After sailing about sixty-two leagues along this coast, being greatly in
want of wood and water, the squadron anchored on the 16th of September,
near a copious river, up which the boats were sent to procure the
requisite supplies. As they were returning to their ships, a sudden
swelling of the sea, rushing in and encountering the rapid current of the
river, caused a violent commotion, in which one of the boats was swallowed
up, and all on board perished. This melancholy event had a gloomy effect
upon the crews, already dispirited and care-worn from the hardships they
had endured, and Columbus, sharing their dejection, gave the stream the
sinister name of _El rio del Desastre_, or the River of Disaster.
[135]

Leaving this unlucky neighborhood, they continued for several days along
the coast, until, finding both his ships and his people nearly disabled by
the buffetings of the tempests, Columbus, on the 25th of September, cast
anchor between a small island and the main-land, in what appeared a
commodious and delightful situation. The island was covered with groves of
palm-trees, cocoanut-trees, bananas, and a delicate and fragrant fruit,
which the admiral continually mistook for the mirabolane of the East
Indies. The fruits and flowers and odoriferous shrubs of the island sent
forth grateful perfumes, so that Columbus gave it the name of La Huerta,
or the Garden. It was called by the natives Quiribiri. Immediately
opposite, at a short league's distance, was an Indian village, named
Cariari, situated on the bank of a beautiful river. The country around was
fresh and verdant, finely diversified by noble hills and forests, with
trees of such height, that Las Casas says they appeared to reach the
skies.

When the inhabitants beheld the ships, they gathered together on the
coast, armed with bows and arrows, war-clubs, and lances, and prepared to