivers; the quick fecundity of the soil, evinced in the luxuriant growth of the sugar cane, and of various grains and vegetables brought from Europe. As it would take some time, however, to obtain provisions from their fields and gardens, and the produce of their live stock, adequate to the subsistence of the colony, which consisted of about a thousand souls; and as they could not accustom them* Hist. del. Almirance, cap. 50.