and ravines, to pass by the way.  The Indian guides who accompanied him, and the natives of the place, gathered gold in his presence; and he returned with a sufficient quantity to shew that it was to be had there in great abundance.  This gave great satisfaction to the admiral and the rest of the colony; and he sent these samples, and what had been before given him by Guacanagari to their Catholic majesties, by Anthony de Torres, under whose command he sent home the twelve ships before mentioned.  Thus ended the year 1493.

Soon after the departure of Torres for Spain, the admiral being recovered from his sickness, received information of a plot having been formed by some of the people who repented of having engaged in the expedition, and who had chosen Bernal de Pisa as their leader, with the intention of carrying off the remaining five ships, or some of them, in order to return into Spain.  He immediately ordered Bernal de Pisa into custody; and, having made formal examinations of his mutinous conduct, sent him, and a copy of the proceedings, into Spain by one of the ships, that their majesties might direct him to be dealt with according to their pleasure.  He caused some of the other chief conspirators to be punished at Isabella, though not with the severity their crime deserved, yet his enemies took occasion from thence to tax him with tyranny and oppression.  About the same time, an information, drawn up in form against the admiral, was found concealed in the buoy of one of the ships, which he also transmitted to their majesties.  This was the first mutinous attempt against the authority of the admiral in the West Indies, and became the foundation of all the opposition which was made against him and his successors in the exercise and enjoyments of their rights.  Having quelled this mutiny, and restored the colony to order, he chose a party of his best men, with some labourers and proper tools, in order to visit the province of Cibao, and to dig for gold.  He carried materials likewise along with him for the construction of a blockhouse, or fortalice, in case he found that precaution requisite.  He accordingly set out on this expedition with colours flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and his troops in martial array, in which manner he marched through all the towns on his way, to impress the Indians with awe of his power, who were particularly astonished at the horses in his train.

He left the new town of Isabella on the 12th of March 1494, leaving his brother Don James Columbus to command in his absence; a gentleman of a peaceable disposition, and most orderly behaviour.  After marching three leagues the first day, Columbus halted at the foot of a craggy pass in the mountains; and, as the Indian paths were exceedingly narrow, he sent on some pioneers under the direction of several gentlemen to level the road; from which circumstance this place acquired the name of El puerto de los Hidalgos, the port or pass of the gentlemen.  Having reached