hope of coming upon the rich city of Quinsay; but on the other hand there
was looming to the south-west some land which the natives with him
assured him was Bohio, the place where all the gold was. He therefore
held on his course; but when the Indians found that he was really going
to these islands they became very much alarmed, and made signs that the
people would eat them if they went there; and, in order further to
dissuade the Admiral, they added that the people there had only one eye,
and the faces, of dogs. As it did not suit Columbus to believe them he
said that they were lying, and that he "felt" that the island must belong
to the domain of the Great Khan. He therefore continued his course,
seeing many beautiful and enchanting bays opening before him, and longing
to go into them, but heroically stifling his curiosity, "because he was
detained more than he desired by the pleasure and delight he felt in
seeing and gazing on the beauty and freshness of those countries wherever
he entered, and because he did not wish to be delayed in prosecuting what
he was engaged upon; and for these reasons he remained that night beating
about and standing off and on until day." He could not trust himself,
that is to say, to anchor in these beautiful harbours, for he knew he
would be tempted to go ashore and waste valuable time exploring the
woods; and so he remained instead, beating about in the open sea.

As it was, what with contrary winds and his own indecision as to which
course he should pursue, it was December the 6th before he came up with
the beautiful island of Hayti, and having sent the Nina in front to
explore for a harbour, entered the Mole Saint Nicholas, which he called
Puerto Maria. Towards the east he saw an island shaped like a turtle,
and this island he named Tortuga; and the harbour, which he entered that
evening on the hour of Vespers, he called Saint Nicholas, as it was the
feast of that saint. Once more his description flounders among
superlatives: he thought Cuba was perfect; but he finds the new island