L I F E A N D V O Y A G E S OF
358
[BOOK V I .
Having descended the rugged pass, the army issued upon the plain, in martial style, with great clangor of warlike instruments. When the Indians beheld this shining band of warriors, glittering in steel, emerging from the mountains with prancing steeds and flaunting banners, and heard, for the first time, their rocks and forests echoing to the din of drum and trumpet, they might well have taken such a wonderful pageant for a supernatural vision. In this way Columbus disposed of his forces whenever he approached a populous village, placing the cavalry in front, for course from Isabella to the mountains of Cibao exists in all its primitive rudeness.
The Puerto de los Hidalgos is still the narrow rugged footpath
winding among rocks and precipices, leading through the only practicable defile which traverses the Monte Christi range of mountains in this vicinity, at present called the Pass of Marney; and it is somewhat surprising that, of this first and remarkable footprint of the white man in the New World, there does not at the present day exist the least tradition of its former name or importance. The spring of cool and delightful water met with in the gorge, in a deep dark glen overshadowed by palm and mahogany trees, near the outlet where the magnificent Vega breaks upon the view, still continues to quench the thirst of the weary traveler.
When I drank from this lonely little fountain, I could
hardly realize the fact that Columbus must likewise have partaken of its spark ling waters, when at the height of his glory, surrounded by cavaliers attired in the gorgeous costumes of the age, and warriors recently from the Moorish wars. Judging by the distance stated to have been traveled over the plain, Colum bus must have crossed the Yaqui near or at Ponton ; which very likely received its name from the rafts or pontoons employed to cross the river.
Abundance
of reeds grow along its banks, and the remains of an Indian village are still very distinctly to be traced in the vicinity.
By this route he avoided two large
rivers, the Amina and the Mar, which discharge their waters into the Yaqui opposite Esperanza. The road from Ponton to the river Hanique passes through the defiles of La Cuesta and Nicayagua.