he cheered him up by telling him that there was any amount in Cibao,
which Columbus of course took for Cipango. The cacique entertained
Columbus to a repast on shore, at which the monarch wore a shirt and a
pair of gloves that Columbus had given him; "and he rejoiced more over
the gloves than anything that had been given him." Columbus was pleased
with his clean and leisurely method of eating, and with his dainty
rubbing of his hands with herbs after he had eaten. After the repast
Columbus gave a little demonstration of bow-and-arrow shooting and the
firing of lombards and muskets, all of which astonished and impressed the
natives.

The afternoon was spent in deciding on a site for the fortress which was
to be constructed; and Columbus had no difficulty in finding volunteers
among the crews to remain in the settlement. He promised to leave with
them provisions of bread and wine for a year, a ship's boat, seeds for
sowing crops, and a carpenter, a caulker, a gunner, and a cooper. Before
the day was out he was already figuring up the profit that would arise
out of his misfortune of the day before; and he decided that it was the
act of God which had cast his ship away in order that this settlement
should be founded. He hoped that the settlers would have a ton of gold
ready for him when he came back from Castile, so that, as he had said in
the glittering camp of Santa Fe, where perhaps no one paid very much heed
to him, there might be such a profit as would provide for the conquest of
Jerusalem and the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre. After all, if he was
greedy for gold, he had a pious purpose for its employment.


The last days of the year were very busy ones for the members of the
expedition. Assisted by the natives they were building the fort which,
in memory of the day on which it was founded, Columbus called La