Following him came Captain Alonso Pinzon in a rowboat from the Pinta, and in a rowboat from the Nina Captain Vincent Pinzon.

Each of these captains carried the "banner of the green cross" on which were to be seen the initials of the king and queen of Spain.
As they rowed toward the land they saw some people on the shore.

They were not dressed in the splendid clothes the Spaniards expected to find the people of Cathay wearing.

In fact, they did not have on much of anything but grease and paint.

And the land showed no signs of the marble temples and gold-roofed palaces the sailors expected to find.