Columbus had already made some enemies among the new settlers when he refused to take bloody revenge on Chief Caonabo for the destruction at Navidad; now, however, he added insult to injury. Impatient to get the settlement on its feet, all the men were put to work felling trees, cutting stone, building shelters, and digging a canal from the nearest river. The proud Spanish gentlemen volunteers became very indignant at such imposition; all the publicity about the Indies had let them to believe that there would be many docile natives who were more than happy to perform such manual labor for the white men. Now it was becoming apparent that not only were these natives unwilling servants, but were in fact even hostile and ruthless killers. The Spaniards had come to fight and to gather up the gold, not to do menial work like common laborers, and when some of them refused to stoop so low, they were even told that there would be no rations for them. All in all, this was a most scandalous and disgraceful way to treat a Castilian hidalgo – even more so when one considered that the orders came from a foreigner.
No sooner was Isabela begun, than still more of the colonists fell ill. Swarms of mosquitoes had fallen over the white men from the first moments, the salted meat and other provisions had no doubt been affected by the Caribbean heat, and the well water and strange native foods could have done little to improve the situation. At any rate, malaria became an almost universal affliction among the settlers, many of whom died of fever, of acute diarrhea, and assorted strange afflictions. Serious grumbling was already beginning to be heard at Isabela.
To his great disappointment, Columbus had meanwhile also learned from the Indians that Cibao had nothing at all to do with Cipango; he now understood enough of their language to realize that Cibao simply meant a rocky land. Still, there was said to be gold in Cibao, and only a few days after landing at Isabela, a search party was organized to explore the country and find these gold mines. Led by a young Andalusian, Alonso de Ojeda, about 40 Spaniards and several Indian guides penetrated into the great central valley of Hispaniola, the Vega Real; there they obtained three gold pieces from some Indians who again assured them that there was an abundance of that metal in Cibao. Within two weeks, the men were back at Isabela, bringing the good news to the overjoyed colonists. One of them, an old friend of Columbus named Michele de Cueno, remarked that “all of us made merry, and we no longer cared anything about spicery, but instead directed all our attention to this thrice-blessed gold. And the Admiral wrote to the king that he soon hoped to be able to give him as much gold as the iron mines in Biscay gave iron.”
With such good news to report, Columbus at last decided to send most of the fleet back to Spain. He kept only his flagship, the Santa Maria, the Nina, and three other caravels which he planned to use for further explorations; the other set sail for home under the command of Antonio de Torres. With Torres went a long letter to the Sovereigns in which Columbus reported of all the gold to be found in Cibao. But since so many of the men had been ill and unable to work in the fields, he also begged the Sovereigns to send him, as soon as possible, three or four vessels with desperately needed supplies – especially wine, sheep, pigs, goats, donkeys, more seeds, salt meat, muskets and gunpowder, and a long list of other necessities. Columbus also asked the Sovereigns to choose only well qualified people for various duties in the Indies so that he would not have incompetent or unwilling subordinates, as was the case now. Also, since he had too few interpreters, he sent back a number of Indians for instructions; at the same time, he proposed to the Spanish rulers that future supply shipments to the Indies could be paid for with shiploads of native slaves.