Saturday, 29 December 1492
At sunrise, a nephew of the King, a very young boy of good judgment and courage, came to the ship. Since I always attempted to learn where gold came from, I questioned everyone I could, and I already understood something by means of signs. In this manner the boy told me that at a distance of four days’ journey to the east there was an island called Guarionex, and others which they called Macorix, Mayonic, Fuma, Cibao and Coroay,* in which there was an infinite amount of gold. I wrote down these names, and a brother of the King, upon learning that the nephew had told me this, rebuked him, according to what I understood. Also, I had felt at other times that the King was trying to keep me in ignorance of the places where the gold was to be found and collected, so that I might not go to trade for it and buy it elsewhere. But there is so much of it and in so many locations on this Isla Espanola that it is wonderful. After dark the King sent a large mask of gold and begged me for a hand basin and pitcher. I believe that he asked for these so that he could copy them and make others, and therefore I sent them to him.
*These were all Indian provinces, not islands. Some of the names have survived, almost without change, such as Cibao and Macorix.
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The mask pictured is a pre-Columbian mask from Ecuador (not Taino)
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