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They probably landed at or near the same place at which their captain had landed fifteen years before with the Admiral, that is to say, in the neighborhood of la Aguáda, where, according to Las Casas, the ships going and coming to and from Spain had called regularly to take in fresh water ever since the year 1502. The strangers were hospitably received.
"In this settlement," says Oviedo, "there were so many mosquitoes that they alone were enough to depopulate it, and the people passed to Aguáda, which is said to be to the west-nor'-west, on the borders of the river Culebrinas, in the district now known as Aguáda and Aguadilla; to this new settlement they gave the name Sotomayor, and while they were there the Indians rose in rebellion one Friday in the beginning of the year 1511."
This done, I lost not another moment, but set out upon my journey. After an hour's sharp riding we reached the Aguada, where the river was yet fordable; crossing this, we mounted the Sierra by a narrow and winding pass which leads through the mountains towards Almeida. Here I turned once more to cast a last and farewell look at the scene of our late encounter.
Except the light division, which, under the command of Crawfurd, were posted upon the right of the Aguada, the whole of our army occupied the country from El Bodon to Gallegos; the Fourth Division being stationed at Fuente Guenaldo, where some intrenchments had been hastily thrown up.
In Astley, the ship commanded by Pedro Mendoza, is said to have been stranded during the homeward voyage, fourteen leagues from the Aguada, or watering-place of St Blas, and never more heard of. Astl. Astley concludes the account of the honours conferred on Pacheco in the following words: "But soon after imprisoned, and allowed him to die miserably.
Loiza, which had been resettled, was destroyed for the second time in 1582, and a year or so later the Caribs made a night attack on Aguáda, where they destroyed the Franciscan convent and killed 3 monks. With the end of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries the West Indian archipelago became the theater of French and English maritime enterprise.
Nine battalions of infantry moved up to their support, and forming into columns, echelons, and squares, performed before us all the manoeuvres of a review with the most admirable precision and rapidity; but from these our attention was soon taken by a brilliant display upon our left. Here, emerging from the wood which flanked the Aguada, were now to be seen the gorgeous staff of Marmont himself.
Signior Morel told me that a Spanish man-of-war had been to an island in lat. 1° 20' or 30' S. 140 Spanish leagues west from the island of Plata, and to which they gave the name of Santa Maria del Aguada, a pleasant island with a good road, full of wood, and having plenty of water, with turtle and sea-tortoises in abundance.
Massena was now recalled, and Marmont, having assumed the command of the French, army, retired towards Salamanca, while our troops went into cantonments upon the Aguada. A period of inaction succeeded to our previous life of bustle and excitement, and the whole interest of the campaign was now centred in Beresford's army, exposed to Soult in Estramadura.
The excellence of the water which the ships found at Aguáda made it convenient for them to call, and the Spanish ships continued to do so long after the need of frightening away the Caribs had passed. The first regular settlement was founded in 1585 by the Franciscan monks, who named it San Francisco de Asis.
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