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A month or two later, when Columbus was better, he and Bartholomew together mustered the whole of their available army and marched out in search of the native force, which he knew had been rallied and greatly augmented. The two forces met near the present town of Santiago, in the plain known as the Savanna of Matanza.
A month or two later, when Columbus was better, he and Bartholomew together mustered the whole of their available army and marched out in search of the native force, which he knew had been rallied and greatly augmented. The two forces met near the present town of Santiago, in the plain known as the Savanna of Matanza.
These names are mingled together in all the Spanish colonies, and they form an unpleasing contrast with the peaceful and tranquil feelings which those countries inspire. Matanza signifies slaughter, or carnage; and the word alone recalls the price at which victory has been purchased. Before we reached Orotava, we visited a botanic garden at a little distance from the port.
The women's figures in youth are charming, tall, straight, and pliant as their own pine-trees. All remark their graceful gait. We passed through places famed in the days of the conquest La Matanza, the native Orantapata, where De Lugo's force was nearly annihilated. Now it is the half-way station to Orotava; and here the coche stops for dinner, prices being regulated by Government.
Islets, which are now but heaps of scoriae and volcanic ashes, were once perhaps as fertile as the hills of Tacoronte and Sauzal. Happy the country, where man has no distrust of the soil on which he lives! Pursuing our course to the port of Orotava, we passed the smiling hamlets of Matanza and Victoria.
It is still recorded in Spanish calendars as the defeat of the mountains of Malaga, and the spot where the greatest slaughter took place is called "la Cuesta de la Matanza," or the Hill of the Massacre. The principal leaders who survived returned to Antiquera.
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