I think the first Indians that Columbus encountered were Tainos. The Caribs were more ferocious and practiced cannibalism...in fact, our word "cannibal" comes from Carib. Giovanni da Verrazano, the explorer who found the Verrazano Narrows (at the mouth of the Hudson River) was eaten by cannibals on a later voyage to the West Indies.
Didn't he visit many islands on his first journey?