208 THE OCEAN RIVER 



ways of life, Columbus uncovered island after island inhabited 

 by semi-naked Indians, some gentle and passive, others fierce, 

 warlike, and cannibalistic. And beyond these islands were the 

 low mangrove coasts, mosquito-infested and terrible to endure, 

 like the rain jungles of the Isthmus. Slowly disillusion and 

 defeat from sheer physical exhaustion, coupled with the ter- 

 rific mental strain of an unfulfilled dream, broke his will. The 

 pressure of brutal and inimical adventurers from his own 

 homeland mounted year by year. Columbus was a poor admin- 

 istrator, and the same obstinate and uncompromising quality 

 of mind that made his initial adventure succeed worked against 

 him when it came time to organize his conquests. In the 

 few years between the first discovery and the tragic fourth 

 voyage in 1 506 the West Indies were no longer the individual 

 cruising grounds of Columbus and his companions. An in- 

 creasing stream of tough, grasping, unimaginative, and deter- 

 mined characters came in on the heels of the firstcomers and 

 tried to discredit them. 



But the first New World Christmastide in Haiti — or His- 

 paniola as Columbus called it — took place in ideal surround- 

 ings at Ocoa Bay — which appeared so beautiful to the Admiral 

 that he refused to describe it. And likewise the inhabitants 

 gave all the appearance of sweet innocence and a readiness 

 to be converted to new ways. They greeted the Spaniards with 

 baskets of fruit and other produce of the land, tame parrots — 

 and foolishly enough — presents of beaten gold ornaments. 

 Las Casas reports that their behavior was singularly loving. 

 Other descriptions sound as if these Arawaks were much like 

 the Polynesians, a people at home on and in the water, easy- 

 going, fond of singing and dancing, and unwarlike and ami- 

 able. Their sense of property was scarcely awakened, and the 

 love of simple freedom was everything to them. Neither of 

 these qualities spelt anything but doom when opposed by the 

 fanatical, grasping ego of the Spaniards. The honeymoon in 

 the Caribbean was brief. 



