One night when the caravels were out at sea, not far from Cuba, on a voyage of fresh discovery, the _Pinta_ suddenly disappeared. The merchant Martin Alonzo Pinzon was greedy of gain, and wanted to go to some island in search of gold by himself. One reason of his desertion is said also to have been his dislike of serving under another, after having been his own master for so many years. Columbus had now only the two caravels, but he was not deterred from making fresh attempts, and he soon found the large island of Haiti, or Saint Domingo, to which he gave the name of Hispaniola, because it was like the fairest parts of Spain. The land here was mountainous and rocky, but the rocks rose up out of forests. The harbour the caravels entered was surrounded by great trees, most of them being covered with fruit, which gleamed red, green, and golden in the bright sunshine of the tropics. The natives were very timid at first, as those of Cuba had been, and fled from the coast on the approach of the strange vessels; but an Indian woman who was captured and carried on board the _Santa Maria_ was treated so kindly that, when she went back to the shore, her own people began to lose all fear, and brought the Spaniards many gifts of fish, fruit, and roots, and their famed cassava bread. Another day, when Columbus was cruising about the island, and a gale was blowing, he saved an Indian from perishing as his fragile canoe, and the man thus rescued told the time tale of the kindness of the Spaniards. Columbus became very friendly with a chief, or cacique, named Guacanagari, which is a terribly long name, and since he always remained true to the Spaniards I will only call him in future the faithful chief, to distinguish him from others in the same island. The Admiral had set out by sea to visit him in his own village, when a great disaster happened. It was Christmas Eve; the ocean was calm and smooth, and about an hour before midnight the caravel _Santa Maria_ was only a league from the cacique's dwelling. Columbus, having passed many sleepless nights, had gone to rest; soon after the steersman, giving the helm in charge to one of the ship's boys, followed his example, and it was not long before the whole of the crew were sound asleep also. The vessel, thus left to a careless boy, was carried by currents on to a sandbank with such force that great seams opened in her sides. Some of the mariners, roused to a sense of their danger, got down into their boat, and in the confusion rowed off to the caravel _Niña_, which took them all on board. Soon the Admiral and the remainder of the crew had to take refuge there also; the _Santa Maria_ was firmly fixed in the sands, and was of no farther use as a ship. When the cacique heard of the misfortune he shed tears, and kindly sent a number of men in canoes to the Admiral's assistance, and he helped himself to keep guard round the wrecked vessel, that none of the valuable stores it contained might be stolen.