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As soon as the ships had anchored at Punta del Arenal, the admiral sent the boats on shore for water, and to endeavour to procure some information respecting the Indians, but they could do neither, that country being very low and uninhabited, and having no springs or rivulets.
Perceiving that no account could be got of the people of the country at this cape, that it was excessively laborious to take in a full supply of water here, and that there was no convenience for careening the ships, or procuring provisions, the admiral went next day to another point of land which seemed to be the most westerly in the island, which he named Cabo del Arenal, and came here to anchor, thinking that the easterly winds which reign there might not be so troublesome to the boats in going backwards and forwards from the shore.
Twenty miles from that place, the Admiral found a sufficiently large port to shelter his ships, though no river flowed into it. Sailing farther on he finally discovered a satisfactory harbour for repairing his vessels and also replenishing his supply of water and wood. He called this land Punta del Arenal.
Cuba we thought was the continent, and the shore that was continent, we called "island." Now we came to a long southward running tongue of Trinidad. Point Arenal, he named it. A corresponding tongue of that low Holy Island reached out toward it, and between the two flowed an azure strait.
Manuel walked up to the Plaza de Oriente and followed thence along Arenal Street. A strip of the Puerta del Sol was being asphalted; ten or twelve furnaces ranged in a row were belching thick acrid smoke through their chimneys.
The ships brought up at Point Arenal, the nearest to the mainland, between which and the island Columbus observed, night and day, a current flowing at a tremendous speed, boiling and raging to such a degree that he thought it was crossed by a reef of rocks. From its dangerous appearance he gave to it the name of Boca del Sierpe the Serpent's Mouth.
The point near the watering-place was called "Punta de la Playa." The western end of the island was named "Punta del Arenal," and here an extraordinary phenomenon presented itself.
So much for the giant weed of the Morichal, from which we rode on and up through rolling country growing lovelier at every step, and turned out of our way to see wild pine-apples in a sandy spot, or 'Arenal' in a valley beneath. The meeting of the stiff marl and the fine sand was abrupt, and well marked by the vegetation.
Then they walked down to Arenal Street, crossed the Plaza del Oriente, and the Viaduct, thence through Rosario Street. Continuing along the walls of a barracks they reached the heights at whose base runs the Ronda de Segovia.
From Punta de la Galera he sailed to the west and landed at a low cape, which he calls Punta del Arenal; this is our Punta de Icacos. As his ships drew a great deal of water, he found it difficult to enter the bocas chicas, and was obliged to construct flat-bottomed barks.
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