The natives, having heard of the arrival of the Spaniards in their vicinity, came flocking from various parts, anxious to obtain European trinkets. The Admiral signified to them that anything would be given in exchange for gold; upon hearing this some of them ran to a neighboring river, and gathering and sifting its sands, returned in a little while with considerable quantities of gold-dust. One old man brought two pieces of virgin ore, weighing an ounce, and thought himself richly repaid when he received a hawks'-bell. On present only a few scattered huts of indigent Spaniards to be met with, buried in the gloom of the mountains. "The traces of those villages are rarely to be discovered at the present day. The situation of one near Ponton, was well chosen for defence, being built on a high bank between deep and precipitous ravines. A large square occupied the centre; in the rear of each dwelling were thrown the sweepings of the apartments and the ashes from the fires, which form a line of mounds, mixed up with broken Indian utensils. As it lays in the direct road from Isabella, Cibao, and La Vega, and commands the best fording place in the neighborhood for crossing the river Yaqui in dry seasons, it must, no doubt, have been a place of considerable resort at the time of the discovery-most likely a pontoon or large canoe was stationed here for the facility of communication between St. Thomas and Isabella, whence it derived its name." remarking that the Admiral was struck with the size of these specimens, he affected to treat them with contempt, as insignificant, intimating by signs, that in his country, which lay within half a day's journey, they found pieces of gold as big as an orange. Other Indians brought grains of gold weighing ten and twelve drachms, and declared that in the country whence they got them, there were masses of ore as large as the head of a child.* As usual, however, these golden tracts were always in some remote valley or along some rugged and sequestered stream; and the wealthiest spot was sure to be at the greatest distance, for the land of promise is ever beyond the mountain. * Peter Martyr, decad. i., lib. iii. |