And indeed as they came together there for the first time, the white men and the red, it is often difficult to tell on which side was the greater simplicity and credulity. The folly of the Spaniard was moulded into firmer consistence, was less inept and vapory than the folly of the Americans, and that was about all. For instance, at the village of Cariay,[IV-12] just opposite on the main-land, Columbus thought to raise the Spaniards in the estimation of the savages by declining to take the _guanin_, an inferior kind of gold which they presented; whereupon for the same reason, and in retaliation, the natives refused European trinkets. When the adelantado, seated on a knoll with the notary by his side, sought to transfix some of the wild knowledge of those parts, the natives fled terrorstruck, supposing some magic spell was being cast upon them by the pens, ink, and paper so solemnly drawn forth by the scribe. Presently with great caution they returned, and with exorcising gesticulations burned and scattered in the air an odorous powder. On the other hand, with equally enlightened common sense, the Christians, unable to fathom the incantations of savagism, fancied these heathen sorcerers bringing from the shades of their wilderness wrathful demons to hurl upon their adversaries; and ever after on the voyage all the ills that befell the Spaniards were attributed to the enchantments of the people of Cariay.[IV-13] At another port called Huiva, Columbus found the huts of the natives built in trees, which he attributed to fear of griffins. After a short excursion into the interior the adelantado returned to the ships. Near Cape Gracias á Dios the old man of Guanaja had been liberated with presents, as no longer of use; now, seven natives were seized and made to divulge what they knew of the country, two of them being retained as guides. Sailing from Cariay the 5th of October, the second day they came to the Laguna de Chiriquí, the country thereabout being called by the natives Cerebaro.[IV-14] If some distance back Columbus had found The Garden, here was a pluralized paradise. The wonder was how nature contrived such glories. Round the entrance clustered islands whose outspread foliage brushed the venturesome sails that threaded the deep narrow channels. Celestial beauty irradiated the land, and a celestial brightness overspread the sea. But a small additional rent was necessary in the ragged imagination of the admiral to fancy himself already translated. The part of the laguna explored by this expedition was the north-western, known to-day as the Bahía del Almirante; the southern part was called by the natives Aburema. [Sidenote: GATHERING GOLD.]