Columbus was met, at his first landing, by Arawak, the local natives who Columbus named "Indians." After a few days on San Salvador, Columbus sailed to the island of Cuba in search of the court of the Mongol emperor of China and gold. Two months later, the group sailed east to Hispaniola where, at Christmas, the Santa Maria was wrecked. Columbus got his men ashore. The natives there appeared friendly, so 39 men were left on the island at the settlement of Navidad while Columbus returned to Spain aboard the Ni�a.