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The Bay would
constitute a military and commercial key to this part of the world for
any power possessing it.
Near Balandra point is the tiny settlement of Las Flechas, located
upon the scene of the first encounter marked by bloodshed between the
Spaniards and Indians. A number of Columbus' men having landed here in
January, 1493. were attacked by Indians and in the ensuing engagement
an Indian was wounded. The occurrence induced Columbus to name the
Bay Golfo de las Flechas, Gulf of the Arrows. At the end of the main
channel of entrance to the Bay the north shore is indented by the
large and commodious basin of Clara, and about two miles further to
the west is the harbor of the old city of Santa Barbara de Samana, a
tranquil sheet of water, separated from the Bay proper by several
small islands, but which can be entered only by vessels drawing less
than twenty feet. Beyond Samana the coast becomes a little less steep
and the verdure-covered mountains recede sufficiently to give room to
narrow coast plains, thickly grown with cocoa-nut palms.


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