Columbus was always asking for gold. He gave strict orders that it
should always be paid for, when it was taken. To the islanders it was
merely a matter of ornament, and they gladly exchanged it for the glass
beads, the rings or the bells, which seemed to them more ornamental. One
of the caciques or chiefs, evidently a man of distinction and authority,
had little bits of gold which he exchanged for pieces of glass. It
proved that he had clipped them off from a larger piece, and he went
back into his cabin, cut that to pieces, and then exchanged all those in
trade for the white man's commodities. Well pleased with his bargain,
he then told the Spaniards that he would go and get much more and would
come and trade with them again.

On the eighteenth of December, the wind not serving well, they waited
the return of the chief whom they had first seen. In the afternoon he
appeared, seated in a palanquin, which was carried by four men, and
escorted by more than two hundred of his people. He was accompanied by a
counselor and preceptor who did not leave him. He came on board the ship
when Columbus was at table. He would not permit him to leave his place,
and readily took a seat at his side, when it was offered. Columbus
offered him European food and drink; he tasted of each, and then gave
what was offered to his attendants. The ceremonious Spaniards found a
remarkable dignity in his air and gestures. After the repast, one of his
servants brought a handsome belt, elegantly wrought, which he presented
to Columbus, with two small pieces of gold, also delicately wrought.

Columbus observed that this cacique looked with interest on the hangings
of his ship-bed, and made a present of them to him, in return for his
offering, with some amber beads from his own neck, some red shoes and a
flask of orange flower water.