Inclining with his main force to the right, the Adelantado met, not far
from the river, the cacique Behechio, with a great army of his subjects,
armed with bows and arrows and lances. If he had come forth with the
intention of opposing the inroad into his forest domains, he was probably
daunted by the formidable appearance of the Spaniards. Laying aside his
weapons, he advanced and accosted the Adelantado very amicably, professing
that he was thus in arms for the purpose of subjecting certain villages
along the river, and inquiring, at the same time, the object of this
incursion of the Spaniards. The Adelantado assured him that he came on a
peaceful visit to pass a little time in friendly intercourse at Xaragua.
He succeeded so well in allaying the apprehensions of the cacique, that
the latter dismissed his army, and sent swift messengers to order
preparations for the suitable reception of so distinguished a guest. As
the Spaniards advanced into the territories of the chieftain, and passed
through the districts of his inferior caciques, the latter brought forth
cassava bread, hemp, cotton, and various other productions of the land. At
length they drew near to the residence of Behechio, which was a large town
situated in a beautiful part of the country near the coast, at the bottom
of that deep bay called at present the Bight of Leogan.

The Spaniards had heard many accounts of the soft and delightful region of
Xaragua, in one part of which Indian traditions placed their Elysian
fields. They had heard much, also, of the beauty and urbanity of the
inhabitants: the mode of their reception was calculated to confirm their
favorable prepossessions. As they approached the place, thirty females of
the cacique's household came forth to meet them, singing their areytos, or
traditionary ballads, and dancing and waving palm branches. The married
females wore aprons of embroidered cotton, reaching half way to the knee;
the young women were entirely naked, with merely a fillet round the