He left the new city under the care of his brother, Diego, and with all the force of healthy men which he could muster, making a little army of nearly five hundred men, he marched away from the sickly seaboard into the interior.

The simple natives were astonished by the display of cavalry and other men in armor.

After a few days of a delightful march, in the beauty of spring in that country, he entered upon the long sought Cibao.

He relinquished his first idea of founding another city here, but did build a fortress called St.Thomas, in joking reference to Cedo and others, who had asserted that these regions produced no gold.

While building this fortress, as it was proudly called, he sent a young cavalier named Luxan for further exploration.
Luxan returned with stories even greater than they had heard of before, but with no gold, "because he had no orders to do so." He had found ripe grapes.