Suffice to say that Columbus
took possession of this first land--the island which he believed to form
part of a continent--in the name of the Crown of Castile and Leon,
christening this herald of a new world San Salvador.
For a while the shock of this triumph appears to have deadened all other
considerations, but only for a while. Columbus, like every other
navigator of the period, had gone out in search of glory, and of gilded
glory for preference. The very first thought, therefore, which took
possession of the minds of both the Admiral and his men, when the first
exultation had died away in favour of more practical affairs, was that
of gold. To this end they cruised about the new seas, visiting Cuba,
Haiti (or Hispaniola), and other islands.
After a while Columbus discovered some traces of the coveted metal, but
these to his heated imagination were mere chance fragments of the golden
mountains and valleys which lay somewhere beyond. It was time, he
determined, to seek for further assistance. Leaving a small company of
the Spaniards in the Island of Haiti, the inhabitants of which had
proved themselves friendlily disposed, he sailed for Europe, taking with
him such specimens of the New World as he thought would chiefly appeal
to the Spanish Court.
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