On the eighteenth of December, the wind not serving well, they waited the return of the chief whom they had first seen.  In the afternoon he appeared, seated in a palanquin, which was carried by four men, and escorted by more than two hundred of his people.  He was accompanied by a counselor and preceptor who did not leave him.  He came on board the ship when Columbus was at table.  He would not permit him to leave his place, and readily took a seat at his side, when it was offered.  Columbus offered him European food and drink; he tasted of each, and then gave what was offered to his attendants.  The ceremonious Spaniards found a remarkable dignity in his air and gestures.  After the repast, one of his servants brought a handsome belt, elegantly wrought, which he presented to Columbus, with two small pieces of gold, also delicately wrought.

Columbus observed that this cacique looked with interest on the hangings of his ship-bed, and made a present of them to him, in return for his offering, with some amber beads from his own neck, some red shoes and a flask of orange flower water.

On the nineteenth, after these agreeable hospitalities, the squadron sailed again, and on the twentieth arrived at a harbor which Columbus pronounced the finest he had ever seen.  The reception he met here and the impressions he formed of Hispaniola determined him to make a colony on that island.  It may be said that on this determination the course of his after life turned.  This harbor is now known as the Bay of Azul.

The men, whom he sent on shore, found a large village not far from the shore, where they were most cordially received.  The natives begged the Europeans to stay with them, and as it proved, Columbus accepted the invitation for a part of his crew.  On the first day three different chiefs came to visit him, in a friendly way, with their retinues.  The next day more than a hundred and twenty canoes visited the ship, bringing with them such presents as the people thought would be acceptable.  Among these were bread from the cassava root, fish, water in earthen jars, and the seeds of spices.  These spices they would stir in with water to make a drink which they thought healthful.

On the same day Columbus sent an embassy of six men to a large town in the interior.  The chief by giving his hand “to the secretary” pledged himself for their safe return.

The twenty-third was Sunday.  It was spent as the day before had been, in mutual civilities.  The natives would offer their presents, and say “take, take,” in their own language.  Five chiefs were among the visitors of the day.  From their accounts Columbus was satisfied that there was much gold in the island, as indeed, to the misery and destruction of its inhabitants, there proved to be.  He thought it was larger than England.  But he was mistaken.  In his journal of the next day he mentions Civao, a land to the west, where they told him that there was gold, and again he thought he was approaching Cipango, or Japan.