COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 261 



The collection included views of the coast and the interior of the 

 island from every point of observation, and photographs of all the build 

 ings and many of the inhabitants. There was a similar collection of 

 views of the other islands visited by Columbus, and particularly the 

 city of La Navidad, where he landed on the coast of Santo Domingo, and 

 where his flagship, Santa Maria, was wrecked on Christmas eve, 1492. 

 The settlement has ever since preserved the name of Guarico, and is 

 identified with the present bourg of Petit Anse, not more than 3 miles 

 from Cape Haytien. 



The wreck of the Santa Maria occurred on Christmas eve, 1492, and 

 from that circumstance Columbus called the first fort he erected here 

 Navidad, or the Nativity. It was built mainly out of the wreckage of 

 the flagship, and was said to be a tOAver surrounded with a ditch. 

 Having then but two vessels, and not room enough for all, Columbus 

 left some forty men at Navidad, and then, after provisioning and arm 

 ing the fort, sailed for Spain. 



The site of the fort is a hill, isolated by surrounding salines, or salt 

 flats, and commanding the channels by which the vessels of Columbus 

 approached the shore. The fort was destroyed and the garrison mas 

 sacred by Indians in 1493, and Columbus, on his return on the second 

 voyage, found not one of his men alive. 



The next group of pictures represented the present appearance and 

 condition of the city of Isabella, the first civilized settlement in the New 

 World. After reaching the coast of Haiti in 1493, on his second voy 

 age, finding the fort he had erected at Navidad destroyed and the gar 

 rison massacred, Columbus retraced his track to a point easterly from 

 Navidad and Monte Cristi, and entered a small but sheltered harbor 

 at a place nearer to the gold mountains of the interior. Here he dis 

 embarked his weary men and munitions and provisions, and began the 

 foundation of a settlement, which he named Isabella, after Iris royal 

 patroness. 



He erected a church, a public storehouse, known as &quot;The King s 

 House,&quot; and a residence for himself, known as the &quot;Governor s Palace.&quot; 

 These were built of stone. Many private houses were constructed of 

 wood, plaster, reeds, and such other material as were found on the 

 ground. The city, however, was abandoned after the discovery of gold 

 in the mountains, and fell into ruins. Mr. F. A. Ober, the Commissioner 

 of the Columbian Exposition to the AVest Indies, made a thorough 

 investigation of tlie ruins and brought back all of the stone that was 

 left on the grounds. 



The ruins of what is thought to have been the &quot;King s House&quot; were 

 found on the bluff overlooking the river, and a little distance away 

 were other ruins that may have been those of the church. The church 

 was dedicated January (&amp;gt;, 1494, when high mass was celebrated by 

 Friar Boyl and 12 ecclesiastics. 



The site of Isabella is now completely overgrowc with wild vegeta- 



