Offshore the modern Bahía de Gibara, Cuba, Columbus believes he’s almost arrived at the kingdom of the Grand Khan of Cathay written about by Marco Polo. He prepares to dispatch an embassy of crewmen inland to meet the local ruler.
Guanahanían captives offer to accompany and assist the embassy so long as Columbus agrees to return them to Guanahaní afterwards. The Journal doesn’t indicate Columbus’s response, but he had no such intent—the captives would be taken to Spain.