with very large canoes and many of them to take off 

 everything that was in the ship. This was done and 

 everything was taken from the decks in a very short 

 space of time. So great was the great haste and dili- 

 gence which that king showed! And he in person, with 

 his brothers and relatives, were active both on the 

 ship and in guarding that which was brought to land, 

 so that everything might be very safely kept. 



From time to time Guacanagari 



sent one of his relatives to the weeping Admiral, to 

 console him, telling him that he must not be troubled 

 or annoyed, that he would give him whatever he pos- 

 sessed. . . . He commanded everything to be placed 

 near the houses, while some houses which he wished 

 to give were emptied, that there everything could be 

 placed and guarded. He ordered armed men to be 

 set around everything to keep watch all night. He and 

 all the people with him wept. 



Columbus must have been truly moved by all this 

 kindness, for he wrote : 



They are a people so full of love and without greed, 

 and suitable for every purpose, so that I assure your 

 highnesses that I believe that in the world there is 

 no better race or better land. They love their neigh- 

 bors as themselves, and they have the sweetest voices 

 in the world, and soft, and always they are smiling. 



Well might the Indians have wept with Columbus. 

 Not only for the calamity that had befallen him, but for 

 themselves — sweet-natured, innocent, defenseless people, 

 welcoming the white men into their midst as brothers, 

 sharing with them their homes and substance. Had they 

 realized that in a few years' time scarcely any of them 

 would survive, would they still have come so generously 

 and lovingly to the aid of these strangers? 



Search for the Santa Maria 181 



