The ships continued east offshore the Samaná Peninsula of the Dominican Republic, home to the Ciguayan people, and anchored there. A combat hostility occurred on January 13.
Columbus had dispatched armed sailors to trade. The Ciguayans also were armed and fears and frictions arose, and the sailors wounded two Ciguayans.
The next day, it was a Ciguayan chieftain who made an overture to restore peace and visited the Niña to meet Columbus. Quite possibly he was Mayobanex, then the paramount chieftain of the Ciguayan people. After the meeting, he sent Columbus a gift of a face mask, as promised, but he didn’t return for a second meeting, likely indicating he wanted no further relationship with the pale men.